**** Microsoft Surface Pro 4 Thread ****

S2KIP said:
It's a 2012 R2 server. Once built it's pretty much impossible to do anything, so I just enable rdp using the keyboard and then rdp in.

On another note, I'm getting really frustrated with it's inability to wake from sleep properly.
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Even with VMware tools/addtions installed in the VM? I know the VM is awful to control until they have been installed.
 
for the surface pro 3nis it possible to update touch type keyboard? its terrible compwred to android offerings!

predictions etc that is
 
Glaucus said:
Screen protectors aren't needed imo, my surface 2 is absolutely destroyed, yet the screen is scratch free.
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Agreed, never had a scratch on any Surface screen.

The sides around the ports get dents and dinks like crazy. The magnesium finish is really soft.
 
POB said:
Agreed, never had a scratch on any Surface screen.

The sides around the ports get dents and dinks like crazy. The magnesium finish is really soft.
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Soft, I'm not a massive fan. It looks and feels great, but as soon as it starts getting beaten up, it peels off. It's fairly week. It bent in the middle early on. But then I am known to be a destroyer of gadgets, I really should be hired by a company.
Kickstand breaking was total my fault though. Tablet still works fine, but darn it's beaten to hell and back.

Lenovo still being ***** last time I asked it was deft out by end of November, just asked again and now it's no idea. I really shouldn't buy one as I'm trying to save a large amount, but I need a new tablet and kickstand is essential.
 
I got mine on Friday. Loving it so far, but honestly the flickering issue had me raging but I think I've got it fixed.

After the new firmware update was applied and it wasn't fixed, I disabled Hyper-V using DISM, turned off auto brightness and then cycled through the brightness levels from 25% up to 100% and then back to 25% and this seems to have sorted it. Simply turning off the auto brightness did not sort it for me.

I had one issue with the touchscreen but looking in Device Manager it showed that one device had stopped working and wouldn't restart no matter what I did (rebooted, etc to no avail). In the end I simply uninstalled the device and rebooted - it came back and the touchscreen started working and the issue hasn't come back.

I've had no issues coming out of sleep or any issues with the Type Cover at all - aside from the now-fixed brightness issues I've had no recurring problems at all.
 
Looks like it's only SP3 stuff that will be in black Friday. Could be for the best though as I'm still waiting for the software nags to be ironed out.
 
DRZ said:
I got mine on Friday. Loving it so far, but honestly the flickering issue had me raging but I think I've got it fixed.

After the new firmware update was applied and it wasn't fixed, I disabled Hyper-V using DISM, turned off auto brightness and then cycled through the brightness levels from 25% up to 100% and then back to 25% and this seems to have sorted it. Simply turning off the auto brightness did not sort it for me.

I had one issue with the touchscreen but looking in Device Manager it showed that one device had stopped working and wouldn't restart no matter what I did (rebooted, etc to no avail). In the end I simply uninstalled the device and rebooted - it came back and the touchscreen started working and the issue hasn't come back.
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You see, you say you love your SP4 but I don't think the actions you've had to take are acceptable in this day and age.

To explain, I got my first PC in 1996 and I'm well used to tinkering/fixing things (quite enjoy it actually). I've early memories of having to set irqs and edit startup settings to get enough of the 640k RAM free to get games to run.

I've no problem with playing around with things to optimise performace but in this iphone generation I think it's laughable the lengths you've had to go to get a fourth generation £1000+ device to function as it should have done out of the box. The stuff you've done is great, logical IT support/PC enthusiast troubleshooting, but how many "non geeks" (so to speak) want to be removing devices in Device Manager everytime their touchscreen or £110 type cover stops working.
 
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I've almost convinced myself that I want the Surface Pro 4 after being too inpatient for the Surface Book but my one concern is lapability.

I have my desktop to use at home on my desk, this is something I would use on my lap infront of the TV, on the bed etc. I can't see me using it much on a desk...

What's everyones take on this? I have the feeling I'll be better off waiting for the Surface Book... Main uses will be general web browsing & video/photo editing.
 
I wasn't that fond of my Surface Pro 2 being on my lap but things have changed quite a bit since then with Pro 3 and 4 having a flexible stand hinge rather than just 2 positions.

I ordered the I7/16GB/256GB Pro 4 along with a blue type cover. The type cover got delivered this morning but the Pro 4 won't be delivered until 10th December as its pre-order. I wonder if I missed a ship together button on the order, still free delivery.

