Is the Surface Pro 2 much of an upgrade?

[Cdaniels1987]

So I will be getting a Surface Pro early next year for University, however I am not sure whether to spend the extra on a Pro 2.

I can get a Pro for £500 or a Pro 2 for £700, is it worth the extra £200?

 

[DragonGamer]

If the difference is that small, it's definitely worth it, I'd say! (if you buy the SP 1 over Ebay the difference can be quite a big larger)
The main two differences are the kickstand: The SP 2 has a second position which is far, far better to use in laop or on skew class-tables.
Snd the battery: The SP 2 has almost double the battery time of the SP 1!. It can carry you easily through a long university day where the SP 1 struggles...

EDIT: Yes, the powercover is an option, but makes the package havier...

 

[Deleted member 10837]

The Power Cover will have a 30Wh battery which will add 71% to the Surface's 42Wh so you should be able to get through a day with Surface Pro 1 + Power Cover.

 

[Orren]

If you want to play some games the GPU is better on the Surface Pro 2 as well (HD4000 vs HD4400).

 

[Cdaniels1987]

I would probably do a bit of gaming but would only be stuff like Rollercoaster Tycoon 3, Simcity etc so nothing too taxing.

 

[Orren]

I would probably do a bit of gaming but would only be stuff like Rollercoaster Tycoon 3, Simcity etc so nothing too taxing.

It comes down to the battery life and stand improvement then by the looks. I'm looking at getting the Pro 2. I looked at the Pro 1 but for what I want it just isn't worth it. Is the extra battery life and having the extra hinge worth it to you? The 10" screen can be a problem for uni work as well as there is not much space on it.

 

[Orren]

Also, it's worth noting that the Microsoft Store is offering a £80 Microsoft Store voucher for free for students when you buy the Surface Pro 2 from them.

 

[Cdaniels1987]

Also, it's worth noting that the Microsoft Store is offering a £80 Microsoft Store voucher for free for students when you buy the Surface Pro 2 from them.

Oh ok that's interesting.

Is the battery life really that much better though?

Oh and screen size is fine, I was working in a chromebook earlier this year for work, but they just do not cut it for Uni, need something tablet like which runs a full version of windows so surface pro is the way to go.

 

[DragonGamer]

Yes the battery is quite significant.. on normal use you easily get 8 hours. On the SP 1 it was about 5 hours...

 

[Cdaniels1987]

Yes the battery is quite significant.. on normal use you easily get 8 hours. On the SP 1 it was about 5 hours...

Think I am leaning towards the SP2 now.

Now the next question, is it worth the extra money for the additional 4gb ram?

 

[DragonGamer]

That's something doubtworthy...
I personally have the SP 2 with 4 GB ram and I don't think I'll ever fill that up... and even if once a month that will happen, the SP (1 and 2) still has a fast SSD to use for extending memory...
So I'd only suggest the 8Gb model if you plan to replace your desktop with it or to do very memory heavy things like much virtualisation or video-editing.

 

[drolem]

My opinion is that the majority of users would be just fine with only 4G. But you'll also get a 256G SSD with 8gig of memory.