Is Microsoft Surface any good?

[sikishrory]

I have been using trusty samsung galaxy s 10.5 (android) since about 2014 or something and it has been really great and reliable. I have been thinking of upgrading for a long time as sometimes if I need to edit documents it does it but it aint perfect. Battery life is down to a couple of hours and it has started randomly turning off. It's time for something new.

I have been putting it off for a long time as all the tablets coming out just don't seem to offer much more than what I already have. So I am not keen on galaxy tab s2 as it is very similar to the tab s except smaller.

Microsoft surfaces interest me a bit so I am wondering if any people here have anything to say about them for or against?

A flick through the microsoft appstore today revealed that I wouldn't be able to use a lot of my favorite apps. The range of apps is very limited compared to android. More like a computer in that regard. 

No free word processing apps I could see. Just the MS Office thing that you have to pay for.

Can you download apps from outside the appstore? My last experience with windows was windows 7, where in that scenario you could. Maybe things have changed?

Also some reports online of screen issues. Actually about half of the devices I have bought in Thailand I needed to take to a service centre at one stage. So when I googled Microsoft service centre there were no official hits but an address on an unofficial site that may or may not be real.

The only thing that came up was technical assistance with software etc. So it seems like a gamble in that regard.

Cost is 50-100k apparently. Which is a tonne of cash.

Despite the negatives it looks like its powerful and would serve well for word processing.

Acer have something similar as well that looks like a surface but a bit more budget.

Really don't know what to get. I hate laptops.

[Forkinhades]

Look at Samsung with the S-pen
All microsoft apps are included as well.

Sent from my SM-N950F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[sikishrory]

Just now, Forkinhades said:

Look at Samsung with the S-pen
All microsoft apps are included as well.

Sent from my SM-N950F using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

Im guessing you mean the s3. It is very similar to the tab s I have now except smaller.

Those microsoft apps are free for all devices up to a certain screen size last I checked. I think above 10 inch you have to pay. My s is 10.5 but the s3 is 9.7.

Something to consider but much the same as what i have now when you compare the specs. 

Tablets have not improved much at all over the last few years in my opinion.

[jphasia]

I have one Microsoft Surface Pro, the latest model released this year.
It is basicaly a windows laptop which you can convert into tablet by removing the keyboard and very light and small.
For me, it is very good as I can use as a normal laptop for work when i travel easy to carry. It is very powerful. There are several models, depending on your needs. I have the top model, core i7, 16gb ram and 500mb ssd which allow me to be able to do mostly whatever i need when i travelling then i don't need to carry my primary laptop (Macbook Pro 15"). You can use the windows app store to get any app available or just install apps from the web.
As for my work, i mostly use office (Outlook, excel, powerpoint..) but for leisure, making a lot of photos, i can use Adobe suite such as lightroom, photoshop...
I use to have an Ipad but i didn't like it as i found it not convenient for work.
As I an using Dropbox, all my files are automatically synchronize between my Mac and my surface pro, i am sure that i have everything available in both machine anytime.
Battery is ok. I never really checked how long it last but i believe at least 8 hours which is sufficient for me.
It is maybe indeed little bit expensive but overall, depending on your need, it is justify in my opinion.

Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk

[sikishrory]

Thats very helpful thanks. I had just heard of issues with them and for that amount of cash I don't want issues. Do you know if there is a service centre anywhere?

I had at times thought of iPad pro which is often listed as most powerful tablet on the market but have never had an apple device. So interesting to hear you choose the surface over an apple laptop.

I have since ordered a new battery for my galaxy tab s. I will see if this solves my problem. I might give it to wife either way.

[amvet]

I just put a new battery in my Samsung tab 3 5200 it solved all my problems and was very easy to do.

[sikishrory]

Yeh i just couldn't be bothered travelling across town. It looked very simple on youtube.

[jphasia]

Thats very helpful thanks. I had just heard of issues with them and for that amount of cash I don't want issues. Do you know if there is a service centre anywhere?
I had at times thought of iPad pro which is often listed as most powerful tablet on the market but have never had an apple device. So interesting to hear you choose the surface over an apple laptop.
I have since ordered a new battery for my galaxy tab s. I will see if this solves my problem. I might give it to wife either way.

Not sure what issues you heard about? I have my surface Pro since August and my wife has a Surface Pro 3 since 2013. Both are working very well without any issue.

Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk

[sikishrory]

Backlight issues mostly but I also read this https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2017/8/10/16125294/microsoft-surface-consumer-reports-hardware-freezing-shutdowns-problems but looking at it again I see they mean the laptop surfaces 

[thedemon]

Microsoft don't have service centers for the Surface range but they have a replacement program whereby you create a service request online and a rep from a logistics company will then contact you to arrange courier collection of your device and deliver a replacement device within a few days. If within the warranty, the service is free. If outside the warranty period or the device is damaged by accident they charge you a fairly large amount of money, often times more than the device is worth. For example any fault at all on a Surface Pro 3 will incur a THB20K charge.

