i3 worth it?

[HeyCori]

Bought the i3 version of the Surface Pro 7 today from Best Buy's early Black Friday deal. It's a good deal, $600 and comes with the type cover. However, I haven’t used a 4GB Windows machine in a long time so I'm not sure what to expect. I mostly use my Surface Go for TeamViewer, excel, Google sheets, and Youtube (but rarely). I use Edge, usually at most with 8-10 tabs. So I'm a very light user, but even then it’s hard to tell what to expect since there’s virtually no reviews for the i3 version. However, I haven’t picked it yet so worse case scenario I just return it.

 

[anon(5327127)]

Yes, no, maybe, possibly, kind of, no, yes and keep it!

All are possible answers. If you've been happy with the 4Gb version of the Surface Go, then the i3 should give you a nice speed increase.

Go Vs Pro


Pentium Gold 4415Y
2 cores, 4 threads - 1.60GHz base speed


Core i3-1005G1
2 cores, 4 threads - 1.20Ghz base speed, turbo to 3.40GHz


The only real limit will be the 4Gb or ram, but that's also not a big a deal as people say that it is based on how 'you' use the machine.

 

[HeyCori]

I actually have the 8GB Surface Go. And honestly, if not for the 4-5 hour battery life, I’d be fine keeping it. But I’m going to be even more mobile for the next couple of years, and with the Pro 7 having damn near twice as much battery life, even 4 gigs of RAM is starting to look enticing. My hope is since I’m a heavy user of light programs (Office, Chrome, Edge with no more than 6-8 tabs), that upping the CPU will be enough to offset the RAM downgrade. I also don’t know how the Intel UHD Graphics i3 (Pro 7) compares to the Intel HD Graphics 615 (Surface Go). Naturally, you’d think it would be an upgrade on the i3.

 

[HeyCori]

Decided to set it up. The speed difference is more than just noticeable. Only using Firefox and Edge at the moment (11 tabs open between the two) and so far no problems. I wish there were more reviews for the i3 version so I didn't have to go into this blind. I hope this speed keeps us since I don't have much more to install other than Office, Chrome, TeamViewer, and a few smaller programs I use for work that are definitely necessary but not graphic intensive. ​

 

[anon(5327127)]

I wish that someone, somewhere, would review all three models and compare to the Pro 6. But, alas, these things don't seem to happen these days.

 

[ochhanz]

I actually have the 8GB Surface Go. And honestly, if not for the 4-5 hour battery life, I’d be fine keeping it. But I’m going to be even more mobile for the next couple of years, and with the Pro 7 having damn near twice as much battery life, even 4 gigs of RAM is starting to look enticing. My hope is since I’m a heavy user of light programs (Office, Chrome, Edge with no more than 6-8 tabs), that upping the CPU will be enough to offset the RAM downgrade. I also don’t know how the Intel UHD Graphics i3 (Pro 7) compares to the Intel HD Graphics 615 (Surface Go). Naturally, you’d think it would be an upgrade on the i3.

, the cpu does not make up for the lower ram but the better ssd in the Pro will to some degree (shorter lags if ram limits are reached). Also while i3 is slower than i5/i7 (dual core vs quad core) I believe battery life is slightly better. So yeah I would say it is worth it for your workflow as long as you use Edge more than Chrome (more ram intensive).

Personally I did/do simillar things on a Surface Pro 1 (i5u 3rd gen) and and a Dell Venue 7140 (m core 4th gen) and found both good at these kind of tasks and I think both are slightly faster than the Go but slower than the SP7 i3. SP1 cpu specs:

3rd Gen Intel® Core™ i5-3317U
2 cores, 4 threads, 3MB SmartCache, 1.70 GHz up to 2.60 GHz, 17W

I wish that someone, somewhere, would review all three models and compare to the Pro 6. But, alas, these things don't seem to happen these days.

, although they are not perfect and depend on laptop/using conditions; I like using Cpu Userbenchmark for that. Personally I think the cpu jump from SP6 to SP7 is not enough i.m.o. for an upgrade (ignoring other new things). I would personally wait for another noticeable jump, unless you want the latest of the latest. Gpu jump however is up to ~2x so that can be really noticeable (perhaps even a bit with basic tasks for a slightly smoother experience).

