Which Pro Configuration Would you Recommend?

[jo-pa]

Hello everyone,

I am looking to purchase a surface pro (3 or 4). I guess I have a few questions though for those of you who own them on what you would recommend that I get. I am looking for a machine that has a lot of portability to it and enough power to hopefully edit and render short videos (no longer than 10 minutes) run adobe photoshop, light room, and premiere. I also wanted to be able to stream live tv through my usb tv tuner and through Kodi. I am also looking for a machine that can just do every day tasks at the office when needed (type documents, browse the web etc) If there would be issues I could get a lower cost model surface and get a small pc to use for editing and media if needed but I am trying to avoid this and do everything with the surface if possible. I guess my questions would be:

Which configuration would you get the most bang for your buck if you were on a budget?

Will I be able to run these programs without major issues?

Will the live tv and kodi take a beating on my surface's SSD drive/battery life?

Will the tv or editing performance be hindered by the graphics chip?

My initial thought is to go with the Pro 4 128 i5 4gb and build a small pc for the media but maybe I can potentially avoid this.

Thank you for your advice!

 

[kristalsoldier]

Hi...

Firstly, you said, "if you are on a budget". What is your budget?

Secondly, till a last week, I used to use a SP3 (i5/4GB/128GB). I bought this on the day the SP3 was released, which means I used it for over two years. It worked very well for me. At that time, I had the option to either buy this version or the one above (8GB/256GB) which was obviously more expensive. But I have found that while the 4GB of RAM is enough, the 128GB of storage space - though I never used it all up - had very little overhead room, which had me - especially in the latter stages - often looking at "available drive space". Of course, I did have a 64 GB mSD card in it plus OneDrive, but still. I started thinking about storage space when MS in all its wisdown did away with the place holders in OneDrive, which made the size of the OneDrive file large (in my case since the folders that I choose to keep synced are quite large).

I bought the SP4 last week because there was a sudden and dramatic yellowing of the screen on my SP3 and I know how quickly that can deteriorate, which is a shame because there was nothing else wrong with my SP3. Anyways, I took the opportunity to get the i5/8GB/256GB version this time (even though I was really stretching my budget). But I am glad I did because (1) the device just feels faster and smoother (function of various things to be sure, but the 8GB RAM can only help not harm!!) (2) I was very against that Windows button on the screen of the SP3!! (3) 256GB is a nice level of storage space to have. More so because I found a 128GB Samsung EvoPlus MSD card, which I put into my SP4. Now in conjunction with OneDrive, I think I am in a comfortable space. And, for me, this is the ideal combination. I am quite sure that I will not have to have more than 500GB of data available locally. To have 500GB data, I just have to add a 256GB mSD card, which I will when I find a good deal on one, Till then the 128GB of space is a welcome thing (of course, this logic would have also worked on the SP3).

Thirdly, for the programs/ applications you have mentioned, I think a 4GB of RAM will be the bare minimum. So, if your budget allows, then the 8GB version will only future-proof you to some degree and will give you some headroom if you need it. I am not sure about your TV tuner thing though. Someone else will have to respond to that.

I don't know about the TV performance (no idea actually), the photo/ video editing will probably be better done on the SP4 by virtue of the chip it is carrying as compared to the SP3. You may wish to re-verify this, but I don't think I am wrong about this.

You probably have or are thinking of a multi-monitor set up - particularly where your TV/ editing interests are concerned. If you go with the SP4 (which you probably would have to). then you will probably also have to consider a dock. I have no experience with other docks, but I do use the new Surface dock and I have one external monitor and two external drives (one externally powered) that work through it. It works well, but then again, I really don't do extensive editing work on pics or videos and I don't watch TV (though I do watch a lot of films for which this set up works fine). I am mentioning this here just as a matter of course.

Good luck with your set up!

 

[sinime]

I wouldn't choose a model with less than 8GB RAM and 256 Storage.

Been using my SP2 (8GB / 256GB), for I think it's been 2.5 years now... I use it daily and even prefer it (portability wise) to my newer HP Omen (purchased for gaming, but now doesn't get much use, albeit mainly because the fans on the bottom don't lend itself to lap usage). I started out with a 4GB / 128GB model and quickly realized I would need more storage and sold it to get the 8GB / 256GB one. I don't do video editing so can't attest to how well it will handle it, but get the best CPU you can afford for that scenario.

 

[jo-pa]

Wow! Thank you both so much for taking the time and writing the great responses! Really helpful! I am going to have to take all of those things into consideration. And on a budget eh. yes, I do know these devices are not cheap. The SP4 i5 4gb 128 currently has a price tag of 699 without the keyboard which is very attractive but Im thinking I may need to bump up a bit. Thank you both again for taking the time, you were a big help! :smile:

 

[kristalsoldier]

:grin: