I wish Microsoft was more transparent with pro 4 plans. If I knew it would take this long and no sign of pro 4 yet, I would have purchased pro 3 several months earlier.
If they actually gave a release date for Pro 4, it could kill Pro 3 sales, as ppl would wait. Course on the other side of the coin, ppl might buy the Pro 3, since they don't want to wait. Usually though, companies go with the former, not the latter.
The only thing they've announced bout the Pro 4 is that there will be 1, and that SP3 accessories (including the dock) will work with it. Which is fine, really. The Pro 3 isn't all that old, and given the probable release date of U-series Skylake and that they wouldn't launch the Pro 4 before Win10, holding off until fall seems like a good idea.
Surface Pro 4 seems like a shoo-in for Windows 10 launch vehicle, no? Makes little sense to present it before then, if back-to-school is the target time frame.
The Intel XMM 7360 finally looks like a competitive solution from Intel that supports a wide variety of bands and gets away from rumored Qualcomm's demand of royalties based on the MSRP of a device. But unless the chassis of the current Surface Pro 3 was designed with an LTE radio in mind down the road, it'll probably have to wait until next year with the SP5 (MS has already said SP3 and SP4 will have same chassis design to encourage business deployments).
I can't wait for WinTel to get that LTE thing going.
That's one area where Samsung has had them badly beat and I'd like to see that differential go away... amongst all of the players.
That and WinTel will need to shrink it down into an 8" chassis to be able to take on the mini-tablets. Those make great navigators.
If combined with WinTel's lead in storage capacity, I could see these things having a credible, highly detailed, offline map of the world in them.
With an always available map and an always-on GPS receiver in such a device, you would have rock solid super stable navigation. You would no longer need to worry about when (not if) your tenuous tether to the server (cough... I mean cloud) is about to be unceremoniously slashed.
It would be unbeatable for serious, cost-effective navigation in any vehicle type.
Having LTE would be useful. When I was living in the Denver suburbs and commuting downtown 40mins on the train, I'd tether my phone to my SP2 and use the time to answer emails etc. Now that I live downtown it's less of an issue since there's WiFi everywhere, but never having to drain my Lumia's battery by running a hotspot would be nice.
The only big drawback is the utter corruption of US mobile data providers. If I was still using my Surface on-the-go a lot with commuting / business travel I could see myself ending up paying a crapton of $$$ for data and STILL running out constantly.
If you were just doing general stuff (no videos, but otherwise any light browsing) you'd be fine with 2 GB per month. Most of the time, you'd be on Wi-Fi.
Don't much see the point of this update, the i5 was already really close to the i7 especially in sustained performance due to throttling. The extra 4GB is nice though. I guess this does more or less confirm Surface Pro 4 will be delayed a bit still.
More Cache (doesnt need to read/write to ram as often), Double the GPU (thats all it takes for most), Legacy AVX Support Wide range of memory speed support vs i5 Unlocked Multiplier specially binned for low power/max ipc (thats why it can turbo more, and fit double the GPU EU's to boot)
"Wide range of memory speed support vs i5" i don't see what difference that makes on a tablet with soldered RAM you won't (be able to) overclock in the first place.
"Unlocked Multiplier"
this is the first time i read about the CPU being unlocked, also i wonder what good that is in a thermally constrained tablet.
"specially binned for low power/max ipc"
afaik you don't bin for "max ipc", you bin for voltage and hence possible clock speed and efficiency.
Hmm, I wonder. Could it be that Microsoft ended made too many Core i7 Surface Pro 3's but realized it wasn't going to move them in the $1,500 to $1,750 price range. Maybe this is just a way of clearing those out -- but not in a way that makes it too hard from them to clear out the better Core i5 models as well.
Just speculating, mind you..
I also agree with another poster -- Surface Pro 3 performance in general is capped due to thermal throttling issues. As a result, one doesn't really get that much more benefit from the Core i7 over the Core i5. In fact in some cases the Core i3 performs better because it runs cooler! That's the main reason I'm continuing to wait for a hoped for, cooler SP4.
If my gen1 Surface Pro breaks for whatever reason, although that feels extremely unlikely at this point, I would get the 128GB/i7 SP3.
I don't really need 256GB of storage space, but the extra CPU and GPU power from an i7 works better with my usage, as there are times when my SP1 will struggle to keep video playback smooth on two screens.
mg do i have to buy yet another ipad toget Lte.. Its been a 5 year wait! many business users would embrace a live surface pro 3-4. Tethering is a total joke. Not a viable solution for business people.
