Surface 3

red_dr4gon1 · May 24, 2015

I am thinking of buying a surface 3 for doing school work I will also be buying the type cover it will run me about 500$. Is it a good device for light use for about 5-6 hours a day for the price?

Dabombinable · May 24, 2015

I am thinking of buying a surface 3 for doing school work I will also be buying the type cover it will run me about 500$. Is it a good device for light use for about 5-6 hours a day for the price?

If the Surface 2 is anything to go by, the Surface 3 would be perfect.

red_dr4gon1 · May 24, 2015

Thaks

GoodBytes · May 24, 2015

Surface 3 is a great device. You just must keep in mind that it is an Atom based processor. While the fastest and newest is used, it is still Atom. And if you get the 2GB of RAM model, it certainly doesn't help performance.

While I haven't used the Surface 3 personally, having experience with Atom processor before, it is fine for basic computer tasks (watching video, using Office, surfing the web with IE11 (and later Edge in Win10 should be fine), Firefox is pushing it (slow startup, but fine once it has started up it is fine), and definitely forget Chrome due to low RAM, and slow CPU), but keep in mind to keep things in a single task basis. Multi-tasking will push the device. Limit your tabs also. Use bookmarks.

A small problem also to keep in mind, is that you don't want it to page file much, due eMMC storage drive. While Microsoft used the last generation, fastest model of eMMC memory, it is still slower than an SSD.

Also, due to the power of the Atom CPU requirement of the Surface 3, and limit of power of Micro-USB connector, you can't really charge the device while using it. It will take extremely long time to charge. You definitely want it in a full shutdown state to charge it. Shame Microsoft didn't use type-C USB, but that could be due to lack of available of USB 3.1 chip to add to the system. Apple uses a hacked up 3.1 USB controller which doesn't fall into the exact specs of USB 3.1 for the MacBook. I guess it is something that the Surface 4 will have fixed, if it comes out by then and doesn't cost too much. I think they should have used a power only connector, but that means that if you don't have the power adapter with you, you can't use your smart phone one to get power on the device. So I see the direction MS went. They wanted to minimize the power adapter to carry.

Something else to keep in mind is that the device is in magnesium alloy body. While great and all, you can't dye it (in the sense that you either can't or the results won't look good). I haven't seen a device that used magnesium that died the magnesium body metal. They also paint it. The downside of this, while the device is magnesium color to minimize visibility, anything will scratch it. If you care about how it looks, you want to use a soft interior sleep or get the keyboard cover and also put the device on the table side of the keyboard (and the fabric style material grips the device). I don't know what degree you are doing, but in my case, for Computer Science, on my Surface Pro 2, the pen was amazing tool to have, as in Computer Science you either have Math classes, or classes that contain math, diagrams and such, and it is nice to type your notes, or complete prof notes and use the pen to quickly draw anything on the board and such. I use OneNote, highly recommend it. Best note taking software.

Students can get Office 365 Home for free. That includes the ability to install Office on 5 PCs and also 5 devices.

See your school for details. Usually typing your school name + Office 365 on the Googles, you'll find some news that your school revealed this and how to get it, if not see your school IT department for detail. If they don't manage it, you can get it here: https://products.office.com/en-us/student/office-in-education

Remember that if you buy the Surface 3 and accessories directly from Microsoft Store (local or online) and you are a student, you get a 10% discount on everything!