Are these surface pro things worth it?
I'm a mechanical engineer at a top 10 school with a fairly heavy workload. I'm constantly managing shit and I don't organize anything through my phone, I'm thinking this might keep all of shit in one easily accessible place. Would it be worth buying a used surface pro i5 (budget is like 300-400usd), and are these things even good?
(only asking cause I see other people with them a lot)
bjump
>Are these surface pro things worth it?
Probably not
>I'm a mechanical engineer at a top 10 school with a fairly heavy workload.
What does this entail? Do you have a need for a high precision touch screen? Can you get away with a simpler digitizer? Do you care about typing on a piece of shit chiclet keyboard designed for numale girly fingers?
Anyway, for most things, I'd just recommend a ThinkPad with a digitizer in it, like the X230T.
They seem like a god-send for school. Onenote has good hand-writing recognition and can do step-by-step solutions for integrals and differentials. I've been planning on migrating my math notes to one so I can get the benefits of hand-writing notes AND being able to ctrl+f them. If you can afford it, go for it.
Shit will run you $1000+ with all the accessories. Don't get a thinkpad. It's for poor people.
i mostly need something compact/light that i can program, take notes on and read my textbooks. I hate carrying around my huge 17" hp envy workstation cause i dont need solidworks every god damn day
You could've have specified what you expect from it and want to do exactly.
>I'm constantly managing shit and I don't organize anything through my phone, I'm thinking this might keep all of shit in one easily accessible place.
Continuity is a fucking bliss for that, alternatively you could try some cloud shit like OneNote, which doesn't have any special hardware requirements.
The whole idea to use a touchscreen to write down notes is idiotic given how much faster typing is. Unless you plan to draw something simple (and the pen/screen isn't good enough for much else) you might as well get a normal laptop ... although with that small budget everything but pure basics will be a pain, unless you want some huge and heavy cumpad (which is probably the best option at your budget)
I tried them out at the store and they're pretty nice, especially with the glass trackpad. Personally, I bought the surface book and don't regret it...Yet. Most of Sup Forums will try to get you to buy a $300 used Thinkpad, and there is nothing wrong with them, but if you're going to use your computer for the majority of your day, like me, then get something you like and enjoy using.
Writing notes physically improves your memory of the notes and makes it easier to study, and it's easier to just draw a graph with digital pen than it is to insert it out in latex/word/etc., and graphing/drawing happens a pretty regular amount in Calc/Engineering/Physics classes.
>Writing notes physically improves your memory of the notes
True.
>makes it easier to study
Eh, depends. Physical notes are better than digital ones for that, just like real books are superior to ebooks due the ... physical aspect.
>it's easier to just draw a graph with digital pen than it is to insert it out in latex/word/etc
Depends on the purpose, for something that needs accuracy it's not optimal but for basic stuff digital drawing is indeed fine.
I see a lot of people who enjoy them and speak highly of the pen. I have to do math and I would love to keep all my notes on a big pdf as opposed to a huge binder of notes.
I'm thinking of getting one.
Also, when I do readings, if i have page scans I'd love to keep the notes right there on the page.
Also, you really wanted us to know you were at a top 10 school. Kids at low ranked school still have to do calculus and statistics as well.
I can't tell you how useful a surfacebook would have been when I was in physics and math. I want one for when I can afford to go back to school.
The Surface kicks a lot of ass but if you expect it to be some life changing device you'll be disappointed.
The two things that make it great is, obviously, the pen and the screen. But, man, that screen. When I use the Surface for a while then go back to my T420s, the panel on the Thinkpad makes my eyes want to bleed. Also, whenever I'm at the store and I check out the laptops on display, I've noticed that screens that used to look peerless now have detectable flaws. It's like the screen on the SP has changed my subjective sense of what a quality display is.
The main flaw is no matter how good the Type Cover thing is, it will never measure up to the keyboard on my Thinkpad. It's probably better than most laptops but it isn't the pinnacle. If you do a lot of typing like I do, a Thinkpad is the best choice.