They're charging an EXTRA $250.00 just to upgrade from a 128GB SSD to a 256GB SSD? And then ANOTHER EXTRA 400.00 to go from 256GB to 512GB? What is this, Apple?!
Is it something you could open up and upgrade yourself? Working in thin-and-light laptops is admittedly difficult, but if it's a standard part inside it might be worth the hassle.
I had serious thoughts about upgrading my SP2 to 256+GB as it uses standard mSATA drives, but gave up on that idea once heat guns entered into the equation. I need this device too much for work to risk messing it up, and 128GB is fine for me. Maybe when I replace it with a SP4 or SP5 I'll give the upgrade a try :)
I don't think the prices are 100% justified for Apple or Microsoft, but they are at least mitigated with the ease of support, replacement and returns.
I remember when SP2 came out, and then was immediately given a silent bump from i5-4200U to i5-4300U. Microsoft accepted replacing the slower SP2 for the faster SP2, no questions asked.
I could never see that happening with any of the other major manufacturers, even with their higher end products.
Seems as though they are trying to extend the SP3 model a bit longer to incorporate Skylake and probably a good bump in performance into the SP4, but that can't happen until the end of the year or beginning of next.
What I really want is for the $999 model to get bumped to 8Gb of RAM. Not overly fussed about 256Gb vs 128Gb, but definitely need 8Gb of RAM. I guess that makes this the marginally better option for me, being the same price as the i5 256Gb model...
an i5 with 512gb would seem more interesting, especially if they used iris graphics on the i5 as well.
also i wonder why people limit themselves to 256gb ("200gb usable") and less when buying a new device in 2015. a speedy and efficient 512gb ssd (mpci-e, m.2,...) costs around 200 bucks, that's just 130 bucks more than the base drive with 128gb, i don't see how i will spend 2000 bucks on a tablet just to get that kind of storage.
to the people asking for a surface pro 4:
it's kinda clear we will have to wait for skylake for that for the improved efficiency and performance, the lower power ddr4 and windows 10 of course. in combination with usb type-c things could get very interesting.
I've got the 64 GB one and it's fine, if a bit tight. Honestly, going from 30 GB usable to 100 GB usable would be all I need.
It's not like that's true for all people everywhere, ("56K ought to be enough for everyone!") but it's definitely true that saving a hundred or two on storage one doesn't need is plausible for a large number of people.
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Thatguy97 - Monday, June 29, 2015 - link
hmm no surface pro 4 this year maybeThatguy97 - Monday, June 29, 2015 - link
or at least not until late Q3 or early Q4nicmonson - Monday, June 29, 2015 - link
skylakewillstay - Monday, June 29, 2015 - link
I wish Microsoft was more transparent with pro 4 plans. If I knew it would take this long and no sign of pro 4 yet, I would have purchased pro 3 several months earlier.Morawka - Monday, June 29, 2015 - link
it hasn't even been a year yet. typically these come out annually. Skylake is coming in Sept-OCT so for sure then.erikiksaz - Monday, June 29, 2015 - link
Hah, since when was any PC manufacturer this transparent?Anyways, I'm glad I purchased the SP3 when it first launched, it'd nice to not have the next iteration released 8-9 months after.
khanikun - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
If they actually gave a release date for Pro 4, it could kill Pro 3 sales, as ppl would wait. Course on the other side of the coin, ppl might buy the Pro 3, since they don't want to wait. Usually though, companies go with the former, not the latter.drothgery - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
The only thing they've announced bout the Pro 4 is that there will be 1, and that SP3 accessories (including the dock) will work with it. Which is fine, really. The Pro 3 isn't all that old, and given the probable release date of U-series Skylake and that they wouldn't launch the Pro 4 before Win10, holding off until fall seems like a good idea.Valantar - Monday, June 29, 2015 - link
Surface Pro 4 seems like a shoo-in for Windows 10 launch vehicle, no? Makes little sense to present it before then, if back-to-school is the target time frame.romrunning - Monday, June 29, 2015 - link
"While there's still no option with 16GB of RAM, Microsoft now offers a different model to suit almost everyone's preferences."Except that they still haven't released an option for LTE in the Surface Pro line, which businesses definitely would like.
jeffkibuule - Monday, June 29, 2015 - link
The Intel XMM 7360 finally looks like a competitive solution from Intel that supports a wide variety of bands and gets away from rumored Qualcomm's demand of royalties based on the MSRP of a device. But unless the chassis of the current Surface Pro 3 was designed with an LTE radio in mind down the road, it'll probably have to wait until next year with the SP5 (MS has already said SP3 and SP4 will have same chassis design to encourage business deployments).hrrmph - Monday, June 29, 2015 - link
I can't wait for WinTel to get that LTE thing going.That's one area where Samsung has had them badly beat and I'd like to see that differential go away... amongst all of the players.
