Surface Book - Enough is Enough - Back to Apple I go.

[Cal]

I have spent everyday since I bought the surface book on Oct 26 either on the phone with Microsoft support or my IT department. I even drove 200 miles to from my home to have my IT department work on it. Still can't hook up a portable monitor, still can't use dual monitors, battery dies when you close the lid, office crashes All the time, etc, etc etc........I am looking at the device now. It won't even turn on. WTH Microsoft....major fail....I am ok with first product bugs....but not being able to even use the damn thing. I just loaded windows on my mac, and it works....yep windows on a mac works better than windows on Microsoft hardware. I leaving and I will not be returning. Heading to the Microsoft store to return the SB.

 

[robertcan]

I find it interesting that a portion of those adopting SB come from Apple. I too came from Apple and did so because Apple hasn't offered us a surface-like product. The iPad Pro does not compete with the SP4, mainly because it's still based on the mobile iOS platform.

That said, our expectations for new product performance can't be much different from anyone else's, can they? We all expect devices to perform as advertised and when they don't, we flock to forums to register our displeasure. No one, except MS knows the percentage of sales vs returns but it sure feels like it's higher than it should be for a new product. The fact that these issues are occurring across multiple platforms seems to point to Win10 being the culprit. It's one thing when your own sw has issues working with third party hardware but quite another when it won't even work with your own hw.

It's been 11 years since I left the Windows world for Apple. I was reluctant to come back to Windows but the lure of the SB and the SP4 was strong enough to convince me to give it another look. Now that I have, I'm wondering if I made a mistake? I'm still not giving up on the hardware but if MS doesn't resolve all these issues soon, they'll leave me and many others to abandon them once again.

Apple isn't always first to market. That's intentional. They like to sit back, see where the problems are and then come to market with a better solution. Learn from others. Sadly, they haven't bothered to compete with the SB and the SP4, forcing us to return to Windows, only to be reminded of why we left in the first place.

In the end, I want MS to be successful. Time will tell. Just not sure how long I should hang on

 

[Johnny365]

Microsoft is successful. Whether you're talking about the company itself or their Surface line, specifically the SP4/Book sales, then that's another story.

 

[cdd543]

Yeah it has been a rough launch for sure. I have my MacBook air up for sale on Craigslist. I am running the latest insider build and it's a lot better though I'm still getting the display driver crash. They should have delayed launch a few weeks and gotten things more stable. Not that apple doesn't have launch issues, because they do and I've been through it. That being said I've never had as many issues as my sbook has had. Getting the insider builds has saved me and I'm keeping mine.

 

[mcsenerd]

There's lots I could say, but hey, I wish you the best. Hope you find something that makes you happy and works for you. I use multiple portable monitors (no 4k of course) without issue on my SB and I also had done so with the SP3, but hey...maybe you really did have a lemon.

 

[Telstar1948]

I was with Apple a number of years, but I was a little tired of having to run Windows through Parallels, Boot Camp or whatever. Even then, there seemed to be, from time to time, some "irregularity" that would crop up with some documents not being able to be read or opened by someone on their Windows machine that I would send them - don't know why, but it happened sometimes. Anyway, I thought, why not go back to Windows from a simplicity standpoint: it's a Windows world for the most part, after all.

I saw the Surface Pro line starting up and I was captivated. I waited until the SP3 hit the scene before switching and went with it a little over a year ago. It is one great machine, not perfect (GPU is meh). I still miss OSX on the Mac. In my opinion, Windows 10 is not as good as OSX; however, we all have our preferences so this isn't an attack on W10. I use it everyday and it's good.

I plan to buy a Surface Book, probably in the next week. My wife will be taking over my SP3. I have no doubt, unless I simply get a hardware lemon, my experience with the SB will be great. I realize there are driver/software issues, but I see those being worked out just like they were in the SP1, 2, 3, Surface etc. I can see Win 10 being improved from week to week as well.

Does this mean that everything is hunky-dory? No, but then my Mac days weren't all hunky-dory either: good hardware and software, but there were still issues and problems. Yes, I had iPads too, and there were some issues there that never were resolved. Customer care with Apple was mostly good, but the iPad issue I mentioned not only never got resolved, but Customer care simply forgot about me despite repeated calls from me. That didn't chase we away from Apple.

Each one here has their opinions about Windows and the Surface line as I do. I've had plenty of frustrations with computers off and on for years, but I've learned that it's going to happen no matter what, just more at times than others.

Looking forward to my journey with the Surface Book.

 

[ElCamino78s]

I have spent everyday since I bought the surface book on Oct 26 either on the phone with Microsoft support or my IT department. I even drove 200 miles to from my home to have my IT department work on it. Still can't hook up a portable monitor, still can't use dual monitors, battery dies when you close the lid, office crashes All the time, etc, etc etc........I am looking at the device now. It won't even turn on. WTH Microsoft....major fail....I am ok with first product bugs....but not being able to even use the damn thing. I just loaded windows on my mac, and it works....yep windows on a mac works better than windows on Microsoft hardware. I leaving and I will not be returning. Heading to the Microsoft store to return the SB.

Did you try to restore to factory and try again? I just got my Surface Book yesterday and working great.

 

[robertcan]

Microsoft is successful. Whether you're talking about the company itself or their Surface line, specifically the SP4/Book sales, then that's another story.

Sorry. I should've been more specific. I meant that I want the launch of SB and SP4 to be successful. Sadly, that hasn't been the case.

 

[robertcan]

SB and SP4 will prove to be outstanding products for MS, but that's down the road a piece. Right now, both the SP4 and SB have significant issues rendering some machines completely useless. That's significant and suggests MS has flaws in its testing and QA/QC processes. That's simply unacceptable at the levels we're seeing. Granted, the "levels" are hard to define but there's enough chatter in forums coupled with return levels stated to me by a store employee to suggest this is more than a minor problem for MS.

 

[Nuspieds]

I have spent everyday since I bought the surface book on Oct 26 either on the phone with Microsoft support or my IT department. I even drove 200 miles to from my home to have my IT department work on it. Still can't hook up a portable monitor, still can't use dual monitors, battery dies when you close the lid, office crashes All the time, etc, etc etc........I am looking at the device now. It won't even turn on. WTH Microsoft....major fail....I am ok with first product bugs....but not being able to even use the damn thing. I just loaded windows on my mac, and it works....yep windows on a mac works better than windows on Microsoft hardware. I leaving and I will not be returning. Heading to the Microsoft store to return the SB.

Good riddance and good luck.

I hope you find the device that meets your requirements.

 

[Surface Book]

I just started the return process for my Surface Book. I love everything about it, except the annoying bugs are something I can't deal with. I bought it to replace my aging Macbook Pro, but I decided to replace it with another Macbook.

I think one of the most annoying things are the apologists, particularly on reddit who don't accept that this is a seriously flawed product. I would bet money that a future revision will be rock solid, but currently I wouldn't recommend this for anyone who plan to be productive.

 

[joell85]

I think one of the most annoying things are the apologists, particularly on reddit who don't accept that this is a seriously flawed product. I would bet money that a future revision will be rock solid, but currently I wouldn't recommend this for anyone who plan to be productive.

The thing is that not everyone is having the same experience you are. I have been using my SB as my daily driver since I picked it up on launch day, and have had only 1 Blue Screen (my 4 year old was drawing on it so he may have done something strange anyway). I have also only had the graphics driver crash 2 times which didn't cause any interruption in my work. Overall mine has been pretty solid for a generation one product.

I personally would not give up on the device. The form factor is perfect for me, and I am loving my device.