Surface Pro 2 1.9 CPU Lot Numbers

[benjitek]

Noticed yesterday that Best Buy online had the 512gb SP2's available for order again -- am trying my luck with them, as the MS Online Store is out now and I've returned the first 2 they shipped with the 4200 CPU. Fingers crossed ;-)

It just arrived, lot #1404, and >yes<, the newer 4300 CPU -- finally! 3rd time is a charm I guess -- my consolation prize is the 6 years of 200gb SkyDrive coupons and 3 years of Skype

[UPDATE] -- Lot 1404 appears to be a good one. Aside from the CPU-refresh, the screen is brighter at even the lowest setting than my previous 2 -- might be a calibration thing, there's still a range of brightness settings, but it starts out higher and at the highest setting, is brighter than the others at their highest setting. This is with auto-brightness turned off.

Also, with the first 2 there was considerable screen bleeding around the edges. I really just noticed it when the device was booting and the screen was black. Both of my iPads had this, one much more than the other, so I've racked it up to the screen technology. The screen on my lot #1404 unit has virtually none of this around the edges.

When the kickstand is closed, it rests flush with the back of the Surface -- didn't notice it on the other 2 until I received the 3rd. When their kickstands are closed, there was a slight ridge where the kickstand met with the middle of the back.

Starting to seem like lot numbers are the equivalent of wine vintages ;-)

 

[NGC]

So I took my Surface Pro 2 to Geek Squad at Best Buy. They said the only way to tell if
I have a 4200 or 4300 is to start up the Surface and check under control panel. So much for batch numbers
telling you.
Its probably a 4300 and can be returned if not.

 

[wditters]

It just arrived, lot #1404, and >yes<, the newer 4300 CPU -- finally! 3rd time is a charm I guess -- my consolation prize is the 6 years of 200gb SkyDrive coupons and 3 years of Skype

So what you are actually saying is that you took every voucher out of every box before returning it? Not sure if this would fit into everyone's concept of ethics around here ...

 

[GoodBytes]

I don't get why people are so obsess in getting the 300Mhz faster CPU. There are no difference. Games are not faster, large and small programs open at the same speed, processing is the same.
300MHz on the same architecture is not worth it. That is why getting a faster model CPU when you custom a laptop (assuming the number of cores are the same, and well it's still, let's say a Core i7), it a waste of money. Manufactures put it as a way to make additional profit. It's just not visible.

Doing what you guys are doing (returning until you get the 4300U CPU), not only prevents others from getting their Surface Pro, as your return unit goes straight to refurbished. But also, giving people in getting refurbished products instead of new ones, when they get a warranty replacement, as they'll get your returns.

 

[MickeyLittle]

I don't get why people are so obsess in getting the 300Mhz faster CPU. There are no difference. Games are not faster, large and small programs open at the same speed, processing is the same.
300MHz on the same architecture is not worth it. That is why getting a faster model CPU when you custom a laptop (assuming the number of cores are the same, and well it's still, let's say a Core i7), it a waste of money. Manufactures put it as a way to make additional profit. It's just not visible.

Doing what you guys are doing (returning until you get the 4300U CPU), not only prevents others from getting their Surface Pro, as your return unit goes straight to refurbished. But also, giving people in getting refurbished products instead of new ones, when they get a warranty replacement, as they'll get your returns.

I started this thread and I agree with you. I did exchange and get the 4300u but I had a bad 4200u. I bought mine at Best Buy and 2-3 days after purchase and 2-3 hours after talking to Microsoft support they suggested that I return it to Best Buy as my screen had a very bad flicker/dimming/brightening that was constant and auto brightness was off. This was like a light show. Lol

I took it back to Best Buy and the guy there gladly looked at all 8-10 boxes and found 1 that was a Lot 1351 which made my day. But I didn't return it for that. No way would I ever suggest that anyone do that. Listen, if you have a decent running SP2 I don't care if it has a 4100u keep the darn thing rather than racing around trying to get a 4300u that may or may not run worth a flip! And yes I know that there aren't any SP2s running a 4100u, I was just making a point.

 

[benjitek]

I don't get why people are so obsess in getting the 300Mhz faster CPU.

I'm spending 2-grand on the 512gb model, I'm going to be using it for a few years -- for that much money I'd like to most current version there is. Of course I'll seek it out, as would most anyone. If I'd bought it on launch-day, I'd live with it -- but I didn't, I'm buying it now ;-)

 

[benjitek]

Not sure if this would fit into everyone's concept of ethics around here ...

Maybe 'everyone's concept of ethics' could extend to being promised during 2 purchase attempts that yes, I would most definitely be receiving a 512gb SP2 with the newer 4300 processor. The first time being told that's all that was shipping, the 2nd time being told the agent was working with the supervisor and both would be in touch with the warehouse to ensure that's what I received. Currenty, $6000 tied up in attempting to purchase a $2000 product that I was promised with the first try.