I don't think I will use the new cover with my Pro 2, it would look just weird being totally the wrong size.
 
ed79 said:
You see, you say you love your SP4 but I don't think the actions you've had to take are acceptable in this day and age.

To explain, I got my first PC in 1996 and I'm well used to tinkering/fixing things (quite enjoy it actually). I've early memories of having to set irqs and edit startup settings to get enough of the 640k RAM free to get games to run.

I've no problem with playing around with things to optimise performace but in this iphone generation I think it's laughable the lengths you've had to go to get a fourth generation £1000+ device to function as it should have done out of the box. The stuff you've done is great, logical IT support/PC enthusiast troubleshooting, but how many "non geeks" (so to speak) want to be removing devices in Device Manager everytime their touchscreen or £110 type cover stops working.
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I absolutely agree. I honestly wasn't expecting to have these issues and I suspect a great many people will return theirs if they have similar problems but then again I've never had a machine that doesn't have issues at least initially.

My Lenovo Yoga 11S was a nightmare initially with all sorts of problems - the Yoga forum is absolutely packed with people having issues. In contrast, this is much, much better.

I also have an HP Ultrabook 840 and this too suffers from the odd little problem.

So, with that perspective, I'm happy enough.

lolage said:
I've almost convinced myself that I want the Surface Pro 4 after being too inpatient for the Surface Book but my one concern is lapability.

I have my desktop to use at home on my desk, this is something I would use on my lap infront of the TV, on the bed etc. I can't see me using it much on a desk...

What's everyones take on this? I have the feeling I'll be better off waiting for the Surface Book... Main uses will be general web browsing & video/photo editing.
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This is an interesting one - in tablet form, there's obviously no issue at all. The kickstand does work quite well with this too, you can use it quite easily resting on your lap.

With the type cover on, it is a bit of a different story and this will depend on how long your legs are. For the screen to be at a comfortable angle, you need to have the kickstand back so that the distance from the edge of the kickstand to the front of the cover is about a foot, more or less exactly. With a normal laptop you can obviously have the hinge area hovering past your knees if you want, but you clearly cannot do this with the SP4/Type Cover combo. My HP Ultrabook 840 is only 9" deep and so is massively more comfortable/usable on the knee.

For me, it is usable on the lap but I have to admit that it does feel somewhat precarious and I'd have issues with it being on my lap on a train or something like that - I'd always use the fold-down table or sit at a seat with a table if I could.

The Surface Book is a very, very expensive machine, but doesn't really feel like the right machine to be using for video editing, unless you really crave the ultra-portability and want the (crippled) ability to use it as a tablet from time to time. I'd probably go for a top spec macbook pro retina if I was buying a media-editing machine...
 
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DRZ said:
This is an interesting one - in tablet form, there's obviously no issue at all. The kickstand does work quite well with this too, you can use it quite easily resting on your lap.

With the type cover on, it is a bit of a different story and this will depend on how long your legs are. For the screen to be at a comfortable angle, you need to have the kickstand back so that the distance from the edge of the kickstand to the front of the cover is about a foot, more or less exactly. With a normal laptop you can obviously have the hinge area hovering past your knees if you want, but you clearly cannot do this with the SP4/Type Cover combo. My HP Ultrabook 840 is only 9" deep and so is massively more comfortable/usable on the knee.

For me, it is usable on the lap but I have to admit that it does feel somewhat precarious and I'd have issues with it being on my lap on a train or something like that - I'd always use the fold-down table or sit at a seat with a table if I could.

The Surface Book is a very, very expensive machine, but doesn't really feel like the right machine to be using for video editing, unless you really crave the ultra-portability and want the (crippled) ability to use it as a tablet from time to time. I'd probably go for a top spec macbook pro retina if I was buying a media-editing machine...
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Yeah I wouldn't really use it much for video editing to be honest, use my desktop for that really.

It'd just be used for photo editing, but the thing with the surface book - if spending that sort of money I'd be inclined to get the GPU version so I'd be looking at close to £2k if I went for the book.

I do have fairly long legs (6ft), so thinking I may be OK... I should probably try one out.
 
I was just thinking of a way to do a fair test and show you the results, but ultimately it is down to how comfortable you are using it and that's not something that can be demonstrated over the internet...

Interestingly, I'm sat at my desk typing these posts out rather than being sat on my sofa.
 
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