Surface 3 vs. Surface Pro 3 i3

[Isror]

So, looking at the price point of a new Surface 3 4gb/128gb at $599 and some of the refurbished (by Microsoft) on ebay Surface Pro 3 i3 4gb/64gb for $679 I'm almost at a loss of what to do. Add on the pen for the Surface 3 and that's another $50 where as the SP3 i3 comes with it so now we're talking a difference in price of roughly 20-30 bucks.

Any others having the same ideas? The i3 is still hands down better performance than any Atom chip but the smaller size and 10hrs video playback on the Surface 3 is very appealing.

I already have a Surface Pro 3 i5 8gb/256gb that I gave to my wife.

Posted via the Windows Central App for Android

 

[Richard Servello]

My wife has the i3 and its fantastic. I had a Dell venue 11 pro, which is basically the same as the new surface 3 and it ran awesomely. I replaced it with the i7 sp3... But as a casual usage device, the surface 3 should be perfect. Especially when compared to the same priced, inferior iPad.

 

[the_thunderbird]

MS Office Personal is also included with the 3 which is another cost "saver."

However because of performance and form factor I've moved to the Pro 3 and am happy with that decision!

 

[Isror]

I've already been a subscriber to Office 365 so while a nice sentiment it's not really a value add for me to include office (maybe that it's a license I don't have to count towards one of mine but other than that)

I just can't make my mind up... Surface Pro 3 w/i3 or the Surface 3...

Posted via the Windows Central App for Android

 

[rumnyc]

i am thinking about the same but few things to consider:

1) size--does 12 vs 10 matter to you? to me 12 is too big, 10 is better since i will use it more as a tablet.

2) fan--i find that many ill behaving windows programs make the cpu work too hard and i find fans very annoying. passive calling (i.e. fanless) is a factor for me.

3) battery life

4) do you run anything that requires the extra horsepower? if skype/browsing/office are all you do, then s3 should be plenty. if you even casually game, then i3 is probably better (neither good enough for more than casual gaming).

if you carry a tablet with a laptop (as i do) then s3 is clearly the way to go. if you are on a budget and not in any rush, wait for s3 refurb for a few months

 

[P_Devil]

The performance gaps between the two may not be as big as people think. They are turned away from the "Atom" banding remembering netbooks from 7 years ago that would take 20 minutes to boot into Windows XP. I think people will be hard pressed to actually notice a difference between the Core i3 SP3 and Surface 3 in everyday usage, not unless they are running CPU intensive games and niche programs (heavy Photoshop, AutoCAD, etc.).

 

[Richard Servello]

On the rare occasion that the fan kicks in... Is pretty quiet.

 

[onlysublime]

Microsoft themselves said the Surface 3 is 70% performance of the i3. And that falls in line with pricing (70% of $800 is $560). $800 for a new SP3 with pen versus $550 for S3 with pen.

If you're going to get a pen and keyboard anyway and the price difference is minimal to you and the screen size of the SP3 is not too big, get the SP3.

I would definitely get the SP3 refurbished over the S3 new. Other key aspects to keep in mind besides the CPU/GPU speed difference is the RAM difference (4GB versus 2Gb) and the storage (SSD of the SP3 versus eMMC of the S3).

 

[BSobotta]

Microsoft themselves said the Surface 3 is 70% performance of the i3. And that falls in line with pricing (70% of $800 is $560). $800 for a new SP3 with pen versus $550 for S3 with pen.

If you're going to get a pen and keyboard anyway and the price difference is minimal to you and the screen size of the SP3 is not too big, get the SP3.

I would definitely get the SP3 refurbished over the S3 new. Other key aspects to keep in mind besides the CPU/GPU speed difference is the RAM difference (4GB versus 2Gb) and the storage (SSD of the SP3 versus eMMC of the S3).

Pretty sure they said the Surface 3 will run at about 83% as fast as an i3?

 

[P_Devil]

Pretty sure they said the Surface 3 will run at about 83% as fast as an i3?

I think they said that the CPU was 83% (or 85%) as powerful as the i3, the eMMC performance is ~50% as fast as the SP3 SSD, and that 3D Mark Cloud Gate puts the Surface 3 (overall) at ~70% of the i3 SP3. That's still not bad for a CPU that consumes far less power, slower eMMC (which is still better than hard drives), and low power RAM all in something that costs less and is in a smaller, lighter package.

 

[onkel_axel]

i got the same Problem. bust why not just wait some time for the Surface 3 to drop in price`?

the Surface 3 has also way better front facing and rear camera. if u skype much and like to take some Pictures form the board in the students class, Surface 3 got a slight Advantage, too

i prefer the Surface 3 over the Surface pro 3 for my usecases. but only, if the Price for bundles will be at an decent Point.
550 bucks including cover and pen.

 

[P_Devil]

The price of the Surface 3 will decrease only slightly before the Surface 4's release. This isn't something that Microsoft is going to steadily decrease in price over time. The only difference will be what other retail stores do and if Microsoft has any special promotions like $100 off a PC of $600 or more (like they had last year for their back to school promotion). Costco is already offering Surface 3 bundles. They are selling the 64GB version with the red keyboard and silver pen for $599 (so an extra $100 gets you a keyboard cover and pen), the same bundle for the 128GB version is $699. That's about as good as it's going to get in the perceivable future unless MS runs their back to school promotion for less expensive machines.

Plus there's also the 10% student discount they always offer. It pretty much brings everything down to the same price as the Costco bundles ($702 for the 128GB Surface 3 and everything, $612 for the 64GB Surface 3 and everything).

 

[dakranii]

Costco is already offering Surface 3 bundles. They are selling the 64GB version with the red keyboard and silver pen for $599 (so an extra $100 gets you a keyboard cover and pen), the same bundle for the 128GB version is $699. That's about as good as it's going to get in the perceivable future unless MS runs their back to school promotion for less expensive machines.

Just wondering if you were seeing something I wasn't. The Costco bundle I see is only for the black keyboard.

 

[P_Devil]

Ah yes, it's a black type cover. Sorry, the picture for the article here on Windows Central had the red keyboard. Either way it's still not bad for people who don't have a valid student ID but I would rather pay the extra $3 ($702 vs $699 for the 128GB Surface 3) to get a type cover the color I want along with a different colored pen.