Microsoft Surface BOOK 4

DodgingRain · Post by **DodgingRain** » Tue Oct 20, 2015 3:47 pm

I use a surface pro3 i7 for my DAW, since the pro4 performance isn't that much better (about 5-15%) I can give a clear picture of where the performance is at. In retro-spec I would have been happier with a desktop. There simply isn't enough performance out of a U series intel processor for a serious DAW. I constantly have to adjust buffer sizes to prevent clicks. The battery life isn't anywhere near what they quote unless you doing stuff that doesn't take any power like just surfing the web. Also there are major heating issues with the surface pro's which causes them to throttle down as low as .9Ghz. You basically have to run with a USB fan pointing at the back of the surface to keep it cool enough to be usable.

I'm willing to bet a SP4 will have all the same issues. It's hard to say with the surface book. It may be a little bit better since the processor is a little better than the SP4 and some of the processing can be off loaded to the NVidia chip leaving a little bit more headroom depending on how the DAW is coded. Still a surface book is a U series processor and is only dual core, not serious enough for real DAW work.

I also have staffpad. I consider it hardly usable as the pen support is mediocre at best. I keep seeing it trumpeted as some great achievement on the surface and the reality isn't even close to that.

Best bet is either a decent desktop or high end laptop and skip the touch. Sorry but that is the reality.

aron · Post by **aron** » Tue Oct 20, 2015 7:02 pm

gjvti,

Everything you say is true. However I still maintain that an iPad is a solid and useful investment at the current prices. It's the only piece of hardware I cannot live without live. But I am certainly biased.

jimknopf · Post by **jimknopf** » Tue Oct 20, 2015 7:52 pm

I agree that OS choices beyond Linux seem to be choices between evils.

Even Apple though - certainly no company with good habits - has not been impertinent enough to install upgrades to my Computer without my will - yet they were impertinent enough to upload them to my iOS devices for possible installing, without asking me, misusing my bandwidth without my consent.

If Microsoft goes any little step further on my Windows 7 OS, trying to enforce Windows 10 abuse habits there, or further pushing an upgrade in whatever form (yes, I have completely kicked their Windows 10 nagging campaign off my PC so far), I would just get rid of their OS, as the biggest of evils at a given point in time, and do two simple things:

a) finally switch to Linux for my Office PC. Zero problem for me.

b) switch to a Macbook for anything concerning music making. Thankfully I will be able to use both Cubase and Logic as options then.

Microsoft will just be history for me, despite being a long time Windows user, if they go on like they do at the moment.

Ksynth · Post by **Ksynth** » Tue Oct 20, 2015 8:10 pm

Regarding possible RAM amounts.

Intel & Micron have developed a new RAM type - much faster and interestingly much smaller. 128 GB in something about a postage stamp size.

Probably using less power too.

http://newsroom.intel.com/community/int ... technology

burningbusch · Post by **burningbusch** » Wed Oct 21, 2015 12:33 am

DodgingRain wrote:I use a surface pro3 i7 for my DAW, since the pro4 performance isn't that much better (about 5-15%) I can give a clear picture of where the performance is at. In retro-spec I would have been happier with a desktop. There simply isn't enough performance out of a U series intel processor for a serious DAW. I constantly have to adjust buffer sizes to prevent clicks. The battery life isn't anywhere near what they quote unless you doing stuff that doesn't take any power like just surfing the web. Also there are major heating issues with the surface pro's which causes them to throttle down as low as .9Ghz. You basically have to run with a USB fan pointing at the back of the surface to keep it cool enough to be usable.

I'm willing to bet a SP4 will have all the same issues. It's hard to say with the surface book. It may be a little bit better since the processor is a little better than the SP4 and some of the processing can be off loaded to the NVidia chip leaving a little bit more headroom depending on how the DAW is coded. Still a surface book is a U series processor and is only dual core, not serious enough for real DAW work.

I also have staffpad. I consider it hardly usable as the pen support is mediocre at best. I keep seeing it trumpeted as some great achievement on the surface and the reality isn't even close to that.

Best bet is either a decent desktop or high end laptop and skip the touch. Sorry but that is the reality.

Good info. My goal is to use the SP4 as a supplemental music workstation. I have a Mac Pro, filled with software and samples, DAWs and synths. I have a need for some programs that are specific to Windows, but I don't expect to be pushing this thing like I would my desktop. On the other hand, if it simply doesn't work for me, I'll return it.

I've been following surfaceproaudio.com, so I have a feel for some of the challenges.

Busch.

Ksynth · Post by **Ksynth** » Fri Oct 23, 2015 2:01 pm

New Surface Book Pro option.

http://www.engadget.com/2015/10/22/micr ... dgpu-1700/

If you're like most of us, you think Microsoft's Surface Book looks like an incredibly attractive laptop, however adding on all the fixin's (like a powerful NVIDIA GPU embedded in the keyboard) can make it a bit pricey. TechRadar notes that the folks from Redmond have slid one more variant into the store, allowing buyers to essentially choose between upgrading the base ($1,500) model's graphics instead of its hard drive. For $1,700 you can either have a version with a Intel Core i5 CPU, 8GB of RAM, 256GB storage and no NVIDIA discrete GPU, or the new version -- a 128GB model with dGPU. If you keep your larger-capacity files in the cloud or an external drive, that cuts $200 off the previous cheapest dGPU-equipped version without losing any power, but we won't blame you if only the $3,200 1TB top-of-the-line powerhouse will suffice.

aron · Post by **aron** » Mon Oct 26, 2015 5:31 pm

I went to check out the Surface Book. First off, it's pretty thick and seems heavy compared to something like the MacBook Air. Of course it's a tablet AND a laptop put together. I couldn't figure out how to separate the tablet but I did notice how difficult it is to open it. It's really hard to open with one hand - you have to use two. Not at all like using a MacBook. Finally got it opened and the friendly demo guy showed me how you remove the tablet (you press and hold a key until something lights up). He showed me how you can reverse the tablet - and put it into "tablet" mode. That's where the demo ended. The tablet got stuck and couldn't be detached. BTW: I was looking at the $1999 i5, 8gig, 256G version. For roughly the same price, I would get the MacBook Air AND iPad Air 2 instead of the Surface Book. But if I was a Windows user, I would still get a Surface pad and a much cheaper laptop - I don't want my "main" computer to be on stage but that's just me.

seanL · Post by **seanL** » Sat Oct 31, 2015 3:44 am

jeez, I know it's not touch screen but you could grab one of these pretty cheap and bang another 8 gigs of ram into it and save $1500.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... CatId=4936

That's what I did.

Bachus · Post by **Bachus** » Sat Oct 31, 2015 1:51 pm

seanL wrote:jeez, I know it's not touch screen but you could grab one of these pretty cheap and bang another 8 gigs of ram into it and save $1500.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... CatId=4936

That's what I did.

You are comparing apples to cherries...

The only thing those systems have in common are the fact that they have an i7 processor, tough the one in the Surfacebook is the latest one and has 4 cores instead of 2 cores..

So that leaves the only thing they have in common is the fact that they can function as a laptop

Bald Eagle · Post by **Bald Eagle** » Sat Oct 31, 2015 5:18 pm

I kind of like this really big "tablet". But it's a bit under powered.

Dell XPS 18

aron · Post by **aron** » Mon Nov 02, 2015 7:11 am

The only thing about the Dell is that it has a real hard drive inside. The idea is cool but I would be worried about that HD, plus the HD is slow. But put an SSD in there and it might be cool.