Options for a Surface (type device) [Questions about SP4, S Book, Inspiron, India, etc.]?

[anon(9668900)]

Options for a Surface (type device) [Questions about SP4, S Book, Inspiron, India, etc.]

I wanted to buy a Surface.

The first dilemma I've had is whether I need a Surface Book, or a Surface Pro will do. I generally do a lot of typing, and would be doing quite a bit of engineering design (on CATIA, or ANSYS, for example). Plus, I want something that I can write on (in OneNote, etc.), so the Surface devices are the only line I am looking at (I am not sure how good Dell Inspiron 7000 series and such devices are, especially at writing). Based on preliminary guess, I decided that either the SP4 (i7 - 256 GB - 8GB) or SB (i5 - 256 GB - NVIDIA) would be decent (because of engineering software), but I'm not sure.

Now, here are some facts and questions.

1. I'm from India.
2. I don't know where in the world I will be in a few months (India, Western Europe, North America are possible, so that's pretty wide).
3. I wanted to get a Surface book, but that's not available in India. The SP4 I mentioned costs $2368 in India with the type cover, and that's $840 more than in US, which is extremely expensive. Compare this with the latest iPhone SE, which costs $632 in India. Good electronics is restrictively expensive.
4. Has anyone imported Laptops to India? How much does it cost (tax)? People pay nearly ₹3000 ($45) tax to import puny things like Raspberry PIs.
5. If I happen to go to Western Europe, how much does it cost to import a Laptop or a tablet? If I go elsewhere, I'd want to get the Book than the SP4.
6. If you have experience of using software that I need, what would you recommend?
7. Has anyone used Inspiron 7000 series and the pen that comes along (the latest version)? How is the 13 inch version?
8. Any suggestions, in general?

 

[Chintan Gohel]

Re: Options for a Surface (type device) [Questions about SP4, S Book, Inspiron, India, etc.]

I wanted to buy a Surface.

The first dilemma I've had is whether I need a Surface Book, or a Surface Pro will do. I generally do a lot of typing, and would be doing quite a bit of engineering design (on CATIA, or ANSYS, for example). Plus, I want something that I can write on (in OneNote, etc.), so the Surface devices are the only line I am looking at (I am not sure how good Dell Inspiron 7000 series and such devices are, especially at writing). Based on preliminary guess, I decided that either the SP4 (i7 - 256 GB - 8GB) or SB (i5 - 256 GB - NVIDIA) would be decent (because of engineering software), but I'm not sure.

Now, here are some facts and questions.

1. I'm from India.
2. I don't know where in the world I will be in a few months (India, Western Europe, North America are possible, so that's pretty wide).
3. I wanted to get a Surface book, but that's not available in India. The SP4 I mentioned costs $2368 in India with the type cover, and that's $840 more than in US, which is extremely expensive. Compare this with the latest iPhone SE, which costs $632 in India. Good electronics is restrictively expensive.
4. Has anyone imported Laptops to India? How much does it cost (tax)? People pay nearly ₹3000 ($45) tax to import puny things like Raspberry PIs.
5. If I happen to go to Western Europe, how much does it cost to import a Laptop or a tablet? If I go elsewhere, I'd want to get the Book than the SP4.
6. If you have experience of using software that I need, what would you recommend?
7. Has anyone used Inspiron 7000 series and the pen that comes along (the latest version)? How is the 13 inch version?
8. Any suggestions, in general?

usually people like us who would like to get good devices that aren't available locally would ask a friend who is travelling to get it for us. Can you check with your friends to see if anyone is travelling to US or Europe anytime soon so you can get the surface book?

And I'm recommending surface book since it has the necessary graphics capabilities to run the software. Make sure RAM is 8GB minimum.

You're looking for a touchscreen device? If not, then a general laptop would do that has a graphics card and good RAM. Make sure the processor is 5th gen or higher

 

[harihar akhil]

For typing -surface pro is crap. Don't know about surface pro 4 but I see a lot of people complaining how many bugs it has. As for your cad requirement I could not find and laptops with NVIDIA 2000 gpu(similar). For ansys I think it requires cpu power than gpu for computational analysis. I personally use dell 13 7000 5th generation series and have no problem with it but the colour at edges change after few months of usage.

At last risk yourself of importing laptops may be you would end up paying an extra 20% actual selling price of the product.

