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balamw

Moderator emeritus
Aug 16, 2005
19,365
979
New England
Surprisingly, the 8/256 model like you are looking at feels if anything faster than my main laptop, a Thinkpad T440s with 12gigs ram, an i7, and a 1TB SSD.

That's great news, as for me it would be replacing my work issued T431s.

I'm still on the fence with the i5 or i7 models, as much of my work is numerical computation.

B
 

zhenya

macrumors 604
Jan 6, 2005
6,931
3,681
That's great news, as for me it would be replacing my work issued T431s.

I'm still on the fence with the i5 or i7 models, as much of my work is numerical computation.

Yeah, I'm never processor bound by any of my workflow so the i7 is overkill for me. Overall though this machine feels exceptionally fast even with the i5.

I am a bit frustrated by the sleep situation. Again this morning I closed the cover with 30% battery and came back an hour or two later and it was at 7% and had never gone to sleep. This has always been a bit of an issue for me with Windows laptops because if I already have somewhat limited battery life, I don't want to be spending it while the computer should be idle.
 

balamw

Moderator emeritus
Aug 16, 2005
19,365
979
New England
This has always been a bit of an issue for me with Windows laptops because if I already have somewhat limited battery life, I don't want to be spending it while the computer should be idle.

Yeah, power management in Windows has always been a weak spot. I've often found my Thinkpad didn't go to sleep as I pull it out boiling hot from its sleeve.

B
 

Renzatic

Suspended
I'm still on the fence with the i5 or i7 models, as much of my work is numerical computation.

I'd personally go with the i5, since the SP3's rather iffy heat management means the faster processor is more likely to be throttled while being taxed, mooting any computational advantages it has.

Yeah, you might be able to eek out a little more performance with the i7, especially if you hammer the CPU in quick bursts, rather than long sustained periods, but it's not enough to justify the $250 added cost in my opinion.
 

mi7chy

macrumors G4
Oct 24, 2014
10,627
11,298
Yeah, power management in Windows has always been a weak spot. I've often found my Thinkpad didn't go to sleep as I pull it out boiling hot from its sleeve.

Intel is probably more to blame considering it seems to be a common issue across different operating systems. Too many transistors, legacy baggage and high TDP and not being designed from the ground up for mobile as ARM. Perhaps we'll see improvements with 14nm Broadwell and Skylake.
 

balamw

Moderator emeritus
Aug 16, 2005
19,365
979
New England
Intel is probably more to blame considering it seems to be a common issue across different operating systems.

Sleep/wake has not been an issue for me in any way on Intel based Macs running OS X. Only when Windows is introduced. (I've run Windows 7 as the principal OS on MBPs before, and am on my seventh Intel Mac).

This is why I blame Windows.

Even though it's usually some third party legacy program that is directly responsible. (But this is always the "plus" or being able to run Windows. Access to the huge catalog of legacy applications...).

It's actually one of the things that drove me back to Mac OS X. Consistent sleep/wake behavior.

B
 

mi7chy

macrumors G4
Oct 24, 2014
10,627
11,298
Knock on wood but haven't run into the issue on my two SP3s but perhaps I'm not running the combination of legacy software that prevents Intel from sleeping. Still the pros of SP3 far outweigh the quirks.

For those looking to buy check your local Craigslist if available. Just picked up a recent 38th week of 2014 manufactured and newly sealed i5/8GB/256GB for $900 and the seller provided a copy of Amazon receipt for warranty. Also see newly sealed i7/8GB/256GB for $1100 but i5 is plenty.
 
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booksbooks

Suspended
Aug 28, 2013
794
795
Knock on wood but haven't run into the issue on my two SP3s but perhaps I'm not running the combination of legacy software that prevents Intel from sleeping. Still the pros of SP3 far outweigh the quirks.

