Surface Pro 2 is incredible

[bearxor]

That may be true, but I don't think it's any reason to not buy the Surface Pro 2 for most people since 2 Lbs is considered pretty light (by Ultrabook standards) -- by tablet standard, it's a bit heavy, but not a dealbreaker.

Yep, and that's how you have to approach the Surface Pro. As a laptop that can work as a tablet. But if you want a tablet that can sometimes work as a laptop, the Surface Pro 3 is worth holding out for.

Intel has also said they're seeing a 30% power improvement over Haswell. Along with an expected "up to 40%" GPU performance over Haswell. Broadwell will be worth waiting for if you're looking for more of a tablet usage case.

Unless you can find it cheap. The only reason I haven't returned the Surface Pro so far is price. I got it for cheaper than an iPad Air. If I had paid $699 or $799 for it, it would have went right back.

It will get slimmer for the Pro 3, but not that thin, it still needs fans for thermal headroom, no point touting a high performance portable machine if it has to throttle and run at super speeds. I just want a few mm shaved off the Pro 2 chassis and we're fine, would rather just let the SOC run at higher speeds w/o throttling.

Broadwell will deliver fanless operation at speeds we have now.

Maybe, but last I saw broadwell wasn't going to be released until late 2014 at best. This makes me think the whole wait on sp3 for broadwell is going to be a long wait. Quite possible there will be an sp3 next year, but more of a design change than a chip set change.

That was a bad rumor. Intel has stated that they are going to start production by the end of this year.

 

[Trefugl]

That was a bad rumor. Intel has stated that they are going to start production by the end of this year.

Do you have a reference for this? Seems like most of the internet is believing in the VR-Zone leaked roadmap showing late 2014 - early 2015 (which doesn't mean it's true, just hard to find news that doesn't point to said rumor).

 

[bearxor]

Intel announced at IDF they were starting production this year. Then, announced a month later they were having issues and the launch may be pushed out a quarter. How that jumps from Q1 2014 to 2H 2014 is beyond me.

We might not see complete products from OEM's until 2H 2014, but that falls perfectly in line with the way it is now. Look at Apple, which is heavily loaded towards the fall for product refreshes. We'll probably get a Broadwell MacBook Air refresh in the summer, with everything else falling in line after that. It wouldn't be the first time Intel's given Apple chips in quantity that haven't officially launched.

The Surface Pro is a fall product. I have no doubts it will come with Broadwell.

 

[Ns1]

That may be true, but I don't think it's any reason to not buy the Surface Pro 2 for most people since 2 Lbs is considered pretty light (by Ultrabook standards) -- by tablet standard, it's a bit heavy, but not a dealbreaker.

I most certainly consider the SP2 a laptop first and a tablet second.

 

[wasabiman123]

Broadwell will deliver fanless operation at speeds we have now.

It might, for 20 min before it thermally throttles, without a fan the chassis would heat up way too much anyways. Do you really think you could play PC games on a Surface Pro 3 without active cooling? Or do video editing? If they want to keep marketing it as a mobile workhorse it needs active cooling.

 

[rsutoratosu]

so far love the sp2.. although playing halo spartan killed the battery pretty fast last night... i probably need to adjust some of the power settings.. after all it is more of a laptop

 

[IamDavid]

Any multiplayer games available on the RT platform?

 

[zerogear]

It might, for 20 min before it thermally throttles, without a fan the chassis would heat up way too much anyways. Do you really think you could play PC games on a Surface Pro 3 without active cooling? Or do video editing? If they want to keep marketing it as a mobile workhorse it needs active cooling.

As it is, the fans on my Surface Pro 2 never turns on unless I am doing something extremely demanding with the GPU (such as playing a game), or doing something like Linpack testing. I personally don't see Surface Pro 3 removing active cooling since it will probably throttle artificially on what you can do. --- since even with Haswell, it's not a big issue to begin with -- It NEVER goes into active cooling while you're doing regular day-to-day activities

 

[Ns1]

As it is, the fans on my Surface Pro 2 never turns on unless I am doing something extremely demanding with the GPU (such as playing a game), or doing something like Linpack testing. I personally don't see Surface Pro 3 removing active cooling since it will probably throttle artificially on what you can do. --- since even with Haswell, it's not a big issue to begin with -- It NEVER goes into active cooling while you're doing regular day-to-day activities

Even when the fans come on, it's not really loud or anything. At least not IMO

 

[bearxor]

The surface pro fan seems to run a lot and can be quite loud.

 

[zerogear]

The surface pro fan seems to run a lot and can be quite loud.

Yeah, unfortunately Ivy Bridge puts out a lot of heat.

 

[Ns1]

The surface pro fan seems to run a lot and can be quite loud.

yeah I heard the SP1 fans sound like jet engines lol

 

[wasabiman123]

As it is, the fans on my Surface Pro 2 never turns on unless I am doing something extremely demanding with the GPU (such as playing a game), or doing something like Linpack testing. I personally don't see Surface Pro 3 removing active cooling since it will probably throttle artificially on what you can do. --- since even with Haswell, it's not a big issue to begin with -- It NEVER goes into active cooling while you're doing regular day-to-day activities

You sure though, the fans may be on at times at low rpm, so technically active.

 

[zerogear]

You sure though, the fans may be on at times at low rpm, so technically active.

