I5 surface, 4 or 8gb RAM

[thisispants]

Hi, I'm pretty keen to get a surface pro 3, however I'm not sure if I should get the 4gb or 8gb of RAM version. Obviously the 128gb hard drive 4gb RAM version is more in my price range, however I'm not sure if it's going to perform well enough. The most intensive tasks I perform would be PhotoShop, multi track audio recording, and occasional video editing. Is 4gb going to be a slug for these tasks?

 

[Gken]

seeing as a professional artist found the i5 to slow down at certain points and you are staying with the i5, I'd say get the 8gb if you afford the extra 300. It depends what kind of art you do on it? how many layers are we talking here?

 

[thisispants]

Probably only about 4-5. Hmmmm, if the i5 is to slow, I guess I'll have to get a lap top. I can't really afford anything other than the 128gb i5. It's a shame it's priced so high. What a bugger.

 

[california86]

If you travel a lot, the extra expense may be worth it. The mobility coupled with the form factor and power of the SP3 is what's making me seriously consider grabbing one of these.

Good luck on your decision.

 

[StevoPhilo]

The 8gb would go a long way if you're doing any kind of major editing like the ones you've mentioned. Not only would it probably future proof you from having to upgrade, but all the programs you are probably using will benefit from it.

 

[Poirots Progeny]

I agree, go for the 8 gb, especially if using PhotoShop for large files. And it'll future proof you somewhat. I wouldn't personally recommend the 128gb model. What do you have to install on? About 90gb? Of course you can supplement with an sd card but you are better off, in my opinion, going for the 256gb with 8gb ram.

For reference I have the sp2 with that configuration.

Good luck with your purchase!!!

 

[onlysublime]

my advice is to try it out in the store. see if the store will install photoshop on it.

i have photoshop (older version, from creative suite 5) on my SP2 with 8 GB RAM and 256 GB storage and Photoshop runs wonderfully. The only issues is my version of Photoshop doesn't support things like pinch to zoom. but the biggest problem is the program doesn't scale at all. So everything is tiny on the screen. and since there's no touch pinch to zoom, the zoom tool will be used a lot more than you may be accustomed to. I never use the Zoom tool so much on my 23" monitor, my 27", or my 20". But on the 10.6" screen, I'm zooming in and out a lot. But the more egregious is how small the tools are in the toolbar. Practically microscopic due to no scaling support.

I read it's a lot better in newer versions of Photoshop but Photoshop is so expensive, I can't justify upgrading when my version is perfectly good otherwise.

I've used Photoshop on 4 GB machines and it's okay. Since the Surface Pro machines are all SSD, using SSD as a scratch disk is not so bad. But yeah, the 128 GB storage is really weak if you plan on using this machine for a long time and to do a lot of work.

it's more about the RAM and storage than the CPU with Photoshop. Not that you don't need a fast CPU but the i5 is plenty good. It's just that when you run low of RAM in Photoshop, it goes to the scratch disks.

 

[blehblehbleh]

I'd say it depends on how quickly you're gonna dump it in the future for some other device. If you're in it for the long haul go 8gb of RAM to future proof yourself. Applications are just gonna keep inflating the amount of RAM to utilize at some point. Not to mention, that RAM is soldered on so no DIY upgrading.

 

[James8561]

of course 8 GB ram.
4 GB is outdated.

 

[fc000]

It's extremely annoying you can't get an i5 8GB RAM Surface Pro 3 without the 256GB SSD. A $300 price bump is massive.. These things should have had web "build to order" options. I'd love to get a i5 8GB 128GB SSD Surface Pro 3.

 

[cdf3]

I'm debating if should get 4GB or 8GB as well. I have 4GB in my Surface Pro 2, and it's doing just fine.
I watched the RAM manager and noticed that Chrome uses quite a bit of RAM. At least 1 GB.
I wasn't sure if 4GB would be enough, so I decided to open up nearly every app on my device.
I also opened as many browser tabs as possible. I got all the way up to 3.8 GB of RAM used.
I kept opening additional apps, but for some reason it wouldn't use up no more than 3.8 out of 4GB.
I read post online of someone saying that Windows will transfer RAM to and from the SSD if needed. It won't be as fast as true RAM memory.
I didn't notice any slow downs in any of my most used apps. I'm not going to stress too much about having a future proof device.
I'll most likely be ready to upgrade within another a year or so. I purchased my Surface Pro 2 3 months ago, and it's already outdated in comparison to the new models.
Guess I'll go for the 4 GB

 

[mozman68]

Am I wrong or are you forced into the RAM selection by the storage size? 128mb/4gb and 256mb/8gb...right?

 

[chadthebuilder]

Am I wrong or are you forced into the RAM selection by the storage size? 128mb/4gb and 256mb/8gb...right?

That's correct. I really wanted the 128GB model with 8GB of RAM; however, I had to settle for the 4GB one because I didn't want to spend the extra $300 on the next model up.

Posted via Windows Phone Central App

 

[mozman68]

That's correct. I really wanted the 128GB model with 8GB of RAM; however, I had to settle for the 4GB one because I didn't want to spend the extra $300 on the next model up.

It's a shame they don't give you the option, but I'm worried about storage...even with the ability to add 128mb via the microSD slot.

 

[darthhen]

Depends on your budget. If you can afford the extra $300, then go for it. But keep in mind that you also get another 128GB of storage as well.

 

[Witness]

I used my SP2 128GB for Photoshop, audio editing, and video editing. I didn't think I was going to use it as my main computer, but I did because having such a portable computer is awesome.

I didn't have much issue in the RAM department, so 4GB will still be functional for you. I ended up getting the SP3 256GB mainly because I kept running out of space on the SP2 128! Since it became my daily driver, I had lots of projects on it for work. I also had a fair number of apps and games. I'd say go for the 256GB one, and you will have a much better experience.

Yes, you could just use Micro SD cards, but I only use that for archiving - not for my active work files.

 

[mozman68]

Yeah...I was thinking of the 256 PLUS a 128 card.