Microsoft Surface Pro 3 Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi on June 23, 2014 3:55 AM ESTTablet Performance
The tablet performance comparison is as ridiculous as it's ever been. Surface Pro 3 is substantially faster than any ARM based tablet on the market. Web pages load quicker and you can play a completely different caliber of game on the device.
Tablet GPU Performance
All news isn't good though on the tablet front. Surface Pro 3 still struggles to behave completely like a tablet, despite finally gaining support for Connected Standby. Waking up the device from sleep still requires around 1300ms, a period that sounds small but feels like an eternity compared to an Android or iOS tablet.
WiFi
Marvell remains Microsoft's partner of choice when it comes to the WiFi implementation on Surface Pro 3. The updated design features a Marvell Avastar 88W8897 SoC supporting 2-stream 802.11ac and Bluetooth 4.0. The SoC also features NFC support but it's not leveraged in Surface Pro 3.
WiFi performance is better than on Surface Pro 2. Peak performance improves from around 160Mbps to 260Mbps when connected at an 866Mbps link rate. I didn't notice any weird behavior or poor performance when connecting to WiFi networks, although as 2-stream 802.11ac implementations go this is hardly the fastest.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
274 Comments
View All Comments
darwinosx - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
Exactly. It's a lousy laptop and an even worse tablet.ESC2000 - Saturday, July 5, 2014 - link
Have you actually, you know, purchased the surface pro 3 and.... used it? I'm assuming so if you're making such bold claims. I own one and it's great... Amazing improvement over the first gen which I also own.And I have owned an mba before and it was fine but the surface is better overall imo.
savaytse66 - Monday, June 23, 2014 - link
Well, this is the device basket in which I'm throwing all of my eggs. My mobile devices are currently a 2006 Dell 17" laptop running Windows 7 and an HP Touchpad running CM10.1. I've been waiting to upgrade until the right "hybrid" device came along, and this is the one I'm banking on, albeit the i7/512 model.My usage is a little atypical. My work requires me to occasionally spend time on construction sites creating sketches and recording measurements. I am hoping this device will allow me to skip the full size (24" x 36" or larger) architectural prints and the paper sketch pad and simply carry everything on the SP3. After I finish on site, I am often going back to a hotel room for the night, or spending the next few hours in an airport/airplane. I make heavy use of AutoCAD, and being able to make tweaks in the field, or even the hotel, should be amazingly helpful. I don't expect to be at full productivity, but then again, even on a typical laptop, running AutoCAD on one small screen will never be as productive as running on 2 or 3 large desktop displays.
In theory, the SP3 should be perfect for me. I do worry about the batter life though. I suspect that I might need to pick up an external battery pack for those times I'm on site without access to a wall outlet. Time will tell, I guess. I also think about general durability. I am generally not on fully active construction sites with lots of dirt and dust, but I will be in environments that are not office-like. So we'll see if there is some sort of rugged case or screen protection available for those scenarios.
All in all, I am really looking forward to getting my SP3 in August. I just wish they would release it already since I could really use it mid-July. But I've waited this long, so what's another couple of weeks.
Thanks for the nice review. This is the one I've been waiting for, and it didn't disappoint.
Papa - Monday, June 23, 2014 - link
I'd make sure you can run AutoCad on a HD4400 smoothly. Nothing worse than dragging etc and getting lag, especially in more 3D spaces.savaytse66 - Monday, June 23, 2014 - link
Make no mistake, my production machine is, and always will be my desktop workstation. My mobile solution now for MINOR AutoCAD work is Remote Desktop or TeamViewer, oftentimes tethered to my cell phone, so if running it natively, even on integrated graphics, isn't more smooth than that, then I'm in trouble!Since I'm mostly in a 2D workspace, I'm pretty confident.
Drumsticks - Monday, June 23, 2014 - link
Additionally, I'm 99% sure they confirmed that the i7 model is a 4650U with HD5000 graphics, which maybe helps a bit. TDP limited sure, but hopefully you see something.Drumsticks - Monday, June 23, 2014 - link
Edit: I has good charts skills 4 readingxerandin - Monday, June 23, 2014 - link
It doesn't have to run well on an HD4400, because the model he chose is an HD5000.MonkeyPaw - Monday, June 23, 2014 - link
Considering how quickly the Surface line charges, you could probably just spam charge it in your vehicle or find an outlet at lunch and get through your work day.Shaedo - Tuesday, July 22, 2014 - link
Might be too late for you but you're describing the Q704 by Fujitsu which is equivalent specs to a Surface pro 3, came out a long time ago and most importantly is dust and water proof.http://www.shopfujitsu.com/store/mobileconfigurato...