This has to go back...

[jtuck82]

Welp, We'll find out!

Let us know how your new one is if you do exchange it. I'm curious lol

 

[liftbikerun]

Yeah I returned it. The Microsoft guy himself said 50% of the 3s are being returned at this point and even an Intel guy he spoke with after training said the design just isn't ample enough to support the heat being dissapated and he would suggest anyone with a 3 to wait till broad well comes put which this design was really meant for. To each their own but I won't blow 1300$ on a 6 month half ass solution to a problem I don't have. The fact that my 2 was faster than my 3 and was more productive and less likely to need to restrict or throttle down to save itself is just too much.

 

[ctitanic]

I'm pretty frustrated right now. I've been going back and forth now for a day or two about possibly returning my SP3. I sold my SP2 losing $400 in the process from when I bought it. I got this, thinking, it would at least perform at a minimum, the same as my SP2.

I tried installing super street fighter for the heck of it a few ago, and ran the benchmark section about 4 times. Now even with a reboot, for 10+ minutes now my SP3 has been entirely useless. It feels like an old Celeron machine that has been running at 100% for 10 minutes. Windows are choppy, scrolling is all but impossible, the fan is STILL running at full blast, my house is sitting at a chilly 67f (per our AC), and I am using my tablet with the kickstand on a hard lap pad, with full air movement, plugged in the entire time.

Abysmal, I don't normally complain about this stuff, I take it step by step, but this basically means anytime the fan starts blowing due to a spreadsheet I am working on or an HD video I am presenting with, my computer will come screeching to a halt. It's not acceptable, and I am going to vote with my pocket book and let Microsoft know.

I absolutely LOVED my SP2, and was SO excited for the more appropriately sized screen for work and writing. But, it looks like I am headed back to the 13" Macbook Air. I'll miss the touch screen, but this is just not happening, I blew $1300 on this, lost $400, and I'm pretty pissed about it.

Your SP2 went for few updates that took few months to reach good performance and stability. I hope than in few months we will see free same with SP3.

 

[ctitanic]

Check to see if something is still running with 100% CPU in the background.

 

[GoodBytes]

Yeah I returned it. The Microsoft guy himself said 50% of the 3s are being returned at this point and even an Intel guy he spoke with after training said the design just isn't ample enough to support the heat being dissapated and he would suggest anyone with a 3 to wait till broad well comes put which this design was really meant for. To each their own but I won't blow 1300$ on a 6 month half ass solution to a problem I don't have. The fact that my 2 was faster than my 3 and was more productive and less likely to need to restrict or throttle down to save itself is just too much.

Agreed. I don't get why they release the SP3 now. It makes no sense. The SP2 was liked.
All I can think about, is that Broadwell was supposed to be out by now (from rumors), and got delayed until end of the year, so for some reason Microsoft decided not to wait... maybe it has to do with the contracts they sign from the production companies.. or bad decision making, I don't know.. but they decided to slap in Haswell instead, not even the Y series, (well the Core i3 is Y), and cross their fingers. Well, the results is that now they are destroying the little reputation they were building, as a company that provides a solid high quality, "worry-free", "it just works" device. Shame.

 

[ctitanic]

Agreed. I don't get why they release the SP3 now. It makes no sense. The SP2 was liked.
All I can think about, is that Broadwell was supposed to be out by now (from rumors), and got delayed until end of the year, so for some reason Microsoft decided not to wait... maybe it has to do with the contracts they sign from the production companies.. or bad decision making, I don't know.. but they decided to slap in Haswell instead, not even the Y series, (well the Core i3 is Y), and cross their fingers. Well, the results is that now they are destroying the little reputation they were building, as a company that provides a solid high quality, "worry-free", "it just works" device. Shame.

Well, to me this is the best tablet PC that I have ever owned. Is it there room from improvement? Of course it's! Drivers are still not perfect. Give it couple of updates.:wink:

 

[CustomSurfaceP2]

I bought my SP2 for 46 days, called Microsoft about the SP3 and they were generous enough to let me return mine to get the SP3! Was told by the manager at the Specialty store she doesn't know when I'll get my preorder, but 3 days later she gave me a call and said my SP3 was in! Picked it up and it's been great so far, pen takes a little getting used to compared to the SP2, but I definitely appreciate the better accuracy this one provides. The OP doesn't sound like he would be willing to give the SP3 another try since clearly, he is within the 30 day return/exchange policy it really wouldn't be anything out of his pocket to swap one out. From all the Apple products he's claimed to have purchased (I myself was an Apple fanboy switching from 15 years of Windows to a Mac..and now back to Windows), I can say Apple has it's fair share of issues with all the devices. At least Microsoft is acknowledging what problems it may have instead of saying their customers are holding it wrong. :\

 

[GoodBytes]

Well, to me this is the best tablet PC that I have ever owned. Is it there room from improvement? Of course it's! Drivers are still not perfect. Give it couple of updates.:wink:

It has nothing to do with drivers. Drivers quality has to do with Microsoft selecting it's partners right. Microsoft did a great job on that.
The SP3 is a great system, and so is the SP2. Sure a lot of people here complain, but people with working devices don't go on forums and how amazingly well their device works, usually.
And yes, manufacture error do happen. It sucks, but it happens.

But based on reviews I see, while the device is amazing, when you push the device, the CPU throttles as it too hot for the device cooling solution.
I am not saying "Avoid the SP3", but if you plan to use it more as a laptop than tablet, (not saying laptop only, obviously, as at this point.. but a laptop, but rather run demanding CPU software at times), you don't plan to throttle. This was not an issue for the SP2 (well, it is very hard to face throttling)

 

[ctitanic]

At least Microsoft is acknowledging what problems it may have instead of saying their customers are holding it wrong. :\

Something that people keep forgetting!

 

[benjitek]

...MS usually buttons up issues quickly...

Really...? -- yet I still have to turn off Bluetooth to use WiFi at 50Mbps, because when it's on I get 25... That issue has been around since the same WiFi/Bluetooth combo chipset was used in the SP1 -- guess that 'button' got lost :-(

 

[ctitanic]

But based on reviews I see, while the device is amazing, when you push the device, the CPU throttles as it too hot for the device cooling solution.
I am not saying "Avoid the SP3", but if you plan to use it more as a laptop than tablet, (not saying laptop only, obviously, as at this point.. but a laptop, but rather run demanding CPU software at times), you don't plan to throttle. This was not an issue for the SP2 (well, it is very hard to face throttling)

But they are almost using the same hardware beside the fan. So what made you believe that they cant tweak it? I have Seen reviewers of the demo units playing games and they were saying that performance wise both, the 2 and the 3 were about the same. So that makes me believe that we will see improvements once they release new updates.

 

[GoodBytes]

Really...? -- yet I still have to turn off Bluetooth to use WiFi at 50Mbps, because when it's on I get 25... That issue has been around since the same WiFi/Bluetooth combo chipset was used in the SP1 -- guess that 'button' got lost :-(

That's the wireless card issue. I don't think Microsoft can fix this. In SP3 they used a different model one (with NFC - not used, and wireless AC). While I didn't check, so could be wrong, it could also face the same problem of wireless performance drop when connecting a Bluetooth device, as it could still be using the same antenna. If it was a laptop, you could replace the wireless card, but sadly not only you can't open, but it is embedded in the system board.