Surface Pro 2.5?

[SteveBorough]

Saw this on the MS forum, anyone have a very recent exchange and can verify?
Surface Pro 2.5 i5 4300U 1.9 Ghz 2.5 Ghz - Microsoft Community

 

[fonzman78]

I had an exchange come in on Fri, Dec 28. I just checked since I still have both. No luck. Both are 42000 1.6Ghz. Hopefully someone else can confirm.

 

[the_new_normal]

Can't verify it, but that question was reposted and one person concurred here (3rd post from the bottom):
System Firmware Update - 12/10/13 fails to install - Microsoft Community

Looks like there are some out there:
Surface Pro 2 - Geekbench Search - Geekbench Browser

 

[wseverino]

I will check mine when my replacement 512GB get here in the next couple days.

 

[jollywombat]

I will check mine when my replacement 512GB get here in the next couple days.

I just replaced my SP2 256gb due to issues relating to the December firmware update that caused the device to turn on while it was in a protective sleeve and overheated for a few hours it appears. After discovering this, I found that the heat seems to have caused the front screen retention glue to loosen, entire top of the screen creaked when touched, and one of the fans seems to have damaged a bearing and would randomly make tons of noise. I went to the microsoft store on a whim while on a trip for Christmas there to see if I could exchange it at the store and since I purchased the complete care warranty, they allowed it and I got a new unit there.

Just noticed my replacement is the i5-4300U @ 2.5ghz, verified through CPUZ as well.

 

[godson594]

View attachment 1492

I just replaced my SP2 256gb due to issues relating to the December firmware update that caused the device to turn on while it was in a protective sleeve and overheated for a few hours it appears. After discovering this, I found that the heat seems to have caused the front screen retention glue to loosen, entire top of the screen creaked when touched, and one of the fans seems to have damaged a bearing and would randomly make tons of noise. I went to the microsoft store on a whim while on a trip for Christmas there to see if I could exchange it at the store and since I purchased the complete care warranty, they allowed it and I got a new unit there.

Just noticed my replacement is the i5-4300U @ 2.5ghz, verified through CPUZ as well.

That's crazy, I BET that's exactly what happened to mine, came on in bag, overheated and loosened my screen :X

Maybe i'll get lucky and get a higher clocked one too ha...

 

[bluegrass]

What's the importance of this? Can someone with technical knowledge tell us what the difference is? Obviously 4300 is later then 4200. Is it better?

 

[jollywombat]

What's the importance of this? Can someone with technical knowledge tell us what the difference is? Obviously 4300 is later then 4200. Is it better?

Slightly higher base and turbo clock speed with the 4300 vs the 4200. There are indications that its performance per watt are less than the 4200 as well, but have not been able to find hard data on this yet to confirm, but seems reasonable that it might be slightly less efficient due to higher clock speeds using the same core. The intel HD4400 iGPU is clocked at 1,100 mhz now vs 1000, so there are slight increases in gaming/gpu performance because of this (I verified I am getting an average of 3-5% better 3dmark benchmarks so far).

**Correction, I looked into intels specifications for the i5-4200u and its cache is the same as the i5-4300 @ 2x256kb cache. So no halving of l2 cache size. Other speed increases for cpu and iGPU are correct however.

 

[Nitemare]

Very slightly faster... that's about it. I'm not sure if the SP2 is capable of being overclocked, but if so, you could match the 4200U to the 4300U and they'd be the same.

I'm not sure about the L2 cache being different... only one site is saying this, and others are not.

 

[MickeyLittle]

Better for more reasons than meets the eye..
1) the speed goes from 1.6 to 1.9 and burst speed goes from 2.3 to 2.5 so yes there is a nice 18-20% increase in speed
2) there must obviously have been an issue with their i4200 hardware or I can't imagine why they would be changing them out to i4300

Think about it and the number of people who hear about this and think wow I wonder can I call, complain, and get the replacement upgrade. Had the i4200 been ok they could have just kept replacing issues with those and no one with borderline replacement issues would have the extra incentive to go thru the replacement hassle.

 

[jollywombat]

May not have been issues with the 4200, intel could just have moved onto the 4300 process designation for the same price, and with no hardware differences in the chip since its the exact same core its just a drop in and done change. Happens pretty often that minor revisions in hardware are implemented without it being an advertised change.

 

[MickeyLittle]

Maybe so but going from 1.6 to 1.9 is 20% no matter how you look at it and if you guys don't want it then I know I sure do!:cool2: