Hands-on Experiences with the Surface Book

[anon(7901790)]

Ultimately, this machine is not ready for prime time. Screen is great, I like Windows Hello, but between issues with sleep, random issues when detaching/attaching the screen, and high processor utilization for things like "system and compressed memory" processes really make this device rather lacking at this time. I'm sure MS will get these fixed in 2-3 months, but it's going to be a long wait until then. I would not recommend anyone get this laptop at this time.

All of those issues you've mentioned are actually OS issues and not hardware issues. Windows 10 is still new; and with any new OS, there are going to be issues were not either thought about or don't present themselves until it is released en masse.

My wife has the Surface Book and so far no major issues, and it is a HUGE improvement over her old SP2.

 

[anon(7901790)]

The last thing I anticipated with my purchase of the SB was an incompatibility with new monitors that I purchased back in May. Every day, regardless of whether I have the monitors daisy chained (displayport MST configuration) or whether they're connected through the docking station or direct to the SB, the monitors will at random, disconnect. Work that requires concentration and focus then becomes interrupted with a litany of troubleshooting steps in order to get the displays to come back.

It sounds like a driver issue and not a hardware issue. Try downloading drivers for the monitors directly from the manufacturer.

 

[littlebib]

All of those issues you've mentioned are actually OS issues and not hardware issues. Windows 10 is still new; and with any new OS, there are going to be issues were not either thought about or don't present themselves until it is released en masse.

.

I agree, definitely software which is why I said in 2-3 months it will be a good machine. I do want to update my review. My processor spikes seem to have gone away (at least I hope so). I had issues with "system and compressed memory" and over the weekend some sync process. I went into my battery settings and reset to defaults as well as turning off syncing my settings and haven't had issues since. Not really a fix, but at least the fan isn't kicking on after every reboot now.

 

[Christopher Lindsay]

I agree, definitely software which is why I said in 2-3 months it will be a good machine. I do want to update my review. My processor spikes seem to have gone away (at least I hope so). I had issues with "system and compressed memory" and over the weekend some sync process. I went into my battery settings and reset to defaults as well as turning off syncing my settings and haven't had issues since. Not really a fix, but at least the fan isn't kicking on after every reboot now.

how did you turn off settings syncing?

 

[Christopher Lindsay]

I'm debating returning mine right now. I've already had to reset mine. Microsoft support has suggested i reset it again in order to fix my new set of problems. i get distortion and clicking sometimes out of the audio port. it's loud when doing nothing at all. screen still flickering even with newest updates. sometimes the rotation completely glitches the screen. the screen also goes blank and refuses to cut back on. blue screens. and many more issues. im just not even sure if it's worth keeping.

 

[littlebib]

how did you turn off settings syncing?

Settings->Accounts->Sync your Settings

Doesn't sound like that's going to help your other problems though

 

[zerospace-net]

I'm debating returning mine right now. I've already had to reset mine. Microsoft support has suggested i reset it again in order to fix my new set of problems. i get distortion and clicking sometimes out of the audio port. it's loud when doing nothing at all. screen still flickering even with newest updates. sometimes the rotation completely glitches the screen. the screen also goes blank and refuses to cut back on. blue screens. and many more issues. im just not even sure if it's worth keeping.

When you say your screen goes blank, when does this happen? Any time in particular? This will happen to me sometimes when I'm detaching the clipboard from the base. Instead of a quick blink, it goes off and refuses to come back on. Next time it happens, I intend to try the Windows+P+P combination someone mentioned on Reddit for dealing with the screen not waking on resume from sleep or hibernation issue on the SP4. I can tell the system is still happily running, because when I re-attach the screen, I can hear the system make the new-hardware-detected sound.

I'm surprised MS has not yet suggested that you download the recovery image from the Surface support site and re-do the whole device. I downloaded the image for my Surface Book about a week ago, as I have every intention of making myself an emergency USB stick, should my Surface Book ever need resuscitating. I've already made a recovery bootable USB stick in case I ever need to just repair windows. It's sad that I even am considering this, but with how quirky Windows 10 seems to be, I won't be shocked to have to re-do everything one day.

 

[Christopher Lindsay]

When you say your screen goes blank, when does this happen? Any time in particular? This will happen to me sometimes when I'm detaching the clipboard from the base. Instead of a quick blink, it goes off and refuses to come back on. Next time it happens, I intend to try the Windows+P+P combination someone mentioned on Reddit for dealing with the screen not waking on resume from sleep or hibernation issue on the SP4. I can tell the system is still happily running, because when I re-attach the screen, I can hear the system make the new-hardware-detected sound.

