Hamilton NYC
Well-known member
Previous topic: http://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3755935
More detailed review w/ video: http://ohitsthem.com/photography/microsoft-surface-pro-3-i7-review/
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What started as an innocent question — "Can the Surface Pro 3 i7 handle D810 RAW files?" — turned into a purchase, love affair, and a guilty conscious about whether or not it was justified.
As a Mac user for the past 15+ years, it rarely crossed my mind during “upgrade season” to look towards a Windows machine. This wasn’t due to brand bias, but more that whatever Windows had to offer was never enough to warrant a switch. My last three machines have been a Mac Pro, MacBook Pro Retina 15-inch, and finally a MacBook Pro Retina 13-inch. So, basically: I’m downsizing.
Since the summer I’ve been shooting a lot more and traveling with my MacBook Pro in tow, attempting to edit and post photos on the fly. While beautiful and fast, its weight can be a burden and I can’t always fit it into my bag. To be honest, if the iPad Air 2 could compete with its utility and allow me to both develop with Coda and edit photos in a fully featured version of Lightroom, I’d have simply purchased one and moved on. Sadly that isn’t a reality (yet?) and I needed a solution that could travel with me and perform when I needed it to.
HELLO, MICROSOFT SURFACE PRO 3 I7
I had been eyeing this device for a while and even though it had my interest in June, it was important for me to wait until the i7 version was released to see how it performed. Like all of these thoughts end, I found myself at Best Buy this past saturday trying each version out and ultimately leaving with the Surface Pro 3 i7 (256GB). A couple days in I’m enjoying it, but do have some concerns. Let’s chat about everything, though.
HEY GOOD LOOKIN’
This device is beautiful. Coming from Apple product after Apple product, I’ve taken their aesthetic — from packaging to product — for granted and am only ever reminded of how “average” everyone else is when I quietly step out of that garden. Microsoft did an incredible job by not only making the unboxing a joy, but with creating an absolutely gorgeous piece of hardware. To echo other reviews: it feels large when you’re using it as a tablet but tiny as a laptop, and those are good things.
The screen is fantastic, too. I considered the MacBook Pro Retina’s display to be better at first, but after returning from the Surface Pro 3 it had lost a little magic. Without comparing PPIs, I’d say they look and feel about the same in terms of clarity and neither one has a particular edge against the other.
SURFACE PRO 3 AND LIGHTROOM
One of the most important pieces of software I’ll be using on the Surface Pro 3 is Adobe Lightroom, as it’s my primary photo editing suite. With the Nikon D810 outputting some seriously large RAW files (70MB+), a computer with processing power is a requirement. Check out the video below to see how the Surface Pro 3 i7 handles a quick photo task:
HOW HOT IS HOT?
One of my biggest concerns while researching the Surface Pro 3 i7 was how warm it would get under heavy load, and whether or not this would matter. The results are mixed, and I find that sometimes it gets hot with no affect on performance, whereas other times it cripples the entire machine.
As I was exporting the above video in Adobe Premiere Pro, the i7 sprinted from the gate with speeds of about 2.8GHz, ultimately burning itself out and being dragged to a devastating .86GHz. This is a huge bummer, as I’d love to have a solid experience across the board, but I suppose there needs to be a flaw somewhere.
Browsing around the web offered some interesting solutions, but as a longtime Apple user I have come to expect that whatever I buy works. I don’t mean this to sound malicious — as it’s not — however if you need to perform certain actions and purchase additional items to make something “work perfectly”, it means the product is flawed. Buying a fan to keep the Surface Pro 3 i7 cooler during heavy load is great but, as a customer purchasing a high-end product, I expect it to be perfect during heavy load at a baseline. Apple doesn’t always get it right either, it doesn’t excuse other manufacturers from not holding their products to a higher standard.
IS THE SURFACE PRO 3 I7 EVEN WORTH IT?
One of the questions I continue asking myself is: do I keep it? It’s an incredible machine and beyond capable of completing my tasks, but is it worth the cost — $1549 ($1399 on sale) + $129 — compared to either my existing MacBook Pro Retina or upgrading to a newer MBP model. Think about it: for $1649 you can get a MacBook Pro Retina 13-inch with a 3.0GHz i7, 16GB of ram, and a 128GB HDD. I lose 128GB of storage but gain 8GB of RAM, a “better” processor, an SD slot, and additional USB port.
Do you lose portability in that trade as well? Sure. A stylus? Yea (but do I need it and/or care?). A touchscreen? Again, yes (and again: do I even need that?). It’s an interesting (and good, in the scheme of things) dilemma to have, all things considered.
Before we wrap up, I want to mention that I really, truly do enjoy using the Type Cover keyboard. It’s worse than the MacBook Pro Retina’s keyboard, of course, but it’s an overall pleasant experience to write on. The trackpad leaves a lot to be desired but, for the most part, I find myself relying on the stylus anyway.
DO I KEEP THE SURFACE PRO 3 I7?
For now, I think the Surface Pro 3 i7 stays with me, and if anything changes, I’ll be sure to let you all know. Again, it’s a great device and performs in Lightroom exceptionally. It has its issues, but nothing that is so awful it’ll make me regret purchasing it. Thanks for reading and feel free to ask questions in the comment section below.
