SP3 Reliability

[Alexander]

In my experience the SP3 has been fairly reliable; however, I have noticed that you must actually test the machine out and not take it for granted that you have a healthy machine.

My roommate returned three surfaces, one due to backlight bleeding and two to that thermometer icon. I thought he was just being fussy, but then I noticed that even the cursor keys on his type cover would sometimes get stuck.

BTW, do most surfaces have a little backlight bleeding? Is that common?

 

[wynand32]

BTW, do most surfaces have a little backlight bleeding? Is that common?

It's safe to say that all LCD/LED panels have at least a little backlight bleed, and IPS panels even more so. For example, my two Samsung 24" monitors have very significant light bleed, as do my 55" and 40" Samsung TVs. My iPad 3 has light bleed, as does my Nexus 10. My Nexus 5 has a tiny bit. My Lumia 925 has none because it's AMOLED, same with my wife's Galaxy S4. My MacBook Air 2012 has some light bleed, as does my wife's HP Envy 14.

The worst light bleed I've had on a device in recent memory is a Toshiba Excite 10" tablet that I tried out. Absolutely horrible, and that machine was known for it.

 

[Alexander]

Yes, it was very silly of me to concern myself with two little spots on my SP3.

Since backlight bleeding does not get worse and is mostly only visible when pitch dark it was daft of me to consider returning. Thank you for helping me on that, sir!

 

[InspectHerGadget]

I think that there are more likely to be issues with freshly redesigned devices like this. On the other hand each device that comes on to the market is likely to be significantly different to the previous one, as the mobile space is changing rapidly.

The SP3 is different in so many ways, a whole new chassis, different screen, heat sinking arrangements and pen.

I've no problems with mine and that is much more common than to have problems. I have no idea what the return rate is for serious and obvious issues, only Microsoft would know that.

 

[Bandito]

Thanks for all of the responses!

About a 8 months before I got the SP3, I purchased an SP2. While it had a couple of issues along the way, they got worked out through updates relatively quickly and then it was, and has been, stable and a pure joy.

It seems with the SP3, the updates are taking much longer to appear and then they seem to cause new issues much of the time. Then, just when I think that things have settled down, something like what I originally posted pops up and this has been ongoing since the beginning. It certainly has been a far different experience than that of the SP2 for me.

I know I'm gonna get in trouble for saying this, but perhaps I've been spoiled by that 'other' company. While I can't say that I've never had an issue with any of their stuff, when I do run into something it is usually resolved quickly and has been very minor in nature. Also, those issues have been quite rare.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not looking for perfection. I just really thought that with Windows 8 and the third go-around in the line of Surface Pro devices that there would be more maturity to the product. Having to wait approximately one year for a reasonably workable product seems ridiculous and if our expectations have come to be this low, than perhaps we need to push back more to Microsoft to let them know that this is no longer acceptable.

In particular, with the Surface Pros, Microsoft has complete control over the hardware and software, so this should make it far easier to ensure a working product. They don't have to go through dozens of iterations of various hardware and driver configurations in order to perform their validation testing.

So, while I still like my SP3, and will continue to use it regularly, I am also a bit disappointed in Microsoft with regards to what was promised and what has actually been delivered.

 

[kristalsoldier]

Thanks for all of the responses!

About a 8 months before I got the SP3, I purchased an SP2. While it had a couple of issues along the way, they got worked out through updates relatively quickly and then it was, and has been, stable and a pure joy.

It seems with the SP3, the updates are taking much longer to appear and then they seem to cause new issues much of the time. Then, just when I think that things have settled down, something like what I originally posted pops up and this has been ongoing since the beginning. It certainly has been a far different experience than that of the SP2 for me.

I know I'm gonna get in trouble for saying this, but perhaps I've been spoiled by that 'other' company. While I can't say that I've never had an issue with any of their stuff, when I do run into something it is usually resolved quickly and has been very minor in nature. Also, those issues have been quite rare.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not looking for perfection. I just really thought that with Windows 8 and the third go-around in the line of Surface Pro devices that there would be more maturity to the product. Having to wait approximately one year for a reasonably workable product seems ridiculous and if our expectations have come to be this low, than perhaps we need to push back more to Microsoft to let them know that this is no longer acceptable.

In particular, with the Surface Pros, Microsoft has complete control over the hardware and software, so this should make it far easier to ensure a working product. They don't have to go through dozens of iterations of various hardware and driver configurations in order to perform their validation testing.

So, while I still like my SP3, and will continue to use it regularly, I am also a bit disappointed in Microsoft with regards to what was promised and what has actually been delivered.

I read your initial post and the one referenced above with care. It is unfortunate that you are experiencing these issues and, frankly, while I have no idea what is causing them, if I were in your shoes, I would feel the same way.

But having said that, I bought my SP3 on the day it was launched in North America (June 20) and have been using it ever since. It has performed flawlessly. I have not had the WIFI issue, nor have I had the infamous yellow band along the edge of the screen. All updates have installed flawlessly and the machine has never had any unwarranted shutdowns, heating issues or, indeed, any other problems.

Now, how would I categorize the SP3? In comparison, I also have an iPad Air, which I also use extensively. Indeed, both the SP3 and the Air travel with me everywhere and recently, they have travelled across three continents over the past couple of months. The Air has also performed flawlessly. I recently installed iOS 8 on it and that was updated with whatever it is that Apple released to fix their initial issues. No problems whatsoever.

