surface pro 3 processors

[Hobox]

Why do dual-core i7's even exist. What a scam.

[GoodBytes]

That i7 model must purr.  I imagine it will even run some games modestly well (i.e. not at 1440p resolution unless they're super simple).  How many games have good touchscreen support, though?

It's slightly faster than the Core i5 model selected. The i5 already purr's.

PC Games that supports multi-touch natively that I know off:

-> Broken Age (a really good game, check it out if you don't have it)

-> Civilization 5

-> Ticket To Ride

[Echodamus]

A 2 core costing 2000$. I'd rather buy a laptop for $1000 with a decent GPU and a 4 core CPU.

Yea but you are comparing apples and oranges. 

[jezza39]

Why do dual-core i7's even exist. What a scam.

 

They're ultra low voltage. They're hyperthreaded. You would struggle to physically do (i.e. no mouse + onscreen keyboard) anything on a tablet that requires a 4Core +HT

[GoodBytes]

They're ultra low voltage. They're hyperthreaded. You would struggle to physically do (i.e. no mouse + onscreen keyboard) anything on a tablet that requires a 4Core +HT

It's actually low voltage. The ultra low voltage is the Y series, which is much slower CPUs.

[jezza39]

It's actually low voltage. The ultra low voltage is the Y series, which is much slower CPUs.

 

That's so silly, on the desktop the have L as low voltage. Great consistency intel

[GoodBytes]

That's so silly, on the desktop the have L as low voltage. Great consistency intel

If they call it L, then people would think it is the desktop version, which isn't.

It should be LV and ULV which makes more sense. But I believe Intel trues to hide that the ULV's are much slower.

[Commander Llama]

It's slightly faster than the Core i5 model selected. The i5 already purr's.

 

 

Were I to get one, I'd only consider the i7 version because of the HD5000 graphics, as I would most likely try my hand at some gaming on the go.  Probably Civ V and XCOM, the former being supposed and the latter being pretty touch friendly on account of its turn based nature.

 

GoodBytes, do you have much experience with running BlueStacks on the Surface?  I've been shopping for an Android tablet for a while, but if I got a Surface instead, there are still some Android apps I would like to use, but I don't want to own two tablets.

[GoodBytes]

Were I to get one, I'd only consider the i7 version because of the HD5000 graphics, as I would most likely try my hand at some gaming on the go.  Probably Civ V and XCOM, the former being supposed and the latter being pretty touch friendly on account of its turn based nature.

Civ 5 can only be playable at minimum settings. You can bump the graphics up and still get 30fps or so (turn based game, so it is playable), but the game crashes with DirectX error, as the Intel graphics doesn't support it.

That's what I meant that it is not really worth it to get the HD5000. But it is true that if you find the proper setting of games that won't crash, you'll get a bit higher fps.

 

GoodBytes, do you have much experience with running BlueStacks on the Surface?  I've been shopping for an Android tablet for a while, but if I got a Surface instead, there are still some Android apps I would like to use, but I don't want to own two tablets.

I have tried BlueStack. Android games is hit and miss. I don't know if this is normal for Android, but it seams I can only get the phone version of games. Performance is a not great, and many games have graphical glitches. Mind you it's been a while since I tried it (before I had my Surface Pro 2, I tried it on my PC). So you can try on your PC to see if it got better. I know it was impossible to uninstall that thing. Not sure if they fixed their uninstaller.

I think it should be running fine for normal apps. I don't know if they fixed the phone/tablet thing... but perhaps you know. I didn't really have time to dig in, due to school. All I can say, is that it looked promising.

[WiiManic]

I was hoping I could hook the I7 variant up to an external gpu (which has been ruined by no thunderbolt) and replace my desktop. Oh well. I'm not sure the I7 had the horsepower I would want anyways.

 

Not sure what this could be mean, but this is interesting for sure...

 

Taken from the Surface Team AMA on Reddit here. (I've linked direct to the comment, not the AMA)

 

Question:

where is the thunderbolt link? you could have external gpu's and make it a desktop replacement, i thought the "ultrabook" standard included thunderbolt

 

Reply:

When you buy your Surface Pro3, do me a favor, and take a close look at the "power connector"

[GoodBytes]

What i am thinking is that thunderbolt is on the dock. Thunderbolt has high Intel license fees. So why put it on a device where profit margin are not that much, and where most people won't use it.

[Warcony]

What i am thinking is that thunderbolt is on the dock. Thunderbolt has high Intel license fees. So why put it on a device where profit margin are not that much, and where most people won't use it.

I saw someone ask why Thunderbolt wasn't on the pro 3 on the reddit AMA today and the surface team said "Look at the bottom connector."

[GoodBytes]

WiiManic link says power connector from the Reddit AMA