More detailed review w/ video: http://ohitsthem.com/photography/microsoft-surface-pro-3-i7-review/
--------
What started as an innocent question — "Can the Surface Pro 3 i7 handle D810 RAW files?" — turned into a purchase, love affair, and a guilty conscious about whether or not it was justified.
As a Mac user for the past 15+ years, it rarely crossed my mind during “upgrade season” to look towards a Windows machine. This wasn’t due to brand bias, but more that whatever Windows had to offer was never enough to warrant a switch. My last three machines have been a Mac Pro, MacBook Pro Retina 15-inch, and finally a MacBook Pro Retina 13-inch. So, basically: I’m downsizing.
Since the summer I’ve been shooting a lot more and traveling with my MacBook Pro in tow, attempting to edit and post photos on the fly. While beautiful and fast, its weight can be a burden and I can’t always fit it into my bag. To be honest, if the iPad Air 2 could compete with its utility and allow me to both develop with Coda and edit photos in a fully featured version of Lightroom, I’d have simply purchased one and moved on. Sadly that isn’t a reality (yet?) and I needed a solution that could travel with me and perform when I needed it to.
HELLO, MICROSOFT SURFACE PRO 3 I7
I had been eyeing this device for a while and even though it had my interest in June, it was important for me to wait until the i7 version was released to see how it performed. Like all of these thoughts end, I found myself at Best Buy this past saturday trying each version out and ultimately leaving with the Surface Pro 3 i7 (256GB). A couple days in I’m enjoying it, but do have some concerns. Let’s chat about everything, though.
HEY GOOD LOOKIN’
This device is beautiful. Coming from Apple product after Apple product, I’ve taken their aesthetic — from packaging to product — for granted and am only ever reminded of how “average” everyone else is when I quietly step out of that garden. Microsoft did an incredible job by not only making the unboxing a joy, but with creating an absolutely gorgeous piece of hardware. To echo other reviews: it feels large when you’re using it as a tablet but tiny as a laptop, and those are good things.
The screen is fantastic, too. I considered the MacBook Pro Retina’s display to be better at first, but after returning from the Surface Pro 3 it had lost a little magic. Without comparing PPIs, I’d say they look and feel about the same in terms of clarity and neither one has a particular edge against the other.
SURFACE PRO 3 AND LIGHTROOM
One of the most important pieces of software I’ll be using on the Surface Pro 3 is Adobe Lightroom, as it’s my primary photo editing suite. With the Nikon D810 outputting some seriously large RAW files (70MB+), a computer with processing power is a requirement. Check out the video below to see how the Surface Pro 3 i7 handles a quick photo task:
HOW HOT IS HOT?
One of my biggest concerns while researching the Surface Pro 3 i7 was how warm it would get under heavy load, and whether or not this would matter. The results are mixed, and I find that sometimes it gets hot with no affect on performance, whereas other times it cripples the entire machine.
As I was exporting the above video in Adobe Premiere Pro, the i7 sprinted from the gate with speeds of about 2.8GHz, ultimately burning itself out and being dragged to a devastating .86GHz. This is a huge bummer, as I’d love to have a solid experience across the board, but I suppose there needs to be a flaw somewhere.
Browsing around the web offered some interesting solutions, but as a longtime Apple user I have come to expect that whatever I buy works. I don’t mean this to sound malicious — as it’s not — however if you need to perform certain actions and purchase additional items to make something “work perfectly”, it means the product is flawed. Buying a fan to keep the Surface Pro 3 i7 cooler during heavy load is great but, as a customer purchasing a high-end product, I expect it to be perfect during heavy load at a baseline. Apple doesn’t always get it right either, it doesn’t excuse other manufacturers from not holding their products to a higher standard.
IS THE SURFACE PRO 3 I7 EVEN WORTH IT?
One of the questions I continue asking myself is: do I keep it? It’s an incredible machine and beyond capable of completing my tasks, but is it worth the cost — $1549 ($1399 on sale) + $129 — compared to either my existing MacBook Pro Retina or upgrading to a newer MBP model. Think about it: for $1649 you can get a MacBook Pro Retina 13-inch with a 3.0GHz i7, 16GB of ram, and a 128GB HDD. I lose 128GB of storage but gain 8GB of RAM, a “better” processor, an SD slot, and additional USB port.
Do you lose portability in that trade as well? Sure. A stylus? Yea (but do I need it and/or care?). A touchscreen? Again, yes (and again: do I even need that?). It’s an interesting (and good, in the scheme of things) dilemma to have, all things considered.
Before we wrap up, I want to mention that I really, truly do enjoy using the Type Cover keyboard. It’s worse than the MacBook Pro Retina’s keyboard, of course, but it’s an overall pleasant experience to write on. The trackpad leaves a lot to be desired but, for the most part, I find myself relying on the stylus anyway.
DO I KEEP THE SURFACE PRO 3 I7?
For now, I think the Surface Pro 3 i7 stays with me, and if anything changes, I’ll be sure to let you all know. Again, it’s a great device and performs in Lightroom exceptionally. It has its issues, but nothing that is so awful it’ll make me regret purchasing it. Thanks for reading and feel free to ask questions in the comment section below.
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