Surface Pro 3 review

I find that the n-trig screen is better then the wacom on the SP1 and Sp2 which makes me wonder where they went wrong. I have my Wacom Intuos and it works great. The corners of the SP2 isn't as accurate. It's enough for day to day task but I can only imagine that editing is tougher. Also I do like having the batteryless design of the SP2 and Sp1 stylus. With the SP3, aaaa batteries are much harder to find. I will most likely pick some batteries up for it so if I do run out, I have some.

Arghhh. To make it harder I can now get 120€ off the price of a Macbook air with 13" screen and 256gb SSD.....

RHChan84 wrote in post #17317643
I find that the n-trig screen is better then the wacom on the SP1 and Sp2 which makes me wonder where they went wrong. I have my Wacom Intuos and it works great. The corners of the SP2 isn't as accurate. It's enough for day to day task but I can only imagine that editing is tougher. Also I do like having the batteryless design of the SP2 and Sp1 stylus. With the SP3, aaaa batteries are much harder to find. I will most likely pick some batteries up for it so if I do run out, I have some.

There are some pros and cons to each technology used for the Surface line. The problem with the stylus version of the Wacom tech is there have been issues with stroke accuracy, where n-trig is better. I don't see this issue using something like an Intuos tablet.

On the other hand, Wacom has greater range of pressure sensitivity, but frankly 256 is going to be plenty for most users.

Since I'm been happy with the Wacom tech in my SP2, I was originally disappointed with the change to n-trig because of the pen needing a battery. After seeing the new device and pen it's not that big a deal to me anymore.

That was one thing that didn't appeal to me and the n-trig. Less pressure points but I find that specs don't mean much to me and I can do everything I need to on the SP3. Also feels very similar to my Wacom Intous tablet.

I had been contemplating a SP3 vs a regular laptop as a replacement to my current ancient laptop (6 years old).

This thread combined with an OS failure on the old laptop prompted me to take the leap.

I got the i7, 256MB SP3 the other day.

A lot to learn, but this thing is Awesome. Granted, pretty much anything would have been a huge upgrade over what I had. Will post more as I learn more.

I have a SP1, don't use it much. It's mostly for guests who come to visit, but don't have a computer to use. My old HP laptop is 5 years old and driving me nuts. Do any of the SP3 owners attach an external monitor to their SP3 at their workstations? How do you do that? what cables do you use?

Also, I know with 1 USB connection, I must have a hub nearby. Is this a problem for you? It's a problem for me.

And how many of you would use their SP3 as a laptop/desktop replacement? I can't decide whether to really use my old SP1 and get a new 17 inch laptop workhorse for my office space.

Thanks for answering, in advance.

Just trying to decide if the i7 is worth 230€ more than the i5? Will probably only use lightroom, DPP and maybe PS CC.

Suzy - MS has a dock for the SP3, which offers wired networking, external monitor and sound connection and several USB ports in addition to the ports on the Surface. I'm seriously looking at replacing my travel laptop (Toshiba Portege R700 with i7 and 8 GB RAM, from 2011 or so) with one. I probably won't go for the max horsepower of an i7 though, since I have a couple of newer i7 machines on hand to handle the heavy lifting. Just need something to handle Breeze Browser Pro, Downloader Pro and some mapping programs.

The way I look at it is I saved a few hundred and went with the i5 with 256gb hard drive and 8gb ram. HD space sucks but I have an external HD for that.

This is why I went with the i5

-I have been using i5 since it came out and I have no had an issue with the i5 even with video rendering, converting or editing.
-i7 was prone to throttling due to more power where as the i5 isnt. In the week or so that I have owned my i5, it only got hot enough to turn the fan on twice. Once was installing, copying and running multiple programs at the same time. The other was last night when I put it through it's test and was running lightroom and photoshop and lightroom was uploading files and I was listening to music and started to run a game that I downloaded and was playing.
-Saved a few hundred and that is going towards the dock and the surface mouse.

As for the single USB3 port, it sucks but there are adapters out there for that.
http://www.amazon.com …s=usb+3+hub+sur​face+pro+3
That is what I just picked up and it works great. Speeds were a little slower when transferring multiple files to both a HD and a SD card via USB3 card reader but not that slow, just slightly.

The current i5 is more then enough for photoshop and lightroom. I was on the plane using photoshop and lightroom while running a stand-up comedian video in the background.

The biggest downside of the tablet that I have found is the front and back camera. Both pretty bad. Good enough for video chat but that's it. I would of been happier if they just didn't include the back one. I only used the back on to test out but that is it. Don't expect to use it to scan documents.

Thanks, Jon, for the suggestion. I don't think I need the most powerful version, but I'd like to run LR and PSE when I'm working. My laptop has been giving me problems. And I was saving to get the new 7DII, which I don't really need but want. I think the laptop is more important, though. I haven't done any pro work for a few years now to justify getting anything new. But if Jim gets one and I see it, I may have to change my mind.

Yes, Jim and I are terrible influences. :{)# Speaking of which, we haven't gotten together for ages. Temple one evening for the lights?

Yes. I went on Friday to see my son, Brandon, perform at the Visitors Center. It was amazing! But I didn't get more than a couple of pictures. Didn't walk around. How about next week on Monday?

The temple is closed on Mondays, so we can definitely find parking.

Not to stray from the thread, my son, the singer, bought himself a SP3 with everything for Christmas. He saved for a year and relatives kicked in the rest. He loves it. He likes the pen, in particular. I'm not convinced because I love a larger screen, but the screen quality is very nice. I dare say, it is not as great as the new Apple products, but it's very close.

15th? That'd work. See you then.

SuzyView wrote in post #17321436
Not to stray from the thread, my son, the singer, bought himself a SP3 with everything for Christmas. He saved for a year and relatives kicked in the rest. He loves it. He likes the pen, in particular. I'm not convinced because I love a larger screen, but the screen quality is very nice. I dare say, it is not as great as the new Apple products, but it's very close.

Suzie, if this would be your main machine for editing using LR or PS CSx I'd really recommend getting a similarly priced desktop instead. The SP3 will work about as well as a Mackbook Air for those applications ... just a bit under-powered such that it feels a bit laggy if you use things like the healing brush tool. On the other hand, for occasional easy edits it would be fine.

You can connect to a monitor using the Mini DisplayPort and everything else using a usb hub or wireless. I wouldn't bother with the dock for what you are looking to do.

Honestly I feel the SP3 screen is no worse than the one on the Macbook Air and likely a bit better. And both of those products are pretty nice.