Surface Book - A very expensive mistake for me

[MikeMann]

My very expensive top specification Surface Book has turned out to be a huge disappointment - A really expensive mistake.

USB ports continually disconnect - I get about 5 minutes each time before they disconnect. My second screen goes blank until I unplug and reconnect - Driving me crazy and destroying my productivity.
Every so often, the keyboard and track pad stop working until I reboot.
Word or Excel stop working many times every day and I need to re-save the recovered file.

As a tablet, it is not in the same league as an I-pad. I hoped it would replace my I-Pad and I would only need to carry one machine, but the fact that the Surface needs to boot up, and the poor battery life just makes it not work as a tablet. Never mind - I can live with this and carry both my Surface and my I-Pad, but it doesn't work very well as a laptop.

I hope all these bugs will be fixed. I am seriously considering junking this and replacing this ?2,500 thing with a ?500 Asus laptop.

Really disappointing - I really wanted this to work. I can't admit to my wife that I wasted so much money.

 

[sundog55]

Are you able to return it and get your money back, you have 30 days.

 

[iwameed]

Since it is a big spend, I think you should wait a couple of months for firmware updates and see if that sorts things out. That is, if the replacement period is over.

 

[ccpopham]

I would at least swap this first of each out with all the problems you are having and see if that will fix them.

Posted via the Windows Central App for Android

 

[rdockrey]

I got mine on Jan. 5th. I am running on the dock with two monitors. I have had zero issues with it. I don't know if I just got lucky or what but so far so good. It is a little quirky at times about coming out of hibernation but I have not got a BSOD or anything like that. I carry it back and forth to work and it is my primary PC and so far so good.

 

[spasell]

I hate to break it to everyone, but there's no way all these issues are software related. No way. We've been had. Period. Battery life is 1/2 of what was advertised, constant freezes and failures of the hardware itself. Software is buggy. This is a disgrace. Total disgrace. Never again MS. Never again will you receive a DIME from me.

 

[fly_branch]

I hate to break it to everyone, but there's no way all these issues are software related. No way. We've been had. Period. Battery life is 1/2 of what was advertised, constant freezes and failures of the hardware itself. Software is buggy. This is a disgrace. Total disgrace. Never again MS. Never again will you receive a DIME from me.

I am getting to the point where I agree. The Lumia 950 battery life is not what they said, it is buggy, has Bluetooth issues, the Surface Pro 4 has buggy issues, and the Band 2 has its own issues as well.

 

[Dush Ku]

I got mine at the end of October. It was quirky, but never got blue screens or the massive problems I read about. After the big November upgrade and the video driver update it's been a solid computer.
I still have the battery drain during sleep, so I hibernate it over night. Occasionally I'll notice a tap on the right edge of the track pad won't activate the pointer as a single mouse click. Tap a bit toward the left and it works again.

 

[zerospace-net]

I hate to break it to everyone, but there's no way all these issues are software related. No way. We've been had. Period. Battery life is 1/2 of what was advertised, constant freezes and failures of the hardware itself. Software is buggy. This is a disgrace. Total disgrace. Never again MS. Never again will you receive a DIME from me.

I disagree, somewhat. I believe the issues are ALL software & firmware. We have the perfect storm combo in bleeding edge new hardware and bleeding edge new software, neither of which was thoroughly tested in a rush to get it to market, probably due to the rapid decline in PC sales overall. Intel should be ashamed of the issues with the Skylake platform. Microsoft sorely needs a win after the media & general public slaughtered Windows 8 (I personally loved Windows 8) without really ever giving it much of a chance. Windows 10 as it is right now... is not that win, but I can understand why Microsoft was in such a rush to put 8 behind them, and bring the beloved start menu back for the public. But, Windows 10 was not baked nearly as long as most versions of MS's OS have been in the past -- instead, they're just using the general public to iron out the bugs instead of another year of good, solid beta testing -- oh yeah, and giving it away for free in the process. We should have known when they said Win10 would be free for a year that there would be a catch, and I think this is the catch :wink:

So here we are -- the end result with the Surface Book is a gorgeous piece of seemingly solidly built hardware running on half-baked, under-tested software and firmware, and we're expected to provide them with the data they need to fix the issues. How long it takes to fix the issues is anyone's guess. In the meantime, we get a varying horrible-to-good experience (it really seems to depend on the use case) while they work to fix it. Lucky us! :unhappysweat:

 

[Lethal_NFS]

I also do not think the issues are hardware related. The hardware is a bit overpriced, but that isn't the problem.

