Glad I decided to keep my Surface Book

[swajames]

I had a fair few of the issues reported here on the forum and I came very, very close to returning mine while it was still in the return window.

With that said, MS has done a pretty good job in pushing out updates and fixes and I'm now very happy with the SB. It's my first Windows laptop for a long while as we're mainly a Mac family but I was really intrigued by this one when I saw the launch keynote and decided to give it a spin.

It's fair to say MS botched the launch of this product, but I think they have responded well to the issues that were out there. My one remaining issue is the display driver issue, but I'm confident that this will be addressed soon.

Overall, I'm glad I stayed the course. This is a quality machine, and I've been impressed with Windows 10.

I'm probably going to take future Panos keynotes with a little more caution, but overall this is a great machine and I'm now happy with it.

 

[Micropel]

Panos was right in everyway about the device. You have to understand he is a visionary and the surface line is his baby ( Hands on with design and Decisions). I have had a few issues with my surface book but lets be honest tech always has issues big and/or small. I fear this generation and world of tech where 1 out of 30 know how to respect and work on computers. but 30 out of 30 demand instant gratification. Luckily I am part of that 1 of the 30.

 

[bangsters]

Yea same here. I've tried both apple and windows. Had both mackbook pro 13" and a macbook pro 15" a couple years back, then went back to windows. Now got the i7 16GB SB, which despite some of the bugs (looks more like software and drivers) I could say it's one of the best machines out there, from macs to ultrabooks.

Now if only they can sort out these 1st gen issues.

 

[Niterider4]

Panos was right in everyway about the device. You have to understand he is a visionary and the surface line is his baby

Panos may be a visionary (arguable), and the Surface Book may be his baby, but what people who work on computers want most of all is reliability. On that measure, the Surface Book is a failure. My Surface Book did not turn on again this morning. How technologically advanced is a computer that doesn't turn on after you leave it plugged in for a few hours? (Not very.)

 

[tatornator12]

I had a fair few of the issues reported here on the forum and I came very, very close to returning mine while it was still in the return window.

With that said, MS has done a pretty good job in pushing out updates and fixes and I'm now very happy with the SB. It's my first Windows laptop for a long while as we're mainly a Mac family but I was really intrigued by this one when I saw the launch keynote and decided to give it a spin.

It's fair to say MS botched the launch of this product, but I think they have responded well to the issues that were out there. My one remaining issue is the display driver issue, but I'm confident that this will be addressed soon.

Overall, I'm glad I stayed the course. This is a quality machine, and I've been impressed with Windows 10.

I'm probably going to take future Panos keynotes with a little more caution, but overall this is a great machine and I'm now happy with it.

If you don't mind me asking, how is the battery life on your SB?

 

[jnjroach]

Panos may be a visionary (arguable), and the Surface Book may be his baby, but what people who work on computers want most of all is reliability. On that measure, the Surface Book is a failure. My Surface Book did not turn on again this morning. How technologically advanced is a computer that doesn't turn on after you leave it plugged in for a few hours? (Not very.)

Yes, there are some driver issues that are being worked on but I wouldn't say its a failure, yours may have some greater issues but I don't think they are as widespread as forums make them out to be. We have quite a few Surface Books deployed and outside the video driver issues they are working as expected.

 

[swajames]

If you don't mind me asking, how is the battery life on your SB?

Much improved after the batch of software/firmware updates. I did have one specific issue early on where Cortana was using a ton of battery life when set to always on, but with that off and with the updates I've not felt that battery life has been an issue for a while. Using battery saver from time to time makes a difference too.

 

[Niterider4]

Failure may be too strong a word, and clearly new hardware forums are largely populated with people who have problems ... but ... there is no question in my mind this product was rushed to market before it was ready, and there is no question in my mind that the Surface Book is not what it was advertised to be. That may not constitute a failure, but it's certainly not a successful product launch.

I think the disappointment that many people feel with this product is the result of: (a) the premium price, and (b) the fact that Microsoft ought to be able to get its OS to behave better on its own hardware. If this was a mid-priced laptop, or not made by the same people who made Windows, I for one would feel differently about it.

 

[ElCamino78s]

Coming from a Surface Pro 3 and selling it to get the Surface Pro 4, then going to Microsoft Store because SP4 wasn't working properly. Updates not updating, screen freezing, etc... They gave me another one because it was hardware issues. Asked about the Surface Book, didn't think they had any in-stock, keep in mind this was about a week after release. They said they did, got the i7 256GB 8GB and really like the SB. Especially for editing my videos. My question is, is everyone still having issues SB not going to Sleep Mode? I'm still having issues that it turns On or never goes to sleep mode. I have acutally changed to have it go into hibernation instead of sleep mode.

Also sometimes I have shut down the SB and after a while I go to turn it On, and notice that I have lost battery around 8% from the clipboard. Anyone else seeing this on their SB? Overall, this is a great 2-in-1 computer.

 

[Telstar1948]

When I got my SB, it had zero issues. After one of the updates (don't recall if it was W10 or firmware) it started acting as many have described. A few more updates and it's doing better, but it's not out of the woods yet by any means. Seems it's the same with the SP4 according to those threads. Hopefully, things will improve. I have the beta graphics driver and it's helped - still not without problems though.

I've got until January 15th to return my SB should things not settle down by then, but if I turned it in I would want an SP4. Seems both the SB and SP4 have the same issues since OS and hardware are nearly identical.

As I mentioned on another thread, I truly love the SB, but I'm having trouble getting used to the form factor after having the SP3 as my full-time, everyday device for over a year. I thought after having the SB for several weeks I would adapt to the different form factor with no problem...still trying to adapt...in many ways missing the SP form factor...first world problems for sure...but...love the SB...love the SP form factor... (sigh)...

 

[Jesse Segovia]

Yes, there are some driver issues that are being worked on but I wouldn't say its a failure, yours may have some greater issues but I don't think they are as widespread as forums make them out to be. We have quite a few Surface Books deployed and outside the video driver issues they are working as expected.

Does this mean if I buy a Surface Book today at the MS store it will have all the fixes applied?

 

[jnjroach]

Does this mean if I buy a Surface Book today at the MS store it will have all the fixes applied?

It depends on when the Lot was released, it will have all the fixes no matter if you update the Firmware OOB...