Microsoft Surface Pro 3 Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi on June 23, 2014 3:55 AM ESTDisplay Analysis
I published an analysis of Surface Pro 3's display shortly after receiving my review unit. For those of who you haven't seen it already, the results and analysis are reprinted below.
With Surface Pro 3, Microsoft finally accepts that while 16:9 may be a great aspect ratio for watching movies but it's not optimal for a multi-purpose tablet. The tablet features a 12" 2160 x 1440 display (RGB stripe, not RGBW/PenTile), which ends up being a 3:2 aspect ratio. The difference is immediately noticeable in notebook-style use. While the Surface Pro 2 was never quite all that comfortable to use as a laptop, Surface Pro 3's display makes it substantially more laptop-like. There doesn't appear to be a big impact to tablet use either with the larger display. Particularly with Windows 8.1's split screen mode, the larger display ends up working extremely well. The LCD continues to be laminated to the cover glass just like with previous Surfaces.
Default 150% Scaling on Surface Pro 3, the 2160 x 1440 display behaves like a HiDPI 1440 x 900 display
Color accuracy is improved out of the box as well. The original Surface Pro had a display capable of being quite accurate, if calibrated, but out of the box it was a bit of a mess. Microsoft slowly improved out of box calibration over the years, eventually culminating in what we have today with Surface Pro 3.
Max brightness drops a bit compared to Surface Pro 2, likely due to the Pro 3 having 50% more pixels to light. Black levels at max brightness are pretty good, thanks in part to Microsoft's optically bonded LCD/cover glass stack. Contrast ratio remains competitive with previous designs.
Grayscale accuracy is the biggest issue with the new display, green levels are just way too high:
Our basic sRGB gamut test paints a great picture for Surface Pro 3. Full saturation color reproduction is excellent:
The saturation sweep also looks solid:
Unfortunately Surface Pro 3 doesn't do so well on our GMB color checker test. Part of the problem is its performance in the grayscale swatches included in this test:
Overall the Surface Pro 3 display is a huge improvement over the previous two generations, but it doesn't quite meet the high standards set by some of the other competitors on the market today from both notebook and tablet spaces.
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kyuu - Monday, June 23, 2014 - link
I have little trouble using the Windows desktop on my 8" tablet with my finger. I doubt it's somehow worse on a 12" screen. Also, you have the pen if you need more accuracy than your finger.matthew5025 - Monday, June 23, 2014 - link
One of the criteria for certification of connected standby on windows is that the machine cannot have ports that are capable of dma, so thunderbolt and FireWire among others will never be included.oolzie - Monday, June 23, 2014 - link
Fantastic device! I had both the SP and SP2 and loved them, but neither was quite perfect. The SP3 is, for my use, the perfect device.lilmoe - Monday, June 23, 2014 - link
Thanks for the review. Do you mind doing another display analysis after a standard calibration? Would be nice to know how accurate the screen can get compared to the Pro 2.Tigran - Monday, June 23, 2014 - link
Which MacBook Air was used? There are two options in Early 2014 model: 1.4 GHz Intel Core i5-4260U and 1.7 GHz Intel Core i7-4650U.Razzy76 - Monday, June 23, 2014 - link
What is the spec on the MacBook Air?az06093 - Monday, June 23, 2014 - link
The problem with the new N-Trig digitizer probably has to do with drivers; photoshop and many other programs don't fully support non-wacom digitizers.Imaginer - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
N-Trig has Wintab drivers.It enables other Wacom/Wintab programs to work well with them. So unlike the initial Surface Pro 1's release, the Surface Pro 3 comes off the gate working fine in Wintab.
See right side of this link.
http://n-trig.com/Content.aspx?Page=support_home
theuglyman0war - Tuesday, June 24, 2014 - link
news to me thanks...off to search viddys of artists using as much with success.
hopefully
gxy1028 - Monday, June 23, 2014 - link
Great review! It’s impressive that MS can make out something in THICKNESS to an iPad 2 that covers an i7 CPU. You can’t say it’s expensive, but valuable. However, the lack of money is still a big problem for me, a Chinese student. What about a Surface with Tegra K1? It’s enough for me, and I can afford it.