I think with enough updates, this laptop will really kick ***. I just pray they release a Surface Book 2 that comes with a 10-key.

 

[DrunkasaurusRex]

Sounds like you got a lemon. I have never seen a product so rushed to market and as a result it seems there are a significant portion of Books with hardware malfunctions, which is what your issues seem like. My Book is good/great after recent updates but I was honestly appalled at some of the issues I had when I first got it.

 

[jagger9270]

Better get your refund

 

[skstrials]

I support Windows products, but would not buy from the Surface lineup.

Surface products are overpriced for what you get, and have quality control issues like these.

I have had a good experience sticking with Lenovo Thinkpad and Dell products.

 

[ytrewq]

Have you taken your issues up with MS? Your problems go beyond the new-product-glitches that I've had, and I suspect MS will get them resolved for you if you give them a chance. And if they can't resolve, you should be able to get a refund. I don't think you're being fair to yourself or to MS simply to write it off as an expensive mistake. You should at least give them a chance to address it.

 

[g808]

You could have a lemon as I don't have those issues. I've just had bad battery life and video driver issues. New firmware is out, so give it a go. Seems faster for me. :wink:

 

[savagelizards]

Sounds like you got a lemon. I have never seen a product so rushed to market and as a result it seems there are a significant portion of Books with hardware malfunctions, which is what your issues seem like. My Book is good/great after recent updates but I was honestly appalled at some of the issues I had when I first got it.

I have to say, I don't think it's hardware. I had mine swapped out, but had the exact same issues. It has been better the last week, and I have had zero issues since the 1/27 firmware update, although I do shut my book down more that I would have. When I do keep it running I have found my battery life to be excellent. I was very frustrated, but I have been travelling the last week and during that time the book has really shined for me. It is so good when it's working that I will eventually forgive Microsoft for shipping this product too soon. If my experience remains good for a couple more weeks I may even start recommending it to my friends.

 

[lfthomp]

My sister in law had a surface 2 and she had hardware problems. I should have known better then but I bought one anyway. I have had the exact same problem the only thing is microsoft won't replace mine. The thing just died! Won't turn on. Tried reset and usb drive recovery. Nothing. It is dead. Thanks for nothing Microsoft! Warning to anyone thinking of purchasing...DON'T!

 

[zerospace-net]

My sister in law had a surface 2 and she had hardware problems. I should have known better then but I bought one anyway. I have had the exact same problem the only thing is microsoft won't replace mine. The thing just died! Won't turn on. Tried reset and usb drive recovery. Nothing. It is dead. Thanks for nothing Microsoft! Warning to anyone thinking of purchasing...DON'T!

And yet my launch-day purchased Surface 2 is still, to this day, being used by my mother. I would ask what "hardware issues" you are referring to, but I also find it hard to believe that there's some rampant issue in Surface 2's that mine, which has been used regularly (daily heavy usage) since it was pre-ordered at launch, has not yet experienced in the 2+ years it has been functioning.

 

[lfthomp]

Won't come on. Dead. Same thing happened to mine and my sister in law. We hardly used ours. Hardware issue is what Microsoft called it when I talked to them.

 

[zerospace-net]

Won't come on. Dead. Same thing happened to mine and my sister in law. We hardly used ours. Hardware issue is what Microsoft called it when I talked to them.

I'm sorry to hear that. Clearly, a dead device is a hardware issue. If it is under warranty, MS usually replaces things quickly & easily. I've had several Surface devices replaced over the years -- the most recent was my out of warranty Surface Pro 3, which cost me $300 to replace when it developed power issues (wouldn't boot, then when I finally got it to boot, it shut down randomly, frequently, and would just randomly restart).

Do you realize that this is a Surface Book forum & thread you're posting in? There's a whole section of Windows Central's forums for the Surface 2 here: Microsoft Surface 2 - Windows Central Forums