Design Flaw for Microsoft Surface Pro 2

[asdad123]

Hey guys, I bought my surface pro 2 in late November and Ive loved it ever since and it was perfect, until about a month later.

On December 17th, I noticed that my surface made a loud creak/crack noise whenever touched near the webcam, and I could even feel the screen moving up and down with pressure. No big deal, I know things happen in production, so I opened up an Advanced RMA and have a new surface two days later. Opened up the replacement box, everything was perfect. No creak, screen was solid and not moving. Perfect! I transferred over my info and sent back the creaking surface.

Now on January 12th, less than one month of ownership (I received the replacement on December 24th), the new one is beginning to make the same noise! Its not as loud as it was on the old one, but I feel as its just beginning and it will become as loud as the original one. This is unacceptable in a machine that costs over $1000.

I feel that there is a serious design flaw with the adhesive used on the screen, especially since I have had two that began creaking in less than a month.

If this has happened to you, please answer this with how old your surface is and when the issue started. If this gets any worse on the new surface I have, I will be asking MS for a refund as it is ridiculous a machine costing so much has a flaw like this.

If you're surface doesn't have any creaking, could you please post how long you have bas it. thanks.

 

[mennogreg]

I have the creak issue, about an inch to the left of the Windows touch button. Through about a month of heavy use (around 60% of the time as a tablet), it has yet to creak anywhere else. I have not exchanged it for two reasons. 1) I feel, as you have experienced, that this occurs on many of the Surface Pro 2's out there, and would rather not go through the back-and-forth with MS, without knowing for certain it would develop again later and 2) it has caused me, subconsciously, to baby the Surface Pro less; more like a tool than an expensive electronic device to be cared for. The area where it creaks has not visually loosened, at least as of yet. They used so much adhesive and screws for this thing that I'm not too concerned about it, though I may send it in for replacement when my warranty almost expires just to punish MS and grab the newer processor while I'm at it.

I see how it would be a major annoyance to people, so I don't begrudge anyone for hammering MS about it.

 

[Philtastic]

I've had 2 SP2s now (the 1st from Dec. 10 to Jan. 8; the 2nd was an exchange for the upgraded CPU which I've had since Jan. 8) and neither started with nor developed a creaking screen. This is something that I explicitly tested when I first opened both units as a general quality check that I perform on all tech that I purchase where I pushed on the glass around the whole edge of the device to check for sounds or loose screen.

 

[benjitek]

Based on the poll results so far, it looks like this is an issue that affects a small percentage of users...

 

[revmike]

I've had mine since Oct 25. No creaking at all. I wouldn't call it a design flaw.

 

[godson594]

I have had TWO surface pro 2's and both didn't start with creaking and ended up getting it. I'm working on getting a third one...

Do some cpu intensive stuff, it gets hot/warm and the adhesive gets soft and taaadaaaa you now have a creaky screen.. Usually starts on the top left portion of bezel.

So YES this is a design flaw. I would say if all you do is light office work and web surfing it may not ever be an issue because it wont get hot enough to soften things up.

 

[Ruffles]

I have had TWO surface pro 2's and both didn't start with creaking and ended up getting it. I'm working on getting a third one...

Do some cpu intensive stuff, it gets hot/warm and the adhesive gets soft and taaadaaaa you now have a creaky screen.. Usually starts on the top left portion of bezel.

So YES this is a design flaw. I would say if all you do is light office work and web surfing it may not ever be an issue because it wont get hot enough to soften things up.

I've had 2 SP1s and 1 SP2. All of them have gotten hot and I have no creaking. It's not a design flaw.

 

[infer66]

Room temperature plays a big part in the glue used becoming loose. It the units heat up long enough the screen moves. I believe MS got nothing right on the SP2.

 

[MickeyLittle]

Room temperature plays a big part in the glue used becoming loose. It the units heat up long enough the screen moves. I believe MS got nothing right on the SP2.

Room temperature? My goodness how hot is the room that you are working in? I can see leaving my Surface on the dash of my car in 100 degree heat with my windows raised for 4-5 hours. The inside temp might be 140 or higher so sure, that might cause any tablet or phone to have some major issues.

As soon as I started reading about creaking screen I started twisting mine as I'm sure others did as well. Since there is a bonus (4300u processor over the 4200u processor) I'm sure there were a lot more forum people here twisting just looking for a reason to get the newer processor. But according to 33 voters so far 81% are having no issue with this.

 

[infer66]

If the room you are using the SP2 is 10c degrees the unit heats up less, if the room is 40c the unit heats up more...

 

[MickeyLittle]

If the room you are using the SP2 is 10c degrees the unit heats up less, if the room is 40c the unit heats up more...

I agree with that certainly but those are extremes. I mean who is going to use a computer or a tablet in 10c (50 degrees) or 40c (104 degrees)? Both of those are probably outside the recommended operating temps for the Surface Pro models and rightfully so.

 

[asdad123]

I agree with that certainly but those are extremes. I mean who is going to use a computer or a tablet in 10c (50 degrees) or 40c (104 degrees)? Both of those are probably outside the recommended operating temps for the Surface Pro models and rightfully so.

Mine has been used only at home where I keep it at 74F. The issues only started happening after I used the surface plugged into my monitor doing AutoCAD/some gaming. The unit was warm to the touch, never overheated, but it must have did something to the glue as others are experiencing the same issue as me so I'm not an outlier (especially after two have had this issue for me).

So far, about 20% of people in the poll have said they had this issue, so therefore it is a flaw. If I was the only one having this problem, then it wouldn't be a big deal, but 8 out of 39 with the same issue is pretty big.