SP4 - Advice for someone new to the brand - Yay or Nay?

[Great deal]

My gf is looking for a tablet and I suggested she get a SP4. She had a SP2 which was great, screens too small though. Ive not had a play with the SP4 and reading the forums it seems like a whole raftof issues exist like screen bleed, slow write times, hibernate issues etc. Every device nowadays seems to have issues, SP4 just looks to have more than most. What are your opinions, get a SP4 this week or something else?

Am a tad annoyed at MS for releasing generation 4 and has MORE issues than the SP2 had (wifi hardware on same freq as BT which never got fixed) I fear SP5 will be out by the time MS get a handle on things.

 

[GatsbyGlen]

I don't think MS will even bother to fix anything on the SP4. They should just focus on the SP5.

 

[Kristopher Miller]

I say nay. Battery life is the worst of any device I have ever owned and mine also leaks like around the edges when i have dark screens on (boot up and movies for example) . Must be poor assembly. Was going to return it to Microsoft but they sent me a replacement that was dented in the channel where the keyboard connects. Not an acceptable replacement for me. Never even turned it on or unwrapped it. Back in the box and will keep the one I have. Guess I got taken. Lesson learned about the Surface products.

Posted via the Windows Central App for Android

 

[anon(5327127)]

You see... forums are full of bleating people. Backlight bleed has been around for years and years yet, until the SP4, it wasn't really mentioned or bothered about. I've used the i7 (16GB) SP4 which was pretty damn good, with a behaved fan, only to then settle on the Core M model.

Drivers are improving each week so go for it.

P.s. I always laugh at the posts from members that have just joined which makes it their FIRST post. I wonder who they work for?

 

[torstenlaw]

I have an SP4 i5 and am happy with it. It has a couple of challenges, but no more than any other new device. It's great for work and being able to read a book on or watch a movie. Way better than one of those something or other pad...

 

[ray963]

You see... forums are full of bleating people.

P.s. I always laugh at the posts from members that have just joined which makes it their FIRST post. I wonder who they work for?

Well I disagree with you. Sharing the problems that you face with a product that others are using to see if they are having the same issue or try to find a solution together is not a wrong thing or consider bleating.

As for the last part, as I think you meant me, and if that's true then I am sorry to disappoint you as I don't work for anyone.
And the reason that my account is recent, it's because I didn't need to make one since I find my questions answered and I didn't have a useful advice to give or an interesting info to share until I bought the SP4, but I have been visiting this website for years now.

As for yay or nay, my answer is yay if you can live with the back light leaking issues, other than that updates should fix the rest, although they're kinda late with that ( the updates I mean)

 

[Andrw]

One of the reps at MS store even said "oh, another quality control issue?" That pretty much sums up how even the reps look at the SP4.

Is the SP4 right for me? No.
Is SP4 a good product? Certainly, it caters to a specific audience.

If the SP4 ever gets discounted (because not everyone lives in the States), I think people will be more accepting of the light bleeding issue. Heck, I didn't realize my 3 year old laptop had screen bleeds till I looked carefully.

This year is a good year for 2 in 1 tablets. Look at Lenovo X1 Tablet, Samsung TabPro S, Huawei 2in1 tablet that's rumoured as well. It'll be exciting to see how the SP4 matches up. Then again, I have a friend who's such a MS ******, that he'll turn away from other better alternatives.

 

[Steveborough]

NAY! Its still a mess and certainly not ready for primetime even months after launch. I returned my personal SP4-i7 and my team at work is still struggling with a test batch we bought. Seems Microsoft spread themselves too thin since updates are rare and oh so incremental when released. Dell has already patched their XPS 13 & 15 firmware 3 times since the last SP4 firmware patch.

 

[zkyevolved]

I'm a very happy SP4 user. It's a very solid device. Battery drain is currently an issue, which they promised to fix. If you look at the competition:
HP Spectre x360
Dell Inspiron 2-in-1

Each have their own issues... So... I picked the SP4 because my SP2 was a solid performer after a few updates, and this SP4 (like the spectre and the inspiron) have the Skylake chip which is new... The graphics issues have disappeared for me for a while...

So I'd say ... Yes!

 

[seremify]

My gf is looking for a tablet and I suggested she get a SP4. She had a SP2 which was great, screens too small though. Ive not had a play with the SP4 and reading the forums it seems like a whole raftof issues exist like screen bleed, slow write times, hibernate issues etc. Every device nowadays seems to have issues, SP4 just looks to have more than most. What are your opinions, get a SP4 this week or something else?

Bigger question is what she wants out of the tablet. Is she looking for a laptop replacement running a full OS, or just something to surf net/Facebook/Youtube on?

IMO if it's the latter, just get an iPad Air 2 (or 3 when it comes out). I love my Surface Pro 4 (and previously Surface 3), but nothing beats the speed/reliability of an iPad for when you just want to quickly send off an email, kill time at a cafe, watch videos at the gym, or read a book. Even gaming is pretty good on iPads these days. I personally use an iPad Air 2 LTE and it's perfect for the above scenarios - I used to use Logitech Keys to Go as it's a really thin BT keyboard but now I use a keyboard case as now that I have office 365 installed, every now and then I actually do work as clients email me files I need to mark up/edit.

 

[yeewiz]

I say go get it! I'm a happy user. There's a few of us that are satisfied :wink:. You can always return it if you end up with a buggy/defective device.

 

[anon(62000)]

I have an SP4 i5 and am happy with it. It has a couple of challenges, but no more than any other new device. It's great for work and being able to read a book on or watch a movie. Way better than one of those something or other pad...

Challenges? What sort of challenges? I'm thinking of making the jump to an SP4 fairly soon.

 

[Great deal]

Got it yesterday, have to say that so far out the box its great, no issues so far, guess time will tell. thank you for your responses

 

[dirtyvu]

Been fantastic for me

 

[RicKaysen]

I've had none of the defects that others have remarked on except the poor battery life. Having said that, I think I was hypnotized by Microsofts promises of what the SP4 would be and having now owned it past my return window, I can say I wish I hadn't bought it. I would have been better served with a high end ultra book laptop at a fraction of the cost. Just in terms of ergonomics, I have never felt I had to be so careful handling a laptop as I am with this SP4 and that takes a lot of enjoyment out of using the device. I never use the SP4 without taking the charger along with me as, without warning, I can open it up and find I have an hours worth of battery left after having a full charge the last time I looked. I'm putting mine up on Craigslist and expect to take quite a loss, but it has to go.

 

[onlysublime]

Rocking the i7/8GB/256GB machine and loving it.

 

[billyboyblue]

The XPS 12 doesnt' have light bleed.

 

[Great deal]

I hope they release a Dell Latitude 15 inch with infinity display, thats the ideal machine for me tbh.

 

[decider]

I have returned all but one of the SP4s that I own

 

[seremify]

I have returned all but one of the SP4s that I own

isn't that the logical thing to do?