Hi,
I already posted one thread, when I was thinking about buying myself a Surface Pro 3, but "things happened" and I landed with 15 inch 2015 Macbook Pro - that I'm using at my work. As a long time Windows user I must say, that Apple life is quite great. With the exception of some force-installed corporate bullshit on my computer everything works great.
However - because it's not really my device I'm looking for something to have on my own. I still own my big, gaming desktop PC, but after 8 and more hours of sitting in front of three monitors and coding, I'm not so keen on doing that for next few hours
. But my point is - I'm not really desperate for processing power.
At first I wanted to buy a simple Android tablet, just to watch movies browse web and "stay connected" in general. However, I tested such scenario on Nvidia Tegra K1 tablet and I felt immediately limited because of the OS. I'm not talking about some serious stuff. Just connecting a pendrive to a USB port, having native support to multi-window view etc. Things that may be achieved by Android (and even iOS), but aren't as straight forward as on proper PC.
But the overall fluidness was alright. That's why I came back to the Windows-tablet idea. I thought of buying one of the cheap-atom devices, but I tested them and even the basic Windows animations were choppy.
So anyways - I'm thinking of buying the cheapest Surface Pro 4 as a replacement for the "Android tablet that also can do stuff". Yes, the more powerful version would be nicer, but as I said - the only thing I want to do is to do basic media consumption. Dropping a grand or two on a cat-video machine sounds insane.
I have four biggest fears:
- Power. I know that using Core m3 for gaming isn't the best idea, but what about doing that basic stuff and keeping things fluid, especially compared to half as expensive Android tablets.
- Batery life. Same as above. From my previous experience with Windows machines (that in fact stopped around Windows 8.1) I know that battery life is a bit hit and miss. Especially when launching poorly designed x86 programs, that drain battery because they can. But - maybe - things have changed? I now that I can expect a solid battery estimation from my mac and a typical mobile-tablet. Are things similar with Surface?
- Buggy launch. I've seen lots of threads about SP4 being quite buggy at launch. Have this changed after updates?
- Surface Pro 5 launch. My plan was to buy entry level SP4 to check if the Surface form factor suits my needs, or in fact is it just a gimmick. If this works - I'd probably buy a more serious device, like more powerful SP5 or SB2. Or should I just wait? What's your opinion on this plan? From what I know, unfortunately there weren't any leaks on SP5, so it's hard to tell.
I already posted one thread, when I was thinking about buying myself a Surface Pro 3, but "things happened" and I landed with 15 inch 2015 Macbook Pro - that I'm using at my work. As a long time Windows user I must say, that Apple life is quite great. With the exception of some force-installed corporate bullshit on my computer everything works great.
However - because it's not really my device I'm looking for something to have on my own. I still own my big, gaming desktop PC, but after 8 and more hours of sitting in front of three monitors and coding, I'm not so keen on doing that for next few hours
. But my point is - I'm not really desperate for processing power. At first I wanted to buy a simple Android tablet, just to watch movies browse web and "stay connected" in general. However, I tested such scenario on Nvidia Tegra K1 tablet and I felt immediately limited because of the OS. I'm not talking about some serious stuff. Just connecting a pendrive to a USB port, having native support to multi-window view etc. Things that may be achieved by Android (and even iOS), but aren't as straight forward as on proper PC.
But the overall fluidness was alright. That's why I came back to the Windows-tablet idea. I thought of buying one of the cheap-atom devices, but I tested them and even the basic Windows animations were choppy.
So anyways - I'm thinking of buying the cheapest Surface Pro 4 as a replacement for the "Android tablet that also can do stuff". Yes, the more powerful version would be nicer, but as I said - the only thing I want to do is to do basic media consumption. Dropping a grand or two on a cat-video machine sounds insane.
I have four biggest fears:
- Power. I know that using Core m3 for gaming isn't the best idea, but what about doing that basic stuff and keeping things fluid, especially compared to half as expensive Android tablets.
- Batery life. Same as above. From my previous experience with Windows machines (that in fact stopped around Windows 8.1) I know that battery life is a bit hit and miss. Especially when launching poorly designed x86 programs, that drain battery because they can. But - maybe - things have changed? I now that I can expect a solid battery estimation from my mac and a typical mobile-tablet. Are things similar with Surface?
- Buggy launch. I've seen lots of threads about SP4 being quite buggy at launch. Have this changed after updates?
- Surface Pro 5 launch. My plan was to buy entry level SP4 to check if the Surface form factor suits my needs, or in fact is it just a gimmick. If this works - I'd probably buy a more serious device, like more powerful SP5 or SB2. Or should I just wait? What's your opinion on this plan? From what I know, unfortunately there weren't any leaks on SP5, so it's hard to tell.
