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Surface Devices

Do you own a Surface device

  • Yes I own a Surface Pro or Surfacebook - it’s great

    Votes: 165 51.2%

  • Yes I own a Surface laptop - it’s great

    Votes: 36 11.2%

  • No - i’m not a fan

    Votes: 69 21.4%

  • Not anymore I had a bad experience

    Votes: 52 16.1%
  • Total voters
    322
Well after seeing the new MacBook Pro's I can't get over that ugly notch, and the pricing.

Will the Surface Laptop Studio run StarCraft 2 at a decent speed on a 1440P 32" monitor? The model with the RTX 3050.
 
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Pezimak said:
Well after seeing the new MacBook Pro's I can't get over that ugly notch, and the pricing.

Will the Surface Laptop Studio run StarCraft 2 at a decent speed on a 1440P 32" monitor? The model with the RTX 3050.
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Starcraft II? No idea, but you could also run the game at 1080p fine I would bet...that's a pretty old game.
 
eltoslightfoot said:
Starcraft II? No idea, but you could also run the game at 1080p fine I would bet...that's a pretty old game.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I used that game as an example as I play older games generally. I plan on buying a 32" monitor for my hybrid home working, so would play games on that and whatever computer I get. But I like the Surface Laptop Studio.
May get a Mac too but not sure.
 
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The M1 runs games like WoW, Cities Skylines and SCII very well so anything released yesterday should be significantly better. That said they run best on Windows.

I use my M1 MM to play all of the above titles on a 34" display, no issues.
 
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Im returning the surface laptop studio..its a hybrid that doesnt do it for me...for projection the hinge is too wobbly in the tablet mode on a hard surface , like office desk or table
It is a nice design but i think the surface pro 8 is a better product what it is meant to be
16" Mbp is coming in mid November, hopefully no further delays
 
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LeeW said:
The M1 runs games like WoW, Cities Skylines and SCII very well so anything released yesterday should be significantly better. That said they run best on Windows.

I use my M1 MM to play all of the above titles on a 34" display, no issues.
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cities skylines is imo a bad example. as you start a new game it's pretty easy to run, but turn the settings up and have your city grow larger and larger, sprinkle a couple of dlcs and mods on top of it and frames will drop, making the experience less enjoyable.
 
SicTransitGloriaMundi said:
cities skylines is imo a bad example. as you start a new game it's pretty easy to run, but turn the settings up and have your city grow larger and larger, sprinkle a couple of dlcs and mods on top of it and frames will drop, making the experience less enjoyable.
Click to expand...

Fair but then I guess the point is that it is playable on the base M1 so the experience on the new MBPs should improve if not eliminate the frame rate issues with large cities and mods. We will need to wait and see I suppose.
 
jrichards1408 said:
You guys still happy about the surface line now that Apple has released there new MacBook Pro stuff?
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Why do you think it should ?

The new MBP 14/16" are blisteringly fast clamshell designs only and not about generally engaging the user to find alternative workflows that suit better flexibility or productivity

Entirely different device formats IMO
 
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jrichards1408 said:
You guys still happy about the surface line now that Apple has released there new MacBook Pro stuff?
Click to expand...

Different animals. New Macbook Pros are still old rigid clamshell form factor without touch/pen inputs nor cellular data. Weighs about double a Surface Pro X or 8. Also, very few software utilizes the hardware so it's no better than a low end laptop 3050ti dGPU. For example, Blender rendering with laptop 3060 dGPU is about 4x faster than CPU while the M1 version currently only supports CPU. Setup that makes the most sense is Surface Pro 8 for ultra light mobility then offload to eGPU for heavy compute when you get back to your desk or remote into desktop. In the future with 3nm node shrink it can probably have 3050ti dGPU.
 
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I have owned a Surface 3 (non-Pro). It had a beautiful screen, but it was too slow and sluggish, the stand did not sit comfortably, and the keyboard was bad. I ended up giving it to my sister.

The new Surface devices seem to be nice. I would probably buy a Surface Laptop, if any, with a metal keyboard. Very much a traditional laptop.
 
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LeeW said:
The M1 runs games like WoW, Cities Skylines and SCII very well so anything released yesterday should be significantly better. That said they run best on Windows.

I use my M1 MM to play all of the above titles on a 34" display, no issues.
Click to expand...

I’ve looked into this more now more people have the new MB Pros and it seems they really really are terrible for gaming, Parallels can’t run all games very well and Crossover also has major problems apparently too on the new Macs. The more I see of them, the more it seems the new Macs are built and designed for video editing and photography only. You can use them for the casual user sure but don’t expect to run any games on them.
live seen a few reviews now say this and some actually prefering the new Surface Laptop Studio as a more general use and lighter machine.

Its like you want a Mac as it’ll last well and is good for general tasks, but then it seems Mac OS these days isn’t as reliable and the new hardware is directed towards very specific markets and gaming on them sounds like a nightmare at present, I’m still going to look at the Surface Laptop Studio I think, as well as Macs.
 
