[shawnthor]

Where did you purchase your Surface Pro 4. On Microsoft's online or physical store, or another retailer?

Also, how many issues have you had with it?

Trying to see if there is a correlation between where these things are purchased and defects.

Thanks,
Shawn

[excalibur1814]

You might want to head over to the tablet pc review forum for more precise information.

For me... I've had zero issues. The moment it arrives I refresh windows, tweak a little, then go from there. I do not use hibernation, Windows Hello or any of that jazz as Windows has always sucked at sleeping. It's fast enough to shut it down and switch back on.

P.s. As time moves forward different batches will afford different results. Not all SP4 devices use the same SSD.

[shawnthor]

You might want to head over to the tablet pc review forum for more precise information.

For me... I've had zero issues. The moment it arrives I refresh windows, tweak a little, then go from there. I do not use hibernation, Windows Hello or any of that jazz as Windows has always sucked at sleeping. It's fast enough to shut it down and switch back on.

P.s. As time moves forward different batches will afford different results. Not all SP4 devices use the same SSD.

Where did you purchase yours? Online or in-store? I am trying to decide whether to purchase from Microsoft's online or physical store. I would assume that the online store would have a more updated version of the device because of the volume that they are selling compared to the store, but not sure if my logic would be correct in this situation, because I don't know their distribution strategy.

Also, when you say "refresh", is that a setting in Windows 10? Or are you reformatting and reinstalling the operating system? I have had very little exposure to Windows 10.

Yeah, I am planning on getting the fingerprint sensor typeover to avoid Hello, because of the issues it was causing with sleep from what I have seen online. How is your battery life after turning off Hello and doing the tweaks?

Thanks.

[teddystiles]

I don't think there's a correlation. I'm on my FOURTH SP4, as the previous three all had significant hardware issues. Bought the original at Best Buy, got the second one (within a few days) at Best Buy. After 30 days, I was still in my manufacturer's warranty, but outside Best Buy's return window. I didn't want to use up my protection plan with them (since it's good for two years), so I got the third one at a Microsoft Store. Also problematic, so picked up the fourth one at the same Microsoft Store.

Now this one is working like a charm and I'm in love. But going through three bad units was frustrating. To their credit, the Microsoft Store was AMAZING with no-questions-asked exchanges that had me in-and-out in a matter of minutes with a brand new device in hand.

[shawnthor]

I don't think there's a correlation. I'm on my FOURTH SP4, as the previous three all had significant hardware issues. Bought the original at Best Buy, got the second one (within a few days) at Best Buy. After 30 days, I was still in my manufacturer's warranty, but outside Best Buy's return window. I didn't want to use up my protection plan with them (since it's good for two years), so I got the third one at a Microsoft Store. Also problematic, so picked up the fourth one at the same Microsoft Store.

Now this one is working like a charm and I'm in love. But going through three bad units was frustrating. To their credit, the Microsoft Store was AMAZING with no-questions-asked exchanges that had me in-and-out in a matter of minutes with a brand new device in hand.

What were the issues?

[teddystiles]

What were the issues?

1. My first SP4, bought a few days before Christmas, BSODed during initial setup (right after logging into my Microsoft account). After that, it wouldn't restart. I was, frustratingly, a day's drive away from any Best Buy in the Montana mountains for Christmas break, so I couldn't get it replaced until I got back to civilization. It's just as well: as I looked closer at it later, there were a few cosmetic manufacturing defects as well: some sort of black padding/rubber sticking out with a jagged edge between the screen and chassis.
2. SP4 #2, received from Best Buy in early January, also BSODed during initial setup, but continued and finished after I restarted. Aside from that snafu (which always makes you wonder just how well the thing was set up), it worked great for several weeks. Then, one day, it would no longer recognize my Type Cover (my Type Cover worked on someone else's SP3, and their SP3 Type Cover worked on mine). Simultaneously, the Windows Hello camera stopped working - super frustrating considering how darn useful and convenient Hello is! After a hard reset of the device fixed neither problem, back it went.
3. SP4 #3, received from a Microsoft Store in February or March, had a "phantom tap" on the screen. Same exact place on the screen, once every few minutes, and occasionally more often. It was always accompanied by the concentric circles indicating a finger or pen tap. To demo, I'd open Minesweeper to full screen and the SP4 would make the first move, automatically, within a few seconds. Tried a few troubleshooting techniques, including a hard reset, but no joy. Back it went.
4. SP4 #4, received from a Microsoft Store in April, was cherry.

Apparently the "4" in Surface Pro 4 is the number of exchanges required before you get a functional one. I can enthusiastically recommend an SP4 now, but really only to someone willing to make a few exchanges at a nearby Microsoft Store.

[ALToronto]

I bought mine at a MS store, and set it up in-store just to make sure it all went ok. No issues whatsoever, love Hello.

[shawnthor]

I bought mine at a MS store, and set it up in-store just to make sure it all went ok. No issues whatsoever, love Hello.

How is your battery life?

[Great deal]

Where did you purchase your Surface Pro 4. On Microsoft's online or physical store, or another retailer?

Also, how many issues have you had with it?

Trying to see if there is a correlation between where these things are purchased and defects.