For those looking to buy check your local Craigslist if available. Just picked up a recent 38th week of 2014 manufactured and newly sealed i5/8GB/256GB for $900 and the seller provided a copy of Amazon receipt for warranty. Also see newly sealed i7/8GB/256GB for $1100 but i5 is plenty.

You paid too much. I found two i5/8GB/256GB for cheaper. I just bought one for $800 CAD. Sealed. Been using it all morning. Flawless.
 

zhenya

macrumors 604
Jan 6, 2005
6,931
3,681
Intel is probably more to blame considering it seems to be a common issue across different operating systems. Too many transistors, legacy baggage and high TDP and not being designed from the ground up for mobile as ARM. Perhaps we'll see improvements with 14nm Broadwell and Skylake.

It's not Intel. It's the way Windows is designed. There are way too many places where a driver, piece of hardware, or program can interfere with the sleep process. This is the advantage Apple has by maintaining much tighter control over OSX. My wife virtually never reboots her MBA and leaves every program she ever opens for months open and she never ever has sleep issues.
 

mi7chy

macrumors G4
Oct 24, 2014
10,627
11,298
It's not Intel. It's the way Windows is designed. There are way too many places where a driver, piece of hardware, or program can interfere with the sleep process. This is the advantage Apple has by maintaining much tighter control over OSX. My wife virtually never reboots her MBA and leaves every program she ever opens for months open and she never ever has sleep issues.

OSX isn't immune and has slee/wake issues too. Just do a search. Here are some examples:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6754210

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6605926
 

sracer

macrumors G4
Apr 9, 2010
10,405
13,290
where hip is spoken
OSX isn't immune and has slee/wake issues too. Just do a search. Here are some examples:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6754210

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6605926
Although in the most technical of senses you are correct (OSX is not immune), the 2 examples you listed aren't quite applicable. They are referencing sleep issues with the Mac Mini rather than tablet or notebook.

The entire Surface line has been affected by sleep/wake issues of one sort or another... from the Surface RT to the Surface Pro 3. Microsoft seems to have improved things lately with the SP3, but this issue isn't rare.
 

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,682
43,740
Well, I picked up an SP3 yesterday. I've not had time to fully put it through its paces but so far I'm very happy with it. I want to give it time to make sure its a purchase I can live with.

So far, working with it on my lap is fine, I had it on there for hours so problem at all, in fact I'd say it performed better on my lap then my rMBP which would cause my legs to get hot, i.e., the bottom of the laptop gets quite toasty.

The keyboard is indeed inferior to that of the MBP's, I knew that going in. Still, I was hoping for a bit better experience. Its not bad, but the MBP's keyboard is better.

The much maligned trackpad isn't that bad at all, I was fine with it. One oddity is that it had reverse scrolling on it, and no easy way to alter the setting. Very un-microsoft in that sense. A quick google and I found there's an app to adjust it, and I was back off to the races.

Performance seems good but to be honest I've not really done too much other then loading my software.

Battery performance its great so far

Portability, this is the major reason why I bought it and its fantastic.
 

jamezr

macrumors P6
Aug 7, 2011
16,077
19,077
US
Well, I picked up an SP3 yesterday. I've not had time to fully put it through its paces but so far I'm very happy with it. I want to give it time to make sure its a purchase I can live with.

So far, working with it on my lap is fine, I had it on there for hours so problem at all, in fact I'd say it performed better on my lap then my rMBP which would cause my legs to get hot, i.e., the bottom of the laptop gets quite toasty.

The keyboard is indeed inferior to that of the MBP's, I knew that going in. Still, I was hoping for a bit better experience. Its not bad, but the MBP's keyboard is better.

The much maligned trackpad isn't that bad at all, I was fine with it. One oddity is that it had reverse scrolling on it, and no easy way to alter the setting. Very un-microsoft in that sense. A quick google and I found there's an app to adjust it, and I was back off to the races.

Performance seems good but to be honest I've not really done too much other then loading my software.

