Microsoft Annouces the Surface 3

[Spider]

Blade = easy, it just works
micro USB = hard, which why does it go??? This way? No the other? Oops, had it right the first time.

Agree! It might have had something to do with the fact a blade is more likely to get broken off in the connector when using it as a tablet or a laptop. Also, standardization has to begin somewhere.

On the other hand, this is now the 3rd type of Surface charger in 3 years...

Hopefully, there won't be any more types. The Micro USB charging port works with the Surface charger and any generic USB phone charger, as long as the Voltage matches. You could even charge it from a running PC if necessary.

 

[GreyFox7]

Agree! It might have had something to do with the fact a blade is more likely to get broken off in the connector when using it as a tablet or a laptop.



Hopefully, there won't be any more types. The Micro USB charging port works with the Surface charger and any generic USB phone charger, as long as the Voltage matches. You could even charge it from a running PC if necessary.

The next one will be USB Type-C... unless they revise the blade on the SP4

The Blade is not more likely to get broken than a micro USB connector. Panny stated in was the #1 request... but I think they misinterpreted it... or they asked the wrong people.

 

[brocharlieb]

Well, if it works I'll be satisfied. The ARM has been very good for me, but this looks like the next thing. I'll see what experience people have and maybe in June or so I can get one. I'm not known for being first to jump on the new thing.

 

[GreyFox7]

I hope the review units are going out now so we can get the Analysis soon. I want to see how this will stack up against the other Atom and ARM based tablets and the Surface 2 "non-Pro" in particular, specifically how much of a performance improvement it is, assuming that it is.

 

[RémiM]

Might this Surface 3 be a good preview of a fanless SP4 ?

I guess so. Fanless, thiner, and same form factor as a SP3 = SP4 ?

 

[GreyFox7]

Microsoft said this will be the first product on the market with the Atom x7 Z8700 SoC.
Intel's newest top of the line Atom SoC.

Wccftech said:
In terms of performance, an Atom x7-8700 processor clocked at 2.4 GHz and coupled with 4 GB of LPDDR3 ram at 1600 MHz is 2 times faster in GFXbench 2.7 T-Rex HD and 50% faster in 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited when compared to a Atom Z3795 (Bay-Trail T) clocked at 1.59 GHz with 4 GB of LPDDR3 ram at 1600 MHz. Further support for new DirectX 12 and OpenGL APIs pushes performance leverage in games utilizing the new lower overhead APIs.

For comparison tablets on the market with an Atom Z3795 SoC are:
Lenovo ThinkPad 8 and 10, HP ElitePad 1000 and G2 1000, and the Dell Venue 11 Pro 5130.

According to Geekbench, the Z3795 scores a maximum of 1066 in single-core mode and 3303 in all-core mode.
According to Geekbench, the Snapdragon 810 scored max 1313 on single core mode and 3899 on all-core mode.
So the Atom x7 Z8700 should compete well with the all the top ARM SoCs on the market.

All we know about power on the Z8700 is it has a SDP of 2w, that's the low power mode which is plenty low, we just don't know the normal or up TDP.

 

[Arizona Willie]

What the hell?
They've been selling Surface Pro 3 for months now.
What's with this " introduction "?

We've been looking for the Surface Pro 4 but instead we get a " refreshed " Surface Pro 3?

Why didn't they change the model numbers?

Deliberately introducing confusion?

 

[RémiM]

What the hell?
They've been selling Surface Pro 3 for months now.
What's with this " introduction "?

We've been looking for the Surface Pro 4 but instead we get a " refreshed " Surface Pro 3?

Why didn't they change the model numbers?

Deliberately introducing confusion?

It's a Surface not a Surface Pro. It looks like the Pro, but it's not. Dont worry Willie

 

[jrioux]

would have loved to see a 7-8" model coming in at £250 ($370) this model is £420 ($625) here in the UK... the price difference and size difference between this and the Pro model just makes it DOA imo.

I read an article about the S3 on BBC.com. It really sounds like Microsoft has screwed the UK with its pricing policies.

 

[RémiM]

And in Canada. 639$ before taxes for the cheapest model.

 

[jrioux]

According to Geekbench, the Z3795 scores a maximum of 1066 in single-core mode and 3303 in all-core mode.

I'm confused. The latest Geekbench scores for the...

• Surface Pro 3 with the Intel Core i3-4020Y processor are 1684 in single-core mode and 3272 in all-core mode.
• Dell Venue 11 Pro 7140 with the Intel Core M-5Y10 are 1936 in single-core mode and 3972 in all-core mode.
• Intel Atom x7-Z8700 processor were 990 in single-core mode and 3451 in all-core mode.

This seems to indicate that both Atom processors are faster that the i3 in all-core mode and the x7-Z8700 is only 5% faster than the Z3795 at full tilt, but the M-5Y10 blows them all away. Are this numbers really meaningful?

 

[GreyFox7]

They are meaningful in context.
The Core-M is the replacement for the i3 so that the Core-M scores better than the i3 on both the single core and multicore tests is good.

The Atom's score lower on the single core tests which makes sense. On the multicore part its a bit more interesting but here's the thing the Atom's are true 4 core CPUs while the other two are 2 core CPUs with hyper threading.

However geekbench is only one test and doesn't reveal the whole picture.

On a single threaded task the Atom will get smoked by the Core-M or i3, also they will finish a task and start on another one quicker.