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superchunk on 30 October 2012
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selnor said:
superchunk said:
selnor said:
Why are we comparing Surface RT with these? Just saying. Arent Ipad 4 and Nexus 10 out next year?

So shouldnt we compare the Surface Pro wich is out in January?

Or is that just not fair as it kills everything in specs by a huge margin.


Nexus 10 comes out in two weeks.

iPad4 can be ordered now.

SurfacePro will be a worse comparison as it will be hundreds more than either option and its hardware is not really any better, just a OS difference. The CPU/GPU on the Nexus10 is quite possibly really comparable with SurfacePro's low-end i5 and onboard HD 4000 graphics. Comparing it to these is actually going to hurt Win8's chances.


Oh I thought a Quad core 3rd generation I5 and Dual channel 4 gb ram would destroy the specs in this thread. Maybe I'm wrong. I should not have built my PC. LOL. The Nexus 10 beats my PC then.

The i5 in that tablet is a LOW-END i5 that is intended for the mobile space and netbooks. Its not the same chip as people put in their desktop PCs.

CPU comparisons

Nexus10 has:

  • Samsung Exynos 5
  • 1.7GHz ARM Cortex-A15
  • Dual Core
  • 64kb L1 cache
  • 4mb L2 cache

Surface Pro has:

  • "3rd Gen Intel Core i5 Processor"

That's all we know at this point that is official from MS. Using logical reasoning this is a processor in a small tablet will be a low-end, low-heat, low-power usage. Wikipedia has it acurately listed as a DUAL-CORE chip as it will be a MOBILE chip and they are all dual-core.

Using the 3rd gen as a reference to the third series of mobile i5's we should be looking at the Ivy Bridge series of mobile processors.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivy_Bridge_%28microprocessor%29#Mobile_processors

These are ALL:

  • dual-core
  • range from 1.7GGz to 2.8GHz
  • use DDR3 memory
  • 3MB of shared L3 cache

So from that definition... I don't see its CPU as being all that different. Depending which chip is used, it could be the same or slightly better. But nothing to get all excited about. Below is a pic of Ivy Bridge that proves it has one cache of 3MB. Nexus10's as a L1 and a L2 and the L2 has MORE cache overall.

GPU Comparisons

Nexus 10 has:

  • ARM Mali T-604 MP4
  • Quad-Core
  • 256mb L2 cache
  • OpenGL ES 1.1 & 2 & 3
  • DirectX 11

Surface Pro has:

  • "Intel HD Graphics 4000"

That is official from MS.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Intel_graphics_processing_units#Seventh_generation

  • "16 execution units"
  • 350MHz to 1.3GHz range
  • shared cache with CPU
  • OpenGL 4 on Windows
  • DirectX 11

Here again, we see a comparison that is more than likely identical or slightly better for one side or the other. Similar performance, same technologies supported (except OpenGL version), but MS has a cache memory setup that is definitely worse than Nexus10.

Memory Comparison

Nexus 10 has:

  • 2GB DDR3
  • 32 bit 800MHz bus

Surface Pro has:

  • 4GB DDR3 (yes, its DDR3 as that is what the CPU supports)
  • 64 bit 25.6 GB/s bus

Here is the only place Surface Pro is a clear winner. It has faster memory (maybe makes up for the cache) and twice the amount. But its also running FULL windows8 vs a streamlined mobile OS.

Conclusion

I think you can agree you jumped the gun in proclaiming SurfacePro as some tablet killing monster. Facts are, it will likely be around $800 and hardware wise it will bet equal to or slightly better than a $400 Nexus 10. Its only advantage is the more mainstream Windows8, but depending on your usage and needs that may not matter at all.

BTW: I didn't even include the display, lighter weight, etc that is all wins for Nexus10.