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

Hi. i am very disappointed with this machine.

i ordered and received a Surface pro 4 with i7 512gb, 16gb RAM last year December in the UK and about two weeks ago the device stopped charging and it couldnt even recognise the charger and as a result, the battery died and it wouldnt turn back on, leaving it as an expensive plate matt.

I have both the official surface pro dock and the supplied charger that came with the surface pro 4 and both showed the same issue and couldnt power and charge my device.

Fast forward to today when i finally received a replacement, that replacement they sent me is also broken.

The replacement can recognise the charger from my dock and the official cable, but it wont charge the battery. The battery stays at 0 percent and now from an expensive plate matt, i know have a tiny under powered expensive desktop tablet...

I am now planning to return the whole lot back to MS and want a refund.

Sorry but this is just not acceptable at all and feel frustrated on a device that costs nearly £2000.00

Yes i can request for another replacement but wait again for a week? and test again and reinstall again? no thanks. i dont expect this kind of issues to arise(twice) in such an expensive device.
 
So, with the SP4, I have some questions.

I work in IT but shamefully have never used one.

So, SP4:
Can I use a mouse?
Can I install software like my usual PC?
Battery life? What are you guys getting on what kinda usage?
I've gathered from this thread that I can plug in an external monitor (via dock?) and that I can install a memory card if I want, right?
 
OracIe said:
Can I use a mouse?
Click to expand...

Yes, the SP4 has built-in Bluetooth so you can use a Bluetooth mouse, it also has one USB port so you can use either a wired mouse or another type of wireless mouse that comes with a USB receiver dongle. You can also plug in a USB hub if you need more than the one port as mice are relatively low power.

OracIe said:
Can I install software like my usual PC?
Click to expand...

Correct, think of it pretty much as an Ultrabook laptop with a detachable keyboard (if you decide to buy the keyboard in the first place). You can install any software that you could install on a normal laptop running Windows.

OracIe said:
Battery life? What are you guys getting on what kinda usage?
Click to expand...

There will be quite a big range depending on what you're doing with the SP4, i.e gaming will eat up the battery pretty fast, but normal office tasks like Word or web surfing should get you anywhere between 5 and 8 hours of use (depending on sites, Flash adverts, i5 vs i7 spec, etc.)

OracIe said:
I've gathered from this thread that I can plug in an external monitor (via dock?) and that I can install a memory card if I want, right?
Click to expand...

You don't need the dock to use an external monitor, the SP4 itself has one Mini-DisplayPort output so you can get cables fairly cheaply that will go from that connection to VGA, DVI, HDMI or DisplayPort depending on what your monitor has.

Yes you can install a MicroSD memory card into the built-in card reader. That's the only format of card that it will accept though, but you can always attach a different card reader or external hard drive to the USB port if required.
 
Ok, my experience with my SP4, i7, 256GB SSD, 8GB ram and dock.
Since I got it on Dec 12th and up until this very latest firmware update (this week) every single time i docked with 2x 24" monitors connected, the SP4 would put on a disco display for about 3 mins before settling down. Constantly flashing between all 3 screens (inc SP4 screen). Sometime it would sort itself out, mostly it would leave at least one monitor disconnected, so i had to set them up again.
Coming out of sleep was a nightmare. Sometimes i'd have to reboot.
I raised a ticket with Microshaft, it never got resolved and the buggers even closed the ticket after a few days of 'inactivity' (it was 'testing' as far as i was concerned) so when i replied to the ticket i got nowhere.
I disabled hibernation and set sleep mode so it goes into sleep after hours of inactivity. Locking my screen gave the same disco issues and as i walk around our building regularly it was up to a dozen times a day. So now i leave it unlocked and just hide all open apps to avoid people looking at potentially sensitive data on my screen.
When it does go to sleep and i sucessfully wake it up, all my apps have been closed down.
This has been reported by plenty of other owners too.

MS have been a total bunch of a$$hats in regards to supporting and more importantly COMMUNICATING the issues with the SP4 and the Surface Book.
No wonder they get slated, this time it really is for a good reason.

