128 GB Surface Pro Features 83 GB of Free Space

Status
Not open for further replies.

merloin

Distinguished
May 18, 2008
39
0
18,530
I know people are going to complain about the space being used but I honestly don't understand the problem. It's like any disk space, a portion get's used by the OS.

Some may complain that how much space is used is too much but to me, it seems right on par with the desktop variant.

You buy a 128 GB drive, and once formatted, eats away 8GB alone. Then by the time you install the base OS and some applications, I imagine it'd be close to the 85 - 90 GB remaining range, if not a little less.
 

A Bad Day

Distinguished
Nov 25, 2011
2,256
0
19,790
MS is only following the leads of HDD manufacturers that insist on using a different method of counting GBs than most software...

Honesty is overrated.
 

zander1983

Distinguished
Mar 26, 2009
424
1
18,860
[citation][nom]merloin[/nom]I know people are going to complain about the space being used but I honestly don't understand the problem. It's like any disk space, a portion get's used by the OS.Some may complain that how much space is used is too much but to me, it seems right on par with the desktop variant.You buy a 128 GB drive, and once formatted, eats away 8Gb alone. Then by the time you install the base OS and some applications, I imagine it'd be close to the 85 - 90 GB remaining range, if not a little less.[/citation]

+1
 

keither5150

Distinguished
Sep 7, 2008
369
0
18,780
Real OS requires some real space. We are not talking ipod here. The pro can run everything windows.

I will be getting one once they have a 7 or 8 inch version with over 250GB space. I will be waiting a while. I think that the surface has a micro SD slot as well. 64GB sd card for $52 on Amazon. Some companies will want to charge $200 for an additional 64GB. And you don't even get kissed.
 

jerm1027

Distinguished
Apr 20, 2011
404
0
18,810
[citation][nom]merloin[/nom]I know people are going to complain about the space being used but I honestly don't understand the problem. It's like any disk space, a portion get's used by the OS.Some may complain that how much space is used is too much but to me, it seems right on par with the desktop variant.You buy a 128 GB drive, and once formatted, eats away 8GB alone. Then by the time you install the base OS and some applications, I imagine it'd be close to the 85 - 90 GB remaining range, if not a little less.[/citation]
Personally, my Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit install takes up around 16GB on my notebook, not 45GB. A typical 64 bit Windows install is suppose to be 20GB. 45GB is steep, especially for an operating system that's supposedly designed for tablets. You're right, it's just like any disk, but most disks are also capable of storing more than 500GB, which makes the install less than 10% of space . Solid State Drives are a different animal, especially given their limited capacity, and high cost. Realizing your OS takes 35% of your space in that environment is bound to make a few people ticked off.
 

Onihikage

Honorable
Apr 29, 2012
88
0
10,630
When the Surface Pro has both USB 3.0 and a Micro SDXC card slot, who even cares? If you need more than 80GB of space, you'll pop in a 64GB SD card, carry around an external HDD, or both.
 

Camikazi

Distinguished
Jul 20, 2008
1,405
2
19,315
[citation][nom]jerm1027[/nom]Personally, my Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit install takes up around 16GB on my notebook, not 45GB. A typical 64 bit Windows install is suppose to be 20GB. 45GB is steep, especially for an operating system that's supposedly designed for tablets. You're right, it's just like any disk, but most disks are also capable of storing more than 500GB, which makes the install less than 10% of space . Solid State Drives are a different animal, especially given their limited capacity, and high cost. Realizing your OS takes 35% of your space in that environment is bound to make a few people ticked off.[/citation]
The used up 45GB is not just Windows 8, it is the Full Windows 8, Office a restore partition and probably a few other programs. What everyone seems to forget is that this is not some limited, mobile only OS it is a full blown, full featured OS and those tend to take up more space.
 

jn77

Distinguished
Feb 14, 2007
587
0
18,990
First apple, now microsoft....... Where is my 128gb GS3 :) or a 128gb nexus tablet..... apparently they are late to the game this time. I might actually buy a tablet now that they are going past 64gb.....
 

merloin

Distinguished
May 18, 2008
39
0
18,530
[citation][nom]jerm1027[/nom]Personally, my Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit install takes up around 16GB on my notebook, not 45GB. A typical 64 bit Windows install is suppose to be 20GB. 45GB is steep, especially for an operating system that's supposedly designed for tablets. You're right, it's just like any disk, but most disks are also capable of storing more than 500GB, which makes the install less than 10% of space . Solid State Drives are a different animal, especially given their limited capacity, and high cost. Realizing your OS takes 35% of your space in that environment is bound to make a few people ticked off.[/citation]

You are ignoring the fact that it isn't just an OS though. It has other applications like Office and restore information. IF it were just an OS taking 45 GB, then yes, I would unabashedly agree that it was a bit unreasonable. But that isn't the case.
 

bebangs

Distinguished
Sep 23, 2009
443
0
18,790
At end of the day, we all agree 45gb is simply a lot of wasted space.

I wished these were advertised as 80gb tablet for the 128gb.
And 20gb tablet for the 64gb version...



