So I bought a Surface Pro 2.

[Orren]

I've spent little time with it due to being busy over the Christmas period (back to uni tomorrow so it will be used a lot more in future) early impressions are that it's an amazing device. The extra bulk and weaker battery life when compared to an iPad is nothing when you realize this truly is a full desktop environment. The fact it competes with ultra-books for battery life and performance and yet is a tablet form factor is crazy.

Only issue I seem to have had is with the display, I've seen 3 Surface Pro 2's tablets now, all with hot or dead pixels. My tablet also has a very tiny amount of light bleeding through the screen at a specific place. Its not back-light bleed on the edges as you would normally expect. However, it is very small and is only really noticeable when you're moving through the tiles and looking for it. Having what I assume is OCD (small faults bug me a lot!) it's annoying but I've thought about it and I think I'm going to live with it. I also have one dead pixel but since they're quite small, this again is almost unnoticeable. I'm betting alot of people have this issue but never even notice them due to the high DPI of the screen.

I'm a little gutted they released an updated version so soon with the U4300 CPU (18.75% more clock speed / 10% more GPU clock speed) although it's probably not too noticeable when using the device but is still great for new buyers.

Hopefully I will be testing it with Skyrim later in the week so I'll post back and let people know my thoughts, problems etc.

 

[Sad Nation]

I haven't had a dead pixel problem for 10 years or more. I would use that as a very good excuse to get to new updated surface!

Skyrim works great btw!

 

[CrippsCorner]

Wait until near the end of your warranty until you get it replaced if it's not driving you mad!

Where you're getting the light bleed is it near the centre of the screen at the bottom? I had similar but only saw it when scrolling...

 

[Orren]

Wait until near the end of your warranty until you get it replaced if it's not driving you mad!

Where you're getting the light bleed is it near the centre of the screen at the bottom? I had similar but only saw it when scrolling...

It's to the right, near the bottom. Yes it is much more noticeable when scrolling (like the windows tiles) but it's not super noticeable. I doubt the average user would even notice it. I may wait like you said as I know the shop I bought it from doesn't have the newer models.

 

[Orren]

I haven't had a dead pixel problem for 10 years or more. I would use that as a very good excuse to get to new updated surface!

Skyrim works great btw!

Apart from my first LCD screen I bought about 6 years ago I also had never seen a dead pixel but with these Surface Pro 2's I've seen, 3 out of 3 had 1 dead or hot pixel each. Maybe a faulty batch but still very strange.

 

[munakib]

Apart from my first LCD screen I bought about 6 years ago I also had never seen a dead pixel but with these Surface Pro 2's I've seen, 3 out of 3 had 1 dead or hot pixel each. Maybe a faulty batch but still very strange.

Yup. I returned my first surface pro 2 for a dead pixel right dead on the center of the screen. Very poor Quality Control by MS, I honestly expected them to put so much more effort into this product - almost like a core item of their company (just the way the nexus line is for google), I feel they just produced a product/spent alot on marketing and then just rolled the dice.

Few other gripes, why cant they add a small brightness control/power tool shortcut so that its easy to use as a Tablet! Just baking in Win8.1 shouldnt be the end for Surface. HP/Dell put all their crapload of useless apps on their pathetic windows laptops, MS could have just added a control center made for Surface.

 

[EthanDavis]

Wait until near the end of your warranty until you get it replaced if it's not driving you mad!

How come? Especially if you're having issues with your Surface now? Why wait, can you only replace it once or...?

 

[MickeyLittle]

How come? Especially if you're having issues with your Surface now? Why wait, can you only replace it once or...?

I think he is saying that since it isn't bothering him too much he should wait so that he will have a new tablet 11 months from now rather than a tablet that is 10.5 months old.

 

[jollywombat]

Yup. I returned my first surface pro 2 for a dead pixel right dead on the center of the screen. Very poor Quality Control by MS, I honestly expected them to put so much more effort into this product - almost like a core item of their company (just the way the nexus line is for google), I feel they just produced a product/spent alot on marketing and then just rolled the dice.

Few other gripes, why cant they add a small brightness control/power tool shortcut so that its easy to use as a Tablet! Just baking in Win8.1 shouldnt be the end for Surface. HP/Dell put all their crapload of useless apps on their pathetic windows laptops, MS could have just added a control center made for Surface.

I thank god they put no bloatware/extra programs on the unit unlike every other computer company out there. As for the control center, why make another when they already have the mini control center built into the charms menu?

Ways to adjust brightness in one second, maybe 1.5 seconds if your slow

1) Click the power options Icon in your taskbar, Click "Adjust Screen Brightness", done

And an option for Modern tablet way:

Swipe from right of screen, touch settings, touch screen, done.

 

[Orren]

Yup. I returned my first surface pro 2 for a dead pixel right dead on the center of the screen. Very poor Quality Control by MS, I honestly expected them to put so much more effort into this product - almost like a core item of their company (just the way the nexus line is for google), I feel they just produced a product/spent alot on marketing and then just rolled the dice.

Few other gripes, why cant they add a small brightness control/power tool shortcut so that its easy to use as a Tablet! Just baking in Win8.1 shouldnt be the end for Surface. HP/Dell put all their crapload of useless apps on their pathetic windows laptops, MS could have just added a control center made for Surface.

I know, they should avoid using who ever make them display panels in future. Windows 8 makes a lot more sense on a tablet as well.

How come? Especially if you're having issues with your Surface now? Why wait, can you only replace it once or...?

Also by waiting it should guarantee I get the very slightly new faster version as they will be very common by then. Another reason why I'm not too keen on exchanging it is as someone else has said, the quality control seems poor on these screens, so there is a good chance I'd just get another one with a dead pixel or bad back-light bleed.

 

[Orren]

I thank god they put no bloatware/extra programs on the unit unlike every other computer company out there. As for the control center, why make another when they already have the mini control center built into the charms menu?

Ways to adjust brightness in one second, maybe 1.5 seconds if your slow

1) Click the power options Icon in your taskbar, Click "Adjust Screen Brightness", done

And an option for Modern tablet way:

Swipe from right of screen, touch settings, touch screen, done.

Has anyone tried the auto brightness feature? I couldn't be without it on my S4.

 

[MickeyLittle]

Has anyone tried the auto brightness feature? I couldn't be without it on my S4.

I always turn the feature off as I prefer a steady brightness and the auto brightness feature just seems to drive me nuts! Personal preference.