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Pezimak said:
I’ve looked into this more now more people have the new MB Pros and it seems they really really are terrible for gaming, Parallels can’t run all games very well and Crossover also has major problems apparently too on the new Macs. The more I see of them, the more it seems then new Macs are built and designed for video editing and photography only. You can use them for the casual user sure but don’t expect to run any games on them.
live seen a few reviews now say this and some actually prefering the new Surface Laptop Studio as a more general use and lighter machine.

Its like you want a Mac as it’ll last well and is good for general tasks, but then it seems Mac OS these days isn’t as reliable and the new hardware is directed towards very specific markets and gaming on them sounds like a nightmare at present, I’m still going to look at the Surface Laptop Studio I think, as well as Macs.
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There is no doubt the new MBP are a great bit of hardware but I agree you simply have to ignore the hype on who's using this to its full potential otherwise you believe the whole world is making video on deadlines where every 5 mins counts and costs $1000's in lost income LOL

In the real world the number of "Pro" users even by Apple metrics is a small subset of an already small set on Mac users.

I am certainly not going to judge joe average if he wants one of these for making his weekend camping trip video etc and feels like a pro for using the latest hardware

These laptops are high end quality machines for the wealthier demographic that can afford them and for the few pro's that have a preference for some of Apple software

What I do not get is Apple slapped it's regular upgraders in the face for 5 years with port removals, crappy keyboards and daft things like the touch bar. Magsafe has only returned due to the 100w cap of USB-C charging 🙄 Now the fans thank them despite the $1000's spent on previous devices that should of never lost these items, go figure LOL

Apple marketing spin at it's finest 🙂

As far as I can see the elephant is still in the room as all these creatives on the go have to shell out another $1000 to get some resemblance of touch or pen related functionality via an Ipad and lug that around too. All those precious minutes saved are gone as you have to break your continuity and workflow and use 2 devices with all the hassle that gives on a mobile working platform

The Surface studio fills that niche where workflow is the priority not exporting some files a few mins faster
 
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Pezimak said:
I’ve looked into this more now more people have the new MB Pros and it seems they really really are terrible for gaming
Click to expand...

I am not saying it's great. There are plenty of games that run well, whether that is enough for you to be limited to a small selection vs PC that is for you to decide. Mac gaming will never, ever match/rival PC.
 
SteveJUAE said:
There is no doubt the new MBP are a great bit of hardware but I agree you simply have to ignore the hype on who's using this to its full potential otherwise you believe the whole world is making video on deadlines where every 5 mins counts and costs $1000's in lost income LOL

In the real world the number of "Pro" users even by Apple metrics is a small subset of an already small set on Mac users.

I am certainly not going to judge joe average if he wants one of these for making his weekend camping trip video etc and feels like a pro for using the latest hardware

These laptops are high end quality machines for the wealthier demographic that can afford them and for the few pro's that have a preference for some of Apple software

What I do not get is Apple slapped it's regular upgraders in the face for 5 years with port removals, crappy keyboards and daft things like the touch bar. Magsafe has only returned due to the 100w cap of USB-C charging 🙄 Now the fans thank them despite the $1000's spent on previous devices that should of never lost these items, go figure LOL

Apple marketing spin at it's finest 🙂

As far as I can see the elephant is still in the room as all these creatives on the go have to shell out another $1000 to get some resemblance of touch or pen related functionality via an Ipad and lug that around too. All those precious minutes saved are gone as you have to break your continuity and workflow and use 2 devices with all the hassle that gives on a mobile working platform

The Surface studio fills that niche where workflow is the priority not exporting some files a few mins faster
Click to expand...
I have been saying the same thing over at forum.tabletpcreview.com. It's true that Apple Silicon can run circles (especially when you consider power) over intel (and AMD to a lesser degree).

It is also equally true that very few people care. I have talked to several photographers and programmers. Guess what I found. If you used mac you are ecstatic and picked one up if you needed one. (One photographer said her old intel iMac was still fine for lightroom classic). If you used WIndows (like my wife who is a photographer) you still use that just fine.

Almost no one needs this level of power in their processor. If you are compiling hard core applications sure. If you are creating 4k or 8k video? Sure. The other 99% of people don't need it. My Surface Pro 7 i5 fanless does everything I need it to just fine and it has no fan. Granted, like I have said before, in the rare instance I need something heavy duty, I will use my gaming desktop (AMD 5900X with nVidia 3060Ti)...

But everyone is going to keep using what they have been using and once you step outside the benchmarks, no one is using a slow machine in either world. It's just bragging rights for a small set of users who care.
 
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SteveJUAE said:
There is no doubt the new MBP are a great bit of hardware but I agree you simply have to ignore the hype on who's using this to its full potential otherwise you believe the whole world is making video on deadlines where every 5 mins counts and costs $1000's in lost income LOL

In the real world the number of "Pro" users even by Apple metrics is a small subset of an already small set on Mac users.