Bottom line, for most people and your use case in particular, I'd recommend it. Just don't expect it to live up to the ridiculous over the top tech blog hype. It's very very good but I still use my Thinkpad and my Nexus 7.
I'm an ME student with an SP4, i5, 256 gee bees. I gotta say I love it. Its battery lasts my entire day and then some at home, so 6-7 hours of battery life. I have all my textbooks on there and the screen size is perfect for them, so I'm no longer lugging around heavy books and breaking my back. I take all my notes on it (the pen works really well) and sync them between my surface, desktop, and phone so I have access to them all the time. Amazing build quality and the hinge is bitchin'. Only downside is it can be kinda buggy at times, and it took a little messing with registry files and drivers to get it to work properly. Expandable memory, and I can play rocket league and overwatch when I take breaks in between studying (at lowest settings and 30 fps is only way to run unfortunately, but they're playable).
They are a little overpriced, and I got mine off ebay for $1000 open box, and it came with the keyboard. I also ended up with the 3 year extended warranty.
>Shit will run you $1000+ with all the accessories.
Surface Pro 2 can be had for $200 with accessories, and the Pro 3 for under $400. With the 5 coming out the 4s are all on sale.
>I'm at a top 10 school with a fairly heavy workload
Why is this relevant you faggot?
>typing on a piece of shit chiclet keyboard
Tried it out on the store, admittedly it was surprisingly good
They're good.
I have the SP3 with an i5, 4gb, and 128gb SSD. It runs nice, although if you run anything too intensive the fan does kick in. It runs Adobe stuff like PS nicely.
Depends though, if you're using the kick stand and keyboard then they're actually more space consuming than an equivalent laptop.
It's a nice unit though, and the screen is fantastic.
>can do step-by-step solutions for integrals and differentials
How?
>Don't get a thinkpad. It's for poor people.
I wish. Damn things are expensive as fuck
You sound uneducated.
Are you a sysadmin by any chance?
>Its battery lasts my entire day and then some at home, so 6-7 hours of battery life
I'm confused.
I had an older model, 2 I think, and it was horrible to use. Windows programs were useless on them, the keyboard sucked, digitizer was barely better than drawing with your finger, and it ran hot and loud.
>sysadmin
>uneducated
have you been in a school recently?
Not him but I remember seeing it on /r/surface once
It lasts all day at school, and then at home too before it dies. In total, the battery lasts 6-7 hours usually. I should have phrased that better, sorry.
Like this.
I have the SP3 i5 8gb ram 256gb storage. It was amazing for university. The ability to record lectures in one note and make handwritten annotations with time stamps literally helped me to pass the second year. Also the build is great, screen is gorgeous and it's plenty fast for even some light gaymun. Battery life will get you through a day with no problem too. I assume gaymun is even better on the SP4 with iris . Though there are drawbacks:
>scaling
It's fixable but God damn it's a pain in the ass. That's a windows issue however so it's true for all laptops with mega high resolutions
>keyboard
Admittedly, not the best, just barely a pass imo. If you go for the SP3, I would recommend you buy the SP4 keyboard for it. It's light years better with a much nicer track pad too.
>thermal throttling
Only noticed it while doing some light gaymun, however I used a small usb fan and directed it towards the top right of the device where the CPU is located and it did help quite a bit.
TL;DR
If you're a poor fag, find a used SP3 and buy a SP4 keyboard. If you have the money, get the SP4 or wait for the SP5 even.
Not OP, but I'm waiting on the Surface Pro 5/Surface Book 2 to drop. They seem so damn nice for uni.
They're brilliant for uni. I'm even tempted to sell my SP3 and put it towards a SP5 depending on how good it is. I should be able to pick up around £500 including all original and packaging. Not bad considering I got it for £800 2 years ago
All original documents, accessories and packaging*
A guy has that in my local library. The keyboard is loud as fuck and pisses me off to listen to his clanking the keyboard.
