I Got Myself A Surface 3!

[spinedoc77]

Yeah, it took a bit, but I've finally got it running well. As you can tell from my posts above, I'm not too patient of a person, but now that it's moving on full steam ahead, I love it. About the only thing that'll make me take it back now will be MS introducing the Surface 4 this coming Tuesday.

As for Win8 vs. Win10, I'll admit that I don't have much hands on time with 8 on a tablet, but 10 in tablet mode works perfectly well for me. I could see someone missing the Charms Bar, but the action center does roughly the same thing, just not as thumb friendly. Task View I think is better than swishing through apps one at a time. An Expose like setup is something I've always wanted on my iPad, and now that I have it here, I can multitask like a mofo. I have no complaints as far as base usability goes.

The only thing I wish is that all the icons in the notification area would show up in tablet mode. It kinda sucks having to jump back to the desktop to kill off apps that go nesting there when you close them.

My biggest gripe so far is what a complete piece of crap the Edge browser is in win10. Modern IE in win8 was so much superior in every aspect. Once MS fixes Edge to have swipe gestures, be able to go full screen and have extensions then I'll accept the other deficiencies in tablet functionality and switch over. I've installed win10 onto my surface pro 3 about 4 times now, forcing myself to accept it. I usually give up after a week or so and uninstall it in disgust.

Charms bar was awesome. I'm just so utterly confused why MS would nix something as useful as the brightness and volume slider. Also just plain obvious stuff, like having time, battery life, WiFi signal, etc when swiping the charms bar. Task view isn't my cup of tea, but it's ok and I can get used to it. But I can get used to all that stuff even if I hate it, but I cannot ever give up my Modern IE.

I do have win10 on my home and work desktop, it's a great OS for desktop use. But don't get me wrong, even win10 trounces all over iOS in a big way. I highly suggest you pick up a dock, they are routinely on sale for $100 or so, it's an awesome feeling just plopping the surface into a dock and having a full computer, mouse, keyboard, big monitor, external storage, etc. My SP3 is my main PC at work, but when I need to I can pop it out of the dock if I need to show studies or anything to a patient.

 

[Renzatic]

My biggest gripe so far is what a complete piece of crap the Edge browser is in win10. Modern IE in win8 was so much superior in every aspect. Once MS fixes Edge to have swipe gestures, be able to go full screen and have extensions then I'll accept the other deficiencies in tablet functionality and switch over. I've installed win10 onto my surface pro 3 about 4 times now, forcing myself to accept it. I usually give up after a week or so and uninstall it in disgust.

I'll admit that Modern IE was probably one of the best touch based browsers around, and Edge could use some more gestures, but I don't think it's all that bad otherwise. I use almost exactly how I used Safari on the iPad. The zoom works, it scrolls smooth, and unlike Safari, I can switch around between 10 tabs without having to reload any pages. Like on the desktop, it's basic, but it works.

Charms bar was awesome. I'm just so utterly confused why MS would nix something as useful as the brightness and volume slider. Also just plain obvious stuff, like having time, battery life, WiFi signal, etc when swiping the charms bar. Task view isn't my cup of tea, but it's ok and I can get used to it. But I can get used to all that stuff even if I hate it, but I cannot ever give up my Modern IE.

Well, you've got the volume slider on the taskbar, and the brightness button toggles it by quarters, which is perfectly fine to me. Really, I think we're arguing subjective opinion here. I think Win10 works because it creates a solid touch interface that still feels pretty familiar to the desktop, so it's easy to switch between the two without making it feel like one is divorced from the other. But I can see why some people prefer Win8, because it did go farther with trying to be a good purely touch environment.

I do have win10 on my home and work desktop, it's a great OS for desktop use. But don't get me wrong, even win10 trounces all over iOS in a big way. I highly suggest you pick up a dock, they are routinely on sale for $100 or so, it's an awesome feeling just plopping the surface into a dock and having a full computer, mouse, keyboard, big monitor, external storage, etc. My SP3 is my main PC at work, but when I need to I can pop it out of the dock if I need to show studies or anything to a patient.

I'll probably skip out on the dock, because I have my desktop PC, and most of what I do is on site work. But I am very quickly starting to see the appeal of the keyboard cover. It's not something you absolutely need to be able to use the Surface, but there are times when it'd be really, really nice to have.

 

[Renzatic]

Just got through hooking up a 360 controller to my shiny new Surface 3, and streaming Dirty Rally through Steam from my main computer to the tablet downstairs.

I AM THE KING OF NERDS! \m/

 

[apolloa]

Just got through hooking up a 360 controller to my shiny new Surface 3, and streaming Dirty Rally through Steam from my main computer to the tablet downstairs.