I am certainly not going to judge joe average if he wants one of these for making his weekend camping trip video etc and feels like a pro for using the latest hardware

These laptops are high end quality machines for the wealthier demographic that can afford them and for the few pro's that have a preference for some of Apple software

What I do not get is Apple slapped it's regular upgraders in the face for 5 years with port removals, crappy keyboards and daft things like the touch bar. Magsafe has only returned due to the 100w cap of USB-C charging 🙄 Now the fans thank them despite the $1000's spent on previous devices that should of never lost these items, go figure LOL

Apple marketing spin at it's finest 🙂

As far as I can see the elephant is still in the room as all these creatives on the go have to shell out another $1000 to get some resemblance of touch or pen related functionality via an Ipad and lug that around too. All those precious minutes saved are gone as you have to break your continuity and workflow and use 2 devices with all the hassle that gives on a mobile working platform

The Surface studio fills that niche where workflow is the priority not exporting some files a few mins faster
Click to expand...
The new MBP's are excellent notebooks as long as you can work within Apple's framework. Outside of Apple they are arguably far less useful requiring layers of emulation/translation/virtualisation to get things done, if at all. I own the base 13" Apple Silicon MBP and for my needs it really excels, however I'd be hard pushed to justify one of the new MBP's as barring the larger display & ports doubt I would see much if any real-world benefit.

The hype is strong with this one LOL. No doubt the numbers are right, equally the presentation most definitely sets up a false expectation especially by many YouTube channels. As ever I think if you want a Mac get one, however don't expect the same level of versatility as Windows offers and be prepared to pay a premium for that privilege.

IMO the 2016 design MBP was an exercise in design at the cost of usability, performance, worse reliability. Since Jony Ive departed from the decision making chain Apple seems to be getting back to more practical computers where function & usability are primary factors (within the constraints of macOS).

Mac's remain to be great options in the environments they thrive, outside not so much as there simply isn't the software base or the incentive for developers to commit time & funds to a minority within a minority. Maybe in time if the Mac user base significantly increases or Apple incentivises developers things will change.

I've also learnt to hold off with new Mac's and their OS as it does take Apple time to work out the kinks with the M1 MBP being as deep as I'd comfortably dive to check out Apple Silicon. The new MBP is a new hardware design with a new version of macOS. I like to think that Apple has moved on with the new models as the 2016 & Butterfly Keyboard were clearly flawed...

Q-6
 
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LeeW said:
I am not saying it's great. There are plenty of games that run well, whether that is enough for you to be limited to a small selection vs PC that is for you to decide. Mac gaming will never, ever match/rival PC.
Click to expand...

Isn't that the truth, it's why I am thinking of my choices. I have some older games I like to play and now thanks to home working a 28.2" 4K monitor, now I can try and go through loads of hassle trying, and most likely failing to make them run on ARM Macs, I'm fairly sure a few won't run. Or I could buy something like a 2013 Mac Pro with the D700's, if they work with my monitor and just use Bootcamp like the old days without issues. But then it's an old machine I'll have to buy second hand and how long till Apple drops software updates for it?

Or I can buy a Surface Laptop Studio which for a general all purpose machine makes more sense. I'd have to buy MS Office for it though. But I get a nice unique new machine and design, software support, and can play my games fine, hopefully. And save money over the Max M1 Macs. But it's Windows.

So my mind is in three places currently over my new PC. I am tempted by the older Mac Pro but hesitant as it may break after a couple of months, and have no warranty and it'll still cost say 1800 pounds or more if I upgrade it too. If the GPU fails that's around 1500!

I'll be visiting the Apple store at the weekend hopefully so will play with all the new tech, a new Mac Pro would solve my issues but over twice the price of the top end Surface Laptop Studio and double the 16" MB Pro id get is an expensive option, but it's an option.

The Surface Laptop Studio has grown on me though I have to say. I did like the old Surface laptop with tablet and keyboard combined when're your had a discrete GPU, the 13" model was nice but never bought one.

Or I could replace the batteries and fans and SSD and strip down and clean my 2010 MacBook Pro.
 
Well I just found out that the new MacBook Pro's will not run Steam Games like Half Life 2 due to no 32bit app support, that's a big no for me and a pass on them.
So my choice is for me personally now between the Surface Laptop Studio, lots of pro's with it but it's Windows, or a second hand 2013 Trash Can Mac Pro and Bootcamp, lots of cons but it's Mac OS, unless Apple kill Bootcamp off on Intel Macs.
Bit stuck between the two to be honest.

EDIT I have a question if I may, how reliable do you think that cloth hinge on the new Surface Laptop Studio is? Will it break after a couple of years? I ended up buying a 4K Huawei Viewmate 28.2" monitor so would need my next machine to run games like my previously mentioned StarCraft 2 on it.
 
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Pezimak said:
how reliable do you think that cloth hinge on the new Surface Laptop Studio is?
Click to expand...
Too early to say for sure but MS has a lot of experience with that type of hinge from the Surface Pro over many years so I would be more confident they have got that right than I would be that Apple has got the new MBP right.
 
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LeeW said:
Too early to say for sure but MS has a lot of experience with that type of hinge from the Surface Pro over many years so I would be more confident they have got that right than I would be that Apple has got the new MBP right.
Click to expand...

That's true, although it's a hinge made of cloth as I understand? And not metal? I'll be going to an Apple store at the weekend and will see the notch for myself.
 
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