who's NOT upgrading to sp3?

[mtalinm]

me, at least for now. I like the smaller size of the SP2, especially when on an airplane.

plus, I have sunk so much money into the SP2 with extra chargers, pens, keyboards, and the dock. I don't see recouping that in a tradein when the MSFT store gives $400 for an SP2/256 like mine (WITH keyboard!) and won't buy back the dock or keyboards separately.

I've seen the SP3 in person in two different MSFT stores, and I've read dozens of interviews. the one thing that might make me jump is if the i7 is *significantly* faster than the i5 in the SP2, but from what I've read it's a 15-20% boost at most. and, I am almost out of disk space so that might push me to a 500G model.

otherwise I'm staying put.

 

[jefhart]

I'm in the same boat as you:
-after I got my SP2/128 I went all in with the accessories
-I've been drawing a lot lately and I don't consider the N-trig stylus an upgrade
-I haven't seen seen a SP3 in person but I love the 16:9 display and don't think the extra inch or so at the top would make much of a difference

If anything I'd prefer they upgrade the GPU rather than the CPU but I know that's not feasible in a tablet. I've never run out of horsepower with the i5 and I run some semi-intensive programs.

 

[GoodBytes]

I am not upgrading, and here is why:
1- It's not even been 1 year
2- Same CPU
3- Still waiting for in depth reviews of the pen. Most. if not all. current reviews barely mentions the pen. None even bothered opening the pen to see the battery it needs, or do any tests what so ever with it. Clearly they don't get the product, as always.
4- The keyboard is identical to the current one, with a better touchpad. The keyboard on the Surface Pro 1, 2, and 3 keys are near the same size as a full desktop standard keyboard, which is what makes it awesome, and stand out from those awful Net-books we had years ago, and makes the typing experience so great on it. I am sure the Surface Pro 4 will have, assuming they continue with the same size, a larger keyboard, where the keys are exactly the same size as a full size keyboard, as there is plenty of room on the current one for doing that.

What would me run out and buy the new Surface Pro in a heart beat:
-> A screen that the pen won't scratch even if its dirty, wont' scratch if I don't use the cleanest and smoothest cloth in the world, basically eliminating the need for a screen protector.
-> Dedicated GPU. Intel integrated graphics is crap. Like forget performance, we are not even there yet. The drivers from Intel are always buggy as hell, has stupid technologies that it forces on you, like Display Power saving technology, which just alters the brightness and contrast of the screen at a software level (not of the LCD panel), which results in a massive reduction in colors, and dims on dark, instead if brightening stuff up, making you increase the screen brightness, defeating the purpose of the technology. Luckily you can disable that, but the super buggy drivers tends to forget, at random, that you have it disabled and enables it, despite clearly being disabled in the Intel Control Panel. Also, still, despite Intel claims, no full DirectX or OpenGL support, and still uses a software and games list, and not use, like Nvidia and AMD, a driver architecture design that works without crash on anything you run.
-> That is of course, not ignoring the current needs: More performance and better battery life (in the sense that the battery life should not suffer from the dedicated GPU).

 

[benjitek]

I'm not -- just recently got my 512GB SP2. It fine, but full of quirks -- I'd wait a while and see what the SP3's quirks are before getting one. My most recent 'quirk' is discovering my WiFi connection speed slows by half if Bluetooth is turned on. Very annoying :-(

 

[mtalinm]

GoodBytes,agreed as to why didn't they make a wider Type Cover keyboard section when they had the real estate to do so? seems lazy, or maybe they were in a hurry. they could get a 100% size keyboard instead of the 90% or whatever it is...just small(er) enough to be uncomfortable.

and I concur that the Type Cover 1 had so much more travel...I type better on it than TC2.

 

[DungeonShredder]

Sp2 128 can't afford to upgrade no real need at the moment.
massive improvements to battery life and GPU would be my breaking point to wanting it now

 

[jrapdx]

Have to concur--no plan to buy the SP3. I bought the SP2 in December 2013, and no way I can afford to spend at least as much on yet another computer.

It's not clear how much an advantage SP3 provides over the SP2. Reading about the SP3 pen being not as good as SP2 makes me think twice about "upgrading" even if expense wasn't an issue. Furthermore, given the multitude of bugs in the SP2, taking a "wait-and-see" position concerning the SP3 makes sense.

Besides, by the time the dust settles on SP3 vs. SP2, they'll be announcing the SP4, just in time for the holiday season...

 

[Dayton]

If it used Broadwell I probably would even though I'm very happy with my SP2. Since it is still a Haswell device I view the SP3 as an introductory product and not an upgrade.

 

[krypticide]

Same, I did play with the SP3 last weekend and for me:

* Love the thickness, but display is too big for my purposes
* Would love an SP3-like device, but in 10" or maybe even 8" but just as thin
* N-Trig pen was still not as high resolution or high sampling rate as the Wacom pen in my SP2, and I'd rather still just keep avoiding the corners for now. Maybe this will be fixed in firmware updates, not sure

 

[Genie]

Not upgrading either for same reasons people here mentioned

I personally love pen and just bought Bamboo Feel Stylus.
Although I'd like better battery life and new aspect ratio (and size) and thinness!!! but.

1. Wacom pen has been pretty solid. Still unsure how good new one will be. Haven't seem them in John Lewis yet.
2. Processor is same (or very very similar at least like insignificant change for i5 upgrade). Doesn't feel like worth upgrading yet
3. Have accessories and too early to loss cost on it.
4. It's been only like 6 months!!! I'm looking at like £400 loss if I sell/buy. I mean... is 6 months of surface usage been really worth £400?

 

[gabe406]

I too agree with all those that have made some great points on why this not the best time to upgrade. Just purchased the SP2 512 in May and even if I could sell everything to absorb some the cost of the new SP3, I am not sure on two major changes:

1. The N-trig pen. I have briefly tried it and it's not too bad but I still would like to hear real life experiences once everyone gets to use it.

2. The size. I am on the fence about the size. In a way I really like the SP2 for its small form factor, I wish they had slimmed it down for the SP2 as they did with the SP2. As for the 10 vs 12, I think it might be something to think about in the future.

With the SP2 I am comfortable waiting to see what the general public has to say about the SP3 and maybe, just maybe, look at the SP4 when that comes out.

 

[Philtastic]

Biggest factors for me to not upgrade are:
1) Size - I bought the SP2 for portability, and increasing size is the exact opposite of that desire. I like the 10.6" form factor because it's pretty small but is also still large enough to have enough screen real estate for viewing.
2) Aspect ratio - I'm not a fan of non-standard aspect ratios (3:2 for SP3, not standard in the PC space), mostly for compatibility with games and perhaps other graphics-heavy applications.
3) Same/similar hardware - I'll wait for Intel's Broadwell CPU on the smaller production process which should significantly boost speed and/or battery life. Presumably, Intel will have a better integrated GPU by then as well.
4) Pen is no longer magnetically clipped - I really like the magnetic clip design since it means that my pen is always ready to go and I don't need to reach into my bag to specifically get it when I need it. I hear that the pen might clip to the new keyboard cover but I haven't actually seen this yet.