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Microsoft Says New Surface Pro is 1.7× Faster Than iPad Pro With 35% More Battery Life

Nausicaa said:
Yeah, every year we get these threads and a bunch of people admonishing Apple for iPad and the "phone OS", praising the Surface as a visionary machine. And yet, I wonder how many actually own one? I've wanted to like the Surface, I bought two of them - mostly for the addition of a stylus on tablet before the Pencil was released. I returned both within 14 days because at their core, they are just laptops, and pretty underpowered ones at that. That's fine for people who want a laptop/ultrabook type device with some tablet/pen functionality; but as a mobile first, tablet oriented device, it is awful. It gets very hot, battery life is all over the place, it throttles and underperforms, Windows is not a good experience with touch/pen, DPI scaling is a mess, and it feels fragile and overwrought compared with an iPad. And the stylus, all I want to know is if they've fixed the inconsistent pressure curve and wavy line problem, because it's plagued the device for generations now. Pencil dominates the n-trig tech in every way.
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IKR? I don't know a single person who owns a Surface, yet I and everyone owns 1 to several iPads, Macs and iPhones! Meow!
 
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For all the people saying wow the i7 is only 1.7x faster then the iPad , Intel changed the naming schemes for the low power Intel-Y chips which went from M3/M5/M7 to M3/i5/i7, same chips which are used in the MacBook 12.

They are not the more powerful Intel-U i7 chips which are found on higherend note books like the MacBook Pro
 
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Qu1ckset said:
They are not the more powerful Intel-U i7 chips which are found on higherend note books like the MacBook Pro
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The i7 in the Surface Pro is a U series, the i7-7660U (HD 640 graphics). It's more powerful than the MacBook Pro (non-touchbar).
 
Qu1ckset said:
For all the people saying wow the i7 is only 1.7x faster then the iPad , Intel changed the naming schemes for the low power Intel-Y chips which went from M3/M5/M7 to M3/i5/i7, same chips which are used in the MacBook 12.

They are not the more powerful Intel-U i7 chips which are found on higherend note books like the MacBook Pro
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Yeah these are only dual-core i7s, not the high end ones you'd find in enterprise notebooks or tower PCs. Still it's kind of lame for Microsoft to compare it with an ARM processor. Fortunately Windows on ARM PCs are coming next year.
 
Amused by the criticism - especially those saying it's just a specs bump. As if that's not the same as what Apple does. Also amused at some who seem threatened by this announcement enough to resorting experiences from years ago with Windows. I haven't used a surface other than test driving it in stores - but it's a solid machine and one that has plenty of productivity solutions for it.

It's not an iPad. If that's its crime... it's not a bad one to commit.
 
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coolspot18 said:
Windows these days is arguably a better OS than OS X... your comment reeks of naiveté.

Since Windows 7, Windows has been very stable - even Windows 8 was decent except for the awful Metro UI. Windows 10 is quite good with minimal issues.
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I have no clue what you are smoking, but it's good.
 
Mrumors said:
The i7 in the Surface Pro is a U series, the i7-7660U (HD 640 graphics). It's more powerful than the MacBook Pro (non-touchbar).
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Correct, but expect heavy throttling due to the chassis (heat built up etc) and power conservation that microsoft software implemented for the surface pro......
 
Wowereit said:
Microsoft's battery claims had been misleading with previous Surfaces.
Surface Pro 4: 10 hours
Real life:
Browsing: 5 hours
Video: 6 to 7 hours
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I get 10 hrs out of my Surface Pro 4 without any problems. I have had good/bad battery life on my surface Pro, iPad and iPhones. Depends on apps and usage scenarios on ALL of them. Don't pretend there haven't been battery issues across Apple's lineup too.
 
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SSD-GUY said:
Wow, you really need to work for Apple's marketing department.

