Current Issues with Surface Pro 2

[unstoppablekem]

I received my Surface Pro 2 yesterday, and so far, it's alright, it will take some time getting used to. I have some issues with it though. First, I honestly hate the trackpad. It is very hard to navigate with it, and very small. I wish it felt more clickable feel like the original type cover. I played black ops 2 with it, and I'm not critiquing that the surface had bad performance, as it isn't meant for gaming (got 30FPS on 1080p though), but I wasn't able to look up or down, but I could left or right. I also had trouble aiming and shooting, and for some reason, it would sometimes shoot and sometimes not. I would have to click in a different area each time to find it, but then I died. Then I would need to find it again, as it changes every time.

Now, some other issues. I noticed some applications, even like iTunes, Java installer, etc, aren't looking nice on my pro 2. It is very pixelated. You can also see some of the icons, like iTunes and quicktime, are very poor quality. I don't know why this is. Also, the pen is alright, but I honestly don't know how to use it. And what is the point of the back of the pen? It was clickable, so I thought when I hover over something with the pen and click it on an icon, like the red X button in desktop ie11, it would be just like clicking, but it didn't do anything. Also another issue. I can't seem to find the pin to start button in weather for a location.

I know some of this issues may sound stupid, and may have ways to fix it, but I don't know why these issues are happening. If you guys have issues with your surface, or just want to help out, please comment in this thread. Also, don't forget to take the poll! By the way, when I mean take the poll, I mean vote that you have issues or not with the surface pro 2, not these exact issues I'm having. Thanks.

 

[chezm]

My only complaint so far is the weight, I thought it was an exaggeration but its pretty heavy...i can see why others mention it. Otherwise no major issues loving the thing.

 

[unstoppablekem]

Anyone know how to resolve these issues?

 

[Lurchorama]

The graphics things are up to the app dev to fix.
Apple went thru the exact same thing when the Retina displays first came out. Took months before a usable ver of FFox was available that didnt give you a ripping headache
Agree with the track pad. Especially the 'right click' is rubbish. I found a tiny old Dell bluetooth mouse kicking around in my office for when it required.
The main thing I dont like about the type cover is that you cannot fold it all the way back without the magnet clip/plug/whatever coming off, so when I just want 'tablet mode' I then have to pull the cover right off and find somewhere to stash it.

 

[Sleeping Sentries]

About the pen, the back is supposed to be an eraser. So it's mostly used for drawing, although you should be able to configure it to do something else.

 

[unstoppablekem]

I also noticed when I open the surface keyboard, it doesn't turn on like the type cover did on my rt. It turns off when I close it though.

 

[Cleavitt76]

The scaling issues you are seeing in some desktop applications are due to monitor scaling being enabled. If you look at the display resolution settings there is a setting to scale up the size of desktop programs. The link is named "Make text and other items larger or smaller". On the Surface Pro it's set to 150% scaling by default. You can decrease it to an even 100%, but it might make things uncomfortably small for such a small high resolution screen. People these days seem to think that more resolution is always better, but for desktop environments it can reach a point where things get so small you can't see or control them. It annoys me that so many people think that every screen on the face of the earth should be "retina", but I digress. The scaling issue will only affect some third party programs. In a nutshell, those programs don't really follow the Windows UI programming best practices properly. They are failing to respond to OS events/notifications and scale/draw themselves appropriately. Companies that don't give a crap about programming for Windows are likely to have programs with scaling issues. Google Chrome and Apple iTunes are good examples. It's worth noting that Modern UI applications are not affected by scaling settings because they have a different design model. Text and other objects in a Modern UI app are designed to fill a certain percentage of the screen so they always consume the same relative screen space regardless of resolution. Text and objects in desktop programs are sized in terms of pixels so more resolution = more real-estate the desktop world. This is basically universal for all touch and desktop optimized operating systems, but Windows 8 happens to be both.

The end of the pen functions as an eraser in programs that make use of that functionality. Office and some drawing programs for example. The button on the side of the pen (the part that connects to the charge port) is a right click button. If you press it and tap something it is like right clicking that item. Tapping and holding until the little circle graphic appears accomplishes the same thing though.

 

[Cleavitt76]

I also noticed when I open the surface keyboard, it doesn't turn on like the type cover did on my rt. It turns off when I close it though.

It depends on how long it has been turned off. If it is still awake, or sleeping lightly, it should come back on when you open the cover. At least my SP did if the cover was only closed for a few minutes. If it has gone into a deeper sleep (hibernation) you will have to press the power button to wake it up. This is because of the ultra low power hardware the Surface RT uses compared to Surface Pro. If Surface Pro was awake constantly to monitor the cover position in real time it would burn through the battery too fast for a device that is supposed to be in standby mode. Down the road when x86 and ARM meet in the middle and overlap this will probably be possible, but right now it doesn't seem to be feasible yet on x86.

