Solved! Is a $314 Surface Pro 4 worth it in 2022?

[mrmike16]

Hi all,

So I just got a great offer, as the title says. $314 for a Microsoft Surface Pro 4 laplet with a dock and Type Cover in good condition (From the picture I don't even see scratches).

For those who haven't seen my many previous posts about this, I currently have a Microsoft Surface 3 that I mostly use docked to a desktop-like setup because it no longer has a touchscreen function.
The Surface 3 still goes on E-Bay for a couple hundred dollars.

The Surface Pro 4 is from a few months after the release of the Surface 3, so more or less the same generation, and it has an Intel Core-i5 6th Gen as opposed to the Intel Atom that the Surface 3 has, and 8GB of RAM instead of 4GB. Storage I don't yet know. The battery life capacity I will be checking tomorrow, but in regards to that I don't even know how low I'm willing to allow it to be before saying no thanks - 75% capacity?

If I get this, I will once again have something to virtually paint on (I still have the currently useless Surface Pen), and a stronger PC until I eventually build a desktop tower - after the end of the chip shortage.

If this Surface is anything like mine, it will probably have some issues that MS never bothered to fix, like the Type Cover disconnecting. But every computer these days seem to have their problems.

In my opinion, at the price of a Chromebook even at its current age this is still a great deal. What do you guys think?

I will be deciding tomorrow after checking it physically. I know it is a bit last minute, but he did just lower the price for me - previously I didn't think to buy it.

It isn't compatible with Windows 11, so it seems to be a 3-year lifetime for it until I switch it over to Linux for security - That is, if Microsoft stands by Windows 10's end-of-life date.

Can the i5-6th Gen handle VHS-DVD conversions without lagging, by the way?

If I remember correctly, this is 1/4 of the laplet's original price.

Also, this is in Israel. Technology tends to cost quite a bit more here because of import tax. This price is actually comparable with American pricing, which is what got me.

Edit: My apologies, the site seems to have skipped the part where it asks me in which section to post this thread and went straight to Laptop Tech Support.

 

[hang-the-9]

Going from an Atom to the i5 is a huge bump in speeds. You can probably get faster systems for the price but of course will not have the surface tablet functions or the higher res screen it has.
Yes it will do DVD conversion just fine. Not sure about your lagging question though, any video conversion will try to take up the full CPU of the system while running so it will slow down the system if you use it for something else.

 

[mrmike16]

Going from an Atom to the i5 is a huge bump in speeds. You can probably get faster systems for the price but of course will not have the surface tablet functions or the higher res screen it has.
Yes it will do DVD conversion just fine. Not sure about your lagging question though, any video conversion will try to take up the full CPU of the system while running so it will slow down the system if you use it for something else.

Thanks for your reply. I bought it, and I must say I couldn't agree more. Despite it being 5-6 years old this device works beautifully. The battery life capacity is at about 80% despite it having been overcharged by the previous owner very often, and still lasts more than the Surface 3's battery which is at about 90-95% capacity. As for the speeds, it's a huge jump for sure. I forgot what fast computing felt like ever since I sold my desktop. Also the fact that I have a touchscreen again, and therefore I can start virtually painting again. I have missed the touchscreen more than I knew. Weird to hear fans running on a tablet.

The Microsoft Surface Dock that came with it, which I understand now is much newer than the tablet itself, is severely lacking in USB-A ports. Only 2, and none in the front - In the front it only has USB Type-C, and it isn't like they didn't have the room...So now I need a dock for the dock in order to transfer between my 2 external HDDs (One for files, one for backup). And they also could have added a video port to it.

What I meant by the lagging on video conversions is that the Surface 3 can convert them, just as my first desktop build with a weak processor was able to, but they both ended up leaving stuttering parts in the resulting .mp4 video. They did not play smoothly. So I am hoping that this processor will handle it better.

The lack of the Windows button is apparent, but that's understood from Windows 10 not really needing it like a mobile OS does.

The screen size difference - it's strange, almost the same width just taller with slightly smaller bezels. That was disappointing, I expected a larger screen. I feel that it is bigger, but I don't feel the 2.5 inch difference. It doesn't look like the newer models are too different, either.