====== Microsoft Surface Pro 3 ======

===== Hardware Overview =====

  * Release date: June 20, 2014
  * CPU: 4th-generation Intel i3-4020Y / i5-4300U / i7-4650U
  * Chipset: Intel Haswell low-voltage
  * Screen: 12.0" glossy 2160x1440 3:2 IPS (eDP %%ClearType%%)
  * Memory size: 4 or 8 GB LPDDR3 1600MHz (soldered, non-upgradeable)
  * Wireless: Marvell 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac + Bluetooth 4.0 LE (Linux driver: ''%%mwifiex_pcie(4)%%'', no support in %%FreeBSD%%)
  * External interfaces: one full-size USB 3.0 port, microSD card reader (up to 128GB), and Mini %%DisplayPort%%
  * Camera: 5.0 MP/1080p (front and rear-facing)

In a nutshell, SP3 makes an interesting product to consider: it is nearly perfect //convertible//: usable both as a laptop (with its //Type Cover// detachable full-sized keyboard and 12" IPS screen) and a tablet.  It is being pretty light (800 g), having nice metal casing, and bearing full-power Intel x86 CPU (vs. ARM most tablets today carry), yet capable of up to 9 hours of web browsing (per Microsoft).  It also has standard %%DisplayPort%% instead of proprietary HDMI, a card-reader, and USB port — not something you'd find in a typical //tablet//.

Basically, it has <del>four</del> two major drawbacks: price, [[https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Microsoft+Surface+Pro+3+Teardown/26595|poor reparability]], <del>Windows 8.1, Micro$oft</del>.

===== Notes =====

Comes with 64-bit version of Windows 8.1 Pro preinstalled.  Because dreaded **Secure Boot** can be disabled in UEFI, it is possible to boot and install alternative operating systems.  It was reported that Ubuntu works more or less fine (including things like special keys and suspend/resume), but requires patching and rebuilding kernel.  Some useful links:

  * [[https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=64811]]
  * [[http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2183946]]
  * [[http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2231207]]
  * [[https://github.com/rubiojr/surface3-kernel]]
  * [[https://github.com/rubiojr/surface3-ubuntu-trusty]]
  * [[https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=84651]]
  * [[https://gist.github.com/felipeota/afb5f510f5b315f8bed8]]

Booting EFI-ready %%FreeBSD%% 10.1-STABLE [[http://svnweb.freebsd.org/base?view=revision&revision=277483|r277483]] USB image allows it to boot; you can see kernel messages start coming, but within seconds boot process halts, leaving no option but to power-cycle the device.

===== Details =====

  * {{laptops/microsoft_surface_pro_3/surface-pro-3-lspci-vx.out?linkonly|lspci -vx}} (collected under Linux)

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{{tag>Laptop Mobile}}