I actually really like my SP4, but the unfinished state in which it was released is unforgivable imho.
 
What I dislike about mine is battery life in sleep and sometimes when it takes an age to wake up from sleep. Apart from that it's been great and I've considered selling my MacBook Pro Retina 15".
 
Banzai_Joe said:
Ok, my experience with my SP4, i7, 256GB SSD, 8GB ram and dock.
Since I got it on Dec 12th and up until this very latest firmware update (this week) every single time i docked with 2x 24" monitors connected, the SP4 would put on a disco display for about 3 mins before settling down. Constantly flashing between all 3 screens (inc SP4 screen). Sometime it would sort itself out, mostly it would leave at least one monitor disconnected, so i had to set them up again.
Coming out of sleep was a nightmare. Sometimes i'd have to reboot.
I raised a ticket with Microshaft, it never got resolved and the buggers even closed the ticket after a few days of 'inactivity' (it was 'testing' as far as i was concerned) so when i replied to the ticket i got nowhere.
I disabled hibernation and set sleep mode so it goes into sleep after hours of inactivity. Locking my screen gave the same disco issues and as i walk around our building regularly it was up to a dozen times a day. So now i leave it unlocked and just hide all open apps to avoid people looking at potentially sensitive data on my screen.
When it does go to sleep and i sucessfully wake it up, all my apps have been closed down.
This has been reported by plenty of other owners too.

MS have been a total bunch of a$$hats in regards to supporting and more importantly COMMUNICATING the issues with the SP4 and the Surface Book.
No wonder they get slated, this time it really is for a good reason.

I actually really like my SP4, but the unfinished state in which it was released is unforgivable imho.
Click to expand...
mate read my post just above yours and how i got SHAFTED twice!

terrible support and product
 
Mine has completely frozen twice this week.

No CTRL+ALT+DEL response, and not even a blue screen and reboot.

Just complete lockup.
 
I have also had a couple of complete lock-ups this week, usually while watching YouTube videos. I'm not sure if it's related to the recent updates.

There is a rumour on Reddit that the Core-i7 models are out of stock in most countries at the moment due to a potential fix that Microsoft want to apply. The rumours don't really say what that fix is for or whether it's a hardware or software one but I also doubt Microsoft will come out with a public announcement about it.
 
Cavallino said:
Crap. 150 bucks?? Jeez.
Thanks for link though!
Click to expand...

There appears to be a 12,000 mAh external battery that basically has a power socket on it (US plug, but comes with a travel adaptor so you can plug a 3-pin UK plug into it) from a company called ChargeTech. It's available on the UK rainforest site for £60 including postage from a third-party seller called ChargeTechEU but they don't have any customer ratings yet.
 
Omar said:
I have also had a couple of complete lock-ups this week, usually while watching YouTube videos. I'm not sure if it's related to the recent updates.
Click to expand...

I think it must be the recent update, never had a complete freeze before it.

Blue screen a few times but never a complete lockup.
 
Omar said:
I have also had a couple of complete lock-ups this week, usually while watching YouTube videos. I'm not sure if it's related to the recent updates.

There is a rumour on Reddit that the Core-i7 models are out of stock in most countries at the moment due to a potential fix that Microsoft want to apply. The rumours don't really say what that fix is for or whether it's a hardware or software one but I also doubt Microsoft will come out with a public announcement about it.
Click to expand...
I heard that the fix is due to power management and it potentially killing your battery dead like it did on mine
 
welshboy said:
see. ... this is putting me off , im nearly on the trigger point of either an SP4 or a SB, but all these issues i keep hearing
Click to expand...

I have an SP4 i5 since it launched, no issues here, never had a blue screen and never had to force restart (apart from once when the touchscreen stopped working after resuming from sleep). I don't use sleep at all anymore on my SP4, I just rely on hibernate instead as I believe most issues arise when using sleep. Those with problems will always be more vocal. Don't be put off :)
 
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