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I own an i5 SP7 with 8GB of RAM. A couple observations:
- 8GB of RAM is no longer adequate. My device struggles with Zoom calls. (Forget about running Zoom and OBS at the same time.)
- I have a 256GB SSD in mine, and it's not enough for productivity. (And yes, I do have a 1TB OneDrive subscription, and use cloud storage, and NO, that does not negate the need to a larger local storage device.)
- the i5 SP7 models are made with no cooling fan! This is a major design flaw corrected by MS in later iterations of the SP line. Because of the lack of a cooling fan, this thing is thermal throttled all the time. According to tests these i5 models have the same real world performance as the i7 models from two generations prior, those have cooling fans. I run a small desk fan behind mine. That helps somewhat, but not much.
This is the model MS intentionally made with inadequate SSD space so that they can advertise a "low starting price" and can price gauge their customers for adequate storage. (Think $80 worth of incremental SSD space for $1,000 price gauging. They learned that trick from Apple.) This is the device nobody bought, and is always on sale at deep discounts.
I own an i5 SP7 with 8GB of RAM. A couple observations:
- 8GB of RAM is no longer adequate. My device struggles with Zoom calls. (Forget about running Zoom and OBS at the same time.)
- I have a 256GB SSD in mine, and it's not enough for productivity. (And yes, I do have a 1TB OneDrive subscription, and use cloud storage, and NO, that does not negate the need to a larger local storage device.)
- the i5 SP7 models are made with no cooling fan! This is a major design flaw corrected by MS in later iterations of the SP line. Because of the lack of a cooling fan, this thing is thermal throttled all the time. According to tests these i5 models have the same real world performance as the i7 models from two generations prior, those have cooling fans. I run a small desk fan behind mine. That helps somewhat, but not much.
This is the model MS intentionally made with inadequate SSD space so that they can advertise a "low starting price" and can price gauge their customers for adequate storage. (Think $80 worth of incremental SSD space for $1,000 price gauging. They learned that trick from Apple.) This is the device nobody bought, and is always on sale at deep discounts.
yup the surface line pricing is ridiculous yet I fell for it twice. ssd is not the worst as you can add an sd card or replace the 2230 nvme. But 8GB has been inadequate for window since...2012?
I like the fanless design, my old i7 model had the the fan and sounded miserable even when doing nothing. Both are reasonably terrible for intel chip.
yup the surface line pricing is ridiculous yet I fell for it twice. ssd is not the worst as you can add an sd card or replace the 2230 nvme. But 8GB has been inadequate for window since...2012?
I like the fanless design, my old i7 model had the the fan and sounded miserable even when doing nothing. Both are reasonably terrible for intel chip.
I'll take fan noise over thermal throttling to a crawl any day... The i5s are simply not usable when they overheat. You literally have to turn them off and reboot them once they cool down. It's terrible!
Re SD cards, you are not allowed to put cloud drives on removable media, so the SD card's usability is very limited. You are not allowed to put your OneDrive or Dropbox on it. I tried.
I'll take fan noise over thermal throttling to a crawl any day... The i5s are simply not usable when they overheat. You literally have to turn them off and reboot them once they cool down. It's terrible!
Re SD cards, you are not allowed to put cloud drives on removable media, so the SD card's usability is very limited. You are not allowed to put your OneDrive or Dropbox on it. I tried.
You can't? I was able to when I used to have a surface. You just format it as ntfs and mount it in an empty folder on your c drive. I put Dropbox on it. I even installed some programs to it.
You can't? I was able to when I used to have a surface. You just format it as ntfs and mount it in an empty folder on your c drive. I put Dropbox on it. I even installed some programs to it.
That sounds too good to be true. Thanks man! I'll look into it. This may breath new life into my aging SP7.
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Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank 11A
- 8GB of RAM is no longer adequate. My device struggles with Zoom calls. (Forget about running Zoom and OBS at the same time.)
- I have a 256GB SSD in mine, and it's not enough for productivity. (And yes, I do have a 1TB OneDrive subscription, and use cloud storage, and NO, that does not negate the need to a larger local storage device.)
- the i5 SP7 models are made with no cooling fan! This is a major design flaw corrected by MS in later iterations of the SP line. Because of the lack of a cooling fan, this thing is thermal throttled all the time. According to tests these i5 models have the same real world performance as the i7 models from two generations prior, those have cooling fans. I run a small desk fan behind mine. That helps somewhat, but not much.
This is the model MS intentionally made with inadequate SSD space so that they can advertise a "low starting price" and can price gauge their customers for adequate storage. (Think $80 worth of incremental SSD space for $1,000 price gauging. They learned that trick from Apple.) This is the device nobody bought, and is always on sale at deep discounts.
- 8GB of RAM is no longer adequate. My device struggles with Zoom calls. (Forget about running Zoom and OBS at the same time.)
- I have a 256GB SSD in mine, and it's not enough for productivity. (And yes, I do have a 1TB OneDrive subscription, and use cloud storage, and NO, that does not negate the need to a larger local storage device.)
- the i5 SP7 models are made with no cooling fan! This is a major design flaw corrected by MS in later iterations of the SP line. Because of the lack of a cooling fan, this thing is thermal throttled all the time. According to tests these i5 models have the same real world performance as the i7 models from two generations prior, those have cooling fans. I run a small desk fan behind mine. That helps somewhat, but not much.
This is the model MS intentionally made with inadequate SSD space so that they can advertise a "low starting price" and can price gauge their customers for adequate storage. (Think $80 worth of incremental SSD space for $1,000 price gauging. They learned that trick from Apple.) This is the device nobody bought, and is always on sale at deep discounts.
I like the fanless design, my old i7 model had the the fan and sounded miserable even when doing nothing. Both are reasonably terrible for intel chip.
I like the fanless design, my old i7 model had the the fan and sounded miserable even when doing nothing. Both are reasonably terrible for intel chip.
Re SD cards, you are not allowed to put cloud drives on removable media, so the SD card's usability is very limited. You are not allowed to put your OneDrive or Dropbox on it. I tried.
Re SD cards, you are not allowed to put cloud drives on removable media, so the SD card's usability is very limited. You are not allowed to put your OneDrive or Dropbox on it. I tried.