I'm surprised MS has not yet suggested that you download the recovery image from the Surface support site and re-do the whole device. I downloaded the image for my Surface Book about a week ago, as I have every intention of making myself an emergency USB stick, should my Surface Book ever need resuscitating. I've already made a recovery bootable USB stick in case I ever need to just repair windows. It's sad that I even am considering this, but with how quirky Windows 10 seems to be, I won't be shocked to have to re-do everything one day.

I mean that. When I disconnect it sometimes goes black and never turns on again even though the computer itself is not sleep.

 

[littlebib]

This will happen to me sometimes when I'm detaching the clipboard from the base. Instead of a quick blink, it goes off and refuses to come back on.

I've been having the same problem since the last firmware update.

Edit: quoted the wrong issue. I've been having issues detaching the clipboard.

 

[Srb Srb]

Sry to say, but after 1 month with surface book, Apples macbook/macbook pro are still best in laptop world and not in 2 in 1 here is why
- first the hinge open scratches any glass table if you move it around
- the trackpad is was born to be the so called touchscreen of the laptop, surface book has both, but still apple has no touchscreen the screen is more sturdy than the surface ...so you make a touchscreen laptop but when you touch it it moves too much, but apple with no touch is more solid
- the keyboard finally is great BUT with a morning or afternoon light if the keyboard lights up, you can hardly see the keyboard, the light blue with a bright keyboard not the best choice
- apple can run both OS
- the power cord if you connect from bottom to top it eliminates the video port so you must put it in reverse..not a big deal but still a flaw in design

The surface book from my opinion is the best windows laptop of all time

 

[Cruachan 11]

Might be a good thing we had to wait to get in the UK, as I got it on 18/2 when the firmware update came out. Very happy so far, I've got the base model and Microsoft also gave me a voucher for a free Wireless Display Adapter which works very well too.

 

[peter leung 10586]

I am a new user of surface book. just bought it yesterday. I ran the "memtest86" torture test overnight with charger plugged. it passed all tests. the heat generated was very noticeable..

 

[Ivan05il]

I am happy with mine. At first I was worried, because everything was very slow, it took ages for IE and Edge, too, to display a page. But after the dust settled and all updates and FW were installed, it became rather snappy. I am not crazy about W10, only touch gesture seems to be 'touch here like you would do with a mouse'. I would really prefer W8.1 on it. Also compared to what I used before, SP3, XPS13, etc, it's relatively heavy. But it's good that keyboard keeps the angle you put it in, that's my issue with the touch/ type covers for Surfaces. Hello is nice. It took a retraining, but now it seems reliable.

 

[James Falconer]

I am a new user of surface book. just bought it yesterday. I ran the "memtest86" torture test overnight with charger plugged. it passed all tests. the heat generated was very noticeable..

Very cool... keep us posted as you continue to use it!!!

 

[neten17]

So how is surface book handling battery in sleep mode? Is there any drain?

 

[littlebib]

So how is surface book handling battery in sleep mode? Is there any drain?

Funny you should ask. Lately for me I've had a lot more incidents where I close the SB (which should put it to sleep) and put it in my bag. In the morning, my bag is nice and warm and the battery is dead. Pretty annoying.

 

[petvas72]

Sry to say, but after 1 month with surface book, Apples macbook/macbook pro are still best in laptop world and not in 2 in 1 here is why
- first the hinge open scratches any glass table if you move it around
- the trackpad is was born to be the so called touchscreen of the laptop, surface book has both, but still apple has no touchscreen the screen is more sturdy than the surface ...so you make a touchscreen laptop but when you touch it it moves too much, but apple with no touch is more solid
- the keyboard finally is great BUT with a morning or afternoon light if the keyboard lights up, you can hardly see the keyboard, the light blue with a bright keyboard not the best choice
- apple can run both OS
- the power cord if you connect from bottom to top it eliminates the video port so you must put it in reverse..not a big deal but still a flaw in design

The surface book from my opinion is the best windows laptop of all time

I just moved to a Surface Book from a Macbook Pro and I can agree that the Macbook is more stable and solid, but the Surface Book is a 2 in 1, so we cannot expect it to be as solid as a Macbook. That aside I like the Surface Book very much.