 

The only way to disassemble a Surface Pro is to remove the screen assembly which from the SP3 onward is all but impossible to do without breaking the digitizer. As far as I know there is no third party repair available in Thailand. So that means even the smallest hardware fault is equivalent in cost to a broken screen.

 

I have owned several of them and in my opinion they are great devices packing a lot of power into a very small package. However they are extremely fragile. Drop one onto a hard surface and that's it, 90% chance you will crack the digitizer.

 

If buying a new Surface Pro it really is worth considering also buying Microsoft's extended 2 year warranty.

[scotsman]

I have a surface pro 4 its now over 2 years old and for the last 6 months it has a hardware problem that a lot of owners are suffering from. overheating causing screen flickering and they will not fix it. If you are still in warranted they will replace it with a refurbished one that will end up having the same problem. I do hope the new model will not have this problem but Microsoft will not care if it does.

 

regards

Scotsman

[sikishrory]

Thanks all. Handy to know

[ravip]

I've had very bad experience with a couple of MS Surface Pro 3 - (Office equipment)

Keyboard, battery (sometimes can be solved with a patch), system board failure...

 

Edit

You could try this >>> http://store.hp.com/us/en/mdp/laptops/spectre-x360-211501--1

Edited December 31, 2017 by ravip

[wpcoe]

I have both a Surface 3 (not Surface Pro 3) and a Surface Pro 2017.  Originally I bought the Atom-powered Surface 3 as a desktop replacement, and it failed miserably in that regard.  As a tablet, it would probably be fine, but for regular use of Windows programs like Photoshop, it was s-l-o-w.  I think my frustration was more with the eMMC as a hard drive -- basically a thumb drive installed on the motherboard -- than with the Atom CPU itself.  An SSD would greatly help a Surface 3, but, oh well.

 

If you want to just use it as a tablet, but with a few familiar Windows programs, a Surface 3 should be adequate.  To answer the question about apps in the Windows store:  you can use those or any program that runs on a Windows desktop computer.  Just be aware that complex documents may be a bit slower to load/edit/create than on a full-powered desktop computer.

 

For a very basic, but free, word processor Windows still comes bundled with WordPad.   You can open and save files in .docx (MS Word) format.  There is also the free Libre Office word processing suite that you can download and install.

 

I'm very pleased with the Surface Pro 2017 (i7, 256GB, 8GB) as a desktop replacement.  It's every bit as fast as the i3-6320 desktop computer it replaced.

[LALes]

I bought the Surface Pro 4 from Costco in the USA last year for just under $1000. 

Yeah, its a lot to pay but I had the money.  I use it for a travel computer.

The main feature I like is the onboard speakers, which are quite good.

I'm a music guy.  I gotta have my music whenever I travel and I don't like carrying

around extra speakers.  The Surface fit my need perfectly.  Good sound.

One thing I will say is get one with enough memory.  I got the cheapest one with

128 gb Solid State drive and I wish I would have sprung for the 256 gb one.

As someone stated before, its not easy to take these apart and it could end up with

more problems after you're done.  Its not easy to change the drive.  The screen (which is

beautiful) must be surgically removed by some heat process...too involved and costly, I

would  assume.

[DrH]

I got Pro 4 from IT City a few months ago when Pro 17 was being launched. That was i5/8gb/256gb for 33,900 with a keyboard but without a pen. Very good deal in my opinion. If you decide to buy, I would suggest to check out Lazada, IT City, Banana IT, etc. and look for promotions. Sooner or later the prices will drop a bit. For 34k (+ new pen 4k) I think it was worth it, but if it's 50+k for same specs but Pro 17 then I am not sure.. 

[brakar]

I bought my 128GB Surface Pro in May 2013 and have never had any problems with it. I use the most like a laptop when I travel (about 2 months a year). Since I take a lot of pictures and videos, I always have a small external 1TB hard drive to save them. Since you have access to windows programs, it's easy to find programs to edit photos and videos or any other windows program that you may need.

[thedemon]

3 hours ago, LALes said:

I bought the Surface Pro 4 from Costco in the USA last year for just under $1000. 

Yeah, its a lot to pay but I had the money.  I use it for a travel computer.

The main feature I like is the onboard speakers, which are quite good.

I'm a music guy.  I gotta have my music whenever I travel and I don't like carrying

around extra speakers.  The Surface fit my need perfectly.  Good sound.

One thing I will say is get one with enough memory.  I got the cheapest one with

128 gb Solid State drive and I wish I would have sprung for the 256 gb one.

As someone stated before, its not easy to take these apart and it could end up with

more problems after you're done.  Its not easy to change the drive.  The screen (which is

beautiful) must be surgically removed by some heat process...too involved and costly, I

would  assume.

 

There is an SD card slot behind the kickstand so you could add at least another 128GB storage that way. Not as fast as the SSD but wouldn't make much difference for music etc.

