Fantasy Football - Footballguys Forums
Welcome to Our Forums. Once you've registered and logged in, you're primed to talk football, among other topics, with the sharpest and most experienced fantasy players on the internet.
Microsoft Announces "Surface" Tablet (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter [icon]
- Start date
Mario Kart
Footballguy
Mario Kart
Footballguy
Anyone buy the Surface 3? I looked at it for a little bit at Worst Buy tonight and its a decent size. Just wondering if anyone has it and/or has any issue with it.
msommer
Footballguy
I haven't but I have been using an ASUS TF810C for close to two years now and I'm very happy with it. The only issue I have had is that it is underpowered.
The Surface 3 has the upgraded Atom chip (Bay Trail?) which should help with that. It's only ever been an issue number crunching in Excel though (regular use is just fine).
Mario Kart
Footballguy
http://www.costco.com/Microsoft-Surface-3-Bundle-|-Intel-Atom-Quad-Core-|-Full-HD-Plus-|-Office-365-Personal.product.100176667.html
I don't have a CostCo membership but apparently Best Buy is matching this bundle. Good?
I don't have a CostCo membership but apparently Best Buy is matching this bundle. Good?
cstu
Footballguy
The 4GB Surface 3 with 64 GB storage is $549. Type cover is $130, making it $679.
You're getting the extra 64 GB ($50 value) and a pen ($49 value) for $20.
Mario Kart
Footballguy
At first I thought it was the SP3 which would be a great deal. But, its for the new Surface 3 and the total is about 10% off. I know cause that is what the education discount comes to... about $700. If the education discount and/or the movers coupon could be added to this at Best Buy that would add another 10% savings. Not a bad deal for $630ish. Doubt they do that though.
cstu
Footballguy
Mario Kart
Footballguy
Apparently Best Buy is allowing the student discount. An additional 10% which brings the total to $650ish.
Not sure if the movers coupon can be added to it or not though. So, as of now, a type cover and pen for $50ish instead of $170ish. Seems like a good deal, no?
cstu
Footballguy
Mario Kart
Footballguy
That is my dilemma now too. No word on when the four comes out so is this the next best option right now? Another thought is to buy it and keep it closed for a week or so to see if news comes out about the four. Then, take it back if there is news about the four. Ugh!
Mario Kart
Footballguy
Price came to $670ish. Need to get a movers coupon to see if I can get 10% more off. That'd be sweet.
Mario Kart
Footballguy
I bought the Surface 3 but haven't opened it up yet. Haven't had time to work with it. Am still keeping my ear to the ground about the Surface Pro 4. Rumors everyday about this and that but absolutely zero word from MSFT. I'm fearing an October release which would keep me with the Surface 3. But, if July is a release possibility of August then the Pro4 is in play. Just need news soon.
Any MSFT guys here that might have some inside info? Nothing shows up on reddit's forum and I'm not sure where else to go for MSFT news.
Any MSFT guys here that might have some inside info? Nothing shows up on reddit's forum and I'm not sure where else to go for MSFT news.
shady inc
Footballguy
Instinctive
Footballguy
How well do these do in Excel? Considering a MS tablet purely because of Excel needs in business school.
ETA: also considering a new laptop, but thinking this may suffice.
ETA: also considering a new laptop, but thinking this may suffice.
Last edited by a moderator:
Mario Kart
Footballguy
If you can wait, I'd wait for any announcement on the Surface Pro 4. If that is coming out in the summer unless you need it sooner, I'd wait and see. As far as Excel goes, these are windows laptops with a little less computing power but they are "laptops".
Instinctive
Footballguy
Yeah it's not urgent. I could conceivable wait a full year from now before purchasing, but want to start doing my research so that if a great sale or something pops up around the Black Friday/Xmas timeframe I know it when I see it.Mario Kart said:
So if there not a real difference between something like a Surface and a Lenovo Yoga laptop?
msommer
Footballguy
I've been using my Asus TF810C for excel with no problems (relevant since ithas the earlier Atom processor). Only when doing serious number crunching does it show to be noticably slower than a normal laptop. So the 3 should be doing better than that, but still not as fast as a regular laptopInstinctive said:
Mario Kart
Footballguy
Does this have to do with the RAM memory at all? I only ask cause the Surface 3 comes with 2GB or 4GB. It could make a difference, no?
cstu
Footballguy
msommer
Footballguy
Mario Kart
Footballguy
I had to update this and I have to give props to Best Buy. I went to the post office today to grab the movers coupon. If it was going to work, it'd be another 10% off. So, I get to Best Buy and the receipt I have had the three items itemized, Surface 3, type cover, pen. The S3 was at $540, type cover at $100, and pen at $0. Best Buy gave me 10% off of the S3 so $54 came off the price.
