Going from SP2 to SP3?

[polbit]

I have a 128Gb SP2 that I use as a tablet mostly, with Metro IE, Next Issue, Kindle and light Office stuff. A lot of times I use it in bed next to my wife, and it is quiet - the fans never come on, unless I fire up Civ V.

I want to upgrade to the SP3, but I've read so many negative reviews as far as noise/heat that I'm a bit skeptical. I know that firmware updates have improved it somewhat, but I wanted to ask those of you that have upgraded from SP2 to SP3:

1. How much different is it? Is the fan on more often? How does the sound compare?
2. Is there really a difference in i5 vs i7 as far as fan/heat issues?

Thanks for any feedback.

 

[GreyFox7]

I think if you eat crackers in bed she will never hear the fan.

ok seriously.
The scientific approach: lets say the fan is 3db louder. Does that help? No?
repeat for temperature 3 degrees hotter...

The anecdotal approach: pick an answer that helps...
A. It's not much louder
B. It's a little louder
C. IMO it's much louder
D. I hardly notice it at all.
All these subjective answers have no frame of reference to you so your looking for the self affirming response and the rest you'll reject or ignore. Without a frame of reference and not knowing the attitude of the responder you don't really have anything more than all the rest of the comments on the Internet. Repeat for temperature.

Reverse the situation, we have no frame of reference to how sensitive she is to noise at a given frequency so we cant judge what the impact would be. This applies to the opinions given as well, how sensitive is the person giving the opinion.

What I'm getting at is this is an unknowable, unanswerable question to all except you and her.

The average temperature will be the same because the i7 will operate faster on the same workload it will be done sooner and begin to cool sooner but you may end up doing more work in the same period resulting in more heat and more accomplished.

However, the main workload you described will easily be accomplished by the i3 model so this may be the model you should be looking at which arguably would be the quietest and coolest in some opinions.

A sleep doctor will tell you that you should never do anything in bed besides sleep.

 

[kevinlevrone]

1. How much different is it? Is the fan on more often? How does the sound compare?

Thanks for any feedback.

No, the fan is inaudible most of the time, just like the SP2. I haven't really noticed any difference (SP2 i5/256 vs SP3 i5/256).

But what you will probably notice is worse battery life. This is quite normal given the larger screen.

 

[polbit]

I think if you eat crackers in bed she will never hear the fan.

ok seriously.
The scientific approach: lets say the fan is 3db louder. Does that help? No?
repeat for temperature 3 degrees hotter...

The anecdotal approach: pick an answer that helps...
A. It's not much louder
B. It's a little louder
C. IMO it's much louder
D. I hardly notice it at all.
All these subjective answers have no frame of reference to you so your looking for the self affirming response and the rest you'll reject or ignore. Without a frame of reference and not knowing the attitude of the responder you don't really have anything more than all the rest of the comments on the Internet. Repeat for temperature.

Reverse the situation, we have no frame of reference to how sensitive she is to noise at a given frequency so we cant judge what the impact would be. This applies to the opinions given as well, how sensitive is the person giving the opinion.

What I'm getting at is this is an unknowable, unanswerable question to all except you and her.

The average temperature will be the same because the i7 will operate faster on the same workload it will be done sooner and begin to cool sooner but you may end up doing more work in the same period resulting in more heat and more accomplished.

However, the main workload you described will easily be accomplished by the i3 model so this may be the model you should be looking at which arguably would be the quietest and coolest in some opinions.

A sleep doctor will tell you that you should never do anything in bed besides sleep.

So what you are basically saying is, don't listen to anything on the internet. In fact, what's even the point of this forum

I sample of comments large enough should minimize the opinion bias and give me a better understanding of what people think, on average. That's really all I'm looking for - is it worth buying to test it and possibly returning it, or do I need to look/wait for SP4, iPad Pro, etc....

 

[kidpiglet]

I'm on an i3, and I do find the screen noticeably warm when I rest my palm on it - but not to the point of it ever being unbearable. My fan also tends to kick in randomly (sometimes even when idle). It's not super loud, but I am very sensitive. I would compare the sound to perhaps the whirring of an external desktop harddrive. It's not continuous though and from my experience lasts for about 5-10 minutes - but then again I don't use my sp3 for anything intensive.

 

[jnjroach]

I have a 128Gb SP2 that I use as a tablet mostly, with Metro IE, Next Issue, Kindle and light Office stuff. A lot of times I use it in bed next to my wife, and it is quiet - the fans never come on, unless I fire up Civ V.

I want to upgrade to the SP3, but I've read so many negative reviews as far as noise/heat that I'm a bit skeptical. I know that firmware updates have improved it somewhat, but I wanted to ask those of you that have upgraded from SP2 to SP3:

1. How much different is it? Is the fan on more often? How does the sound compare?
2. Is there really a difference in i5 vs i7 as far as fan/heat issues?

Thanks for any feedback.

I have a SP3 (i5/8/256) and I've only heard the fan during some of the Firmware Updates, Video Editing and one large data pivot I have in Excel. 98% of the time it is quiet. I don't use Chrome and limit the use of legacy Win32 Applications (these tend to be the root of most throttling or fan issues).

 

[polbit]

I have a SP3 (i5/8/256) and I've only heard the fan during some of the Firmware Updates, Video Editing and one large data pivot I have in Excel. 98% of the time it is quiet. I don't use Chrome and limit the use of legacy Win32 Applications (these tend to be the root of most throttling or fan issues).

Thanks, I think from everything I've read, I'm going with that model. Hopefully my next problem will be selling the SP2, not returning the SP3

 

[polbit]

Well, got my SP3, downloading all the updates. So far so good

 

[kidpiglet]

how do you find the heat and sound? have you experienced any of that yet?

 

[polbit]

After playing with it for quite a while last night, I'm glad to say that it is as I expected - it's silent for web browsing, reading, etc., and not too loud when it is working harder (like installing all the updates and multiple apps). Definitely louder than my SP2, but nothing like my wife's Macbook Pro which sounds like a vacuum cleaner when stressed. I've also read more about the i7 version, including a statement from Microsoft themselves that it will get hotter and louder than i5, so I'm happy I tried the i5 version first.

I do wish they made a touch cover for it as I use it as a tablet mostly, although I might be tempted to try Visual Studio on it, it's just big enough that it should work.

All in all, very happy so far!