Battery performance its great so far

Portability, this is the major reason why I bought it and its fantastic.
Congrats on getting the SP3! Can't wait to read more about your experiences with it.
I am still on the fence about getting one. My major concerns are the stability of the keyboard when it is on my lap and battery life.
What specs did you end up getting?
 

zhenya

macrumors 604
Jan 6, 2005
6,931
3,681
Well, I picked up an SP3 yesterday. I've not had time to fully put it through its paces but so far I'm very happy with it. I want to give it time to make sure its a purchase I can live with.

So far, working with it on my lap is fine, I had it on there for hours so problem at all, in fact I'd say it performed better on my lap then my rMBP which would cause my legs to get hot, i.e., the bottom of the laptop gets quite toasty.

The keyboard is indeed inferior to that of the MBP's, I knew that going in. Still, I was hoping for a bit better experience. Its not bad, but the MBP's keyboard is better.

The much maligned trackpad isn't that bad at all, I was fine with it. One oddity is that it had reverse scrolling on it, and no easy way to alter the setting. Very un-microsoft in that sense. A quick google and I found there's an app to adjust it, and I was back off to the races.

Performance seems good but to be honest I've not really done too much other then loading my software.

Battery performance its great so far

Portability, this is the major reason why I bought it and its fantastic.

The keyboard is not perfect, but for whatever reason, for me, even as someone who is quite particular about keyboards - having expensive mechanical ones as my choice at my desks at home and work - it isn't driving me that crazy. I think it's probably just due to where I set my expectations. I haven't used a laptop for typing heavily all that much lately and the Surface is really being used in place of both my laptop and my iPad - but I had gotten used to doing so much of my typing on touch screens that having a halfway decent keyboard that barely adds to the bulk of the device is a huge improvement. The fact that it now snaps magnetically at an angle is also a huge improvement as I often found a way to prop up my laptops to get the keyboard at an angle it's a bonus that this one does that automatically. Also, compared to the old SP keyboards, having it elevated gives the keyboard a bit of give that slightly makes up for the lack of key travel - at least your fingers aren't bottoming out on a solid surface like with the old model.

The touchpad is a huge huge improvement over the old ones. It's pretty passable although I had an issue yesterday where the touchpad only half worked after waking from sleep. I could use the mouse but the two finger scroll, edge gestures, tap to click all didn't work. It was almost unusable like that!
 

sracer

macrumors G4
Apr 9, 2010
10,405
13,290
where hip is spoken
Well, I picked up an SP3 yesterday. I've not had time to fully put it through its paces but so far I'm very happy with it. I want to give it time to make sure its a purchase I can live with.

So far, working with it on my lap is fine, I had it on there for hours so problem at all, in fact I'd say it performed better on my lap then my rMBP which would cause my legs to get hot, i.e., the bottom of the laptop gets quite toasty.

The keyboard is indeed inferior to that of the MBP's, I knew that going in. Still, I was hoping for a bit better experience. Its not bad, but the MBP's keyboard is better.

The much maligned trackpad isn't that bad at all, I was fine with it. One oddity is that it had reverse scrolling on it, and no easy way to alter the setting. Very un-microsoft in that sense. A quick google and I found there's an app to adjust it, and I was back off to the races.

Performance seems good but to be honest I've not really done too much other then loading my software.

Battery performance its great so far

Portability, this is the major reason why I bought it and its fantastic.
Congrats! I know that it has been a long journey to get to this point. :) Enjoy!
 

spinedoc77

macrumors G4
Jun 11, 2009
11,488
5,413
Well, I picked up an SP3 yesterday. I've not had time to fully put it through its paces but so far I'm very happy with it. I want to give it time to make sure its a purchase I can live with.

So far, working with it on my lap is fine, I had it on there for hours so problem at all, in fact I'd say it performed better on my lap then my rMBP which would cause my legs to get hot, i.e., the bottom of the laptop gets quite toasty.

The keyboard is indeed inferior to that of the MBP's, I knew that going in. Still, I was hoping for a bit better experience. Its not bad, but the MBP's keyboard is better.