 

[unstoppablekem]

Wow, I learned so much from you. Thank you so much! Now I wish there was a way to fix the track pad in steam and mine craft, but oh well.

 

[unstoppablekem]

Wait, I thought the surface pro 2 was 64 bit?

 

[Cleavitt76]

It is. If you are referring to my posts, I technically should have said x86-64 or "not ARM". :wink:

 

[foaf]

If you're gaming, maybe buy a mouse? [edit: I've actually been wondering if the SteamController would be handy with the Surface Pro and gaming]

The chrome scaling issue is 'fixed' by typing "chrome://flags" into the address bar and finding a setting with "hdpi" in it, set that to enabled.

When i installed photoshop i also had to set scaling to 100% just to scroll in the installer, bit of a pain as you have to sign out and back in.

My biggest niggle is when mine starts, i have a minimised desktop on screen keyboard within the metro environment. I cant work it out, the OSK is not in the startup folder. Any ideas? [edit: in the end this solution removed the OSK from startup]


Sent from my Lumia 920 using Board Express

 

[Great deal]

Had some teething issues but its all sorted, I have an Ipad 2 and both have their uses, Ipad 2 is much easier for web surfing and recipes in the kitchen, also when I go on holiday I use it for google maps - never ask for directions again! The SP2 is a lot more expensive so its not going in the Kitchen, however it is now my central hub for working from home, all connected to TV with wireless keyboard and mouse so I can work from the Sofa (Look forward to seeing what Xbox One will do) and getting dual display/dock next year for office so I can use it there too. So far, loving it and as with such things, when a company is 100% committed to a platform and invested billions, it can only improve with time in regards to both software and hardware. Come on MS!!!

 

[cre8tivspirit]

Only issue I've noticed so far is the stylus does not function properly with Fresh Paint app. I have to put a lot of pressure on the screen to get just a small amount of color to appear on the drawing. Word and OneNote senses the stylus with minimal pressure and flows extremely smooth.

My type cover folds back without an issue when I want to use the SP2 like a tablet. As a matter of fact, I have to pull pretty hard on the cover to release it.

I agree that it's a little weighty, but then I remind myself that it a full blown computer and in that respect is a pretty light piece of equipment.

 

[martinmc78]

Had some teething issues but its all sorted, I have an Ipad 2 and both have their uses, Ipad 2 is much easier for web surfing and recipes in the kitchen, also when I go on holiday I use it for google maps - never ask for directions again! The SP2 is a lot more expensive so its not going in the Kitchen, however it is now my central hub for working from home, all connected to TV with wireless keyboard and mouse so I can work from the Sofa (Look forward to seeing what Xbox One will do) and getting dual display/dock next year for office so I can use it there too. So far, loving it and as with such things, when a company is 100% committed to a platform and invested billions, it can only improve with time in regards to both software and hardware. Come on MS!!!

You should try the surface in the kitchen with the food and drink app for recipes - swiping through cooking steps using the camera as motion control is great.

 

[thekeeblerelf]

I haven't had any software issues yet.

The only issue I found was pairing my phone (Lumia 928) with the SP2 over Bluetooth. I wanted to give the internet sharing a try. Another forum user has informed me that even after the two devices "disconnect" from each other, I should still see the internet connection available from the Surface. I'm going to give that a try later today.

The weight feels right to me, coming from a behemoth 17" Dell XPS laptop that weights about 8lbs. Comparatively, the 11" MacBook Air weighs 2.38lbs, so the SP2 actually comes in almost .5lbs lighter.

 

[brtlatjgt]

Having problems with the sleep function. If I manually push the power button once or use the dialog to put machine to sleep it will now wake up. I'm forced to perform a reset. If I allow the machine to go to sleep by itself it wakes up. Not sure how to fix this. I think I will either put machine in hibernate or shut down completely. Wish battery life was better.

 

[thekeeblerelf]

Interesting... I was just playing Diablo 3 on my SP2 256gb, and a warning popped up on my desktop saying "Your computer is low on memory", and listed programs that it recommended shutting down. It actually recommended shutting down D3.

I opened the task manager and started playing again, and the memory never got over 3gb, which doesn't even come close to the 8gb that I have total.

 

[unstoppablekem]

Interesting... I was just playing Diablo 3 on my SP2 256gb, and a warning popped up on my desktop saying "Your computer is low on memory", and listed programs that it recommended shutting down. It actually recommended shutting down D3.

I opened the task manager and started playing again, and the memory never got over 3gb, which doesn't even come close to the 8gb that I have total.

That's real strange! Hrm...

 

[chezm]

Not so much an ISSUE, but more an observation....Did they really increase the speaker volume and quality over Pro 1? Cause the speakers on this thing at full blast aren't very loud...Clarity is outstanding but the volume is sort of disappointing. My 920 is much louder. Oh, and not having a proper place to store the Pen is annoying...sure the magnet works OK, but i wish they added a small clip at the top that would lock it in place. Thats all, everything else is stellar.