Microsoft Surface Pro

[Anonymous]

I am considereing getting a microsoft surface pro for field use - light cad - but would be running new Civil 3d software. I have heard using a surface pro 3 with an i7 core, 8gb ram and 256gb storage is the only way to go. I have also heard the i5 core would be sufficient. Does anyone have experience with the latest versions of Civil 3d on either of these surface pro set ups? Thanks!

[JohnWMac]

I actually just did a post about this very topic...  here is what i said:

Something interesting that I tried this week.

I have a Surface Pro 2, i5 Processor with 4 GB RAM and a Docking Station.

I installed Civil 3D 2015 on the system. I attached a secondary monitor using the docking station. I was able to run C3D fairly well for an i5 with only 4 GB.

I used the surface screen for the ribbon and prospector and the main screen to display the model.

I was able to interface with the pen and mouse fairly well.  Sometimes using the pen to input directly into the ribbon.  The SP2 pen is a watcomm and I think it works well for this type of interface.  The SP2 has a small screen, so I think the SP3 would be even better.

I was able to move the window freely between the SP2 and the main monitor and even did some tracing of a raster image using the pen.  Which was very cool.

It was an interesting experiment.

[Anonymous]

Can you go into full detail about your use of Civil 3D on your Surface Pro 2? I'm ready to purchase the i7 8gb ram as I want maximum power. But I am really worried about spending near $2000 if it's slowon AuctoCAD C3D. My work will include bringing in DEM, designing contour lines, and designing irrigation ponds as well as calculating crop water requirements based on crop land slope. 

I will also be running arcGIS, the SWAT model in particular. I'm not too worried about using the pen in these softwares, I want the pen for note taking, but also have the omputing power. I don't expct this to be a dedicated workstation, but I don't want it to freeze on me every minute.

Thanks!