The much maligned trackpad isn't that bad at all, I was fine with it. One oddity is that it had reverse scrolling on it, and no easy way to alter the setting. Very un-microsoft in that sense. A quick google and I found there's an app to adjust it, and I was back off to the races.

Performance seems good but to be honest I've not really done too much other then loading my software.

Battery performance its great so far

Portability, this is the major reason why I bought it and its fantastic.

Congrats, I know you've been going back and forth on the decision. You'll get used to the keyboard and learn to love it for its portability. IMO the MacBook Air's keyboards is only a tiny bit better, but they feel fairly similar to me. Certainly a full MBP has a better keyboard but then again it's a much bigger compromise in size and weight, not to mention the lack of tablet features.
 

nospleen

macrumors 68030
Dec 8, 2002
2,726
1,591
Texas
Well, I picked up an SP3 yesterday. I've not had time to fully put it through its paces but so far I'm very happy with it. I want to give it time to make sure its a purchase I can live with.

So far, working with it on my lap is fine, I had it on there for hours so problem at all, in fact I'd say it performed better on my lap then my rMBP which would cause my legs to get hot, i.e., the bottom of the laptop gets quite toasty.

The keyboard is indeed inferior to that of the MBP's, I knew that going in. Still, I was hoping for a bit better experience. Its not bad, but the MBP's keyboard is better.

The much maligned trackpad isn't that bad at all, I was fine with it. One oddity is that it had reverse scrolling on it, and no easy way to alter the setting. Very un-microsoft in that sense. A quick google and I found there's an app to adjust it, and I was back off to the races.

Performance seems good but to be honest I've not really done too much other then loading my software.

Battery performance its great so far

Portability, this is the major reason why I bought it and its fantastic.

There is a setting under mouse and touchpad, but you have to have the keyboard attached or it won't show the touchpad options...

Settings/Change PC Settings/PC and devices/Mouse and touchpad/reverse scrolling direction
 

handsome pete

macrumors 68000
Aug 15, 2008
1,725
259
I'd personally go with the i5, since the SP3's rather iffy heat management means the faster processor is more likely to be throttled while being taxed, mooting any computational advantages it has.

Yeah, you might be able to eek out a little more performance with the i7, especially if you hammer the CPU in quick bursts, rather than long sustained periods, but it's not enough to justify the $250 added cost in my opinion.

Keep in mind that the i7 also gives you a bump in graphics as well (Intel HD 5000 vs. Intel HD 4400). So that may be a factor for someone.
 

JackieInCo

Suspended
Jul 18, 2013
5,178
1,601
Colorado
Battery life seems to have taken a hit lately over one of the last updates or so. I used to get about 8-8.5hrs, now I get about 6.

Still acceptable for me since I really don't need battery power much. There are complaints about this on the surfacenet forums.
 

zhenya

macrumors 604
Jan 6, 2005
6,931
3,681
Hopefully they release an update soon to get it back to that level then!

I am getting about 6.5 hours from the battery reports, but I'd be a LOT happier if that were 8.
 

diamond.g

macrumors G4
Mar 20, 2007
11,444
2,673
OBX
Battery life seems to have taken a hit lately over one of the last updates or so. I used to get about 8-8.5hrs, now I get about 6.

Still acceptable for me since I really don't need battery power much. There are complaints about this on the surfacenet forums.

I am seeing weird wake from hibernate connectivity issues. But that could be due to hyper-v, will mess around and see if i can make it any better.
 

ct2k7

macrumors G3
Aug 29, 2008
8,382
3,439
London
I'm considering the Surface Pro - people whom I know who have used it love it, and I know it'd satisfy my travelling needs where I don't want to carry a rMBP with me.

Now, I'm trying to figure out if it's worth waiting for the next generation which is likely to be out within the next few months, or just go ahead and purchase it now. I've been putting it off since September, however.
 
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