Anti Moan - MS do something right

[drcarlos]

My Surface Pro4 has developed 'the screen flicker issue' It's just under 3 years old.

I checked on the web and MS extended warranty for all Surface Pro4 devices that develop this issue to 3 years.

I thought it would be a ballache to claim so trawled my email archive for the invoice from the now defunct expansys.

The rep on the phone from MS just did a few checks (does the screen still flicker in the UEFI) to confirm it did indeed have the problem, registered the device for me and arranged a replacement. Zero hassle, worst thing was waiting on hold for 10 mins before they answered. Didn't even need the invoice.

I just have to send it back and they'll send me a new one, takes about 8 days apparently.

It's my main work device so I'll send it back over Christmas when I don't need it.

Still have my work supplied HP so have a backup.

Pleasantly surprised, why can't all thing be as easy.

Carl.

[Matty]

Funnily enough, one of our works SP4 developed the battery bulge issue last week - it still works, it just looks like it's put on some Christmas timber.

Colleague phoned MS, told them they issue, they sent out a new SP4 and told him to "dispose of the old one carefully" no questions asked - so now he has 2x SP4's. Can't fault them for it, so we're gonna try and repair the old one and replace the battery (about £50).

[NotoriousREV]

The reliability of the Surface Pros is awful. We’ve stopped using them as the 3 we had required more repairs than the 60-odd Dell XPSs put together.

[Jobbo]

Hmm, I wasn't aware of these issues. I don't use my Surface Pro 4 every day so must have a good look at it; it's almost exactly 2 years old.

[Simon]

I thought yours was the non-Pro model Simon?

[Jobbo]

They don't do a non-Pro do they? There's a Surface Laptop and Surface Book as well as the Surface Pro from memory, but they're simply different devices.

Anyway, I have a Surface Pro, yes. I got it with the type cover and pen for £599 in the Black Friday sale direct from Microsoft at the end of 2016.

[drcarlos]

The reliability of the Surface Pros is awful. We’ve stopped using them as the 3 we had required more repairs than the 60-odd Dell XPSs put together.

We have quite a few SP3's and 4's here (corporate bought most of the 3's, some of us bought the 4's on cards for testing purposes). Got a few Books and some of the new laptops (were testing them on the MS device as a service program) too, probably several hundred of them all told. I don't get involved in support or management of devices but lots of colleagues have Surface devices, only one other person I know had a SP fail and that was a 3 which died when it got an update to the custom image. She got a replacement SP4 when that happened.
A friend of mine works in support still and had a few SP3's break but that was more down to users treating them badly and breaking the screens. Our users get quite nice devices (even the standard HP is an Elitebook ultra book with an 8 thread i5, 16GB RAM and a 256GB SSD) so I think they treat them well, I guess that helps.

Carl.

[Simon]

They don't do a non-Pro do they?

They do - they used to just be called 'Surface', now they're 'Surface Go'. The Surface and Surface 2 ran RT (ARM processor), and Surface 3 had 'full' Windows (x86). Ah yes, they didn't do a Surface 4.. There was a pause, then Surface Go.

[Jobbo]

Fair enough. I guess a Surface Go is a cheaper, more basic version of the current model Pro then?

It seems my Pro has Windows 10 Pro on it; I hadn't even realised it was anything but the Home version.

[Simon]

Fair enough. I guess a Surface Go is a cheaper, more basic version of the current model Pro then?

Correct. Starting price is less than half the starting price for a Pro. Depends on your use case really, but think of Go as a Windows tablet, rather than a lightweight laptop.