My day with SP3

[mmoran27]

Since I had the day off I figured I would take the SP3 to Starbucks to get some work done lol. I normally do this on my MacBook Air.

I pack SP3 and power cord. The power cord plus plug end is not compact. I wind up that end but the other end is a kludge. I just wind up unplugging it from the brick and putting both in my bag.

So off I go. Surface joins wifi and works. This Starbucks has the Google wifi so it is fast. I start with Excel. I also open a browser side by side. I figured since screen is high res open calculator and resize. So now I have 3 windows.

I plug in headphones and stream spotify. I immediately can tell something is different. The audio quality is not as good as my iPhone or GS5 using same headset.

I keep working. Once I complete my report in excel and prepare to leave I notice I have a slitting headache. I think it may be due to me squinting at screen. I guess I made everything too small.

Overall I had a pleasant experience besides the headache and audio quality. I don't know why MS would cheap on the wifi, audio, and now pen with nTrig .

Wish it was better but it is typical MS

 

[ctitanic]

I plug in headphones and stream spotify. I immediately can tell something is different. The audio quality is not as good as my iPhone or GS5 using same headset.

Sounds like a driver issue.

 

[kristalsoldier]

OK. Let me then share with you a typical day for me when I "work from outside my office". Like you, I take with me the SP3 (but with no charger) and my iPad Air and head to the local cafe. There, like you, I connect to the free wifi with my SP3 and iPad. I open up OneDrive and then open a (Word) document that I have been working on. Currently, the document is about 65 pages long. I also open MU IE (around 4 tabs) and do my online research. At the same time, I have the Mail app open and from time to time receive and write mail (which invariably involves attachments). I use the iPad Air to open up OneNote and refer to the hand written notes that I have made on OneNote the previous night. My headphones are plugged into my Lumia 720 and are piping through my playlists that are stored locally on the MicroSD card on the phone. At some point, I unplug the headphones from the phone and plug it into the SP3 and tune into a couple of internet radio stations. By now, it has been around 3 hours that I have been sitting in the cafe and I have got some substantial work done. The flow of emails increases and so I split the screen of the SP3 and share it between the Word Document and the Mail app and I keep working on both. The Skype app chimes on the SP3 and I switch to it to conduct a couple of one on one meetings (no video).

With the Skype sessions done. I save and close down everything. I then open OneNote (MUI version) on the SP3 and jot down some quick notes by hand. Then I pack up to leave. As I leave the cafe, I notice my hands are shaking slightly and then I remember that I have had about 5 cups of coffee (2 double espressos a 3 large large strong black coffees). I am quite satisfied with what I have accomplished thus far as I wend my way back to my study at home where I will have a quick bite to eat and then will get back to work.

The SP3 has performed brilliantly. No heat, no fans coming on and the battery (as per the battery icon) is at around 70%.

 

[fonzman78]

OK. Let me then share with you a typical day for me when I "work from outside my office". Like you, I take with me the SP3 (but with no charger) and my iPad Air and head to the local cafe. There, like you, I connect to the free wifi with my SP3 and iPad. I open up OneDrive and then open a (Word) document that I have been working on. Currently, the document is about 65 pages long. I also open MU IE (around 4 tabs) and do my online research. At the same time, I have the Mail app open and from time to time receive and write mail (which invariably involves attachments). I use the iPad Air to open up OneNote and refer to the hand written notes that I have made on OneNote the previous night. My headphones are plugged into my Lumia 720 and are piping through my playlists that are stored locally on the MicroSD card on the phone. At some point, I unplug the headphones from the phone and plug it into the SP3 and tune into a couple of internet radio stations. By now, it has been around 3 hours that I have been sitting in the cafe and I have got some substantial work done. The flow of emails increases and so I split the screen of the SP3 and share it between the Word Document and the Mail app and I keep working on both. The Skype app chimes on the SP3 and I switch to it to conduct a couple of one on one meetings (no video).

With the Skype sessions done. I save and close down everything. I then open OneNote (MUI version) on the SP3 and jot down some quick notes by hand. Then I pack up to leave. As I leave the cafe, I notice my hands are shaking slightly and then I remember that I have had about 5 cups of coffee (2 double espressos a 3 large large strong black coffees). I am quite satisfied with what I have accomplished thus far as I wend my way back to my study at home where I will have a quick bite to eat and then will get back to work.

The SP3 has performed brilliantly. No heat, no fans coming on and the battery (as per the battery icon) is at around 70%.

This is my exact day. Running from meeting to meeting starting at 8-9am. In between meetings, I find a coffee shop/bakery/anything that has Wifi. I never have problems connecting to any of these Wifi hot spots. While at the Wifi location, I do email, review quotes, do some ppt, and browse internet. I always have multiple IE tabs open (including this forum). I use OneNote to review meeting notes. For music, I use Bluetooth to my HTC 8x and Surface using LG Tone Pro headsets as it can pair to both devices at the same time. This is nice as I can listen to music on the Surface and still get a call on the 8x. When I have a couple hours between meetings, I sometimes watch a movie.

During all this, the SP3 i7 seldom heats up and I never hear the fan. Maybe I'm lucky. But, I don't mess with the standard config. I hear others using non stock drivers. Maybe that's the cause of problems. I've been tempted by Mitch's tweaking of the video driver to get darker blacks but I worry that it may introduce unwanted problems. Why mess with something that isn't broken?

Mitch, are you confident that your tweaks are solid? I'd like to get a better picture for movies but not to concerned about it since I don't have anything to measure it against.

