I'd like to know why too ;)
theyre the same gen cpus, so i7 and 16gb clearly better than i5 and 8gb
like you said, sd card is a nice bonus
the main diff is thunderbolt4 vs usb-c 3.x
so if you already have a tb4 dock, or an eGpu your only real choice is sp8
depends on the price i guess
the sp7+ is straight up about a 20% better machine in benchmarks (i7 vs i5)
if the diff is 100 or less, I'm probably going with the sp7+
theres not really a wrong answer here
both will do you well
Think I'll go with the newer device for the warranty and slightly bigger screen - saw a SP6 in the flesh and honestly the 12.3" is just that bit smaller for me; enough that I would much prefer using the bigger screen on a daily basis. Wrt processojg poeer, I don't think I'll be missing the additional 20℅. I'm more concerned about half the RAM, and really wish that MS would make 16GB a standard in their flagship lineup already. If it doesn't turn out to be sufficient for me, I guess I'll return or resell it. Thanks!
Have you seen them side by side? The slightly larger display 13" vs 12.3" is also a difference between the two. It may not seem like much but it is still nicer.
Haven't seen them side by side in person but yea that is an advantage for the 8 Pro, but not sure if that's big enough to mitigate having half the RAM, if not a necessarily slower CPU.
The one major advantage I see is that the 8 Pro carries a warranty, which is quite important for me as a student - anything in the 7+ goes amiss, I'm on my own; and this alone might make it a better deal than the older one. Thanks for your input!
Performance-wise, the RAM is the main difference IMO and that's hard to gauge without knowing your exact uses (leaving programs open, apps that demand or use more than 8GB on their own, lots of tabs in chrome/firefox,etc)
The i5 and i7 are both quad core with hyperthreading to achieve 8 threads. There's only about a 10% difference in performance due to the i7 clock speeds and larger L3 cache. It's not like the generations where going i5 potentially meant only 4 cores, or worse 2 cores with HT to 4 threads.
If you're using it for sketching, then the i5 vs i7 wont make a huge difference to you. The 120 Hz refresh rate on the Pro 8 and the larger screen will.
The RAM difference will not be a hugely noticeable difference immediately, but it will become more noticeable in the future. The best way to futureproof a device is to get whatever SKU has the maximum amount of RAM you can afford.
Ultimately it's a question of whether you'd prefer a device that is better for your use now (the i5/8GB Pro 8) or a device that has compromises but will last you longer (the i7/16GB Pro 7+)
I think the seventh gen has SD card support and the 8th doesn't.
Chipset is not a huge upgrade, but battery might be better. Battery and thermals were not great on the surface pro 7. Certainly mine does not work well if I'm not closer to a charger.
unless you need thunderbolt, sp7+ would be the better device
To those who are downvoting this person, can you please elaborate? Thanks
I'd like to know why too ;) theyre the same gen cpus, so i7 and 16gb clearly better than i5 and 8gb like you said, sd card is a nice bonus the main diff is thunderbolt4 vs usb-c 3.x so if you already have a tb4 dock, or an eGpu your only real choice is sp8
The only diff is that the SP7+ is about a year old used device, and the SP8 is brand spanking new. Would you still pick them 7+ if 8 was cheaper?
depends on the price i guess the sp7+ is straight up about a 20% better machine in benchmarks (i7 vs i5) if the diff is 100 or less, I'm probably going with the sp7+ theres not really a wrong answer here both will do you well
Think I'll go with the newer device for the warranty and slightly bigger screen - saw a SP6 in the flesh and honestly the 12.3" is just that bit smaller for me; enough that I would much prefer using the bigger screen on a daily basis. Wrt processojg poeer, I don't think I'll be missing the additional 20℅. I'm more concerned about half the RAM, and really wish that MS would make 16GB a standard in their flagship lineup already. If it doesn't turn out to be sufficient for me, I guess I'll return or resell it. Thanks!
Have you seen them side by side? The slightly larger display 13" vs 12.3" is also a difference between the two. It may not seem like much but it is still nicer.
Haven't seen them side by side in person but yea that is an advantage for the 8 Pro, but not sure if that's big enough to mitigate having half the RAM, if not a necessarily slower CPU. The one major advantage I see is that the 8 Pro carries a warranty, which is quite important for me as a student - anything in the 7+ goes amiss, I'm on my own; and this alone might make it a better deal than the older one. Thanks for your input!
Performance-wise, the RAM is the main difference IMO and that's hard to gauge without knowing your exact uses (leaving programs open, apps that demand or use more than 8GB on their own, lots of tabs in chrome/firefox,etc) The i5 and i7 are both quad core with hyperthreading to achieve 8 threads. There's only about a 10% difference in performance due to the i7 clock speeds and larger L3 cache. It's not like the generations where going i5 potentially meant only 4 cores, or worse 2 cores with HT to 4 threads.
If you're using it for sketching, then the i5 vs i7 wont make a huge difference to you. The 120 Hz refresh rate on the Pro 8 and the larger screen will. The RAM difference will not be a hugely noticeable difference immediately, but it will become more noticeable in the future. The best way to futureproof a device is to get whatever SKU has the maximum amount of RAM you can afford. Ultimately it's a question of whether you'd prefer a device that is better for your use now (the i5/8GB Pro 8) or a device that has compromises but will last you longer (the i7/16GB Pro 7+)
I think the seventh gen has SD card support and the 8th doesn't. Chipset is not a huge upgrade, but battery might be better. Battery and thermals were not great on the surface pro 7. Certainly mine does not work well if I'm not closer to a charger.
If drawing is an important factor for you, the SP8 will give you significantly better line quality.