So, when I look at both these devices, I can't find a flaw in either how they have been put together, how their individual software has worked or any other kind of flaw. Quality-wise, I think both are excellent machines - though they do perform different functions as per my requirement.

I would have to say that my experience of the SP3 has been that it is as reliable as the Air and I love working on it.

 

[bluegrass]

I'm sure my SP3 would be returned by several of you. I know that I'm more tolerant than a lot of people. I don't really see a lot of the issues that some of you see, even though I'm sure they are there. I guess getting older and not hearing and seeing as well as I did 20 or 30 years ago isn't so bad after all.

 

[Deryl McCarty]

My experience has been like both Banditos and kristalsoldier. I have had an SP1, SP2 and an SP3 all bought on day one. And in all three cases, those machines were not just my tablet, but desktop and laptop...in effect my only "top". And in all three cases, they have been worry free, reliable and a joy to work with. (Truth in advertising, I am not a gamer nor indulge in virtually any graphics work.) I use my Surfi (plural of Surface???) for email, news, research, some podcasts (usually involving Mary Jo, Paul, or both), and, sigh, lots of meetings where I am the note taker or talker. None of the machines have ever failed me.

Are there "issues", hell yes, but they can be mitigated or corrected. Take yesterday for example. When Bandito "vented" I looked carefully at the machine and what it was doing and just as I was looking, it went from Gigabit Ethernet to Wi-Fi on its own, then slowed to a crawl. As I restarted, I noted a box at restart that said errors at a specific location resulting from IE rewriting something. But the screen notification was displayed too quickly for me to capture or memorize. Now, I felt I did have an issue since malware is the first word that came to mind. Then the restart went haywire. Would not restart, then would not start (start button), then did not start until I did a start button/volume down start - twice. Even then the screen flashed (black to dark gray, etc,) three times then went off and just sat there. Windows button did not vibrate, but the touch keyboard stayed lit.

After a few moments, I tried again, and this time the SURFACE logo came on and the circle of dots circled, but only once, then off went the machine again. I tried again, but this time without anything connected (no mouse, no KB, no mDP monitor, no USB3 connections to anything.) It started up, the dots circled twice and the system came up as normal like nothing happened. But I did think the startup was slow, and there were some flashing of the screen, but in 10 seconds all was right with the world.

With all seeming to be running normally, and still thinking malware, I had Vipre scan everything. But no issues were found. I also made sure the patch Tuesday updates were installed ok, they were.

So I shut down normally and waited for a minute or two (I really went to the bathroom, but let's pretend that I was just helping the SP3 forget its woes.) I started up using only the start button and all worked quickly and correctly - though it had forgotten what color the desktop was supposed to be. But no further problems yesterday.

Today all is normal and fast, but the news wasn't all that good (another ebola case in TX), which is not something I can blame on MS or the SP3.

After an hour or two of online work this AM, I manually checked updates and was surprised to see that the 6 Oct firmware update (which was successfully installed on 6 Oct) showed that it reinstalled today and needed a restart. With a bit of trepidation, I restarted. No problems.

So, there are glitches like this in the SP3 (which by the was is totally converted to Win 10), just as there were in the SP1 and SP2. Mostly - for me - they have all had something to do with the Marvell adapter or a peripheral. The machines are quality made and reliable for me. They have never failed me. I will admit that from time to time any computer I have owned has made me learn new anatomically improbable vocabulary AND a bit more about my machine.

I will buy the SP4 on rollout and keep using the SP3 until it dies of old age - that's like two years from now.

 

[sean_scouser]

Touch wood mines been fine had one problem were it shut down then wouldn't start after 5 mins restarted fine

 

[everalm]

Bought my SP3 within the first 2 weeks of release and to date no substantive issues.

WiFi was less than stellar at the beginning, patches have see to that, still not perfect (speed not really getting past 80-100 Mb/s) but fully functional.

Battery life after some minor tweaks such as turning off unnecessary notifications, reducing unnecessary background tasks etc,is acceptable at circa 7-8 hours but plummets with some apps or even fairly lightweight games.

Metro UI I originally hated with a passion but shows better power usage and so I now use Metro IE almost exclusively

Perfect machine...no, best available compromise at the moment....yes....am I happy with it... damn right

 

[mtalinm]

I have to agree with OP. As a Microsoft fanboy who has bought every Surface (except RT) on launch day and continues to love the form factor, I am nearing the end of my rope given its unreliability. I have either replaced or reset my SP3 at least half a dozen times, including this morning when for the second time an external monitor failed to be recognized in the Dock. (Yes, I've seen the threads and the tips and also went to the retail MSFT store, but nothing but a full reset fixes it.) I've also had to reset the system when audio stopped working and when the touch screen became unreliable.

I shouldn't complain too much, as all of my data is backed up on onedrive/dropbox and I only use a handful of applications. So it "only" takes me half a day to reset. But this is by far the least reliable PC I have ever owned. I'm seriously thinking of not upgrading to a Surface Pro 4.

 

[theveterans]

I bought my SP3 just one month after its launch day. Never needed a reset, very minor issues which got fixed by Windows 10 updates. I've dropped it a couple of times and it's my most reliable laptop replacement device hardware wise. Software wise, Windows 8.1 is still more stable than 10 currently though since I can maintain an 8-10 score on reliability monitor, but it's improving at least.