Microsoft Surface Pro 3 Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi on June 23, 2014 3:55 AM ESTLaptop Performance
Just like with battery life, we need to evaluate the performance of Surface Pro 3 as both a laptop and a tablet. As a laptop, Surface Pro 3 delivers performance comparable to other Ultrabooks of similar specs - assuming we're talking about short bursts of performance. In prolonged workloads you'll see a bit of a gap, and even a slight regression vs. Surface Pro 2 due to the thermal design targets for the new chassis.
With the exception of the Work suite in PCMark 8 v2, we're mostly looking at performance in the range of a 13-inch MacBook Air - the prototypical Haswell ULT notebook. Surface Pro 3 is definitely in good performance company. In the Work suite however the MacBook Air (running Windows) is able to deliver around 16% better performance than Surface Pro 3. I'm guessing this has to do with thermals more than anything else.
We see a similar story if we look at GPU performance:
In terms of playable games, with some tweaking to detail settings you should be able to average 30 fps in titles like Dota 2. Running at the panel's native resolution is generally out of the question but for lighter titles on Steam like Transistor, you can have a reasonable experience. The higher end Core i7 Surface Pro 3 does ship with Intel's HD 5000 graphics instead of HD 4400 in the Core i5 review sample I tested. It's entirely possible that we see better gaming performance or thermal management (more EUs at lower voltage) in that design.
Just like in previous designs, Surface Pro 3 integrates a SATA SSD (likely M.2 this time). In this case Microsoft uses an OEM version of Samsung's SSD 840 EVO, a 3-bit-per-cell MLC design that we've found to be a pretty good value. I am disappointed we didn't see a move to PCIe storage but for general use I doubt there's much value in it. PCMark 8 v2's storage test isn't particularly stressful but it does show that Surface Pro 3's SSD is at least competitive with its predecessor and the MBA despite moving to TLC NAND.
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Imaginer - Thursday, June 26, 2014 - link
One thing that was not mentioned in the article BUT was mentioned in the FIRST Surface Pro review by Anandtech, was how the rear camera was tilted to match the kickstand so that when on the kickstand, the camera faces directly at the opposing person, if two people sat across from another on a table.This camera position was maintained for the first kickstand angle with the Surface Pro 2.
BUT with the Surface Pro 3, the rear camera is dead on facing if you hold the device perpendicular with the table. On the kickstand, the camera will actually be pointing downward, even on the highest kickstand angle in the variable mode - which would leave the device not in a typical tilted angle for same laptop usage, being at a perpendicular level...
Some minor nitpick here.
jackseth - Monday, June 23, 2014 - link
Hi All, I purchased a Surface Pro 3 on Friday. Returned it today. Sorry to say. I was eager to purchase and looked forward to an awesome hybrid. It does not fit well on an airline seat tray. It is cumbersome to open. The cover-keyboard is prone to stains and dirt. It is thin and does not come close to a laptop keyboard. Overall once up and running it feels fine, as the article says over and over a compromise. I will keep my Dell 8,1 laptop and carry my droid tablet. What a bummer.nerd1 - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
I have no idea what you are comparing SP3 to... compared to other ultrabooks SP3 fares very well, and I have used many of them myself. And I'd rather use it as a tablet during flight.MarcSP - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
You used it 2 full days!! You really tried hard to get to uderstand the new form factor and explore its advantages, as well as its disadvantages... :-]I thought this impatience was just a "disease" of most tech reviewers, haha. At least they have the "excuse" of being the first to publish the article.
Well, maybe it was just not what you need. Different people different needs, but could you not try it a little longer? Was it sooo painful to use??:-/
vision33r - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
I've had the Surface Pro 2 for a full 2 months. While the SP3 does address many of my gripes, it has not won me back. The $129 you pay for a keyboard cover could buy you a Chromebook refurb.The keyboard and touchpad still feels too compromised and the lack of real estate on the touchpad is very difficult to adjust to coming from a macbook air that has a huge touchpad.
If the SP3 cost only $499 and $799 for the i7, I think most folks like me wouldn't have that much problem but at $1500+ for i7 that barely can best my $599 15" Notebook with a $89 240GB SSD it's hard to justify.
Imaginer - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
Touchpad? The touchscreen plus pen makes sliding and dragging a cursor a moot point as another commenter mentioned.The trackpad/touchpad for me, in the Surface Pro 2 I used, remains to be a contingency device, some websites insist on mouse over menus that aren't handled well with a finger touch on the screen. Pen in hand though, hover cursoring is just as possible which makes the touchpad moot too.
Which goes to say, is there any $500 device with the same specifications and digitizer pen (Wacom/N-Trig otherwise) as configured? How about an i7?
bkydcmpr - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
so you are not sp3 targeted customer.bkydcmpr - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
I'm waiting for my i7 pre-order. played with it at microsoft store and love it. I know I'm going to keep it in spite of the throttling issue. for me that's one major issue for sp3 to be perfect, but still better than any other option out there.kgh00007 - Monday, June 23, 2014 - link
Maybe I missed it, but what is tent mode?MarcSP - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
I think he means open the kick stand at the maximum aperture (150º?), so when putting the tablet on the table it is like an drawing desk.