Surface Pro advice

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#1446857 10-Dec-2015 06:12

We will have an update early next year that significantly improves battery life

Some new microcode for the Skylake processor and a change to Windows 10 to take advantage of it.

JayADee

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#1446863 10-Dec-2015 07:10

nathan: We will have an update early next year that significantly improves battery life

Some new microcode for the Skylake processor and a change to Windows 10 to take advantage of it.

Good to know!
Thank you Geektastic for your updates.

Geektastic

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#1447002 10-Dec-2015 10:23

Another thing that has surprised me is that it works faster with PS and LR than my Macbook Pro did.

The MBP was only 14 months or so old and had the top i7 available to it, as well as 16Gb of RAM. Yet in terms of opening and general display speed etc the SP4 is faster with an i5 and 8Gb!

wasabi2k

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#1447003 10-Dec-2015 10:25

Geektastic: Another thing that has surprised me is that it works faster with PS and LR than my Macbook Pro did.

The MBP was only 14 months or so old and had the top i7 available to it, as well as 16Gb of RAM. Yet in terms of opening and general display speed etc the SP4 is faster with an i5 and 8Gb!

What disk was in your MBP.

Geektastic

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#1447055 10-Dec-2015 11:49

wasabi2k:
Geektastic: Another thing that has surprised me is that it works faster with PS and LR than my Macbook Pro did.

The MBP was only 14 months or so old and had the top i7 available to it, as well as 16Gb of RAM. Yet in terms of opening and general display speed etc the SP4 is faster with an i5 and 8Gb!

What disk was in your MBP.

256Gb SSD.

Geektastic

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#1448293 10-Dec-2015 17:24

For those who were interested in fan noise etc.

I imported 800 full size 36Mp RAW files into Lightroom and created Smart Previews.

The fan was on the whole time the SP were being created - which is exactly what happened in my MBP - and is no noisier than that was.

It is a bit slower (purely objectively as I did not measure it) but the MBP had a faster i7 chip and I think building SP is a processor-intensive activity so it should do better.

NZtechfreak

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#1448750 11-Dec-2015 14:21

Interesting thread. I'm looking for similar use-cases and while I'm a Windows user at home already on the desktop computing side I certainly wouldn't have avoided the iPad Pro if it were the better device, but in this class the SP4 has it seriously outgunned for more serious work. I'm just sitting on the fence between i5 and i7, probably leaning toward i7 at this point (which means waiting for the time being). Sounds like the i5 will probably do for me, although some of my sideline uses like emulator gaming probably do stand to benefit from i7 CPU performance and the better GPU.

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nathan

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#1448781 11-Dec-2015 15:11

The GPU really is worth it IMHO

I have both i5 and i7 SP4 and graphics is way better on the top model because of Intel's Iris Graphics 540.

NZtechfreak

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#1448782 11-Dec-2015 15:16

nathan: The GPU really is worth it IMHO

I have both i5 and i7 SP4 and graphics is way better on the top model because of Intel's Iris Graphics 540.

Although if load is sustained for more than few minutes power-throttling occurs, reducing the realized performance benefit to about 30% rather than the 60% or so that benchmarks suggest. That power throttling occurs even when plugged in. Do you know/able you able to say whether there are plans to allow users more control over throttling parameters?

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Geektastic

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#1448938 11-Dec-2015 22:29

nathan: The GPU really is worth it IMHO

I have both i5 and i7 SP4 and graphics is way better on the top model because of Intel's Iris Graphics 540.

It is a lot more money though - about another $1000 - and you have to have a real use for it at that kind of cost I think.

The i5 in this unit seems not a lot slower than the i7 in my mid 2014 MBP was and since almost all my graphics involve displaying still images not moving ones the graphics are fine, so far anyway.

Brushing masks on in Lightroom using the pen certainly seems to be processor heavy somewhere because the fan comes on almost immediately if you do that. It is a really nice way to edit selects though.

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#1448939 11-Dec-2015 22:35

NZtechfreak: Interesting thread. I'm looking for similar use-cases and while I'm a Windows user at home already on the desktop computing side I certainly wouldn't have avoided the iPad Pro if it were the better device, but in this class the SP4 has it seriously outgunned for more serious work. I'm just sitting on the fence between i5 and i7, probably leaning toward i7 at this point (which means waiting for the time being). Sounds like the i5 will probably do for me, although some of my sideline uses like emulator gaming probably do stand to benefit from i7 CPU performance and the better GPU.

Yes I would have preferred to stay Apple just for convenience.

However, I am finding that the SP4 is a device which is much more likely to become a part of daily life than my MBP ever was - I used that only when travelling and it otherwise stayed powered off in a case.

Something about the SP makes me want to use it, even when I have my iMac on the same desk! Of course that depends on what I need to do as the iMac is far more powerful and efficient (even being about 3 years old, it has a 3.4Ghz Core i7, Fusion Drive and 32GB of RAM so it still goes fairly fast). Of course, I may have found that the iPP insinuated itself into daily life equally well if I had one but as you say, the SP4 has it licked for real work.

The SP cries out for Cortana though - that sort of interface with it would be really interesting.

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#1449200 12-Dec-2015 14:50

Then of course there's the Pixel C in this space from Google, only it gets spanked by the Apple and MS offerings.

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heavenlywild

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#1452060 17-Dec-2015 08:36

I can't seem to find @nathan's post about warranties.

If I purchase a consumer device, is there any way to buy extra warranty (other than the Complete Accident Protection) via Microsoft?

nathan

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#1452061 17-Dec-2015 08:40

I don't know about the retail offering sorry. the commercial warranty I talked about can only go on commercial devices.

I don't think you can - but maybe start a chat session on http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msnz/en_NZ/cat/Surface/categoryID.65890300?icid=CNavSurface

I'm sure retailers would be more than happy to sell you their extended warranties

heavenlywild

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#1452065 17-Dec-2015 08:44

nathan: I don't know about the retail offering sorry. the commercial warranty I talked about can only go on commercial devices.

I don't think you can - but maybe start a chat session on http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msnz/en_NZ/cat/Surface/categoryID.65890300?icid=CNavSurface

I'm sure retailers would be more than happy to sell you their extended warranties

Thanks mate for your prompt response.

I would rather buy warranty from Microsoft directly than to deal with a middleman.

I am reading this from Microsoft's site and it is saying the warranty is 2 years?

Limited hardware warranty: Includes service on hardware and covered accessories for two years from the date of purchase. Covered accessories include the Touch Cover, Type Cover, Surface power supply cords and adapters, and Surface pens.* Source

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