 

[kristalsoldier]

I should also add that my SP3 is in its stock config. I have changed absolutely nothing except for some brightness settings. On battery the brightness is at 35% with adaptive brightness off.

 

[GreyFox7]

OK. Let me then share with you a typical day for me when I "work from outside my office". Like you, I take with me the SP3 (but with no charger) and my iPad Air and head to the local cafe. There, like you, I connect to the free wifi with my SP3 and iPad. I open up OneDrive and then open a (Word) document that I have been working on. Currently, the document is about 65 pages long. I also open MU IE (around 4 tabs) and do my online research. At the same time, I have the Mail app open and from time to time receive and write mail (which invariably involves attachments). I use the iPad Air to open up OneNote and refer to the hand written notes that I have made on OneNote the previous night. My headphones are plugged into my Lumia 720 and are piping through my playlists that are stored locally on the MicroSD card on the phone. At some point, I unplug the headphones from the phone and plug it into the SP3 and tune into a couple of internet radio stations. By now, it has been around 3 hours that I have been sitting in the cafe and I have got some substantial work done. The flow of emails increases and so I split the screen of the SP3 and share it between the Word Document and the Mail app and I keep working on both. The Skype app chimes on the SP3 and I switch to it to conduct a couple of one on one meetings (no video).

With the Skype sessions done. I save and close down everything. I then open OneNote (MUI version) on the SP3 and jot down some quick notes by hand. Then I pack up to leave. As I leave the cafe, I notice my hands are shaking slightly and then I remember that I have had about 5 cups of coffee (2 double espressos a 3 large large strong black coffees). I am quite satisfied with what I have accomplished thus far as I wend my way back to my study at home where I will have a quick bite to eat and then will get back to work.

The SP3 has performed brilliantly. No heat, no fans coming on and the battery (as per the battery icon) is at around 70%.

My day is not that different from yours, except I don't go to a cafe, I work in my home office converted dining room with breaks for a swim, run, or bike session to keep my Triathlon skills sharp.

Note: I don't take devices to the gym, won't find any nude photos on my devices or account anywhere

 

[kristalsoldier]

My day is not that different from yours, except I don't go to a cafe, I work in my home office converted dining room with breaks for a swim, run, or bike session to keep my Triathlon skills sharp.

Note: I don't take devices to the gym, won't find any nude photos on my devices or account anywhere

Lol! Nor will you (or anyone) on mine...! Not telling any more!

 

[malberttoo]

This is my exact day. Running from meeting to meeting starting at 8-9am. In between meetings, I find a coffee shop/bakery/anything that has Wifi. I never have problems connecting to any of these Wifi hot spots. While at the Wifi location, I do email, review quotes, do some ppt, and browse internet. I always have multiple IE tabs open (including this forum). I use OneNote to review meeting notes. For music, I use Bluetooth to my HTC 8x and Surface using LG Tone Pro headsets as it can pair to both devices at the same time. This is nice as I can listen to music on the Surface and still get a call on the 8x. When I have a couple hours between meetings, I sometimes watch a movie.

During all this, the SP3 i7 seldom heats up and I never hear the fan. Maybe I'm lucky. But, I don't mess with the standard config. I hear others using non stock drivers. Maybe that's the cause of problems. I've been tempted by Mitch's tweaking of the video driver to get darker blacks but I worry that it may introduce unwanted problems. Why mess with something that isn't broken?

Mitch, are you confident that your tweaks are solid? I'd like to get a better picture for movies but not to concerned about it since I don't have anything to measure it against.

Just a helpful tip- since Mitch isn't part of this conversation and has no idea you're talking about him... you should tag him in your post, by putting an @ in front of his username, like so- @mitchellvii. He'll get a notification that he's been tagged in this post.



We now return you to the topic...

 

[mitchellvii]

This is my exact day. Running from meeting to meeting starting at 8-9am. In between meetings, I find a coffee shop/bakery/anything that has Wifi. I never have problems connecting to any of these Wifi hot spots. While at the Wifi location, I do email, review quotes, do some ppt, and browse internet. I always have multiple IE tabs open (including this forum). I use OneNote to review meeting notes. For music, I use Bluetooth to my HTC 8x and Surface using LG Tone Pro headsets as it can pair to both devices at the same time. This is nice as I can listen to music on the Surface and still get a call on the 8x. When I have a couple hours between meetings, I sometimes watch a movie.

During all this, the SP3 i7 seldom heats up and I never hear the fan. Maybe I'm lucky. But, I don't mess with the standard config. I hear others using non stock drivers. Maybe that's the cause of problems. I've been tempted by Mitch's tweaking of the video driver to get darker blacks but I worry that it may introduce unwanted problems. Why mess with something that isn't broken?

Mitch, are you confident that your tweaks are solid? I'd like to get a better picture for movies but not to concerned about it since I don't have anything to measure it against.

Well they really aren't my tweaks. They are part of the HD Control Panel that is supposed to be a part of our video drivers which MS has for some reason left out.

As far as stability, etc, they are just fine. They are authentic from Intel. Have not noticed any performance hits or buginess as a result. Never have a heat problem with my i5. Anyway, if you don't like them, MS will send you a performance hardware update to flash them back to stock (watch out for that one if you like them, btw, you'll want to hide that update).

Tuning Gamma down to a lower level has the effect of deepening blacks and making colors richer and less "blown out" at higher brightness levels. I personally think it makes a HUGE difference. Because MS will just roll it back on its own (if you install the update), you don't have to worry if you don't like it.

Give it a try. Download the .zip file (not the beta) and run the setup.exe from there. The normal .exe file won't work. MS really should just include the Control Panel in their drivers.