[scotsman]

https://flickergate.com/   

 

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/forum/surfpro4-surfdrivers/surface-pro-4-screen-flickering-shacking/570165cb-50a0-4d71-bcb1-310ddd869d1d?auth=1   

 

There is a lot angry surface pro 4 owners who don't think we got a good deal from Microsoft and we are trying to get them to recall there devices with this hardware problem. If you have a surface pro 4 and it has no problems then I am happy for you and I do hope you don't have any but as you can see this problem can happen at anytime.  It is a great device I really like it but when you purchase a top end product like this it should be reliable with no major problems. I can only use this now as a laptop or tablet for 1 hour then it turns into desktop as I have to use a monitor and Microsoft will not do anything so I use social media to inform all the computing people out there not to buy this product.

regards 

Scotsman   

[pacovl46]

The Surface series is great, but they all have a major problem. Everything that went into them has been glued into the case instead of soldered, which means if a part stops working it can’t be replaced. Apparently it’s not even possible to open the case without breaking something. There’s quite a few articles on the subject matter online. 

[prophet01]

1 hour ago, pacovl46 said:

The Surface series is great, but they all have a major problem. Everything that went into them has been glued into the case instead of soldered, which means if a part stops working it can’t be replaced. Apparently it’s not even possible to open the case without breaking something. There’s quite a few articles on the subject matter online. 

Absolutely this.

I bought a Surface Pro 2 back in early 2014 and I absolutely loved it.

Unfortunately after 3 good years it one day failed to boot. After much investigation the conclusion was that the SSD was toast and pretty much impossible to swap out

See this link: It's TOOL-PROOF and ultimately destined for LANDFILL

 

Other than that, as I said, I loved the machine.

Edited January 7, 2018 by prophet01
edit

[mosan]

I bought a Lenovo MIIX-510 which is a surface clone. If you're not familiar, Lenovo bought the IBM Thinkpad line of laptops a while back...quality remains the same.  The MIIX 510 is middle of the road, I bought the cheapest one but the specifications are equivalent to all the Surface Pro models except the entry level one (the one I bought) comes is a 7th generation quad core i3, 4 gig RAM and 128 gig SSD, micro SD slot, available SIM slot and USB Type C  3.1 plus USB 3.0.  You can go to core i7 16 gig RAM 1 TeraByte SSD, also the keyboard and digital pen is included.  I didn't spring for a warranty because at  23,000 Thai Baht ($675) I decided to take a chance on Lenovo's quality... Almost one year later, I'm happy, no glitches.  Presently running Windows 10 Pro 64 Bit Fall Creators Update which came out in October 2017.  They also make the MIIX-710 series which is a little higher class of machine, but the 510 series is just fine if you want to save some money.  I average about 8 hours a day on this thing and really never think about recharging as I usually plug it in at night and throw it into my bag when I leave the house.  A far more reliable choice than a real Microsoft Surface. Check out some YouTube videos for reviews...

 

[ravip]

3 hours ago, pacovl46 said:

The Surface series is great, but they all have a major problem. Everything that went into them has been glued into the case instead of soldered, which means if a part stops working it can’t be replaced. Apparently it’s not even possible to open the case without breaking something. There’s quite a few articles on the subject matter online. 

With all these issues if it is great, what would you classify as NOT great?

 

[Nemises]

My Surface Pro is just over 2 years old. It was a great product, but as mentioned above it also now overheats causing screen flicker. 

 

Unless you have a written guarantee from Microsoft that they will fix this problem WHEN it occurs to you (after it’s warranty expires) buy something else.

 

[sikishrory]

Glad I started this thread and didn't just run out and lay down 100k on this thing.

Seems like a nightmare of a thing.

Will look into the similar lenovo and acer devices instead I reckon.

 

[impulse]

12 hours ago, prophet01 said:

Absolutely this.

I bought a Surface Pro 2 back in early 2014 and I absolutely loved it.

Unfortunately after 3 good years it one day failed to boot. After much investigation the conclusion was that the SSD was toast and pretty much impossible to swap out

See this link: It's TOOL-PROOF and ultimately destined for LANDFILL

 

Other than that, as I said, I loved the machine.

 

Other than that, I think Abe Lincoln really enjoyed the play, too.

 

[volsfan]

I also have a Surface 3, and find it above average for my use. The best thing is the small size and weight. It does slow down when I have a lot open, as would be expected.

 

Someone has already mentioned LibreOffice as an excellent free replacement. I also use Bluestacks as an.Android Emulator, which will allow you to use all your favorite programs inside the Windows computer. 

[SheungWan]

As an alternative you might want to consider a Samsung Chromebook Plus. The only place I know listing them for sale is Lazada but others might know if anywhere on general sale.

[thedemon]

I have repaired a few Surface Pros recently, mostly broken digitizers. In case anyone is in the same situation, it isn't actually very difficult to replace a broken screen, just a bit time consuming. What IS difficult is removing a screen intact.

 

The prices have dropped quite a bit. SP3 now USD114/pc and SP4 USD95/pc.

 

These are ex-HKG so there are some shipping costs and 7% VAT to pay here but it sure beats Microsoft's THB20,000 repair price.

[pacovl46]

19 hours ago, ravip said:

With all these issues if it is great, what would you classify as NOT great?

 

It's great in terms of performance, but not so much when it comes to repairs.