Microsoft - Surface Pro 3 - 12" - Intel Core i3 - 128GB - Silver

The Surface Pro 3 is light and has a sleek design. The fan is very quiet even in library setting unless you have your ear next to the vent openings. Built in kickstand is sturdy and great for various viewing angle adjustments. Boot time from complete shutdown to desktop is about 13 seconds. I dont see much slow down with my streaming videos, web browsing, and working Microsoft Office 2013 like Word, Point Power, or some Excel. Opening Edge take about 1 second. Opening Firefox take about 2.5 seconds. Microsoft Office programs take about 3.5 seconds to open. I have the screen set at 40% brightness because 100% is more for outdoor use. I have been using the Type Cover designed for the Surface Pro 4 and it is way better then the Surface Pro 3 keyboard because the keys are spread out more and it has a deeper key travel. The Type Cover does extend about several millimeter over the screen edge on both sides. Flipping the Type Cover to the back of the Surface Pro 3 will disable its functions. Battery life is about 6 hours and 40 minutes on run down until 10% battery life with Balance mode, brightness set at 40%, and web browsing with Edge (6 tabs opened) and Word opened. Note: My unit had a dead CMOS battery that would stop my Surface from keeping tracking of the time and date when it was completely shutdown. I had to send it to Microsoft for fixing.

I got my Surface Pro 3 just before Christmas and I really like it. I read all the reviews... lots of love and lots of hate. I had actually talked myself out of getting a SP3 and was going to just go with a small flip laptop. But when I went to Best Buy to purchase, the Geek convinced me that this was a better machine. After using my SP3 for a few weeks, I have to admit that I am glad I went with it. I had to order an external CD/DVD drive - which I would of had to do with the laptop I was looking at anyway. I haven't purchased the pen yet...I thought I would use my points to get it. Every once in a while there seems to be a bit of a glitch... it won't recognize touch OR the keyboard, but if I just turn it off and back on it goes to working. if it continues I may call the Best Buy Geeks and see what they recommend. I am still getting used to Windows 10 - but so far I love it. I just installed Office Professional Plus 2016 and uninstalled the "Free for a month 365". I do a lot of documents for work and personal, I am a scrap-booker and I just received a Silhouette - Cameo for Christmas - so I am kind of crafty too. i love that you can set it up at a desk and use it just like a computer... or you just grab it and use it like a tablet to check emails and Facebook.

Fantastic machine in my opinion. It's meant for someone who wants something to replace a laptop, tablet, and potentially a desktop. For my use I already have a powerful desktop so I only needed this for light web browsing, streaming movies, and mild productivity apps like annotating PDFS and MSFT Office. Works perfectly for that. It doesn't really get that hot and the fan only comes on if I stream movies for a while and even then it's just kind of a whisper. I think the i3 model is perfect for my use and since it's an 11W part it consumes less power and doesn't get as hot as the i5/i7 models. You won't get the same throttling or heat and fan issues as the i5/i7 models either. Keep in mind battery life between the SP4 and SP3 are about the same, I'm getting probably 7 hours. Do yourself a favor and get the new type cover and pen for it as well. I was considering getting the SP4 m3 but I got this instead for $499 ($599 - $100 EDU coupon) and couldn't be happier with the performance, versatility, and money saved.

I've only had the surface pro for 5 months and a whole host of problems have occurred. I'm not sure if the problems are due to the Windows 10 upgrade or due to the surface pro itself, but it has been an endless headache using this tablet. For one, the touchscreen starting getting so crazy and unfixable (phantom touch I believe it's called) that I had to turn if off altogether. I followed all the common directions for fixing it (ie restarting, downloading drivers, downloading updates, etc.) but nothing worked. Shortly after I "fixed" my touchscreen problem, my tablet's network adapter driver stopped working. Now I can't even get online to download the drivers my tablet needs to regain functionality. I'm not sure if this problem can ever be fixed, as I'm stuck in a perpetual circle of issues. If I had known this tablet would grow to have so many problems (once again perhaps it's related to upgrading to windows 10 but I'm not sure), I would not have spent so much money purchasing it. Definitely would not do again.

I purchased a surface RT an few years back on a trip to Hawaii so I could upload all my DSLR family photos to it and do some minor photo editing then post them on social media. I really like that the RT was small and portable and did most of the things I needed it to do, but I wanted to upgrade to a more power unit. At first I was going to get the surface 3, but after comparing the surface 3 to the pro 3, It was hands down that the pro 3 was better for me. The Pro 3 has better processor, slightly larger screen and runs Windows 10 Pro compared to Windows 10 home edition. Like I stated earlier I like to dabble in photography and wanted to start utilizing a better photo editing program. This laptop/tablet can handle it with no issues. Switching from desktop to tablet mode is flawless. Although I primarily use the desktop mode most of the time. The only cons I have for this and any surface product is that you have to purchase the keyboard separately and this particular model didn't come with the pen (an awesome tool to have) which I also had to purchase separately. I also do wish that they would have kept the charging port the same as the surface 3 instead of going with the proprietary type charging unit.

Just bought the Surface Pro3 and I am very pleased with it - honestly I didn't really believe I would like it much. But after a few days of heavy use, the device has been awesome. Best features - Screen quality/brightness, battery life, Windows 10 true no compromise usability (I am also an iPad User), the new keyboard cover with fingerprint sensor and backlight. Performance has been very good, no lag or other weird windows type issues to deal with so far. Suggestions for improvement - Ugh the power brick!! I hate it - really microsoft its 2015, please get rid of it. Also I am not a fan of the so-called magnesium case - its not too heavy but it just feels and looks dated. Overall for $599 the Surface Pro3 is a great product, it has replaced my iPad and android tablets and I dont regret it at all.

As someone who used to be an engineer for the aerospace industry, makes me appreciate that Microsoft doesn't build airplanes or makes safety products. i'm warming up to my SP3, but this product has annoying bugs. I was instantly impressed with the look-feel, but only to be disappointed with my first experience with a computer flat out lying to me. It said I was logged into my 5 Ghz wifi network, and everything should work, but I couldn't access the internet. 8 hours later after tech call and updates, it worked. Then the pen, beautifully made, goes out of whack after couple of days of use. I have to delete the old cal data, and recalibrate, so I can start apps in taskbar and not open some random app while trying to change volume, If you don't mind the little bugs, this machine is really on a class of its own, sleek, beautiful, powerful, and portable. And yes, I consider having to buy type cover for $129, separately, as one of those annoying bugs (I bought a slightly used one in Amazon for less than half the price).

I got this tablet primarily as a note taking device to use with a stylus. Coming from years of using Macs, it was quite an adjustment. Apple products simply work right out of the box with minimal setup. The same is not true of PC. And Windows 10 is confusing and inconsistent. However, aside from my gripes about Windows, the SP3 works fine for me. My only issue is that my palm constantly sets off the icons at the bottom bar of the screen, which is annoying when I'm trying to take notes and I have to stop mid-flow to close the calendar or keyboard window that pops up by mistake. It's entirely possible that there's an overlooked setting that I can change to keep this from happening, but I haven't found it yet. I liked that this model didn't include a surface pen, as I purchased the surface 4 pen anyway, along with the surface 4 keyboard. Those two accessories are far superior to the SP3 versions, IMO, and well worth the investment.