Official "I have the Surface 2" thread

[SwimSwim]

Full heartedly agree with WillysJeepMan, Microsoft got a little too excited about the Surface RT initially selling out, they waaaaaayyyyyyy overproduced, and now they're still trying to clear inventory for that blunder. So to avoid the same mistake, they're being very cautious in how much they produce. Sadly, that means they're staying one step behind demand, and there seems to be a lot more demand this time 'round (since more people are aware of the Surface and what it can do, plus they worked out some kinks from the first model).

So there will probably be short supply of these devices. If you're on the fence, I urge you to act sooner rather than later. Nearly all stores give at least 2 weeks to return, better to pick it up and return it than seeing the device won't ship until after the holidays.

Also, for those of you lucky enough to live near a Microsoft Store (my local store in Arlington is stupendous, very helpful and friendly staff), see how courteous and friendly the staff is. Again, the people at mine are really nice, and one store rep. knew I was seeking a Surface Pro 2, 128GB, but preorders were out. So, on launch day, she specifically set aside a 128GB model for me (and so more for a few others in the same boat) to make sure I could nab it. Maybe, if your store's workers are nice enough, they can stash away a Surface 2 for you to pick up later.

It's a long shot, but worth a try.

 

[hagjohn]

Re: Ordered Surface 2 (RT)

Cool! When did they tell you it will be available?

He found a store that had 3 in stock. He was going to call to get it shipped to their store, so I could pick it up. He said about a week. He didn't say how long it would be if that store didn't have any available.

 

[Wendy Haylett]

Re: Ordered Surface 2 (RT)

Thanks to WillysJeepMan and SwimSwim, I felt fear of missing out, so decided to grab a Surface 2 sooner rather than later. I ordered the Surface 2 from my local Best Buy and picked it up yesterday. When I ordered, I couldn't find any type or touch covers anywhere near me, so thought I would have to wait on that. But the angels smiled on me and when I went to BB to pick it up I asked them to double check. It seemed someone returned a purple type cover earlier that day and I got it (purple - the one I wanted) for 10% off as an open box purchase. They said they only had a few Surface 2s left and would be probably be sold out at the end of the day. Whew! I love it more than I even thought I would, but still figuring things out. :smile:

 

[Ed Boland]

Can't wait to get my Surface2 with the music kit. I'm one of the lucky 500 to win the #RemixProject prize as well! Ugh the 8-10 week wait is gonna kill me....

I'll definitely be buying a type keyboard for it also.. The new ones are backlit aren't they?

 

[Joe920]

Can't wait to get my Surface2 with the music kit. I'm one of the lucky 500 to win the #RemixProject prize as well! Ugh the 8-10 week wait is gonna kill me....

I'll definitely be buying a type keyboard for it also.. The new ones are backlit aren't they?

Yes, the new touch and type covers are backlit, but the unreleased power cover won't be.

 

[WillysJeepMan]

Re: Ordered Surface 2 (RT)

Thanks to WillysJeepMan and SwimSwim, I felt fear of missing out, so decided to grab a Surface 2 sooner rather than later. I ordered the Surface 2 from my local Best Buy and picked it up yesterday. When I ordered, I couldn't find any type or touch covers anywhere near me, so thought I would have to wait on that. But the angels smiled on me and when I went to BB to pick it up I asked them to double check. It seemed someone returned a purple type cover earlier that day and I got it (purple - the one I wanted) for 10% off as an open box purchase. They said they only had a few Surface 2s left and would be probably be sold out at the end of the day. Whew! I love it more than I even thought I would, but still figuring things out. :smile:

Congrats! I have the purple TypeCover2 also. From what I've seen and what I've heard from MS Store employees, the purple cover is in short supply but great demand.

 

[Gergolos]

Sooooo. Finally got mine �� jiha!

Was quite the hassle to actually buy this awesome peace of hardware (after weeks of phonecalls, changing billing informations, trying to explain the ms service guys that I just want to buy the surface...nothing more, nothing less... i went to Saturn - an electronics shop in Germany and bought it there... did not get the student/education discount but was still a bit cheaper than the normal 429?...mine was 393? )

So..long story short: I am a Surface guy now! bam! ��

Love the feel of the device and also the form factor. Love the Magnesium color (thought I would like the black from the 1 Surface more, but actually the nice grey is also quite appealing...). love the metro look and everything else...

I checked for the loose volume buttons and found out that mine are auite loose...but thats totally fine and not a big problem for me...

I also found out that my sound Quality is quite...well...not good �� but as far as I got it right it should be fixed through an update. All the other users experiencing this issue wrote that giving back the Surface and trying it on a new one did not change anything so lets hope this is just a Software issue and can be fixed...

Other than that everything is awesome so far. I am waiting for my 64gb microsd card to arrive the next days and was already able to connect my Surface to my network drive (best!!!!). After some time im also goimg to connect it to my second monitor and also my keyboard/mouse as well.. so lets see how all of this works out ��

Greetz
gerg

 

[diego15nets]

My surface 2 just arrived in the mail, found couple cosmetic defects and probably what I'm most annoyed at, the crackling speakers at high volume. The two cosmetic defects are a slightly scratched corner, and the antenna cover by the power button is not flush with the magnesium material. Those I can live with but not the sound, going to try to burn the speakers playing music at high volume forma couple of hours, and if there aren't updates by next week, I'll be exchanging it, sending it for repair. Since I ordered from the Microsoft store website, does anyone know if I can go to a local Microsoft store to exchange it?