I AM THE KING OF NERDS! \m/

Haha, I got Doom 3 and Half Life 1 running on my Xperia Tablet Compact once just because, felt nerdy after hehe.

 

[Renzatic]

Haha, I got Doom 3 and Half Life 1 running on my Xperia Tablet Compact once just because, felt nerdy after hehe.

Still got you beat on nerdness. I put a PS1 emulator on there, and used another program to overlay touch controls on it.

That's right. Still king.

 

[apolloa]

Still got you beat on nerdness. I put a PS1 emulator on there, and used another program to overlay touch controls on it.

That's right. Still king.

How is it running? Is it still smooth and fast? What spec did you get?
And I'll give you that with the PS1 emulator haha.

 

[Renzatic]

How is it running? Is it still smooth and fast? What spec did you get?
And I'll give you that with the PS1 emulator haha.

Yup, smooth as silk, though you have to disable hiDPI support in the .exe properties to be able to see more than a quarter of the screen.

And I've got the 128GB/4GB Surface 3 to run it on. Though a PS1 emulator doesn't take a lot of processing oomph. They've been around since at least the Pentium 2 days.

 

[ucfgrad93]

I didn't think they would for that very reason. But if they surprise us all and announce the Surface 4 with a Core M processor or something like, I'll be marching back to Best Buy to make the swap.



It's surprisingly speedy, stout little machine, yeah. I've been playing XCOM on it these last few, and while I have to set everything to low at 1280x800 to get it to run above 30 FPS, it still looks great on the small screen. It looks better, runs faster, and loads quicker than it did on my old iPad 3.

I'd say that provided you're willing to stick to older stuff, and indie titles, it's a great little portable game machine. And the most amazing thing about it is that it doesn't get all that hot, even when you're pushing it.

edit: I do have one more nit to pick. Gotta question the wisdom of putting the sleep button next to the volume rocker. I've hit it a few times by accident.

I'm glad you are enjoying it. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

 

[Renzatic]

I'm glad you are enjoying it. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

It started out as a bit of a tough love relationship, but it grew on me.

 

[nickchallis92]

Get Age of Mythology running on that bad boy!

 

[JackieInCo]

I use my MBP as main computer but I still have plenty of uses for my SP3, things that I just can't do on a Mac without installing Windows and I don't want to do that.

I had problems with my touching anywhere on the screen and the charms would open. Sometimes even tapping a link in a browser would open the charms. I read on the MS support forums that someone suggested running the Sony touch screen calibration tool even though it's for Sony devices and I ran it. It fixed my problems and I have been loving it ever since. Great device, can't say enough about it.

 

[Renzatic]

I had problems with my touching anywhere on the screen and the charms would open

I've seen that problem before. Pissed me off to no end. I remember this one computer I messed around with awhile back, you could barely even touch the trackpad without accidentally bringing up the charms bar, or launching the start menu. It was practically unusable due to that.

Fortunately, that doesn't happen on my Surface. I've had a couple of occasions where I'll be messing around with a desktop app that has a slider or button too far to the right of the screen, and I'll call up the Action Center while trying to hit it. But that's a rare occurrence.

 

[JackieInCo]

I've seen that problem before. Pissed me off to no end. I remember this one computer I messed around with awhile back, you could barely even touch the trackpad without accidentally bringing up the charms bar, or launching the start menu. It was practically unusable due to that.

Fortunately, that doesn't happen on my Surface. I've had a couple of occasions where I'll be messing around with a desktop app that has a slider or button too far to the right of the screen, and I'll call up the Action Center while trying to hit it. But that's a rare occurrence.

Well, I had the same problem when I tried upgrading to Windows 10 before I ran the calibration tool. In Windows 10, touching anywhere on the screen would bring up the Action Center. I really came close to just throwing the thing across the room that day. I even made a thread about it here.

Having upgraded back to Windows 10 yet.

Glad you fixed your problems. Glad mine are fixed as well.

 

[Billy95Tech]

but it's also MUCH more powerful than anything else non-windows out there.

Wrong. actually the IPad Air 2(with A8X chip), Nexus 9(Tegra K1) is a lot more powerful then the highest end Surface 3 even with the highest end Atom chip (Atom x7-Z8700 chip).

But if you are talking about the Surface Pro 3/4 or any other Windows tablets/hybrid with a I5, I7, or M core cpu then you will be right!!

 

[spinstorm]

You do know Microsoft are announcing Surface 4 today right?

Hope your within your return period...

 

[JackieInCo]

You do know Microsoft are announcing Surface 4 today right?

Hope your within your return period...

The OP bought a Surface 3 and not a Pro. I doubt they will be introducing a new Surface 4 today, just the Pro. I could be wrong though.

 

[MasterRyu2011]

The geek in me says "Why didn't you wait for the Surface Pro 4 announcement??!?!?!"