Wow, you must be poor.
>used SP3 in my area are $800 minimum
fuck
Do you want something you can type on? Get a laptop.
Do you want something you can hold like a book and read PDF/watch video/browse the web on? Get a tablet.
I was waiting for MBP.. That was dissapointing, now I am holding out for SP5. If that isnt much improvement i will get a SP4 or a surface book/xps.
Former surface pro 4 owner here
I first started on a pro 3 back in August 2015 for school. It worked fine and dandy. I took it with me on a trip to Colorado to play league on it. When I came back, damn thing wouldn't turn on.
Went to the Microsoft store I bought from and explained my situation, and they hooked me up with a surface pro 4 with the same specs as my 3 for free. (I5, 4 gb ram, 128 gb)
I sold my surface pro 4 a month ago because I'm going to buy a 3 with better specs
First off, no way in hell you're going to use the pen and touch screen shit. Unless you're an artist of some sort, that is literally a gimmick. Second, 8 gb ram or kys. 4 gb wasn't enough to have chrome run fast because chrome takes ram like a bitch. Last thing, if you buy one: don't expect to get what out of what you put in. I bought my pro 3 for 1200, and only got 450 from my pro 4.
I used it strictly for school because gaming on it is impossible. I plan on building a pc for gaming anyway, but that's just my 2 cents.
If you see a pro 3 for under 600, go for it. Pro 4 has more screen but not a lot of differences anyway.
Oh and the book I heard is God tier, but costs an arm and a leg.
I have one and my dad has one
They're pretty good for having a tablet that also has a keyboard when you need one
The question is do you want a tablet that's also kind of a laptop or a laptop that's also kind of a tablet
I use the pen exclusively for note taking and annotating documents, I'm not an artist. Definitely not a gimmick by any means.
I've got an X220t, and afaik it has the same screen as the X230t. I hardly use it because of it's awful tracking.
Does anyone have the surface book? I saw a review where by the hinge is nice, but not stable enough to use the screen properly as a touch platform (compared to the SP3/4).
Any use cases?
they gud, I have a surface pro 4 and did calc 3, diff eq, lin alg on it with ease.
>projecting
Why can't you answer the question you fucking faggot?
I have a thinkpad x201t, got it for a 100 total with shipping. Running windows 7
In med school
The stylus is better than when I used the ipad pro.
I have bought and returned the surface pro 3 and pro 4, due to them feeling to flimsy and the bottlenecks are ridiculous. Plus heating issues.
My screen is fine, battery life far surpasses all but the ipad, but is way more versatile.
They can be found very cheap online, if they don't have the OS you want just pirate one, very easy.
Boots much faster as well with a 250gb ssd in it. It amazes me this laptop is from 2010 and has more features than my old asus from 2014.
Don't waste your money on a surface, they truly are a meme.
For engineering, get a god damn laptop with a dedicated graphics card. Purchasing something 3-4 years old will still work perfectly fine.
If you're doing massive assemblies (assuming you're a mechanical engineer), you're gonna need to get a desktop, or some workhorse workstation brick of a laptop to get shit done.
Do NOT get a "tablet/laptop" hybrid for engineering shit.
Are u me?
I love it.
Any problem I have had was a W10 thing that eventually fixed itself.. but yeah W10 is the issue not the surface pro
This, using it for annotating power points, works really well.
Surface pro + workhorse desktop works well. Better than a laptop with gpu by itself. I just remote connect to desktop.
>top 10 school
Wow, seems all of Sup Forums is in top 10 schools I never knew this place was so full of smart and great students.
top 10 (((((online)))) school
This. Tablet/Hybrid + Good desktop is a much better combo than I expected.
No, it isn't quite worth it. Too many firmware, driver and software issues.
>I'm a mechanical engineer at a top 10 school
>I ask for help on a chinese cartoon website
Stop lying to us, then we can answer
Agreed. It's the exact setup I have at the moment and it's perfect. Really is the best of both worlds.