Windows 10: Microsoft Could Kill the Entire Surface Tablet Lineup...

Why would you think more memory would require a car battery? That's ridiculous. Yes, it's certainly not free in terms of power consumption, but RAM is one of the least power hungry parts of the system. The display, disk drive, and CPU take far more.

 

Hi there

while 16GB of RAM sounds nice - the sort of stuff I run - especially on a portable type device - 8GB is quite reasonable - and I can even run some VM's on it too.

These devices aren't really intended to replace serious DESKTOPS or specialized machines like Gaming machines etc - but will certainly replace a typical Laptop or even an OLD workplace bog standard Desktop (often these had MEASLY amounts of RAM in them too).

Don't forget also you've got a decent built in 4K capable graphics card built in too !!.

Cheers
jimbo

 

I can be a pretty heavy VM user, but I don't see the value in 16GB of RAM in the Surface Pro myself. They could do it, no big technical reason why not. I have 16GB of RAM in my work laptop, and also upgraded the 256GB SSD to a 500GB SSD because I was tired of always running out of space. I guess it's because I don't really see the Surface as a replacement for a proper laptop.

 

It's not complicated; it's actually very simple.

When the manufactures think their is a market large enough to put 16 gig or more of ram in a (what ever) they will do it.
The market place in the most part dictates what a manufacture is going to produce in volume. This method of doing business is not new; it's been around for thousands of years.
A thousand years ago if someone wanted a special sword their was no problem. Just leave a lot of money and don't bother the sword maker. He will call when the sword is done.

 

Why? It's just as powerful as a "proper laptop". Yes, it's screen is small, but you plug it into an external display and use an external keyboard and it's as powerful as (more so for the high end) any desktop. Then, you unplug it and take it on the train with you and continue working, take it home and work while watching TV on the couch, take it to your desk and plug it into your keyboard and monitor...

How is it not a laptop replacement?

 

Every laptop I have ever seen comes with a keyboard and a screen and a little built in mouse you poke with your finger.

From post #33 by Mystere.

No it doesn't replace a laptop.

 

I must be imagining things like this then, which I've been doing with laptops for more than a decade...

 

Hi there

I think the REAL issue with the 16GB RAM is actually an ENGINEERING problem. The RAM in the Surface Pro is similar (although faster) to the sort of RAM used in Laptops (smaller than the long sticks used in desktops). 8GB Modules don't exist yet in that physical form factor or are hideously expensive so you'd need 4 SLOTS (4 x 4GB). Space is at a 100% premium in these devices so without a total radical re-design of the case to accommodate space for 4 memory modules they left it as it is -- I don't hear many complainers from Laptop users that they don't have enough RAM in their machines when it's 8GB.

Cheers

jimbo

 

Jimbo, I don't know where you think you got your information, but this is so far from accurate as to be laughable.

The SP3 does not use "sticks" of memory of any kind. It uses 4 LPDDR3 chips (called packages, 2 on the front, 2 on the back) soldered to the motherboard. In the 4GB SP3, these are 8Gb (Gigabit) packages (ie 1 Gigabyte). In the 8GB SP3, these are 16Gb packages (or 2GB).

https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Micr...Teardown/26595 (see step 16)

There are at least 2 companies producing 32Gb (4GB) packages for at least the last 18 months.

BTW, in case you didn't notice, there's actually enough room on the PCB to put 4 packages on each side if they wanted to. This is not some major engineering feat.

How many of those are software developers? 8GB is barely enough these days to do any real development work, you quickly start swapping.

 

FYI:

Using a Surface Pro 3 full time for two months - Scott Hanselman

 

As long as you have the needed hardware at each location you go to you will be in good shape.
Personally if I owned a business with a server and work stations I wouldn't allow anybody hook anything to my server network/domain or Cloud. In my opinion it's nothing but one big security risk.
Back to needing 16gb of ram. Just going by memory I do believe that some company already make laptops with 16 gigs of ram. Would something like that be suitable to your needs?

 

Hi there.

OK I'll defer to the newer memory sticks.

However the SP3 isn't really intended for serious development users or anybody who has the same set up as you have there.

It's a very convenient portable machine that can carry a powerful punch and it's more than adequate for the primary market it's intended for.

I'm sure any sort of serious development or reams of Video editing / creation / game development etc requires a wholly different set up.


However for what I use it for it more than fits the bill.

If I could get 16GB in it and a 1TB SSD then of course I'd love that. Battery life I don't find a problem when using in "Tablet mode". In "Desktop mode" I'm using it invariably powered to the mains so I don't really care.

Better technology whether in electric cars or smart phones definitely DOES need improvement - this seems to be an area that's stalled recently.

Cheers

Jimbo

 

Well it really depends in the type of development being done... E.g. I run quite extensive Actuarial valuation apps on 8Gig RAM comfortably... admittedly, very basic GUI design but with the correct memory management, the majority of projects should not need anything like 16GB of RAM.
@Mystere, just out of curiosity, I would be interested to know a bit about the projects you are involved in...sounds interesting.

Personally I'm quite happy lugging my Thinkpad with extra battery around - portable enough for me... diff'rent strokes, diff'rent folks...

 

Well, the projects are not that important really.. But more of a side effect of the fact that Visual Studio can only open one solution at a time.. So you typically end up with multiple solutions open, and Visual studio is a huge memory hog.. typically taking 800-1.5GB of memory depending on the size of the solution for each instance.

Throw in IE, which tends to chug up memory, Outlook, word, and all the other tools you tend to run and 8GB runs out very quickly.

 

No, don't be ridiculous, that's not it at all. People know, but they don't care. The majority of people see tabs as toys, that is the bottom line and it ain't gonna change.

Sure, there are some, a select few who really do need a powerful windows tab, but woefully few for marketing purposes.

Yes, I know, the regular crowd will shuffle in and tell me just how wrong I am, but the facts speak for themselves....