Surface 3 Now at Best Buy

[dgwoodward]

It has already been mentioned that the Surface 3 is available to look and touch at the Microsoft stores. I stopped by my local Best Buy this afternoon and they had a Surface 3 on display. Really nice system and feels pretty zippy with the limited stuff I could do with it. Not really able to feel the true weight of the system since it is tethered, but is incredibly nice.

 

[GreyFox7]

I stopped at a Best Buy and they didn't have the Surface 3 and they said only the Best Buy locations with a Microsoft/Windows Store have them.

 

[CrippsCorner]

Anyone know when these will be available to view in the UK?

 

[netuser]

I went to Best Buy and they had a 64GB demo without a keyboard on display.
I compared it to an i5 Surface Pro next to it and I could feel the difference in speed between the two even though all I was doing was loading web pages in IE 11. The Surface Pro 3 was definitely faster even just loading web pages.
The useless test of going to Start Screen and scrolling right and left with your finger was no different between the two. I think even the slowest tablets like a $79 HP Stream 7 with 1GB RAM can do this with ease.

The Surface 3 felt quick enough with IE11 and navigating around without multitasking. However, it could not load the home page of CNN.com without crashing with "script not responding" errors.
The Surface Pro 3 loaded CNN.com without crashing.

At first, I thought maybe the Atom couldn't handle the heavy, messy scripts CNN is running on their home page, but I went over to a $1399 HP Envy x360 i7 on the next table over and the home page of CNN.com had the same crashing not-responding scripts on that machine also.
The Surface 3 was able to load theverge,.com without any problems. I don't know what is wrong with CNN.com since they redesigned their site a few months ago.
I also have one PC at home that cannot load the CNN,com home page in IE11 without scripts crashing and another that runs it OK.
CNN needs to fix their site to work better with IE11. I am able to open it with Firefox and I can even open it with a Chromebook without crashing.

Compared to the Surface Pro 3, I preferred the lightness for the Surface 3. It made the SP3 feel heavy.
The kickstand makes using the touchscreen easier to use on a table because when I tapped on the touchscreen on the x360, it wobbled and bounced with each tap and the Surfaces didn't bounce when you use the touchscreen.

Since I couldn't remove the Surface from the table, I don't know how easy balancing it on your lap or using it on a bed would be. I feel like the Surface 3 or Surface Pro 3 maybe be unstable and prone to fall over or be knocked over when not on a hard surface like a table when compared to using a traditional laptop on your lap or on a bed.

 

[netuser]

I went home and was able to crash IE11 at will by simply visiting cnn.com just like it crashed on the Surface 3 at Best Buy.

 

[GreyFox7]

I went home and was able to crash IE11 at will by simply visiting cnn.com just like it crashed on the Surface 3 at Best Buy.

Load the tracking filters... no problems.
Go to the Desktop IE. Manage Add Ons. Select Tracking Protection.
I use EasyList, EasyPrivacy, and Stop Google Trackng.

These work in the Metro IE as well, but you can only add them in Desktop IE.

Of course report all bugs to CNN.

 

[netuser]

Load the tracking filters... no problems.
Go to the Desktop IE. Manage Add Ons. Select Tracking Protection.
I use EasyList, EasyPrivacy, and Stop Google Trackng.

These work in the Metro IE as well, but you can only add them in Desktop IE.

Of course report all bugs to CNN.

I just tried EasyList and so far the cnn.com home page is not crashing on the same computer anymore. So, maybe this will also fix the same issue on the Surface 3.
CNN must already know that their site is crashing a significant number of IE browsers though. I wonder if we can deploy those add-ins like EasyList at work without licensing issues?

http://robservatory.com/why-i-hate-the-cnn-redesign-quantified/

 

[GreyFox7]

I just tried EasyList and so far the cnn.com home page is not crashing on the same computer anymore. So, maybe this will also fix the same issue on the Surface 3.
CNN must already know that their site is crashing a significant number of IE browsers though. I wonder if we can deploy those add-ins like EasyList at work without licensing issues?

http://robservatory.com/why-i-hate-the-cnn-redesign-quantified/
View attachment 5900

It is a bad, no horrendous design. I don't go there anymore except on rare occasions. like to check if IE crashes on the home page with EasyList enabled. Didn't even bother looking at any headlines after seeing it wasn't crashed out.

 

[dstrauss]

I went home and was able to crash IE11 at will by simply visiting cnn.com just like it crashed on the Surface 3 at Best Buy.

IE 11 crashes for me constantly, regardless of site, and various virus/malware checkers show no infection on my SPro 3...

 

[netuser]

I had only added Easy List and it seemed to have fixed cnn.com, but it crashed once again today.
TMZ.com crashed IE the first time I tried to scroll the page.
After adding Stop Google Tracking, I was finally able to scroll TMZ.com without scripts causing IE11 to crash.
Those sites work OK in other browsers, so the web designers are not testing IE thoroughly enough with different hardware.
I noticed all the systems that don't crash on cnn and tmz are i5s. The Best Buy i5 Surface Pro 3 didn't crash. My i5 desktop at home didn't crash and my i5 desktop at work didn't crash.
However, the i7 HP x360 laptop at Best Buy crashed. The Atom Surface 3 at Best Buy crashed and my Celeron laptop at home crashed until I installed those add-ins.
I'll see if this add-in fix lasts long term. Sometimes installing browser add-ins makes the browser MORE unstable.

 

[GreyFox7]

I had only added Easy List and it seemed to have fixed cnn.com, but it crashed once again today.
TMZ.com crashed IE the first time I tried to scroll the page.
After adding Stop Google Tracking, I was finally able to scroll TMZ.com without scripts causing IE11 to crash.
Those sites work OK in other browsers, so the web designers are not testing IE thoroughly enough with different hardware.
I noticed all the systems that don't crash on cnn and tmz are i5s. The Best Buy i5 Surface Pro 3 didn't crash. My i5 desktop at home didn't crash and my i5 desktop at work didn't crash.
However, the i7 HP x360 laptop at Best Buy crashed. The Atom Surface 3 at Best Buy crashed and my Celeron laptop at home crashed until I installed those add-ins.
I'll see if this add-in fix lasts long term. Sometimes installing browser add-ins makes the browser MORE unstable.

There's been a problem lately with Google malvertizing particularly from one partner... ADs than send you to malicious sites.

 

[netuser]

Easylist solves the issue of IE11 regularly hanging and not responding on cnn.com and a few other websites and does it by blocking ads. That seems to prove that ads are the source of the problem.
I guess cnn.com deserves to have their ads blocked if they have a poorly implemented ad system that doesn't run smoothly even when running on current generation mainstream browsers running on current generation hardware.
They must not bother testing IE on low power chips on tablets and budget laptops like the HP Stream. The Surface 3 is not the only device with IE hanging with long running script not responding errors unless ads are blocked.
I looked through the cnn.com website and couldn't even find a link to report to them they need to fix their site so IE11 can load the cnn home page without hanging on obnoxiously heavy javascript loading ads and needing an i5 processor to bulldoze through it.
The problem with Easylist is that it doesn't seem to have any way to unblock or whitelist sites other than disabling the whole add-on.
There are some sites that have ads that don't cause the browser to crash and that also require ads to be enabled to play videos. You cannot play videos on the cnet.com site while ads are blocked with Easylist.