 

[HeyCori]

My surface 2 just arrived in the mail, found couple cosmetic defects and probably what I'm most annoyed at, the crackling speakers at high volume. The two cosmetic defects are a slightly scratched corner, and the antenna cover by the power button is not flush with the magnesium material. Those I can live with but not the sound, going to try to burn the speakers playing music at high volume forma couple of hours, and if there aren't updates by next week, I'll be exchanging it, sending it for repair. Since I ordered from the Microsoft store website, does anyone know if I can go to a local Microsoft store to exchange it?

Not sure about going to the store for a replacement but grats on your S2!

 

[diego15nets]

Removing the audio enhancements has helped and since I didnt get the other issues people got like a loose volume rocker button, I'll keep it. However, we shouldn't be dependent on software updates to fix something so essential like audio, that should of been extensively tested, considering its something they marketed: "improved speakers".

 

[hagjohn]

I pick up my Surface 2 at BB tonight. It's finally in. I'm so excited.

 

[g808]

I pick up my Surface 2 at BB tonight. It's finally in. I'm so excited.

Enjoy! Hope it's issue free.

 

[hagjohn]

I have it. Unfortunately, they only had magenta Type covers (about 10)... Yeah, no pink for me. Oh well, Best Buy just doesn't have crap. I'm so excited. Can't wait for the setup to finish.

 

[rav16]

I have it. Unfortunately, they only had magenta Type covers (about 10)... Yeah, no pink for me. Oh well, Best Buy just doesn't have crap. I'm so excited. Can't wait for the setup to finish.

Kindly give us a review of your surface 2 :smile:

 

[hagjohn]

Enjoy! Hope it's issue free.

Well, I did have 3 freezes of the screen (rectangle boxes all over the screen) before it did the 22-25 updates. None afterwords yet, but I haven't had too much time to play with it yet.

 

[matthoms]

I've been using it for only a few hours and I have no problems yet. Speakers are great, speed is amazing, and the screen looks unbelievable. I'm so glad I won this thing!

 

[Ed Boland]

I've been using it for only a few hours and I have no problems yet. Speakers are great, speed is amazing, and the screen looks unbelievable. I'm so glad I won this thing!

Cool, I can't wait for mine to get here... if my speakers aren't right I'll be taking it straight to the Microsoft store here in town.

 

[sunc]

Microsoft Surface 2 & InstantGo

There have been lot of worries and queries about Surface 2 not support InstantGo. Please find some information from Microsoft sites to allay your fears

1. InstantGo and "Connected Standby" are the same.
Quoting from: "Introduction to Connected Standby (Preliminary)
"The Windows operating system and customer-facing Windows marketing material refers to connected standby as InstantGo."

2. Surface supports "Connected Standby"
Quoting from: Surface RT and Surface 2 power states: On, off, standby, wake and restart
"If you don?t use Surface for a little while, the screen turns off and Surface goes into connected standby mode. Connected standby means that while Surface appears to be sleeping, Surface stays connected to your wireless network."

 

[Nickkk101]

Got my S2 w/Cyan Type cover 2 yesterday here in the UK from John Lewis plc (a large dept store with a good rep for electricals) they sell it with an extra years warranty which is a nice bonus for ANY electrical goods imo. I actually ran into a bit of trouble on setting it up out of the box though.. After updating the device including the somewhat flawed November 12th updates last night, i had a total loss of audio and flash video… The WPC forums told me that this was a known bug related to the Tegra drivers etc… but i wasn't to know of course. Apparently MS support forums report that a fix for this and other things is incoming around the 10th of Dec. It's not apparently been an isolated occurrence.

Fortunately a 'refresh' of the device followed by re loading those same updates (MINUS the buggy driver u/d) regained my audio and the device seems pretty stable and as nimble as hoped. I can't pretend that I'm not disappointed with this first hiccup but as an early adopter of Windows Phone…you learn to deal with these little things. Were i not able to check out the community here, i would be less impressed!! Im looking forward to spending more time getting to know it. The build quality is very impressive from my initial impressions. FWIW, although i rectified the issue myself, the @Surface twitter team were pretty speedy and very courteous when i tweeted them with the issue so that was something.

To those deciding to get one, my only advice is to not be too swayed by these reports of the negative issues- forums sometimes give the wrong impression as bugs are highlighted for the good of the community so to speak. I recall before going for the Lumia 920 last year on a 24mo contract, i needlessly fretted over a lot of reports of defective units etc.. yes i encountered the odd thing like everyone else, but the device has ultimately got better NOT worse over time. I have faith the S2 will only continue to impress. Microsoft have got it right this time imo and I'm delighted its my first tablet PC.

 

[Lendo]

This may be a dumb question, but can you use it while it's plugged in? Looks like it has a magnetic power plug that would make it a pain.