I recently received my replacement unit. It too arrived in plain brown box wrapped in a padded bag. Cosmetically, it is in excellent condition. The screen looks pristine and there is only some slight wear around the charge connector. I agree that refurbished units should be reconditioned to a "like new" condition.
The primary reasons for the replacement were the battery level constantly resetting to 100% (started prior to the Dec update and unaffected by the Jan update) and the screen creaking. The new unit does not exhibit these issues, but my original unit did not start to exhibit these issues until after a month of use, so only time will tell...
I am a little disconcerted that the "new" unit exhibits some of the battery "anomalies" that I observed with my original unit. Specifically, there seems to be an odd 3% capacity "hole" where the battery level will instantaneously drop from 25% to 22%. Also, it insists on entering hibernation at 8% instead of the 5% that it is set to hibernate at.
I fully updated and all updates report as successful (including the Jan update). The display driver was rather old (I believe it is from the Oct update), so the display driver was crashing during the sleep-hibernation transition. This was fixed with the 3345 driver included with the Dec update, but it was apparently pulled with the rest of the Dec update. I installed the 3368 display driver from the MS download center and it seem to be working well (it hasn't crashed - yet).
So, the "new" unit fixes the major issues that I had and it was in good cosmetic condition, but I really don't have a warm and fuzzy feeling...
EDIT: Drat, I have just noticed some very subtle creaking from the right side of the screen (same location as my old one). It is not nearly as bad, but I haven't had it nearly as long nor have I been running anything that would generate much heat. Not promising... Not really worth pursuing another replacement - I would not have gotten this replacement if it were not for the battery resetting issue. Still, it is a little disappointing.
The primary reasons for the replacement were the battery level constantly resetting to 100% (started prior to the Dec update and unaffected by the Jan update) and the screen creaking. The new unit does not exhibit these issues, but my original unit did not start to exhibit these issues until after a month of use, so only time will tell...
I am a little disconcerted that the "new" unit exhibits some of the battery "anomalies" that I observed with my original unit. Specifically, there seems to be an odd 3% capacity "hole" where the battery level will instantaneously drop from 25% to 22%. Also, it insists on entering hibernation at 8% instead of the 5% that it is set to hibernate at.
I fully updated and all updates report as successful (including the Jan update). The display driver was rather old (I believe it is from the Oct update), so the display driver was crashing during the sleep-hibernation transition. This was fixed with the 3345 driver included with the Dec update, but it was apparently pulled with the rest of the Dec update. I installed the 3368 display driver from the MS download center and it seem to be working well (it hasn't crashed - yet).
So, the "new" unit fixes the major issues that I had and it was in good cosmetic condition, but I really don't have a warm and fuzzy feeling...
EDIT: Drat, I have just noticed some very subtle creaking from the right side of the screen (same location as my old one). It is not nearly as bad, but I haven't had it nearly as long nor have I been running anything that would generate much heat. Not promising... Not really worth pursuing another replacement - I would not have gotten this replacement if it were not for the battery resetting issue. Still, it is a little disappointing.
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