Surface Pro 3 i5 or Pro 4 m3

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bbunnys

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#181325 11-Oct-2015 07:19

I need to get a new Windows laptop or surface. My wife has a Pro 3 i5 and find form factor great.

I cant afford the new Pro 4 i5 as is $1800. But can get a Pro3 i5 for $1200 currently. But my question is should I get a Pro 4 m3 instead for $1500 which is top end of my budget.
Is the new m3 chip in the base Pro 4 as good as the older i5 in Pro 3. i only use for web viewing and watching video. Dont run anything to taxing on it.

billgates

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#1403699 11-Oct-2015 07:23

If you don't run anything taxing on it, get the m3 because its fan less so not only will it be dead quiet, battery will last longer and you get new upgrades of Surface Pro 4 unit.

Do whatever you want to do man.

Batman

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#1403700 11-Oct-2015 07:23

i5 is always better than i3 within a generation. Multi thread vs single thread.

Dynamic

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#1403701 11-Oct-2015 07:32

I found this to be an interesting read:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2989906/laptop-computers/here-are-the-details-of-the-surface-book-and-surface-pro-4-chips-and-why-they-matter.html

I'm using an Atom-based Hp Envy X2 that is a couple of years old now, and it is fine for part time use (30-60 minutes per day). The M3 chip is interesting in that it is 900ghz but can turbo all the way up to 2.2ghz for what I assume to be very short bursts. If you would prefer longer battery life over performance for general office use, the M3 looks seriously worth consideration. I would be interested to see figures showing how big the difference in battery life is.

The beauty of SSDs is that the allow a middle-aged computer (i.e. a slower processor by today's standards) to perform beautifully IMHO.

“Don't believe anything you read on the net. Except this. Well, including this, I suppose.” Douglas Adams

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#1403703 11-Oct-2015 08:13

Ah so it's not i3. m3 is slow but better battery life.

StructureDr

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#1404236 12-Oct-2015 11:52

Dynamic: I found this to be an interesting read:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2989906/laptop-computers/here-are-the-details-of-the-surface-book-and-surface-pro-4-chips-and-why-they-matter.html

I'm using an Atom-based Hp Envy X2 that is a couple of years old now, and it is fine for part time use (30-60 minutes per day). The M3 chip is interesting in that it is 900ghz but can turbo all the way up to 2.2ghz for what I assume to be very short bursts. If you would prefer longer battery life over performance for general office use, the M3 looks seriously worth consideration. I would be interested to see figures showing how big the difference in battery life is.

The beauty of SSDs is that the allow a middle-aged computer (i.e. a slower processor by today's standards) to perform beautifully IMHO.

Need to note that i5/i7 processors spend most of their life way below the 'base' frequency - I have an i7 SP3, and while nominally a 1.7GHz processor, it spends most of its life resting at 0.8GHz. Under pressure it will jump right to 3.3GHz.

I'm not sure if the same holds true for the Core M processors - i.e. whether the processor runs at 900Mhz most of the time or something much lower

psychrn

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#1432984 23-Nov-2015 01:41

I may well be looking at getting a Pro 4 not sure what model yet. My current tablet is a Asus Transformer 301 which is Windows RT so a bit limited.
I see Noel Leeming are advertising the near full range of the Pro4

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