Have you not seen the iPad Pro being touted as a Laptop Replacement?

https://qz.com/932089/apple-aapl-re...-ipad-pro-new-models-likely-released-in-2017/

Tell me, how many different ways are there to attach a document to an email, edit a pdf, have an actual usable file explorer, run actual Apps that aren't gimped etc?
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It's the same back for forth for a while now. Most people use their laptops for very basic things. This is what the iPad can replace very well. If you need more advanced software, you go for a desktop or laptop of your choice. That doesn't negate the fact that an iPad can do most of what a basic user needs.
 
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jamesrick80 said:
Correct, but expect heavy throttling due to the chassis and power conservation that microsoft software implemented for the surface pro......
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There are easy work around to minimize throttling. Intel XTU and setting max CPU percentage in power options to maintain max speed without turbo boost for example.
 
Mr. Dee said:
LTE is a big selling point, I don't think USB C is a must have, considering it attracts dongles like a fly.
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I think that the powered surface hub/dock -- which connects thru the magsafe power port--provides a lot of functionality that users would want from usbc. I drives 2 monitors and 4 usb3 ports and gigabyte internet
 
Paul Dawkins said:
I dislike windows for the simple fact that since 95 nothing has really changed. It got fancy, it got new features, but the old culprits are still there. And i know my way around windows. I have multiple certifications, but if i have to pick i pick OS X or iOS any day of the week and twice on Sunday.
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What old culprits?
 
jase1125 said:
There are easy work around to minimize throttling. Intel XTU and setting max CPU percentage in power options to maintain max speed without turbo boost for example.
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Yeah work arounds but I am discussing default settings. Many users don't know how to implement these work arounds and don't expect to........... even if its easy.
 
jamesrick80 said:
Correct, but expect heavy throttling due to the chassis (heat built up etc) and power conservation that microsoft software implemented for the surface pro......
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That sounds like an i7 Surface Pro 3 you're describing. Heavy throttling was not an issue on the Surface Pro 4, I don't see it occurring on the Surface Pro.
 
masochist said:
I'm... really surprised that there are still people--even here--who think of the iPad as "a big iPhone". I thought (hoped, I guess) that that particularly misinformed meme had died. Ah well. Like everything on the internet, it will never die, because the internet doesn't know how to let anything die.
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Um, it uses a phone os...jus say'in
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mi7chy said:
Microsoft blew it not giving the option of the larger 13.5" display found on Surface Laptop and still only 4GB instead of 8GB DRAM on base model. Still much better and more useful than iPod Pro that can't even do basic media consumpting as well as it lacks 4K h265 HEVC HDR and VP9 hardware decoding.
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A 13.5 surface would be an awesome art device!
 
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AFEPPL said:
What arguments or use cases supports its not?
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I have no idea.

Feel free to address my question (with respect to Windows these days being arguably a better OS than OS X): "OK, I'm curious. Let's hear your argument supporting that assertion."
 
Mrumors said:
That sounds like an i7 Surface Pro 3 you're describing. Heavy throttling was not an issue on the Surface Pro 4, I don't see it occurring on the Surface Pro.
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Here is the reason why my surface pro 4 devices i5 and i7 was returned in a past thread; did not feel like always doing these work arounds:

Based on my experience, the SP3 i5 thermal throttling is severe, both on the CPU and GPU side. The SP4 i7 on the other hand both suffers from power throttling and thermal throttling although it's much less critical than on the SP3. I've observed power throttling using the 35 W adapter, but haven't seen it by using the 65 W one. Power throttling happens with the 35 W adapter, 'cause it doesn't supply enough power for the whole package (tablet) whenever the i7 is running as a sustained loaded (greater than 15 W). Thermal throttling kicks in whenever the back case sensor crosses a certain temperature treshold. I've done some gaming sessions. By plugging a USB fan and pointing it straight at the back of the SP4, I can easily increase my framerates by 20 % (I guess the sustained TDP using a fan is a bit higher in that case). For instance, I get about 2200 3DMarks 11 without a fan and easily 2500 - 2550 /DMarks using a fan. Of course, in both scenarios, I'm using a 65 W adapter (to avoid power throttling).
 
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