Is your SP4 Working Properly Yet (as of Nov 30)?

[Windows Central Question]

Is Your SP4 Working Properly Yet (as of Nov 30)

The MS trade in program ends Dec 4 or 6. (I'm lazy and would rather trade in than sell my SP3 on Ebay).

I don't want problems or a weak battery. (But I do want a new SP4! )

Thanks for your update!!! I do appreciate it.

 

[eran says]

Re: Is Your SP4 Working Properly Yet (as of Nov 30)

Mine has worked the entire time. 0 problems.

 

[GSOgymrat]

Just speaking from my experience, the screen color change has been fixed, the rear camera now works, the keyboard now works consistently, the fan comes on much less frequently and the battery life has improved from under four hours to over five with normal use and no power management. I was experiencing display driver restarts approximately every 15 minutes (no exaggeration) and now the display driver restarts every couple of hours depending on the website. I have a BSOD every couple of weeks on average. I also have occasional issues with it not waking up properly, the keyboard is illuminated but the screen won't come on and I have hold the power button down to restart. Everything else works properly. I feel confident that eventually these lingering issues will be resolved.

 

[ttsoldier]

No problems here

 

[iwasdaman]

Thanks. I have the SP3 with the new type cover and it also sometimes has trouble waking. Funny, it's also lit yet the screen won't wake. It usually comes around in 20 seconds are so. Sometimes I remove and replace the keyboard. Not sure if that helps, but it seems like it does.

I wonder if the issue is the keyboard?

I am also confident MS will keep the updates rolling and fix the issues. They keep coming with the sp3 and never stopped. I even still get update for the first RT device, ha!, which I keep in the kitchen for videos while cooking.

 

[TheCudder]

All of the issues I had seem to have been resolved. I still get the fan turning on during light use occasionally & a Display Driver crash 1 or 2 times a week, but no where near as bad as it originally was. I experienced the following issues for the first 3+ weeks:

• Fan turning on during light Edge usage or when charging.
• Overheating during light usage or when charging.
• Screen tint changing colors when scrolling in Edge.
• Intel HD 520 Display Driver would frequently crash when browsing in Edge.
• Device would get stuck in "Sleep" if it was in sleep mode for longer than 15 minutes --- basically the screen would never power back on.
• The touch-screen would stop working 2-3 times a day.

Needless to say I was very frustrated and had submitted a request to MSFT to return it, but it seems they worked out all of those issues, so I'm keeping the device.

 

[iwasdaman]

I also get a notification my display driver has crashed, but nothing changes with my SP3, works the same, so I ignored it. Hasn't happened in a few days

(I posted the original question, btw)

 

[CrownedMartyr]

I'm still getting regular display driver crashes and just got my first BSOD a few minutes ago (I have had it for a little over a week). Battery life is less than I was hoping for at around 5-6 hours.

It sounds like you've got your mind set on the SP4, so I say go ahead and grab it. None of the issues at this point are critical and I'm sure Microsoft/Intel will fix the bugs eventually.

 

[brianbrain]

I have the i7/16/256 model and here are my problems:

1. System fails to wake up 1/3 of the time. Have to hold the power button down for 30 seconds and reboot to fix.
2. System wakes slowly when it does (usually as the result of hibernate).
3. System boots slowly with keyboard folded back.
4. Music stops playing when the screen times out.
5. System eats through battery while sleeping.
6. Battery life in general is mediocre/bad.
7. Edge eats up ~10% CPU during normal (3-4 tabs on pages, sitting idle) usage.
8. Chrome uses less CPU on average (~2%), but occasionally will crash, resulting in 100% CPU utilization until chrome.exe processes are closed.
9. System sets CPU to turbo frequencies far too often, and unnecessarily. I realize this is a part of race to idle, which would be fine if the thing ever actually idled (there always seems to be something running, even with no programs open).

I really love this thing, but for the price, it shouldn't have these issues. I won't be keeping it past the 30 day mark most likely, but we'll see how quickly Microsoft patches things up.

 

[iwasdaman]

After consulting with a few engineer friends I am convinced the issues are all software (not hardware) and I expect fixes for all soon-ish

And after owning both the sp2 and sp3, I know MS will roll out fixes & improvement continually

off to the store ...

 

[brianbrain]

Good luck!

Funny how quickly things can change too. After leaving my post yesterday, Microsoft pushed a display adapter update, and I also read about benefits to disabling windows fast boot.

I'm not sure which did it, but after disabling fast boot and updating the system, my SP4 is MUCH better. Haven't had a failed system wake, battery life is somehow greatly improved, and CPU was idling far more often.

There are still issues that need to be resolved. Battery life could use more work, as could battery drain during sleep. Waking the system up can still take a while and sometimes leaving you wondering if you need to hit the power button again. System still doesn't like waking up or booting when the keyboard is folded back.

Also, my complaint #4 in regards to music playbook is a simple one - I was playing music back in a web browser. I downloaded the Songza app from the microsoft store last night and it works beautifully.

Things are shaping up slowly..I think you'll be happy.