That and WinTel will need to shrink it down into an 8" chassis to be able to take on the mini-tablets. Those make great navigators.
If combined with WinTel's lead in storage capacity, I could see these things having a credible, highly detailed, offline map of the world in them.
With an always available map and an always-on GPS receiver in such a device, you would have rock solid super stable navigation. You would no longer need to worry about when (not if) your tenuous tether to the server (cough... I mean cloud) is about to be unceremoniously slashed.
It would be unbeatable for serious, cost-effective navigation in any vehicle type.
Thermogenic - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
Why couldn't you do this today with an Android or IOS minitablet using HERE Maps?Morawka - Monday, June 29, 2015 - link
wow qualcomm bases price of LTE based off MSRP? that's retarded and explains everything. Who do they think they are?These kinds of practices will be the downfall of Qualcomm.. It only pushes competitors to innovate and offer a competitive alternative.
finbarqs - Monday, June 29, 2015 - link
that will definitely destroy battery life.KateH - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
Having LTE would be useful. When I was living in the Denver suburbs and commuting downtown 40mins on the train, I'd tether my phone to my SP2 and use the time to answer emails etc. Now that I live downtown it's less of an issue since there's WiFi everywhere, but never having to drain my Lumia's battery by running a hotspot would be nice.The only big drawback is the utter corruption of US mobile data providers. If I was still using my Surface on-the-go a lot with commuting / business travel I could see myself ending up paying a crapton of $$$ for data and STILL running out constantly.
mkozakewich - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
If you were just doing general stuff (no videos, but otherwise any light browsing) you'd be fine with 2 GB per month. Most of the time, you'd be on Wi-Fi.damianrobertjones - Thursday, July 9, 2015 - link
Plug in a USB device or have an external thingyViperV990 - Monday, June 29, 2015 - link
It costs $250 to go from 128GB to 256, and $400 to from that to 512. That's very steep for standard mSATA storage.I would like to see an i5/8GB/128 variant for $1049.
jabber - Wednesday, July 8, 2015 - link
Thats the exact model that would be perfect for my wife that wants one.Basically why not just offer 8GB standard across the range with 128/256 as an option for each CPU type. Far more sensible.
chizow - Monday, June 29, 2015 - link
Don't much see the point of this update, the i5 was already really close to the i7 especially in sustained performance due to throttling. The extra 4GB is nice though. I guess this does more or less confirm Surface Pro 4 will be delayed a bit still.Morawka - Monday, June 29, 2015 - link
i7 is a totally different beast.More Cache (doesnt need to read/write to ram as often),
Double the GPU (thats all it takes for most),
Legacy AVX Support
Wide range of memory speed support vs i5
Unlocked Multiplier
specially binned for low power/max ipc (thats why it can turbo more, and fit double the GPU EU's to boot)
fokka - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
"Wide range of memory speed support vs i5"i don't see what difference that makes on a tablet with soldered RAM you won't (be able to) overclock in the first place.
"Unlocked Multiplier"
this is the first time i read about the CPU being unlocked, also i wonder what good that is in a thermally constrained tablet.
"specially binned for low power/max ipc"
afaik you don't bin for "max ipc", you bin for voltage and hence possible clock speed and efficiency.
cbf - Monday, June 29, 2015 - link
Hmm, I wonder. Could it be that Microsoft ended made too many Core i7 Surface Pro 3's but realized it wasn't going to move them in the $1,500 to $1,750 price range. Maybe this is just a way of clearing those out -- but not in a way that makes it too hard from them to clear out the better Core i5 models as well.Just speculating, mind you..
