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Who has an SP3 and S3 and considers it acceptable to have both?

sharpuser

Administrator
Staff member
Just get it.

Nobody would even question the wisdom of "Who has an SP3 and MacBook and considers it acceptable to have both?"
 

surfdock

Active Member
Perfectly acceptable to have 2 surfaces! My friend has 3 ipads and a macbook.

I have:

Surface RT
Surface Pro
Surface Pro 3
Surface 3

(OK so I work for the company and some are owned by the mother-ship, but I still love them all - even the RT.)
 

sharpuser

Administrator
Staff member
I've been considering the S3 to add to the family, each fulfilling a different need of health and wellness:

That will make three apples,
an orange,
and now a tangerine.


Glad to hear the SP4 will not be seedless.
 

mtalinm

Active Member
I've got both. But I buy every Surface the day it is released (the office pays).

I find myself using the S3 whenever possible. It is just lighter and smaller enough to be more portable, convenient, and take-withable. It is essentially an iPad with a kickstand that runs full windows.

It's also *much* more "lapable" than SP3. Its footprint works better with my short thighs, and the keyboard is more stable while the SP3 keyboard bounces a lot.

I find myself using the SP3 when I need to run two external monitors or when I need to do serious number crunching.

In fact I'm using it right now, and I'll take it with me tomorrow. I have thought of just leaving the SP3 at work.
 

InspectHerGadget

Active Member
They're for different uses. I have the i7/256/8G Pro and use it for business. I'm not interested in an Atom powered computer, just too slow for something I use all day and I run lots of programs.

My wife has the Surface 2 and uses it for email and internet, calendar and that's about it. She occasionally finds it a bit slow but I asked her about getting a Surface 3 she said not to bother, she was happy enough with what she had. Just as well, as the Surface 2 is a bookend in terms of resale.

If you want both, it would be a bit weird but then I use an iPad Air 2 just for web browsing so if I didn't have that...It would be a choice of Android or a smaller tablet and it would come down to how much money I wanted to spend. I think the Pro is too big to be used as a tablet but many on the forum would disagree. It is also a matter of whether you want a table to be powered by Windows 8.1 or Android or iOS. I think too 2G of RAM is not a lot for Windows 8.1 although it works OK for basic stuff whereas 2G is way more than enough for Android or iOS.
 
Okay, this was the thread I was hoping would go up. I have a Dell XPS13 from work, my personal iPad Air 2, SP3 and MacBook Pro. I now use the MacBook Pro pretty much for just photography. I use the SP3 as my "play" Windows machine to do presentations for work, Photoshop and Illustrator learning, etc. I use the iPad Air for some work related items and general consumption of media, etc. The Dell is only used for work email I cannot do on the iPad and any other company specific items that require being on the VPN (remote office user). I should also state I have pledged to go paperless for customer meeting notes, etc. So based on all the information you can see how I have tried to make the SP3 my main daily driver.

The comes the S3. I purchased the S3 under the "excuse" that my daughter starts high school in the fall and it would be her computer to use for school (versus the other 2 MacBooks we have in the house). You can see from the information above I have a problem.

So I get the S3 and now realize I will be buying my daughter another computer later in the summer because I cannot give up the S3 now. The size is perfect for throwing in a padfolio, taking meeting notes, etc. I can even give a presentation from it. As a result, it seems I will be leaving my SP3 in the dock at home and only be used when I am in the office or need to do the heavy lifting requiring the stronger processor. I still am having trouble leaving the iPad behind though since it is still so ingrained with work stuff and so easy to use for consumption. The S3 is working great for light to medium production.

Let's face it, these products are tools and depending on the job will determine what you need and when to use them. I am very fortunate in that I have the ability to own the fleet of technology I currently have. That's right I am an addict. They say the first step to breaking addiction is to admit you have a problem. It should be noted that my wife has affectionately names all my little friends Lolita since they are my mistress.
 

GreyFox7

Super Moderator
Staff member
The S2 killed my iPad, the S3 killed the S2 and Galaxy Note 10.1. The SP3 killed my MBA and another laptop. I shed a lot of weight and the boneyard is filling up. :)
 

kristalsoldier

Well-Known Member
Well, I have and use the SP3 as my main device, but I also have an iPad Air for my reading. Now, the Surface 3 is a very good proposition for me. I could viably replace the iPad Air with it and gain a functionality - inking. So, I am considering a S3 in the very near term.

I would use my SP3 for whatever it is that I do on a daily basis and the S3 would be my digital notebook. It would allow me to read my ePub and PDF materials and will allow me to write and annotate using the Stylus. It would work as a very capable secondary device.

I would buy the Surface 3 without the keyboard, but with the Pen.

So, in my case, I can make a very valid reason for having both devices.

Edit: If I have a reservation - and here I am really scraping the bottom of the barrel - it is the charging solution. I wish it was compatible with the SP3 and that the charging time was better. But this is a very small niggle.

Edit 2: For those of you who have the S3, how is the inking experience - particularly in Drawboard PDF?
 
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hughlle

Super Moderator
Staff member
Common sense has prevailed. don't start uni again till end of sept so i'm going to play the hunch that they are going to stock the SP4 come it's launch (it was after all my emails that ended up with the S3 being stocked, but figure they din't want to stock the SP3 as it's getting on towards a year old, so makes no sense.

gonna keep hold of my fake money and see if i can get myself a semi-free SP4! :0
 
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hughlle

Super Moderator
Staff member
Common sense can go play in traffic. They had 10% off everything on the site, so coupled with my new job, ordered the 128gb model last night to replace my nexus 10 :)
 

netuser

Member
If you have enough money spend, you can blow as much money as you want on as many separate devices as your want. If you "need" the extra power of a Surface Pro while mobile, it makes more sense to just buy that and deal with the extra ounces of weight vs a Surface 3.
Another choice would be a Surface 3 plus a desktop to do high power computing on.
 

mtalinm

Active Member
well I have a few days to decide whether to take back the S3 I bought on launch day.

netuser is right that I should probably just use the SP3 for everything...I do need its power now and then.

But I will say this...I loooooooooooooooooooove the S3. I take it EVERYWHERE. It is the right size for notetaking (SP3 is a bit awkward in portrait mode, just too big I find). The magnetic keyboard is more stable, so it actually fits on my (short) lap. And, strangely enough, a few ounces make a differences in my eagerness to trudge around with it.

I do wonder whether it is the SP3 I should jettison in favor of a 15" laptop, and keep S3
 
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