 

[HeyCori]

You're right, makeup was probably the wrong word. More like a reasonable trade-off by losing 4 gigs but gaining superior specs in other areas. So far it's been an amazing experience. No problems with Edge/Chrome or TeamViewer. I loaded up one of my usual Google Sheets in Chrome which takes a while to load on the Go but the SP7 loaded it in a snap. Plus, scrolling was infinitely better on the SP7. I never truly got used to the cramped type cover on the Go so the larger keyboard is much appreciated. Of course, because Microsoft is gonna Microsoft, it's not all sunshine and roses. After I installed the latest Windows updates, my battery symbol started to show as charging even when not plugged in and the battery seemed to drain faster. I uninstalled the updates but I question whether I'm going to see the 7-8 hours of battery life that other reviewers are seeing. That's with screen brightness at 55 percent and using power mode while on battery.

 

[HeyCori]

I forgot Dan did review the 4GB Surface Go. That's one of the few reviews I could find for any current-ish 4GB Windows machine.

 

[HeyCori]

I'm running a 30 browser tab test and so far it's surviving, haha. That's 25 in Firefox, 3 in Edge, and 2 in Chrome. Memory usage is hovering around 86-92 percent. Really impressive. In Firefox, there's a little bit of lag when I switch tabs and start scrolling, but it goes away pretty fast. Edge is doing just fine with it's few tabs. And in Chrome, I loaded one of the larger spreadsheets I use and didn't have much problem navigating it (it also causes memory usage to spike because it's a shared doc and is refreshing in the background as other people use it).

It goes to show how good Windows 10 is at allocating RAM where and when it's needed. I aslo tried scrolling through my wallpaper library and again didn't have a problem. Granted, I only have like 800 photos in there, most of them 1080p and a few 2k-4k.

I should add, this was on the battery using the recommended battery setting (that's the last option before battery saver mode).

 

[HeyCori]

Update:

This has been a fantastic update from the Surface Go. It's just faster in all possible ways, and dropping from 8GB to 4GB hasn't affected me at all. I'm still using Chrome/Edge with the same amount of tabs. Battery life is much improved. Sure, I'm only getting like an extra 2 hours but that matters a lot in my workday. Even with just an i3, things that seemed slightly sluggish on the Go is now much improved. The big one being Google sheets which I use a lot for work. And of course, having the larger type cover makes typing a breeze.

I know it's not totally a fair comparison. I did take advantage of the Best Buy early Black Friday deal and got the SP7 with keyboard for $599, only 50 dollars more than the 8GB Go by itself. And I wouldn't be surprised if there are some decent Go bundles this holiday as well. But if you're trying to decide between a Go or SP7, I recommend keeping an eye out for another SP7 i3 bundle. Unless you absolutely need that extra 4 gigs of RAM, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

 

[Kevin Harvell]

When it comes to what I recommend to people who come into the MS store to purchase, I try to remind people that they may be happy with a 4GB RAM device at first, but if they are someone who plans to keep the device for multiple years, it may be best to purchase the device that will likely better perform a few years down the road. So typically I recommend the 8GB/128GB Surface Go (added benefit of the SSD) and the i5/8GB/256GB Pro 7 unless storage is no big deal then they can get away with the 128GB version.


Of course everyone has a different use case, and it sounds like that this device will do exactly what you are looking for it to do.

 

[bulls96]

For what it's worth, I got the Pro X and the difference in speed and battery life between that and my Surface Go is quite significant. And it's an ARM processor.

Does not speak well of the Pentium.

 

[ochhanz]

For what it's worth, I got the Pro X and the difference in speed and battery life between that and my Surface Go is quite significant. And it's an ARM processor.

Does not speak well of the Pentium.

, that is nice though to be (partly) expected considering the Pentium is a budget cpu and the Go has a smaller battery iirc.
The Go's Pentium igpu is surprisingly good though (so it seems nice as gaming tablet for older/indie Steam/Gog games).