OFFICIAL I Now Have a Surface Pro 3 i7

[Akairu]

I had the i5 for about two weeks. Today I exchanged it for the i7 and though I cant go into as much technical detail as be77solo I do notice a discernible difference, even when throttled.
I am mostly using it for Solidworks, autoCAD, and PS. I haven't had much time to play with the more intensive aspects of these programs but I do notice a bit less input lag in SolidWorks. With the I5 it would stall slightly when switching between planes or assembly parts.
In light games it does appear better but again this is my best guess opinion without monitoring software to show fps, heat, and GHz. It feels snappier but not to the degree you might expect or desire between the two chips.
I am holding onto the hope that as MS sends out new firmware and driver updates we get closer to the expectation.

As a side note, a quick thanks to the helpful people here. I have been watching these forums since the SP2 launched, waiting to see what comes next (10.1 was just to small).

 

[Deryl McCarty]

Got mine - i7 256. UPS left it at the door and 2 hours sooner than promised. Now am charging, updating and installing "stuff" now. Did not choose to set it up like the SP2 but as a "new computer". So, setup takes longer but is much more satisfying. Warm on the back, upper right corner (and environs) but not too bad. No speed or response loss, but then again I do not do much in the way of heavy graphics games nor photo editing so my risk is probably a bit lower. I had to manually update the LAN and BT drivers using the MS download sp3 firmware and driver site, since there was only one update listed for me on the Update site. Plugged in the USB 3.0 port extender and SP3 quickly loaded the drivers so that ergonomic/wired KB, mouse, DVD, BR, 1TB HDD, and StarTech GB Ethernet flawlessly installed and just worked. By 1800 Windows Update said there were tons of updates including the firmware update, so went thru that process. But now all is well. During some portions of the updates the case got even warmer, but I could hear the fan ONLY if I put my ear next to the case - and then just a whisper. I saw no throttling. Am pretty much finished except for some updates that have to be reconfirmed with the program sellers. Looks like I have 199GB left of the 256, and 111 left of the 128GB SDXC. Of the 8GB on the floor I've used only 1.9. According to the Task Manager the machine has only gotten up to 2.3GHZ max. I seem to recall it is capable of about 3.3GHz. More to follow I suspect.

 

[Knuck]

So far so bad. i7 failed to install updates without crashing. Showed the thermometer of death and shut down

 

[Knuck]

Wow is this thing bad. Task Manager reports 0% CPU usage but machine hot and fan still running. This is after 10 mins of inactivity.

Edit: I should note that the only thing I installed to this point is the important updates. I did not install any optional updates, programs or apps.

 

[megatronium]

My fan hasn't come on all day and it hasn't been hot. Guess I got lucky *shrugs*

 

[baydude]

Just got mine today! What's a good case for the SP3????

 

[Akairu]

Well, I can see why they removed High Performance from the power options. Enabled Hyper V, turned on High Performance, and sat down to play Hearthstone. It went well for the first 15 or so minutes then.... the system shut down with a nice large white thermometer and wouldn't turn on until things cooled.
Going to try the same thing now without Hyper V off and see what happens.

 

[Jonrobs]

Got my i7 yesterday, nice thing was it is tax free weekend in Georgia.

 

[unruledboy]

Guys, please give us some feedback on your experiences with the i7. Another 26 days before we can get one in Oz.

same at Oz....i have been waiting for ages... ordered my i5 for ovet 1 and a half months, gez.....

 

[GreyFox7]

Please can we get some of you lucky i7 owners to post PassMark and or 3DMark scores.
Thanks in advance.

 

[double07]

Please can we get some of you lucky i7 owners to post PassMark and or 3DMark scores.
Thanks in advance.

PassMark overall Score is 2170 using ver 8. CPU mark is 4282.

SF3 Pro i7/256 out of the box, no tweak, no nothing with power plug in.

 

[stonerwinst]

I too have received my SP3 i7 256GB from staples. I am very surprised it was delivered on launch day. I thought 3rd party vendors were going to need a few extra days, but I am pleasantly surprised by the promptness. FYI, I picked mine up from staples with the 15% off coupon and I didn't have to pay tax. I paid ~$1430 including the keyboard. I think it's a good deal given it was a day 0 purchase.

I am very happy with this new device, coming from a SP1. The screen is significantly bigger and I don't feel as cramped nor does it feel as heavy. The newly revised keyboard and kickstand design is wonderful. I'd go as far as to say they are must haves for the SP line.

Speedwise, honestly, I can't say if I really need the i7. I usages has been pretty dumbed down since I became a manager of a software development team, if you know what I mean . Most of my work these days are stuck in PowerPoint, excel, outlook, and other office type applications. I did install Visual Studio 2013, but have not run any long and hard builds yet.

The big question everyone has is does it run hot; how long does the battery last? I have not used it long enough to tell. Still on the first battery cycle. Like others, I'm sure the information will come out in the coming days/weeks.

I will give Steam In-Home Streaming a try. On the SP1, it worked flawlessly. Then again, I have one of the newer NetGear Blackhawk AC1900 routers. Only occasionally would the streaming hiccup.

I like the feel of the new pen. Much more weighty due to the battery. I don't like the fact that it requires a battery, however. Oh the tradeoffs... As a lefty, I need to use it more to get used to the difference between the pointer activation distance between the Wacom and the N-Trig.

I'd like to mention a feature that Microsoft doesn't get enough credit for. My migration from SP1 to SP3 was easy. As soon as I logged in with my Microsoft account, all of my apps and settings were downloaded from the cloud. I did however have to reinstall a few traditional Windows applications, Putty, VNC, Dropbox etc. Also, I installed a few of my games on my 128GB micro SD including Steam and Battle.net. All I had to do to migrate was pop out the card from SP1, insert into SP3, and reinstall the clients. All the games were immediately recognized. I suppose some of the credit should go to the migration to the cloud, in general.

Lastly, it is really nice and easy to migrate my notes in OneNote to SP3. Microsoft really is trying to provide a better integrated experience with their products.

Final thoughts:
I am happy with my purchase and I think others will be too. I think Microsoft has something going with this product line. I've sold my ThinkPad T420 and will be selling my SP1. I will be keeping my iPad mini retina, however. I find the smaller tablet is very convenient for light browsing, PDF reading, iBook reading. At the end of the day, I think no company will be able to develop a one-device-fits-all because of the inherent differences in use-cases due to size. For what I need out of a laptop, the new SP3 suites me just fine, until the SP4 comes out of course =).