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Tried Surface 3 at Microsoft store

irogos

Member
I was going to type this earlier but hadn't got around to it. I am not a professional reviewer, but just a regular guy who likes to use computers.

I was in Houston visiting family and had a chance to stop by the Galleria and I saw that the Microsoft store had Surface 3's on display to try out. Right next to the 3 was the Pro 3.

The thing that caught my attention about the 3 was the size. It seemed like the perfect size for portability. Additionally, it didn't have any gaps in the top of the device for letting out heat. I have never owned a Surface Pro 3, but the gaps in the top for heat dissipation bother me on the off chance that I am using the device and someone were to spill a drink on it, I think the drink would go right into those air gaps and destroy the computer. So I really like that the Surface 3 is completely sealed.

I played around with the device testing how it opens applications and it is very quick. I have read reviews saying that emmc hard drives are significantly slower than SSD's, but I couldn't tell a difference when I compared the Surface 3 to the Surface Pro 3. BTW iPads also use emmc memory as well so for cost comparison your getting a similar device for $499.

I then wanted to see if the Surface 3 could handle streaming 4k content through youtube while also being able to scroll around on the screen moving up and down and seeing if there is any noticeable slow down. The surface 3 was able to stream 4k content from youtube perfectly. There was no slowdown when showing the video and there was no slowdown when scrolling.

While the keyboard was smaller than the one on the pro 3, it didn't seem any harder to type on. The quality of the keyboard is just amazing. I am really impressed that you can get something like this for $129 and you don't have to use a bluetooth keyboard or put batteries in it because it runs off the tablet.

Gaming was pretty bad. I will just put that out there right now. The atom processor is not meant for gaming. I asked one of the employees if there were any games to demo to show how it performs and he went to the app store and downloaded a game that I believe is a mobile type game you can get on iPads and androids. The game was kind of choppy and not that smooth. However, with the release of Windows 10, we will be able to stream xbox one games at home to the surface 3 with zero lag and amazing graphics, so I think that if you are wanting to game on it, this will be a great option.

Conclusion: Microsoft knows what they are doing with developing peripherals for the Surface while Apple makes the iPad and expects 3rd party companies to make peripherals and so you don't get a good quality keyboard that integrates with the iPad. You can buy a keyboard case for the iPad and it will cost around $79 to $99 and will be bluetooth with a slight delay between button presses and seeing the letters appear on screen. There is no such issue with the keyboard for Surface. Personally, the portability for me outweighs the decrease in gaming performance and probably decrease in video/photo editing performance. I am a mac owner and I am interested in getting the Surface 3 because my iPad can't work with reference software like zotero for typing up academic papers for graduate school. I also like additional benefits of one note such as the fact that it will read documents to me while I work on other things. Regarding fanless design computers, I think that the Surface 3 is a much much better deal than the retina macbook that just came out that costs $1299. I also think the Surface 3 is a better deal than the iPad. The performance of the core M is not much better than the atom in most uses because the core m has to keep power usage down to maintain thermal limits. I will definitely be buying a Surface 3 next week when it comes out.
 

CrippsCorner

Well-Known Member
Great to hear hands on experience from regular computer enthusiasts :) don't think they're any in the UK stores yet to check out which is a shame. Still... I'm slowly convincing mum to get one so should have my hands on one soon! I love that she called the iPad pointless in comparison.
 

hughlle

Super Moderator
Staff member
Great to hear hands on experience from regular computer enthusiasts :) don't think they're any in the UK stores yet to check out which is a shame. Still... I'm slowly convincing mum to get one so should have my hands on one soon! I love that she called the iPad pointless in comparison.

Ha, my mum would just call this an ipad. My brother is a lawyer and has a company provided ipad, he has also expressed how pointless it is for his job other than for reading emails and pdfs and that he'd love to be able to BYOD and get a surface.
 

CrippsCorner

Well-Known Member
My mums questions...
  • Where's the stand?
  • Where's the USB slot to put my old Word documents on for editing?
  • Does it come with a keyboard?
  • How I connect the printer to it?
  • Can I download torrents?
She might not have used that exact wording, but yeah... all those things are so much better on the Surface; I really couldn't recommend an iPad for her!

