I read a lot of English books, and I have noticed that when authors need to list examples of something, they tend to use "such things as" rather than "things such as", although they both sound correct. The latter even seems to have a better structure, since it doesn't split the "such as" (a phrase commonly used to indicate examples).
Is there any subtle difference in meaning between the two? Why is the former preferred?
For example:
Eventually, the device becomes stable, but its final state is unpredictable since it is based on such things as construction differences and thermal noise.