 

randomizer

Champion
Moderator
[citation][nom]A Bad Day[/nom]MS is only following the leads of HDD manufacturers that insist on using a different method of counting GBs than most software...Honesty is overrated.[/citation]

This has nothing to do with unit confusion.
 

A Bad Day

Distinguished
Nov 25, 2011
2,256
0
19,790
[citation][nom]bebangs[/nom]At end of the day, we all agree 45gb is simply a lot of wasted space.[/citation]

There's a difference between 45 GB of an OS plus useful software, and an OS plus shit-loads of trial/bloatware.

What I found on my N61Jq laptop when I first purchased it:

-Free Piggy Game that requires payment beyond the first level?
-A marriage game that breaks the registry if you uninstall incorrectly?
-Norton Anti-Virus trial?
-A facial identification log-in that can be tricked by a simple photo?
-A BIOS flash software that never works?
-A monitor color/setting adjustment software that has less features and more bugs than the already-installed AMD CCC driver?
-A backup software that is worse than other freeware software?
-A DVD burning software that I'll never use?
-A shortcut link to Amazon and eBay?

NO!
 

bigdragon

Distinguished
Oct 19, 2011
1,107
547
20,160
45GB of used space right out of the box? That is insane! What a bunch of crap! I can install Windows 7 64-bit, Office, and Visual Studio while only taking up less than half that much space. I thought Microsoft prided themselves on trimming down on the bloatware? Hopefully it is easy to reload the Surface Pro to ditch that crap. I personally always reformat new machines to get rid of the crap. I feel bad for people who don't know how to do that.
 

corbeau

Honorable
Jan 24, 2013
153
0
10,710
On the laptop I sit at, I have a 64 ssd with windows 7, libreoffice, antivirus, Zune, chrome, Firefox, and few other applications, and I still have 35 gigs free. Surface pro a little bloated?
 

InvalidError

Titan
Moderator
[citation][nom]bigdragon[/nom]45GB of used space right out of the box? That is insane! What a bunch of crap! I can install Windows 7 64-bit, Office, and Visual Studio while only taking up less than half that much space.[/citation]
About half that space is used for the recovery partition in case you ever need to wipe the tablet to un-brick it. Someone above said you can move the recovery partition to a USB stick and reclaim that space... and the tablet comes with Office preloaded too.
 

LEXX911

Distinguished
Nov 24, 2007
24
0
18,510
What's the big deal? It's has USB and MicroSD slot. I usually partition my HDD around 100GB for my C drive for non gaming HTPC and 200GB+ for gaming PC.
 

rwinches

Distinguished
Jun 29, 2006
888
0
19,060
Please provide the link that states Surface Pro comes with MS Office installed.
I have only found statements that MS Office is not installed. Sites do state it is capable of running 'the full version of Office' vs the starter version on the RT (installed)
Carrying around a external drive is not an option, as it defeats the whole point of this product. The need to connect to the net to view/access large files is not ideal either. The question is how is this different than an ultrabook?
 

rwinches

Distinguished
Jun 29, 2006
888
0
19,060
I suppose you could carry around a case with a bunch of SD drives does it take the 64GB SDXC's.
8 x $40 $320 512GB a bargain.
Oh, I did forget about the Touch Screen cause switching between the keyboard and swiping the screen is so natural. I keep forgetting that I can touch the screen on my Tab when I have my Keyboard case.
 

smfrazz

Distinguished
Nov 20, 2008
31
0
18,530
I'm so sick of great Tech sites like Tom's being dumbed down by hiring such writers that have no business writing in this space. I was a huge fan of Tom's Hardware when it was just a site for serious PC enthusiasts looking for information on the latest components. These days article like this put Tom's with the likes of all the others. Now that I got that off my chest. As other astute commenter's already stated...this is mainly due to the OS and the RECOVERY partition. Easy to fix...create a Recovery Disk and eliminate the partition. Today's tablet devices are designed to leverage the cloud for much of the storage needs and with the Surface tablets they not only come with a MicroSD slot but also include USB and with the Surface Pro USB 3.0.

Tom's - Please find writers that have the basic background knowledge or are willing to due at least a cursory level of research beforpublishinghg such garbage. It only hurts your credibility. Ars and Anantech will be my primary Tech sites since Tom's is slowing going downhill.
 

jcb82

Distinguished
Apr 24, 2010
55
0
18,630
[citation][nom]merloin[/nom]I know people are going to complain about the space being used but I honestly don't understand the problem. It's like any disk space, a portion get's used by the OS.Some may complain that how much space is used is too much but to me, it seems right on par with the desktop variant.You buy a 128 GB drive, and once formatted, eats away 8GB alone. Then by the time you install the base OS and some applications, I imagine it'd be close to the 85 - 90 GB remaining range, if not a little less.[/citation]

Yes but given the typical consumer of a tablet/mobile device, they expect a very significant portion of the device's memory be availabe for their own use. The 64GB model's free space is absolutely atrocious and should have been marketed differently.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.