How well will the surface pro handle games?

[Nvidiaguy07]

Probably upgrading my laptop sometime in the next year or so. I was planning on getting a haswell based ultrabook in hopes that it is finally fast enough to play MOST games at decent to low settings. (I consider IVB performance almost, but not quite there)

Is the surface pro just going to be a ultrabook in tablet form? If so, can i expect similar performance in games? I would love to be able to play games like XCOM, borderlands 2, and other games like that on this.

If not, that nexus 10 looks pretty sweet, and id end up keeping my current laptop until broadwell comes out, and i can just have one awesome portable device instead of 2.

One other surface related question: Are any PC game developers going to incorporate touch controls to PC games now that many windows devices will have touch? Theres a ton of games that would work well, and it would be awesome to be able to play on your PC, and on your tablet/laptop. (WoW, skyrim, borderlands, any strategy game, PvZ, etc etc etc)

 

[gorcorps]

I think it'll fall in line with this discussion:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2247395

 

[Nvidiaguy07]

I think it'll fall in line with this discussion:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2247395

that thread is what made me think of it, but the hd4000 is ivb right? And will the surface pro basically be an ultrabook? Or will they clock it down, or use some sort of gimped cpu so it goes longer on battery?

 

[gorcorps]

that thread is what made me think of it, but the hd4000 is ivb right? And will the surface pro basically be an ultrabook? Or will they clock it down, or use some sort of gimped cpu so it goes longer on battery?

http://www.microsoft.com/Surface/en-US/surface-with-windows-8-pro/specifications

Those are the specs. Very similar to many ultrabooks. I suppose they could do some odd things with dynamic clocks or something but I would expect that to open up during gaming. I would expect the HD4000 thread to be quite useful for judging what the surface pro might do.

 

[Pia]

Surface Pro is an ultrabook. All ultrabooks have slower than normal CPUs, but not "gimped".

I'd guess that for gaming, cooling performance may end up being the bottleneck instead of nominal clock rate. A "fast" and "slow" CPU might end up running at the same actual speed in games due to automatic thermal throttling.

 

[Pr0d1gy]

Anyone heard anything else about the Xbox Surface Tablet that's been rumored?

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-33642_7-57545902-292/microsofts-xbox-surface-tablet-what-could-it-be/

I just don't see the point in spending hundreds or even almost a thousand on a computer that can't even play modern games in this day and age.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

People don't always buy modern tech to play games.

 

[Pia]

Anyone heard anything else about the Xbox Surface Tablet that's been rumored?
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-33642_7-57545902-292/microsofts-xbox-surface-tablet-what-could-it-be/

Increasing integration between Xbox and Windows RT and trying to get (some of) the same games on both is a no-brainer. There will also naturally be small RT tablets, maybe Surface branded. The key question is whether they'll put out a device that is not just a RT tablet but has physical controls like the WiiUpad, because that expands the viable games about 10x.

I just don't see the point in spending hundreds or even almost a thousand on a computer that can't even play modern games in this day and age.

I'm guessing you don't carry a computer around every day and work on it for hours.

I have separate computers for work and play because the requirements for both are too different for one computer to do it all.

 

[Lonyo]

99% certainty it will have an i5-3317u, which has the standard IB GPU just lower clocked slightly (max 1050MHz vs 1200MHz for normal mobile IB.) and slower base and turbo clock speeds.

 

[gorcorps]

Increasing integration between Xbox and Windows RT and trying to get (some of) the same games on both is a no-brainer. There will also naturally be small RT tablets, maybe Surface branded. The key question is whether they'll put out a device that is not just a RT tablet but has physical controls like the WiiUpad, because that expands the viable games about 10x.

Now THAT would be interesting. Almost like a Vita, but MS branded and running Windows. Maybe something with a detachable controller portion so you can still use it as a small tablet without the controls getting in the way.

If they wanted to they could even add integration into the new xbox, so if you had both you could get a similar experience to the wii Upad. It wouldn't be something necessary to the game, just extra if you can use it (like touch based inventory controls in RPGs and such).