 

[anon(9668900)]

Re: Options for a Surface (type device) [Questions about SP4, S Book, Inspiron, India, etc.]

usually people like us who would like to get good devices that aren't available locally would ask a friend who is travelling to get it for us. Can you check with your friends to see if anyone is travelling to US or Europe anytime soon so you can get the surface book?

And I'm recommending surface book since it has the necessary graphics capabilities to run the software. Make sure RAM is 8GB minimum.

You're looking for a touchscreen device? If not, then a general laptop would do that has a graphics card and good RAM. Make sure the processor is 5th gen or higher

Thanks a lot! I'm not able to find anyone who's coming without a laptop because only one is allowed through customs free of charge.

I want a touchscreen with a digitizer.

I was looking at the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 2-in-1 14 on Bestbuy for $900. It's got 6th i5, 2GB NVidia Graphics, 8 GB RAM, and a digitized pen that apparently works great. It costs ₹98,000 through Ebay Global Easy buy after import duty which is way lesser than even the basic Surface Book. What do you think?

 

[Chintan Gohel]

Re: Options for a Surface (type device) [Questions about SP4, S Book, Inspiron, India, etc.]

Thanks a lot! I'm not able to find anyone who's coming without a laptop because only one is allowed through customs free of charge.

I want a touchscreen with a digitizer.

I was looking at the Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga 2-in-1 14 on Bestbuy for $900. It's got 6th i5, 2GB NVidia Graphics, 8 GB RAM, and a digitized pen that apparently works great. It costs ₹98,000 through Ebay Global Easy buy after import duty which is way lesser than even the basic Surface Book. What do you think?

I think that is a good price for the specs and quality. It's 14 inch? That's a god screen size for weight and it comes with graphics card which is a good bonus.

By the way, check those softwares to see what hardware requirements they need to run properly

 

[harihar akhil]

Re: Options for a Surface (type device) [Questions about SP4, S Book, Inspiron, India, etc.]

Why not reconsider the product you are buying. Not to discourage but majority of software's (cad,ansys and other analysis software's) don't actually work with stylus and are good with mouse. If you only want a 2 in 1 then go for it but be warned windows 10 isn't touch optimized and majority of programs work like *hit when switched when having touch screen as only input device. For engineering I would recommend with xps or thinkpad carbon versions.

 

[anon(9668900)]

Re: Options for a Surface (type device) [Questions about SP4, S Book, Inspiron, India, etc.]

Why not reconsider the product you are buying. Not to discourage but majority of software's (cad,ansys and other analysis software's) don't actually work with stylus and are good with mouse. If you only want a 2 in 1 then go for it but be warned windows 10 isn't touch optimized and majority of programs work like *hit when switched when having touch screen as only input device. For engineering I would recommend with xps or thinkpad carbon versions.

I don't want a stylus for CAD. I want it to take notes, generally draw stuff, etc. XPS has no graphics card, that doesn't sit well with some programmes, and is extremely overpriced. ThinkPad Carbon is the same.

I think that is a good price for the specs and quality. It's 14 inch? That's a god screen size for weight and it comes with graphics card which is a good bonus.

By the way, check those softwares to see what hardware requirements they need to run properly

Yes, the configuration isn't a problem. I just don't want something that... I don't know, I get the feeling that Surface Books have better support, etc. because I don't know much about individually bought ThinkPad devices.

 

[Chintan Gohel]

Re: Options for a Surface (type device) [Questions about SP4, S Book, Inspiron, India, etc.]

I don't want a stylus for CAD. I want it to take notes, generally draw stuff, etc. XPS has no graphics card, that doesn't sit well with some programmes, and is extremely overpriced. ThinkPad Carbon is the same.



Yes, the configuration isn't a problem. I just don't want something that... I don't know, I get the feeling that Surface Books have better support, etc. because I don't know much about individually bought ThinkPad devices.

which has better support both locally and online?

 

[anon(9668900)]

Re: Options for a Surface (type device) [Questions about SP4, S Book, Inspiron, India, etc.]

Thinkpad 14 has excellent support in the US and countries where the similar ThinkPad Yoga 460 is sold. In India, it isn't.

The XPS isn't for me. I'm also, however, considering the Envy 14 (i5-6th and 4GB graphics card with a 12GB RAM). It's cheaper than the ThinkPad by about ₹15,000 (which is a lot!) but it has no touch. I don't know how I feel about that... Perhaps I should just get the non-touch one, because of service and support in India.

The main culprit here is the April Build conference featuring Windows Ink. -_-