4GB or 8GB for Tablet

[smoth]

Hi all,

I am looking for some opinions for my upcoming tablet purchase. I am pretty much set on a Windows Surface Pro 3 with i5, but I am then left with 2 options:

4GB/128GB SSD

OR

8GB/256 SSD

I am a graduate student so the $300 price difference is making me question whether I really need the 8GB version. My current laptop has a 160GB HDD in it and I am currently only using about 60GB, so the increased storage capacity doesn't really buy me anything. After all, I have a completely unused 500GB USB drive if I ever needed mobile storage.

Unfortunately, the RAM is soldered to the board, so whatever I decide, I am stuck with until I graduate (~4 years). The tablet will be used 90% for lab/school use, Microsoft Office, Matlab (nothing crazy), reading papers, Latex, basic Photoshop, and, of course, internet. I would say 4GB should be plenty, but all of my current systems have more than that and Windows is always trying to optimize everything and use the extra RAM.

How much of a performance hit would I take by limiting myself to 4GB RAM? What if I were to attach an external display (1600x1920) and require more from the onboard GPU?

 

[ATMINSIDE]

I would go ahead and jump up to the 8GB model since you mention Matlab and Photoshop.

The external display should work just fine, but I wouldn't expect anything past Photoshop for it.

 

[trekky]

what are you going into? IT?
I think Surface Pros are over priced and I got my self a normal laptop and bought a SSD for it and it runs great. how ever if you are stuck on a tablet and have the extra money 8gb version would last longer and if you ever decide to sell it, it would be worth a lot more
128gb is very small for windows 8.1 after updates you may only have 60gb left if that

oh BTW $150 off for pro 3
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/campaigns/deals.asp?campaignid=2983

 

[smoth]

I am in Materials Science, so I want to be able to use it as a lab notebook and to take class notes so I have everything backed up and digitized. It would eliminating needing to scan pages to send to colleagues and would ensure that all of my data is always available to me and my colleagues.

I currently have a 128GB SSD in my main desktop with Windows 8.1 and with all my software and data, I still have a little over 50GB left, so I am not concerned about storage space. The data on the rest of the drives is simply archived photos and music, but I just stream music in the lab on my phone.