I also agree with another poster -- Surface Pro 3 performance in general is capped due to thermal throttling issues. As a result, one doesn't really get that much more benefit from the Core i7 over the Core i5. In fact in some cases the Core i3 performs better because it runs cooler! That's the main reason I'm continuing to wait for a hoped for, cooler SP4.
meacupla - Monday, June 29, 2015 - link
If my gen1 Surface Pro breaks for whatever reason, although that feels extremely unlikely at this point, I would get the 128GB/i7 SP3.I don't really need 256GB of storage space, but the extra CPU and GPU power from an i7 works better with my usage, as there are times when my SP1 will struggle to keep video playback smooth on two screens.
ruthan - Monday, June 29, 2015 - link
No LTE no go, again.Intranetsites - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
mg do i have to buy yet another ipad toget Lte.. Its been a 5 year wait! many business users would embrace a live surface pro 3-4. Tethering is a total joke. Not a viable solution for business people.RaistlinZ - Monday, June 29, 2015 - link
They're charging an EXTRA $250.00 just to upgrade from a 128GB SSD to a 256GB SSD? And then ANOTHER EXTRA 400.00 to go from 256GB to 512GB? What is this, Apple?!ViperV990 - Monday, June 29, 2015 - link
At least Apple gives you PCIe SSDs. The Surface Pro comes with an mSATA SSD. Look up how much a 512GB PM951 costs.Mr Perfect - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
Is it something you could open up and upgrade yourself? Working in thin-and-light laptops is admittedly difficult, but if it's a standard part inside it might be worth the hassle.KateH - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
In theory, yes- but there's apparently a lot of glue involved. Not for the faint of heart.KateH - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
I had serious thoughts about upgrading my SP2 to 256+GB as it uses standard mSATA drives, but gave up on that idea once heat guns entered into the equation. I need this device too much for work to risk messing it up, and 128GB is fine for me. Maybe when I replace it with a SP4 or SP5 I'll give the upgrade a try :)ViperV990 - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
Someone milled/cut open the chassis from the back to gain access to the mSATA SSD.http://surfacepro3ssdupgrade.blogspot.mx/2015/02/s...
Morawka - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
open it up and swap it out yourselfMorawka - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
no its $400 to go from a 128GB to 512 GB SSD.although i agree the 256GB upgrade is expensive.. apple charges $200
meacupla - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
I don't think the prices are 100% justified for Apple or Microsoft, but they are at least mitigated with the ease of support, replacement and returns.I remember when SP2 came out, and then was immediately given a silent bump from i5-4200U to i5-4300U. Microsoft accepted replacing the slower SP2 for the faster SP2, no questions asked.
I could never see that happening with any of the other major manufacturers, even with their higher end products.
spacemanjupiter - Monday, June 29, 2015 - link
Seems as though they are trying to extend the SP3 model a bit longer to incorporate Skylake and probably a good bump in performance into the SP4, but that can't happen until the end of the year or beginning of next.althaz - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
What I really want is for the $999 model to get bumped to 8Gb of RAM. Not overly fussed about 256Gb vs 128Gb, but definitely need 8Gb of RAM. I guess that makes this the marginally better option for me, being the same price as the i5 256Gb model...Hmm.
mkozakewich - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
Remember that 8 Gb is 2 GB and 8 GB is 32 Gb. And 16 Mbps is 2 MB/s or MBps. Etc.bit
Byte
milli
Mega
deci
Deca (actually now 'da')
fokka - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
an i5 with 512gb would seem more interesting, especially if they used iris graphics on the i5 as well.also i wonder why people limit themselves to 256gb ("200gb usable") and less when buying a new device in 2015. a speedy and efficient 512gb ssd (mpci-e, m.2,...) costs around 200 bucks, that's just 130 bucks more than the base drive with 128gb, i don't see how i will spend 2000 bucks on a tablet just to get that kind of storage.
to the people asking for a surface pro 4:
it's kinda clear we will have to wait for skylake for that for the improved efficiency and performance, the lower power ddr4 and windows 10 of course. in combination with usb type-c things could get very interesting.
mkozakewich - Tuesday, June 30, 2015 - link
I've got the 64 GB one and it's fine, if a bit tight. Honestly, going from 30 GB usable to 100 GB usable would be all I need.It's not like that's true for all people everywhere, ("56K ought to be enough for everyone!") but it's definitely true that saving a hundred or two on storage one doesn't need is plausible for a large number of people.
damianrobertjones - Thursday, July 9, 2015 - link
MicroSD cards are cheapdamianrobertjones - Tuesday, July 7, 2015 - link
"but are able to survive within 128GB either by leveraging cloud storage or..."MicroSD.