At the very least, you'd save yourself some money when they reduce the price of the older model.

 

[apolloa]

Wrong. actually the IPad Air 2(with A8X chip), Nexus 9(Tegra K1) is a lot more powerful then the highest end Surface 3 even with the highest end Atom chip (Atom x7-Z8700 chip).

But if you are talking about the Surface Pro 3/4 or any other Windows tablets/hybrid with a I5, I7, or M core cpu then you will be right!!

I would argue that because running full Windows programmes could bring an IPad to its knees for instance, as an overall system I think the Surface the more powerful one.

 

[spinedoc77]

Wrong. actually the IPad Air 2(with A8X chip), Nexus 9(Tegra K1) is a lot more powerful then the highest end Surface 3 even with the highest end Atom chip (Atom x7-Z8700 chip).

But if you are talking about the Surface Pro 3/4 or any other Windows tablets/hybrid with a I5, I7, or M core cpu then you will be right!!

RIGHT! A core i7 will blow away the ipad air 2.

But I hear ya on the non pro version. Of course it depends on what the user is doing. Do photoshop, CAD, PC games, desktop applications, etc run faster on the ipad? Benchmarks are just benchmarks, but don't mean so much when you are comparing different types of devices. Even though the s3 and ipad are in the same device category, they are so much different in use. Where they overlap in use the benchmarks don't really matter, web browsing, consumption, photos, video, etc.

 

[Renzatic]

The geek in me says "Why didn't you wait for the Surface Pro 4 announcement??!?!?!"

At the very least, you'd save yourself some money when they reduce the price of the older model.

I'm still well within my return period. And right now, I'm tempted to use it. For $200 more than what I've already spent, I can get a much faster computer with a better pen and type cover, and it's not much heavier or thicker. The only thing I don't like is that it still has a fan in it.

Got some internal debating to do.

 

[maflynn]

I'd jump on the SP4. While I do like my SP3, its a nice machine. That updates raise the bar and if you're spending that much money, why not the most bang for your buck

 

[spinedoc77]

I'm still well within my return period. And right now, I'm tempted to use it. For $200 more than what I've already spent, I can get a much faster computer with a better pen and type cover, and it's not much heavier or thicker. The only thing I don't like is that it still has a fan in it.

Got some internal debating to do.

Hmm does the M3 still have a fan? I didn't see anything either way on it, but even if it does I'll bet it gets throttled much less than the i5/7. The M3 may be the one to get, although I'm bummed you can only get it with 4gb and 128gb max. As someone who never really used the power of my SP3 I'd gladly get the M3 if it came with 8gb ram and 256 or 512gb hard drive.

 

[Renzatic]

I'd jump on the SP4. While I do like my SP3, its a nice machine. That updates raise the bar and if you're spending that much money, why not the most bang for your buck

That's what I'm leaning towards. I was at Best Buy yesterday picking up a router, and I took the chance to compare the size and weight of the SP3 to my S3. While it is bigger and heavier, it's not so large it makes a huge difference in usage. The Core M SP4 might just be perfect for me, and I only have to wait another 20 days to get it.

Hmm does the M3 still have a fan? I didn't see anything either way on it, but even if it does I'll bet it gets throttled much less than the i5/7. The M3 may be the one to get, although I'm bummed you can only get it with 4gb and 128gb max. As someone who never really used the power of my SP3 I'd gladly get the M3 if it came with 8gb ram and 256 or 512gb hard drive.

4GB/128GB is fine for me, since I don't plan on doing anything TOO heavy on it. Though I don't know about the M3 exactly, I know that some of the SP4s do have one, per this snazzy/corny little video...

This is the waffle issue for me, because I really don't want to hear my tablet while I'm using it. The iPad has spoiled me in this regard. Though since the M3 is designed to be fanless anyway, it might just be a redundant fail-safe, keeping it cool without ever spinning up.

And it's already up for sale on the MS Store.

Hmm.

 

[Renzatic]

Looks like the M3 is a bit lighter, and uses a fanless configuration compared to the i series SP4's.

I might be taking back the S3 after all.

 

[spinedoc77]

Looks like the M3 is a bit lighter, and uses a fanless configuration compared to the i series SP4's.

I might be taking back the S3 after all.

Hmm, I'd like to see benchmarks between Atom and the M3, I'm curious how much of a tradeoff the M3 is versus the i5/i7. If I'm going to take a big hit to go fatness then I would probably just consider going back to the surface 3 and getting better battery life. Can't you get the surface 3 with better configurations than the M3 SP4? More ram/HD?

For me though I might go for the i7 as the GPU has 64mb of edram and is supposed to make a big difference in graphics. My dream of playing some games on my SP's is coming closer, although my SP3 did a pretty decent job of it.