For all that inconvenience, misinformation, reshipping, and waiting -- I'll punch in those damn coupon codes. If anyone finds that unethical, they've got bigger issues than my coupons ;-)

 

[MickeyLittle]

I'm spending 2-grand on the 512gb model, I'm going to be using it for a few years -- for that much money I'd like to most current version there is. Of course I'll seek it out, as would most anyone. If I'd bought it on launch-day, I'd live with it -- but I didn't, I'm buying it now ;-)

Totally agree and understand this. I'm referring to people who own a good running SP2 and read this thread or happen to hear of the 4300u and all of a sudden their SP2 ain't good enough any more. Yeah, they may get lucky and get a 4300u but that luck may end up being BAD luck as they may end up with an SP2 that doesn't run as good as what they actually had before.

If it ain't broke don't fix it!

 

[Philtastic]

I don't get why people are so obsess in getting the 300Mhz faster CPU. There are no difference. Games are not faster, large and small programs open at the same speed, processing is the same.
300MHz on the same architecture is not worth it. That is why getting a faster model CPU when you custom a laptop (assuming the number of cores are the same, and well it's still, let's say a Core i7), it a waste of money. Manufactures put it as a way to make additional profit. It's just not visible.

Doing what you guys are doing (returning until you get the 4300U CPU), not only prevents others from getting their Surface Pro, as your return unit goes straight to refurbished. But also, giving people in getting refurbished products instead of new ones, when they get a warranty replacement, as they'll get your returns.

Looks like we have ourselves a casual user here who only surfs the web and does his email. It is true that for such low demanding applications, almost any computer that costs more than ~$600 will feel roughly the same (assuming that they all have solid-state drives). If that was all that you wanted to do, however, you didn't need the Surface Pro 2. For the rest of us, that clockspeed increase results in a real world performance difference of ~10% according to Geekbench (Surface Pro 2 - Geekbench Search - Geekbench Browser). Geekbench tests real world applications such as photo sharpen and blur algorithms, compression formats for photos and files, fourier transforms, and matrix operations, features that are used by the research scientists (me), media producers, business people, and other professions that this device is targeted at. You can clearly tell which scores are from 4200Us (score ~4800) versus 4300Us (~5300). My SP2 scores ~5380. Maybe you don't appreciate a free performance increase but many of us value our time and money and, if we can get things done 10% faster (for free), we're taking it.

I am also a gamer and having a GPU that is 10% faster is just bonus. According to the person with the top post on the following page who has access to both a 4200U and 4300U SP2, World of Warcraft runs about 25% faster on the 4300U, probably due to the combined CPU and GPU boosts. That is a pretty significant performance increase (Surface Pro 2.5 i5 4300U 1.9 Ghz 2.5 Ghz - Microsoft Community).

There are also enterprise features in the 4300U that are not present in the 4200U such as vPro and Intel Trusted Execution security technologies and Intel Virtualization Technology for Direct I/O for more optimized virtualization.

 

[wditters]

There are also enterprise features in the 4300U that are not present in the 4200U such as vPro and Intel Trusted Execution security technologies and Intel Virtualization Technology for Direct I/O for more optimized virtualization.

And that's where I enjoy the additional performance when running virtualization demo's for corporate purposes

 

[GoodBytes]

@Philtastic, You have no idea what I do, or what you are talking about.
If the CPU was genuinly faster, then Intel would charge more than the 4200U. But they are not. Exact same price. Why? because the performance is not visible.
When you game at 60fps, 10% performance increase, will get you a hint (not visible beside in benchmark) more stable 60fps experience.
You wont' get 120fps out of 300Mhz more as you think you are getting.

It's always nice to have a faster CPU, I haven't said, the contrary. But you are acting like it's a nigh and day difference, and beside benchmark score number, it doesn't reflect reality. If you apply a blur effect on a picture, let's say it takes 500ms on a large picture. You won't notice 450ms, and that assuming it's even 10% difference for this effect. At no point in time you went "WOW it's DRASTICALLY FASTER!!!"

I had both Surface Pro 2, old CPU and new. I have not seen with Fraps a difference in gaming between the two, nor seeing any difference with people sharing their gaming performance with the old CPU (of course, all the same game settings). If anything, it's 1-2fps difference, questionable, as to maybe the scene is a bit different. I have tried StarCraft 2 Heart of Swarm, Civ 5 Broken Age, Portal 2, Trine 1 and 2, TF2, The Cave, and the barely running Hitman: Absolution.

You among all people should know that benchmarks are very synthetic figures and doesn't relate to real performance. That is why real world gaming banchmark is used by reviewers, and favored.

As for the added features, the chances that you need them are slim to none. They are no consumer software that uses any of them (the added one). Heck, even Lenovo thinkpad, which are catered to businesses, uses the 4200U

 

[Philtastic]

Ok, let me put it another way: let's say that you bought the SP2 256 GB at $1300. Literally, a week later, it goes on sale by 10% to $1170 for a savings of $130. If it didn't cost you anything to get that new price, ie. you just walk into the store and get your money back, would you do that? Because that's basically what we're doing except to get a 10% faster CPU and GPU. $130 is not a mind-blowing amount of money, but it's extra value for free.

If I had both a 4200U and 4300U SP2, I would benchmark both but I don't and it doesn't seem like anyone except for that one post I highlighted have. I have pointed to evidence that, at the very least, the CPU difference is measurable by a synthetic benchmark that replicates real world tasks, thus may indicate real world performance. Again, although you may not value a potential performance gain of 10%, I like free performance. If I had to pay money for that increase, however, I would be quite satisfied with the 4200U since, as you said, it's not a world-changing boost.