Surface 3 10.8" Tablet announced

[fjtorres]

Straight from the horse's Mouth:
http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/...ctID.314885500

Videos, specs, all the promos.

Starting at $499, ships May 5.

Of note:

ATOM X7-Z8700 , 1.6-2.4Ghz Quad Core cpu, 2GB DRAM/64GB flash or 4GB DRAM/128 GB flash; WiFi A,B, G, N, ac; pen and ink support; full Win8.1 now, Win 10 later; microSD up to 128GB, full size USB 3, mini displayport, microUSB charging.

Magnesium casing with kickstand, 1.3 lb weight, 10 hour video playback, dual cameras, optional keyboard covers, 1 year of Office 365, OneDrive, and Skype world.

Screen is 1920x1280, 4x3 aspect.

I'm really liking the 4/128 model.

Now to see if the OEMs up their game by the time I'm ready to bite.

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

I'm really liking the 4/128 model.

Now to see if the OEMs up their game by the time I'm ready to bite.

Me too

Meh. I've got a Windows 8.1 Lenovo Yoga 2 11 with pentium processor and 4GB RAM. It is okay for simple office work, but it is way too underpowered for any heavy lifting. Forget about using it for image or video processing or much other than lightweight stuff. If you are just going to surf the net and write a few emails then it is okay.

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by jswinden

Meh. I've got a Windows 8.1 Lenovo Yoga 2 11 with pentium processor and 4GB RAM. It is okay for simple office work, but it is way too underpowered for any heavy lifting. Forget about using it for image or video processing or much other than lightweight stuff. If you are just going to surf the net and write a few emails then it is okay.

Do you use Calibre on it?

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

Do you use Calibre on it?

If I may, Calibre isn't terribly processor-intensive. I've run it on a netbook with a vintage second generation Atom on Vista. It runs fine.

I expect even the cheapest Atom-based 8in Wintabs will run it acceptably.

Now, the new Atom in the Surface 3 is a Quad core with 16 execution units and dual channel memory with much bigger memory bandwidth than even the last generation and is a whole new architecture reportedly capable of processing 4K video.

It may be a while before good benchmarks tell us how good this new Atom processor is but it's not the same underpowered architecture of the netbook heyday.

[Rbneader]

Meh sounds right. Tablets with these specs have been around for ages.

If I'm paying $400, I want a better experience than a $200 Android tablet. So far Windows tablets haven't delivered.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Rbneader

Meh sounds right. Tablets with these specs have been around for ages.

If I'm paying $400, I want a better experience than a $200 Android tablet. So far Windows tablets haven't delivered.

Might I trouble you for the name of an android tablet with 4 GB DRAM 128Gb flash, pressure sensitive pen, and/or 2.4 GHz QuadCore CPU? Maybe WiFi ac? Magnesium casing, maybe?

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Might I trouble you for the name of an android tablet with 4 GB DRAM 128Gb flash, pressure sensitive pen, and/or 2.4 GHz QuadCore CPU? Maybe WiFi ac? Magnesium casing, maybe?

He said "better experience," not better specs. Windows is much more bloated than Android -- it needs a lot faster hardware just to stay even.

[Barty]

The specs are very good. It makes you realize similarly priced android tablets and iPad are kind of over priced.

[JSWolf]

I'm using a Surface Pro 2 and it runs very well with 8GB ram, i5-4300U CPU at 1.9GHz, and a 512GB flash drive. I'm running a full Windows 8.1.

It runs quite nicely.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

If I may, Calibre isn't terribly processor-intensive. I've run it on a netbook with a vintage second generation Atom on Vista. It runs fine.

I expect even the cheapest Atom-based 8in Wintabs will run it acceptably.

If you're just using it to store books, that's absolutely true, but it's worth noting that if you want to convert books, especially large books, it is memory-intensive. I have some books I can't convert on my current laptop (i5, 4GB RAM), which is one reason I'll soon be upgrading to a laptop with 16GB RAM.

[Sweetpea]

I bought my SP2 for €600 (256/8). This new S3 will be €609,99 (64/2). Plus €49,99 for a pen. If I'd want the 128/4 version, I'd pay €729,00 + €49,99 for a pen. For that price, I can buy a full SP3 (64/4).

Too expensive by far.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

I bought my SP2 for €600 (256/8). This new S3 will be €609,99 (64/2). Plus €49,99 for a pen. If I'd want the 128/4 version, I'd pay €729,00 + €49,99 for a pen. For that price, I can buy a full SP3 (64/4).

Too expensive by far.

Just curious: were those the launch S2 prices? Or discounted, after RT thudded?

[fjtorres]

One complaint I see that I don't get is the one about the pricing being "too close" to the low-end SP3, because of the smaller screen. To me, smaller screen = lighter weight, more portability. Ditto with the CPU; a coreM CPU might be a better fit for some productivity uses but there's more to productivity than Photoshop and video transcoding. And until we know for sure how "weak" the Cherry Trails are out in real world use I'm reserving judgment on what the new gen Atoms can and can't do. What I do know is the 2W power draw means the 10 hr battery claims are likely real and that USB charging means I can charge it with the cheap 2.1w power adapter I already own.

All computers feature trade-offs.
And different designs trade different features to meet their target markets. That is one of the virtues of multi-vendor platforms; there's no need to try to be all things to all people. The Dell Venue Pro is a very nice WinTab for the education market with a CoreM processor starting at $329. The trade-off is a thicker, all-plastic casing, a dual core CPU, 2/32 memory and storage, lower-res screen. Still very good and very useful, but upgrading the screen to full HD and moving to 64GB flash gets the price close to the S3 where the dual core vs quad core peak power vs sustained throughput takes over. There's room for both.

Just as there's room for 8in cheapie WinTabs for reading and droids and iPads.
Each has its market based on its strengths and its weaknesses. Pretending any single platform or product is superior or beyond reproach is delusional; they're all flawed and they're all fatally flawed for entire markets worth of users.

Now, my experience with TabletPCs going bsck to the TC1000 days has always been that the problem was the hardware (too heavy and too expensive) and not the user experience which has always been very good, especially the multitasking and pen functions.

Compared to my most recent HP Tablet PC the S3 looks to have double the resolution, double the CPU power, a third the weight, double the battery life, and all the functionality at 40% less (list) than what the old one cost *on sale*. If I can hold out 'til the fall I can probably get a better price when they start putting it on sale, maybe bundled up with the keyboard or maybe the 4G/GPS version.

Or maybe Dell will drop their price or Asus will beef up their 10in Model...
The Surface tablets exist to show that Windows Tablets aren't just cheapie surfing and media boxes, that they can be useful productivity tools if designed right. A billion a year in 2014 sales says they succeeded in the business market. Now they're going after the academic market. They've got a shot at it.

BTW, here's the CPU specsheet:

http://ark.intel.com/m/products/8547...specifications

Anandtech's early take:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/9126/m...nces-surface-3

Tech Radar:
http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-...1289839/review
(They got the US accessory pricing wrong, though. Way too high on the keyboard.)

It is an interesting tablet.

[WillAdams]

I considered getting an Android tablet --- stumbling blocks:

- limited selection of tablets w/ stylus
- support for handwriting recognition was difficult to identify and when found made things even more limited in choice
- limited application selection