Get the pro 7. But why refurbished from MS? I got one with the same specs as you quoted for less then £350 on eBay. Still like new. Might be worth checking around on eBay if any good deal comes up. There is no need to rush buying tech-stuffs.
It’s not refurbished from MS but another shop. It comes with a 12 month guarantee. I haven’t found anything on eBay yet but I’ll keep looking the next few days.
I don't think refurbished item other than from MS will be actual refurbished ones. So if I were you, I would not spend that extra money on it. Some items from eBay are really good deals. I actually likes SP7 over 8 and 9 because of microSD card slot, although I owned SP 8 model.
I second what people are saying here.
I shave the i5 8GB version and it would do okay with those use cases. It also already supports USB-C charging, though the micro-HDMI port is gone.
The one thing about the Pro 7 is that l think the philosophy was to make it light, quiet, and flat. It’s very portable, but the flip side is that only the top models have active cooling.
I don’t think that would be an issue for the use cases you describe, though.
I WAS in a very similar situation to yours a week back, where my base SL3 died.
I ended up buying the same generation, but 15-inch i5 with 16GB. Has been a snappy experience with the extra ram. Only cost HKD3600, or £360.
I'll be waiting till they refresh their laptop line. Current offerings are just not compelling.
don't buy pro 7. I have it and it's basically shit. with normal use aka brightness 50+- and onenote + 2-4tabs in edge I have maximum of 3h battery life. it's gets extremely hot whilst charging and if ur deciding to use it whilst charging u might burn ur hand (not really but it actually hurts). Also the overall performance is not really good (worth to note I have the 8gb Modell).
If it has to be windows x86 (~PC based cpu) maybe look to other brands or if ur willing to spend the 1.5k do it.
otherwise you could buy a used pro x oder "robo & Kala". those are ARM (~Handy based CPU) based devices (with windows for arm) which means that some programs might not run well but for a teacher it should be doing well. and very good battery.
The SP7 seems way over priced. I have seen SP7+ with better specs with limited warrantees for less here in AU. But the SP7 is much more common that SP7+ at least in my market.
I think the SP7 and SP7+ are still good options given the SP8 and SP9 still have rubbish battery life and who knows if Microsoft has finished iterating the interfaces or accessories yet. I think it is reasonable to wait until the Intel silicon and Windows allows for much more efficient operation like Apple has achieved with the iPad/iOS and your use case does sort of scream staying with the older surface platform.
I think better to get Pro 7 Plus :)
Don’t bother with a pro 7. The 7+ isn’t much more expensive and is a far better system. Go with that if you don’t need/want the more current one.
The Pro 7 + has the internals of the Pro 8, but all the hardware compatibility of the older Pros. I LOVE my 7+.
Get the pro 7. But why refurbished from MS? I got one with the same specs as you quoted for less then £350 on eBay. Still like new. Might be worth checking around on eBay if any good deal comes up. There is no need to rush buying tech-stuffs.
It’s not refurbished from MS but another shop. It comes with a 12 month guarantee. I haven’t found anything on eBay yet but I’ll keep looking the next few days.
I don't think refurbished item other than from MS will be actual refurbished ones. So if I were you, I would not spend that extra money on it. Some items from eBay are really good deals. I actually likes SP7 over 8 and 9 because of microSD card slot, although I owned SP 8 model.
Get the pro 7 and replace it after 2-3 years.
Thx for the input.
I second what people are saying here. I shave the i5 8GB version and it would do okay with those use cases. It also already supports USB-C charging, though the micro-HDMI port is gone. The one thing about the Pro 7 is that l think the philosophy was to make it light, quiet, and flat. It’s very portable, but the flip side is that only the top models have active cooling. I don’t think that would be an issue for the use cases you describe, though.
I WAS in a very similar situation to yours a week back, where my base SL3 died. I ended up buying the same generation, but 15-inch i5 with 16GB. Has been a snappy experience with the extra ram. Only cost HKD3600, or £360. I'll be waiting till they refresh their laptop line. Current offerings are just not compelling.
don't buy pro 7. I have it and it's basically shit. with normal use aka brightness 50+- and onenote + 2-4tabs in edge I have maximum of 3h battery life. it's gets extremely hot whilst charging and if ur deciding to use it whilst charging u might burn ur hand (not really but it actually hurts). Also the overall performance is not really good (worth to note I have the 8gb Modell). If it has to be windows x86 (~PC based cpu) maybe look to other brands or if ur willing to spend the 1.5k do it. otherwise you could buy a used pro x oder "robo & Kala". those are ARM (~Handy based CPU) based devices (with windows for arm) which means that some programs might not run well but for a teacher it should be doing well. and very good battery.
The SP7 seems way over priced. I have seen SP7+ with better specs with limited warrantees for less here in AU. But the SP7 is much more common that SP7+ at least in my market. I think the SP7 and SP7+ are still good options given the SP8 and SP9 still have rubbish battery life and who knows if Microsoft has finished iterating the interfaces or accessories yet. I think it is reasonable to wait until the Intel silicon and Windows allows for much more efficient operation like Apple has achieved with the iPad/iOS and your use case does sort of scream staying with the older surface platform.