Thanks,
Shawn

Thats like trying to find a correlation between a winning lottery ticket and outlets that sell them.

[shawnthor]

Thats like trying to find a correlation between a winning lottery ticket and outlets that sell them.

Possible, but I can tell you from where I live, the local retailers have messed up display models, so they would have old stock in most cases. Microsoft would have to have done some damage control on these devices in the last 6 or so months, so the older the units the more likely a hardware issue would be present. In my humble opinion.

[ttsoldier]

Bought mine online from Microsoft website and I'm happy with it.

[dirtyvu]

Got mine at the online Microsoft Store. Been great. Wanted to buy at the local store but didn't know if the sale (at the time) applied to the b&m store.

[excalibur1814]

How to refresh windows: Ideal for when you first get the device.

-Click the Action Centre icon (Next to the clock, bottom right
-All Settings
-Update & Security
-Recovery (Hey... look... there's a backup section within windows!)
-Reset This PC

Go from there. If you've pushed UAC to the max, which is a good thing, you'll have to drop it one level. Remember to put it back to the top when you've finished with the refresh.

[shawnthor]

How to refresh windows: Ideal for when you first get the device.

-Click the Action Centre icon (Next to the clock, bottom right
-All Settings
-Update & Security
-Recovery (Hey... look... there's a backup section within windows!)
-Reset This PC

Go from there. If you've pushed UAC to the max, which is a good thing, you'll have to drop it one level. Remember to put it back to the top when you've finished with the refresh.

Wonder why this is needed? Just got my device yesterday and didn't see this until this morning.

[RichBrown68]

I had issues with the graphics driver crashing when using Edge browser, for a few weeks until they sent out a November update. Nothing significant since then.

[RichBrown68]

I had issues with the graphics driver crashing when using Edge browser, for a few weeks until they sent out a November update. Nothing significant since then. I got mine from Best Buy in Indianapolis.

[shawnthor]

*Update*

Purchased a Surface Pro 4 from a physical Microsoft store on 5.22.2016. When I was talking to the associate, she told me that all Microsoft stores including their own had to send out all of their SP4s about two weeks ago and received all new devices. At first, I thought she was just telling me that, because I expressed concern about the hardware issues I have been seeing online, but the manager came on duty and without being provoked said the exact same thing to me.

I have only had a few software glitches since I received the device, so far. It has only been a few days, but hopefully they have ironed out their hardware issues.

[SeigaGen]

No issues when purchasing mine as well. Got it at Best Buy. Should note, when I was on the windows preview program and got the update, only then did I get some issues. Luckily there was a revert option and all is well again.

[Axeelant]

Got mine from an ebay.uk seller, perfect device, no idea where it originally came from... Until november's update edge was freezing while playing FB videos, after that it's all good ☺

Happy user ☺

[rickt1]

Got mine online with John Lewis in the UK

[1127bob]

I purchased mine from HSN online in February & have had nothing but sleep issues with this fn thing.If I close the lid half hour later it wont respond I have to do a reboot.I have reset this twice now.I am very disappointed in this piece of sh*t.Microsoft store is over 2hours away.

[shawnthor]

I purchased mine from HSN online in February & have had nothing but sleep issues with this fn thing.If I close the lid half hour later it wont respond I have to do a reboot.I have reset this twice now.I am very disappointed in this piece of sh*t.Microsoft store is over 2hours away.

Did you restore the operating system to factory settings? Also, you can call them on the phone and they will walk you through a restore. If the restore doesn't work they should replace it.

[Rastaman86]

Got lucky and bought mine, i5 256gb, off facebook for 260$ lol the lady had it posted as a SP3 128 gb and had no clue and i didn't either until i bought it and she handed me the box. I shat myself and ran as fast as i could lol. It still had the plastic on it, but the battery was dead and would not turn on, but just needed charged. After 2 weeks of using it, it wouldn't see the battery and died instantly when unplugged, called MS and they sent a replacement even before i sent mine back, luckily it had a 2 year warranty and was just bought in march. I tried to find ppl with the same problem but didn't seem to find any at that time. No problems with the new unit at all, love it!

[Axeelant]

Got lucky and bought mine, i5 256gb, off facebook for 260$ lol the lady had it posted as a SP3 128 gb and had no clue it!

Omg. U lucky ******* ☺ Amazing!

[anon(601415)]

I purchased my SP4 on Amazon (seller "mojoacc") and it has been trouble-free. The first thing I did was a full reset, before setting everything else up and installing all Windows updates and app updates. I had read some threads here and in other forums about some issues, so I decided to be pro-active about it by doing the following:

• Downloaded a clean ISO of Windows 10 from https://forums.windowscentral.com/e?...token=xxOxJFqG (64-bit).
• Mounted the ISO (right-click, select mount), then took note of the drive letter it was assigned to be used in the next step.
• Opened PowerShell (run as admin) and ran this command: dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth /source:WIM:E:\sources\install.wim:1 (Note: it did find issues and it corrected them).
• Still in PowerShell, I ran this command: sfc /scannow (Note: again, it did find issues and it corrected them).
• Restarted.

It has been running like a dream ever since.