Surface Pro 4 vs Surface Pro 3

[rockypasco88]

Hello everyone,

I work for an architecture firm, (not a licensed architect yet so legally i cant call myself one; have 3 more exams!), and was wondering if the Surface Pro 4 is worth the extra money. My boss has a Pro 3 i5 and it runs CAD like a dream, the only issue is that he doesn't use 3D programs and sketch-up is a little laggy with larger models.

I'm looking to purchase one for myself so I can use it for work (lots of CAD and 3D modeling when on the go, as well as Photoshop) and stream xbox/pc games using xbox one and steam. I understand I can't render with it, but that's not an issue because I have great Rig at home. I'm looking at the i7 models for both, but I'm not sure I would need the 16 GB of RAM in the Surface pro 4. Any thoughts or experiences with either?

I appreciate your help and advice in advance!

 

[game junky]

It's all about the pricing for both skus - if it's a $100-150 difference between skus, I would look at the SP4 for the weight/power ratio. Every generation of Intel CPU is a little more energy efficient and a little more powerful (especially graphically since that was one of the points on emphasis with Skylake) so it's not like the SP3 is a bad option by any means, just that it's worth it to splurge on the newest CPU generation because over the life of the product it's a drop in the bucket. I wish the Surface Books were more reasonably priced so I could recommend that, but it's really geared more toward people that need MBP level performance from a Windows system in a small package.

Your call on the memory - it sucks that they're not upgradeable after the fact since it doesn't have an available DIMM slot so if you're able to afford it and intend to do 3D modeling then you might as well pull the trigger. I personally think 8GB is more than enough as long as you are willing to close your spreadsheets and email whenever you need to launch a huge drawing.

 

[Solandri]

It's all about the pricing for both skus - if it's a $100-150 difference between skus, I would look at the SP4 for the weight/power ratio. Every generation of Intel CPU is a little more energy efficient and a little more powerful (especially graphically since that was one of the points on emphasis with Skylake) so it's not like the SP3 is a bad option by any means, just that it's worth it to splurge on the newest CPU generation because over the life of the product it's a drop in the bucket.

The i7-equipped SP4 is supposed to come with Intel Iris graphics. That will make it substantially faster at 3D rendering tasks than the SP3 (or the i5 SP4). The Iris-equipped i7 doesn't seem to be out yet so I haven't seen benchmarks for it. But it's 48 execution units vs the non-Iris' 24, so you should expect it to be at least 2x faster at 3D rendering. Though if you really want more 3D performance in this form factor, you should probably be looking at the Surface Book with its discrete GPU (albeit in the keyboard).

I wish the Surface Books were more reasonably priced so I could recommend that, but it's really geared more toward people that need MBP level performance from a Windows system in a small package.

The MBPs are hardly performance machines. The 15" in particular is middling considering it's so thermally limited that they have to go with mid-tier GPUs (750m prebiously, R9 380X currently). There are lots of better 15" Windows machines if you need to chew through 3D rendering tasks.

The primary benefits of the MBPs are screens that cover 100% sRGB which benefit graphics professionals, and PCIe SSDs whose higher sequential performance will help if you work with large files (e.g. real-time video editing). Other benefits over Windows laptops are mostly illusions created by an army of Apple fanboys and doting press coverage. Even the much-vaunted battery life isn't best in class. There are several Windows laptops which have longer battery life in absolute hours, and longer per Wh (meaning they get more stuff done with less juice).

The Surface Pros are an interesting way to challenge the 13" MBP (they're also calibrated for 100% sRGB). I'm not a graphics artist so I can't say if a touchscreen is that big a deal. I would assume so from the existence of products like Cintiq, but I can't say for sure. And it's something the MBPs definitely lack.