 

[Pia]

Now THAT would be interesting. Almost like a Vita, but MS branded and running Windows. Maybe something with a detachable controller portion so you can still use it as a small tablet without the controls getting in the way.

If they wanted to they could even add integration into the new xbox, so if you had both you could get a similar experience to the wii Upad. It wouldn't be something necessary to the game, just extra if you can use it (like touch based inventory controls in RPGs and such).

You can't realistically expect many devs to add functionality for a separate tablet like that since so few people will have one (unless the tablet were to ship with the XBox like on the Wii U, which I don't believe for a second). No one is going to care about that functionality. Making the tablet portable will necessitate stubbier, worse sticks and other stuff anyway so people playing on the XBox would have to give up a better controller to use it.

What MS could do, however, is to use such a tablet as an alternative main display for the XBox with wireless streaming within the house, like Nintendo does. That would be a good extra. And it would make a much nicer remote control than a regular controller when the XBox is being used for media.

I don't find it likely they'll have a tablet with a detachable control section; that would almost certainly be fiddly and ugly. If they do it at all, it'll be like WiiUpad/Vita.

 

[Pr0d1gy]

I'm guessing you don't carry a computer around every day and work on it for hours.

That's what my phone is for.

You can't realistically expect many devs to add functionality for a separate tablet like that since so few people will have one (unless the tablet were to ship with the XBox like on the Wii U, which I don't believe for a second). No one is going to care about that functionality. Making the tablet portable will necessitate stubbier, worse sticks and other stuff anyway so people playing on the XBox would have to give up a better controller to use it.

What MS could do, however, is to use such a tablet as an alternative main display for the XBox with wireless streaming within the house, like Nintendo does. That would be a good extra. And it would make a much nicer remote control than a regular controller when the XBox is being used for media.

I don't find it likely they'll have a tablet with a detachable control section; that would almost certainly be fiddly and ugly. If they do it at all, it'll be like WiiUpad/Vita.

I figured they would just include wireless linking to 360 controllers or something?

 

[Pia]

That's what my phone is for.

For working?

I figured they would just include wireless linking to 360 controllers or something?

You mean they would plan for people to prop a regular form factor 7-10" tablet on a kickstand, then dig out a 360 controller and play? That wouldn't be reasonable mobile gaming functionality. Some existing tablet games might add controller support, but I don't think it would result in tablet games being made specifically for controllers.

It would maybe work within the house as a second screen solution where you'd again stream the actual game from the XBox. But I don't see that needing an "Xbox tablet". I think they could make it work with all RT tablets at least from some generation onwards, just need to make sure they have the latency on the wireless streaming in check.

 

[Pr0d1gy]

I don't know about the controller. I personally wouldn't want a Surface if it couldn't play some newer PC games with a mouse & keyboard. So really all you'd need is a mouse as usual, since the keyboard snaps onto the Surface and looks like something Oakley puked up in the 80's.

As for working, obviously I'm not doing anything that requires me to drag around a PC. If I did, I would still want it to play some games for when I have some downtime on the road.

 

[HydroSqueegee]

shit... if i could load up dosbox on one id be a happy camper

 

[Nvidiaguy07]

Crap, just realized that the surface 8 pro will have hd4000 graphics, not sure why i assumed it would be packing a haswell chip.

But either way i guess how it compares to a hd4000 ultrabook should be a good indicator of how the next surface with haswell will compare to an ultrabook with haswell.

Well, heres to hoping its about the same, because im guessing id be more than fine with haswells graphics for gaming (xcom hopefully?)

I figured they would just include wireless linking to 360 controllers or something?

This would be awesome. Or at least build a newer/better receiver that looks more like this:

instead of this:

the logitech wireless RF controller has it, so i dont see why MS shouldnt be able to make the same thing. Anyone know if there is a third party one, or a way to build your own/modify the old one to be a little more compact? Would it be possible to reprogam a different RF reciever (maybe one designed for a keyboard) to work with an xbox controller?