My girlfriend has her own iPad, and iMac; she loves Apple. But she was given a iPad for her new job and she has to connect to a Windows remote desktop through it, and has to move a cursor around with her finger rather than use the touchscreen! Even she admits this is terrible and would rather swap it for a Windows laptop (or Surface) but the IT department said there was no money left... whoops! Someone obviously thought having iPad's would be cool, but unfortunately, they're not the solution for the job she does.
 

BillJ

Active Member
I have tried out the Surface 3 at Best Buy, and I agree with all of the points made by the OP in this thread.
If I didn't already have a SP3, and were looking for a new tablet PC right now, I would buy one without hesitation. The Surface 3 would be my choice for web surfing, emails, note taking, photo manipulation, and document management. It would be the perfect device for a student taking notes in class. I hope lots of people see the potential in this device.
Other people have stated that the S3 might cannibalize some of MS's SP3-4 sales; I would think that this new device would reach out to a broader market segment.
 
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irogos

Member
Other people have stated that the S3 might cannibalize some of MS's SP3-4 sales; I would think that this new device would reach out to a broader market segment.

Exactly! If Microsoft can position this right with advertising, people will realize this is so much better for productivity than an iPad. I am a grad student in college and I see zero people using iPads for college. Students realize that the iPad just doesn't cut it when it comes to being productive. You can't use reference software with iPad. You can't use a mouse, which is essential for making quick edits in documents. I am really excited for Microsoft because the Surface 3 and upcoming Surface 4 are going to bring fresh competition into the market.
 

bluegrass

Well-Known Member
iPads have a huge following but when the word gets out what you can really only do with iPads and what you really can do with Surfaces, I think Surfaces may really put a dent in Apple iPad sales. Half of the use of iPads is covered anyway by the phones people carry in their pocket.
 
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irogos

Member
iPads have a huge following but when the word gets out what you can really only do with iPads and what you really can do with Surfaces, I think Surfaces may really put a dent in Apple iPad sales. Half of the use of iPads is covered anyway by the phones people carry in their pocket.

To be honest, I think that Apple purposely made the iPad as a consumption centric device because they didn't want to hurt sales of their laptops. I remember reading a statement by either Steve Jobs or Jony Ive mentioning that the iPad is a consumption device. Thus, Apple purposely limits what could be a very capable device.

On the other hand Microsoft from the very get go has created a device that they want to do everything possible. To that point, I have a lot of appreciation for Microsoft. As a company, Microsoft isn't trying to sell me every single device they make to fit certain niche's for different needs that I may have. They make the Surface and accessories to fit every need I could have for the device.
 

Boblette

New Member
Exactly! If Microsoft can position this right with advertising, people will realize this is so much better for productivity than an iPad. I am a grad student in college and I see zero people using iPads for college. Students realize that the iPad just doesn't cut it when it comes to being productive. You can't use reference software with iPad. You can't use a mouse, which is essential for making quick edits in documents. I am really excited for Microsoft because the Surface 3 and upcoming Surface 4 are going to bring fresh competition into the market.

Actually saw a tv ad Monday night for the Surface 3!
 

CrippsCorner

Well-Known Member
I wonder how the heavily rumoured iPad Pro would hurt Surface sales though... :confused:

Either way, at least Microsoft got there first! For once.
 
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irogos

Member
I wonder how the heavily rumoured iPad Pro would hurt Surface sales though... :confused:

Either way, at least Microsoft got there first! For once.

The iPad Pro is still rumored to only use IOS rather than OS X. Again, Apple doesn't want to hurt laptop sales by having an iPad inch into that segment. Thus, there is still no worry about the iPad Pro taking away sales from the Surface.
 

GreyFox7

Super Moderator
Staff member
I wonder how the heavily rumoured iPad Pro would hurt Surface sales though... :confused:

Either way, at least Microsoft got there first! For once.
I don't believe there will be a Fruity tablet that can replace your laptop. :D

It might have a USB port although it will not be fully fictional without a file management system in iOS so will be limited to a few file types and Apps.

It might have a custom Stylus but again it will be limited use cases...

Yes there will be much made of these two features that will be way over sold and under delivered. Bottom line is it will take major revisions to iOS to compete with a full featured OS and that's not likely to happen because it would nolonger be simple.

The real reason iPad is declining is they made it *simpler* and now that people have experienced it they have realized that's not what they want.

Albert Einstein: Make it as simple as possible but not simpler.
 
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