The total on Monday was $672 (after tax) and after today it was $618. For $618 I was able to get the S3 with 128GB and 4GB RAM, black type cover and silver pen. (I exchanged the blue type cover and blue pen for a black type cover and silver pen).
I really like the size of the S3 with the type cover on. Its easy to carry and feels just big enough (about a sheet of paper). But, if I'm going to use this in/at school, a case might be a good idea. Not many are out but Best Buy does have an Under Armor Gear case that seems pretty decent. Checked out a few YouTube videos of it and based on other options, this seemed like a good choice. Best Buy only has the black one... there is a red one and the MSFT store has it but the black one seemed fine. So, I exchanged my blue keyboard/pen so the colors didn't clash and stuff. So, thank you Best Buy and it my joy, I paid full price for the case. Case was $74. I could have done a price match to save $5 but I didn't. Maybe on Monday, I'll go to a different Best Buy and do that though since a different one is on my way home.
So, for $692, I got an S3, type cover, pen, case. I was thinking about returning the whole thing to wait for the SP4 but I think I got a great deal so I might as well keep it or at worst sell the thing as new. Full price would have been $880... price matching the CostCo deal would have been $800. So, good deal.
Instinctive
Footballguy
Thanks for posting! That was really helpful.Mario Kart said:
I'm surprised that she sees so many issues Netflix-ing with it. That's a bit of a downer. But: I tend to do all my Netflix watching through the PS4 anyway, so it might still be perfect for me.
I went to a Best Buy and checked out some laptops and tablets including the Surface Pro 3, and had a question maybe you could answer (since, oddly, the one time I want a salesperson's help at a Best Buy none were to be found):
Can you get an SSD in it?
How much can I upgrade the RAM?
Those are really my two biggest issues, because I want to be able to do some really heavy Excel stuff very quickly.
Abraham
Footballguy
No one could help with those questions? LOL.
The S3P starts at 4GB of RAM and has 8GB optional. All the drives are SSD. IIRC mine is an i5 with 256GB and 8GB or RAM and I don't have any trouble with Excel or Netflix or anything else I would do on a daily basis.
No idea about further upgrading the RAM but why would you want to?
The S3P starts at 4GB of RAM and has 8GB optional. All the drives are SSD. IIRC mine is an i5 with 256GB and 8GB or RAM and I don't have any trouble with Excel or Netflix or anything else I would do on a daily basis.
No idea about further upgrading the RAM but why would you want to?
Mario Kart
Footballguy
The Surface Pro 3 you can upgrade to an SSD... here is how http://surfacepro3ssdupgrade.blogspot.com/2015/02/surface-pro-3-ssd-upgrade-i7-with-1-tb.html .
However, I do believe the RAM you cannot upgrade. Depending on which SP3 you buy, it could be 4GB RAM or 8GB RAM. The Surface 3 is either 2GB RAM or 4GB RAM. No idea what the Surface Pro 4 will have but it probably won't be upgradable either.
As far as the GB hard drive is concerned though, there is a Micro SD slot and a USB slot so you can always have more hard drive space if needed.
Instinctive
Footballguy
8GB should be great, but a lot I had seen said 4.
And I'm sure the people there could answer, but there wasn't a person available. All either helping someone else or nonexistent. Either understaffed or the busiest Best Buy I've ever been to or a combo of both.
Ok thanks, that's what I was looking for. I have a 2010 Macbook Pro right now, and a year or two ago I upgraded the RAM from 4 to 8 and it made a pretty big difference in performance. Now the issue is the differences between Excel for Mac and actually using Excel in a Windows environment.
Mario Kart
Footballguy
I think someone may have commented in here about my questions but I can't find the post. Simply put, VGA projector and my hope is I can mirror my Surface 3 to something that will then project through the projector.
Is that something Miracast or a similar product? (What is similar though?)
I cannot use WiFi so will Miracast work without WiFi and if so is all I need is Miracast?
Is that something Miracast or a similar product? (What is similar though?)
I cannot use WiFi so will Miracast work without WiFi and if so is all I need is Miracast?
Koya
Footballguy
Maybe I'm missing something here, but I connect to a projector often and its pretty straightforward.
Mario Kart
Footballguy
To mirror what is on my tablet to display what is on the tablet onto the screen that the projector is projecting.
Table ------- wirelessly into projector --------- image onto screen
Polish Hammer
made of glass
I got the i5/128GB/4GB version the other week. Pretty happy with it so far.