Yes, I'm sure. I actively use it at night in a silent room. That and cooling method is set as passive (In Power Management) -- It will only start active until it hits thermal threshold.

 

[Demo24]

I can't seem to find a 256gb model anywhere now, and cdwg is telling me February according to Microsoft. However the 128gb is coming in.

How much would I regret going down to the 128 model? In theory I could always get myself a 256gb later once the inventory comes back. I mostly want the 8gb of ram, but 4 would probably get me by fine?

 

[Ns1]

I can't seem to find a 256gb model anywhere now, and cdwg is telling me February according to Microsoft. However the 128gb is coming in.

How much would I regret going down to the 128 model? In theory I could always get myself a 256gb later once the inventory comes back. I mostly want the 8gb of ram, but 4 would probably get me by fine?

I'm down to like 15gb free with ZERO media. If you have money and time I would wait for the 256.

 

[tsupersonic]

I can't seem to find a 256gb model anywhere now, and cdwg is telling me February according to Microsoft. However the 128gb is coming in.

How much would I regret going down to the 128 model? In theory I could always get myself a 256gb later once the inventory comes back. I mostly want the 8gb of ram, but 4 would probably get me by fine?

It depends on how you want to use the device. I keep all my media on my NAS, so I keep zero media on my SP2 128GB. There's plenty of space with all my apps installed, some games installed via Steam. I seem to recall I have about 60 GB free - my SP2 is at home, and I'm at work, so just a wild guess.

I would have also liked the 8 GB, but that's overkill for me. Just general usage, I'm using about 40-50% of 4GB RAM.

Edit: I'm way off on storage usage. Just installed all the updates and most recent firmware (released today)

 

[Imaginer]

I'm down to like 15gb free with ZERO media. If you have money and time I would wait for the 256.

Also an idea, take a 646B version and use the iFixit methods to put in the newly released Samsung 1 TB SATA SSD. Granted, certain drives may not work. Also one has to take care not to break pen and touch screen capabilities. This process is more "adventurous".

 

[Imaginer]

If one wants a two side button pen as well as an eraser end, the Fujitsu Lifebook T5000 pen offers this and a slightly finer longer point versus the stock Surface Pro pen. This pen does not have a pocket pen clip or the magnetic button the Surface pen does, but I am currently liking this pen for the finer point and the extra button that I keyboard shortcut set to Ctrl Z and middle mouse button click under the Wacom driver software settings.

 

[Ns1]

Also an idea, take a 646B version and use the iFixit methods to put in the newly released Samsung 1 TB SATA SSD. Granted, certain drives may not work. Also one has to take care not to break pen and touch screen capabilities. This process is more "adventurous".

On a 1k device imma have to pass on that risk.

 

[Demo24]

I'm using this for work only, and it will be bought on work funds so the price isn't really an issue. I do most of my work through ssh, web browsers, and vmware clients. Thus apart from some normal apps I won't have a lot on it. I'm much more concerned about any performance hit I may experience between the 2 versions.

I have a 128gb ssd on my desktop and that has a decent bit on it and I'm not running out of space. The storage space doesn't bother me, the ram decrease does concern me.

Honestly, I'm getting tired of waiting I've been on hold on this model (already ordered it, just backordered) for over a month now. I think I'll call my rep tomorrow and downgrade me, then if I find the need next year I'll go up a level or so.

 

[Ns1]

I'm using this for work only, and it will be bought on work funds so the price isn't really an issue. I do most of my work through ssh, web browsers, and vmware clients. Thus apart from some normal apps I won't have a lot on it. I'm much more concerned about any performance hit I may experience between the 2 versions.

I have a 128gb ssd on my desktop and that has a decent bit on it and I'm not running out of space. The storage space doesn't bother me, the ram decrease does concern me.

Honestly, I'm getting tired of waiting I've been on hold on this model (already ordered it, just backordered) for over a month now. I think I'll call my rep tomorrow and downgrade me, then if I find the need next year I'll go up a level or so.

you should just buy it then. the biggest consumer of space on my surface are games (steam/sc2/WoT)

 

[Hail The Brain Slug]

I bought a 128GB version of the Surface Pro 2 after the Microsoft store blew my pre-order and cancelled it for a 256GB version.

I convinced the BB guy to price-match my student discount from the Microsoft Store for $900. I figure I can live with 4gb of ram for a year and I can resell this and upgrade to the Pro 3 next year and definitely make sure I get 8GB of ram. (Or 16gb, depends on what options they give for the Pro 3).

 

[zerogear]

It depends on how you want to use the device. I keep all my media on my NAS, so I keep zero media on my SP2 128GB. There's plenty of space with all my apps installed, some games installed via Steam. I seem to recall I have about 60 GB free - my SP2 is at home, and I'm at work, so just a wild guess.

I would have also liked the 8 GB, but that's overkill for me. Just general usage, I'm using about 40-50% of 4GB RAM.

Edit: I'm way off on storage usage. Just installed all the updates and most recent firmware (released today)

I keep a 64GB uSD card and keep all my music on there. Even though I have the 256GB version.

 

[tsupersonic]

I just opened an early birthday/Xmas present - the Type Cover 2. This keyboard is so nice and easy to type on. I really am digging this setup very much!