Vast screen difference between SP 4 and SP5 store units

[Ekhangel]

So, I just recently got a SP2017 and am very pleased with it. Was willing to get another Surface - SP4 this time, but then found several units at my local store to have this massive difference in screen quality, definitely visible on the attached picture. I thought this was an isolated problem, but I actually drove to another store (of the same brand) only to see the units there being exactly the same.

Not sure if this particular store got a batch of defective demo units, or what? All the screen and power-related settings were identical between the neighbouring SP4s and SP5s. I tried calibrating the SP4, but it was locked down, and the staff didn't know the password.

I never saw anyone mention any differences between the two displays in any of the dozen reviews I read.

Is this a known problem? Factory miscalibration maybe? Old/wrong drivers?

Can any SP4 owner confirm this to be an isolated issue? I will have to check other units at a different store in my town yet.

 

[Ekhangel]

C'mon guys, can't anyone confirm their SP4 does not/did not look as ****ty as depicted?

 

[ddsmyers]

My sp4 looks nothing like the picture. Everything I have seen is that the 4 and 5 have the same screens

 

[anon(5327127)]

Sure that adaptive brightness isn't set to enabled on the SP4? It's been sat there for a long time etc.

 

[Ravi Sharma 2016]

This reminds me a bit of the awful night setting. I tried to use it, only to realize that no matter what the benefits, it doesn't work for me. Perhaps this setting was activated ? Good luck on your hunt for the culprit.

 

[Ekhangel]

Yeah, I double-checked all those - adaptive brightness, night mode (which the mode looks more yellowish, by the way). It really just looked as bad as this, unbelievably. I'm not sure what to think about this. If I got a unit looking like this, I'd return it without even finishing the unboxing.

I guess I'll have to find a store where they let me open it before buying - but the startup screens aren't really indicative, so I'd have to go through the start up, and the seller would probably not allow this.