Question - if I'm using the OneDrive area to store my data, that still stores it directly on the Hard Drive...but also backs up to the cloud, right? Meaning that I can still work on the docs offline?
Do people really use the pen much? I pretty much haven't touched it yet. Any general tips/tricks I need to know to get the most out of this new toy?
Question - if I'm using the OneDrive area to store my data, that still stores it directly on the Hard Drive...but also backs up to the cloud, right? Meaning that I can still work on the docs offline?
Do people really use the pen much? I pretty much haven't touched it yet. Any general tips/tricks I need to know to get the most out of this new toy?
Koya
Footballguy
The Surface has both a USB and a micro display port (the latter being what Apple laptops use). Can't speak for other tabs
Koya
Footballguy
Never use the pen but work with folks in planning / architecture that find it handy.
I'd suggest checking out the apps, some decent stuff there. For me it's more the form combined with full of functionality that is key rather than new functionality. Just so convenient to go from laptop to tablet
shady inc
Footballguy
Just came in the mail today. The cereal box said it would be a 2, but they sent a 64gb surface 3. I'm not complaining.
NewlyRetired
Footballguy
I want to upgrade my old Ipad2 that is starting to show its age.
I played around with the Surface 3 (not the pro, the smaller one) this weekend at the microsoft store and I liked the feel of it.
I think I want to purchase the base tablet and keyboard.
What is the best way to go about purchasing this from a price point of view? It is priced fixed outside of Ebay?
I am interesting in the 4gb/128gb model.
I played around with the Surface 3 (not the pro, the smaller one) this weekend at the microsoft store and I liked the feel of it.
I think I want to purchase the base tablet and keyboard.
What is the best way to go about purchasing this from a price point of view? It is priced fixed outside of Ebay?
I am interesting in the 4gb/128gb model.
Last edited by a moderator:
Mario Kart
Footballguy
This might help you out some - https://www.reddit.com/r/Surface/
Check ads from Costco and others. I was able to get mine for under $800 (I think I posted it earlier in the thread) but I got the keyboard, pen and case for that amount. It was a good deal.
Check ads from Costco and others. I was able to get mine for under $800 (I think I posted it earlier in the thread) but I got the keyboard, pen and case for that amount. It was a good deal.
NewlyRetired
Footballguy
Thank you.
The list price for mine is $599 for the tablet and $130 for the keyboard. I will see if I can do better.
NewlyRetired
Footballguy
Thanks for the suggestion Mario. I don't belong to Costco but BJ's was running a good package deal.
I got the Microsoft Surface 3 tablet (4g ram, 128g storage), the pen and the keyboard for $699.
I got the Microsoft Surface 3 tablet (4g ram, 128g storage), the pen and the keyboard for $699.
Mario Kart
Footballguy
That seems to be the "normal" deal. I think I misquoted mine above cause I essentially got 15% or so off. I think I paid $680 or so with everything I had listed above... with the case. I'm going to be hopefully using it in the classroom so I bought a case for it otherwise I would have had all that for about $600.
NewlyRetired
Footballguy
This is going to be a nice upgrade from the old Ipad2 I was using the past 5 years.
Ipad2 vs surface 3
Ram: 512m vs 4gb
Storage: 16gb vs 128gb
Camera: .92M vs 8M
USB: no vs yes
Keyboard: no vs yes
Display size: 9.7 vs 10.8
Resolution: 1024x768 vs 1920x1280
I am sure the processor is better on the Surface as well but those specs are not quite as easy to compare.
Ipad2 vs surface 3
Ram: 512m vs 4gb
Storage: 16gb vs 128gb
Camera: .92M vs 8M
USB: no vs yes
Keyboard: no vs yes
Display size: 9.7 vs 10.8
Resolution: 1024x768 vs 1920x1280
I am sure the processor is better on the Surface as well but those specs are not quite as easy to compare.
NewlyRetired
Footballguy
$600 would have been great but I could not find it.
Do you remember if yours was the 4gb/128 or the 2gb/64 model? The 4gb model adds around a $100 to the list price.
The Z Machine
Footballguy
I convinced the IT department to give me a Surface Pro for my portable computer. Pretty happy with it overall. The battery life is good, screen resolution is nice, processor speed is good. My track pad was buggy for a day recently, but fixed itself somehow. Other than that...
Windows 8 SUCKS.
Windows 8 SUCKS.
msommer
Footballguy
Remember to upgrade to 10 for free.
And agree that 8 sucks, but 8.1 is just barely ok
