4 ms·

I love my Surface and I tend to love the MS ecosystem, but they (and others) don't get enough flak for reliability. I have owned bunches of MS hardware, and on

by nxc18 10y ago

I love my Surface and I tend to love the MS ecosystem, but they (and others) don't get enough flak for reliability. I have owned bunches of MS hardware, and only one device has made it through its life without needing warranty service. That includes my Zune 80, Xbox 360, Surface RT, a Nokia 920 (iirc), and a Surface 3 (which I will need to take in for service again after the semester ends). More and more professors are switching to Surface devices, and students are, too. Unfortunately, just about every one I've seen has come with a story about hardware or driver issues. On top of that, the relative abundance of bugs in Office and Windows 10 lately isn't a good look. While macOS has gotten worse over the last few releases, they're still nowhere near as bad as the Surface hardware in terms of reliability. It makes me sad, because I really love the devices but I just can't count on them to work 100%. 95% isn't good enough for a device that I use every day for hours per day; Apple seems to get that with their MBPs, and it seems the other manufacturers (notably Dell) are catching on.

maxxxxx 10y ago
I used to replace my Windows laptops around every two years because something broke or they just got painfully slow. My MB 13 now is now almost 3 years old still going strong. Everything works, I never had to reinstall the OS and it still looks great. So for me a Macbook is still the better option. I would agree, however, that Apple has lost interested in moving the platform forward so I am not sure what I'll do once my MBP breaks down. I would like to see a touchscreen for example. The touchbar seems pretty half assed. We have SP3 at work and they have a lot of little issues so I doubt they will last very long.
- tgb 10y ago
  Just as a counterpoint, I've kept my current window laptop for almost four years. My last was also kept for four years and I was still using it years after as a backup until just recently when the charger broke. That was seven years after purchase. The laptop itself still works and I could probably replace the charger if I cared to.
- 72deluxe 10y ago
  I never understand this. Why would a machine get painfully slow after a few years of use? Do you install rubbish on it? Do you not take care to ensure that everything in your process task list makes sense? Do you look to see what's gobbling up CPU, memory or startup time? I have had Windows machines for decades and never reach a state where the machine is slow or that it slows down since installation. The only thing to cause that is running endless taskbar apps or background services. What are you doing to make it slow?
  - maxxxxx 10y ago
    I have to install/uninstall a lot of software during development. Maybe the uninstall isn't complete, who knows? Most people I know reinstall Windows once a year from scratch.
Bedon292 10y ago
I have been all in on the Surface line for a bit now. And have not really had and reliability issues. Bought the Pro 3 for portability with school, instead of carrying around a massive old gaming laptop. And it was amazing, with the only drawback being the type cover not being the greatest in the world. Now this one did have a hardware issue after it was dropped, but that is not on MS. It got replaced by a Pro 4 for my wife to use at school, which she loves. One Note with a touch screen is beyond compare for note taking in class. For work, I convinced them to buy me a Surface Book, and with WSL I have full access to a Unix environment for development. It meets all of my needs. A few other people followed suit on this as well, and have all enjoyed it. I am moving jobs, and my new company offered me a new laptop, and continued to go with the Surface Book, and not the Macbook Pro. It just beats it for all of my needs. I can do all of the Unix development I need, as well as a touch screen, and a larger hard drive. All for the same price. Not to mention not being a fan of the latest keyboard the Macs have. I really believe the Surface line with WSL on it, especially after this creators update, is a completely viable platform for development. And do encourage others to check it out.

by nxc18 10y ago

maxxxxx 10y ago

I used to replace my Windows laptops around every two years because something broke or they just got painfully slow. My MB 13 now is now almost 3 years old still going strong. Everything works, I never had to reinstall the OS and it still looks great. So for me a Macbook is still the better option. I would agree, however, that Apple has lost interested in moving the platform forward so I am not sure what I'll do once my MBP breaks down. I would like to see a touchscreen for example. The touchbar seems pretty half assed. We have SP3 at work and they have a lot of little issues so I doubt they will last very long.

tgb 10y ago
Just as a counterpoint, I've kept my current window laptop for almost four years. My last was also kept for four years and I was still using it years after as a backup until just recently when the charger broke. That was seven years after purchase. The laptop itself still works and I could probably replace the charger if I cared to.
72deluxe 10y ago
I never understand this. Why would a machine get painfully slow after a few years of use? Do you install rubbish on it? Do you not take care to ensure that everything in your process task list makes sense? Do you look to see what's gobbling up CPU, memory or startup time? I have had Windows machines for decades and never reach a state where the machine is slow or that it slows down since installation. The only thing to cause that is running endless taskbar apps or background services. What are you doing to make it slow?
- maxxxxx 10y ago
  I have to install/uninstall a lot of software during development. Maybe the uninstall isn't complete, who knows? Most people I know reinstall Windows once a year from scratch.

Bedon292 10y ago

I have been all in on the Surface line for a bit now. And have not really had and reliability issues. Bought the Pro 3 for portability with school, instead of carrying around a massive old gaming laptop. And it was amazing, with the only drawback being the type cover not being the greatest in the world. Now this one did have a hardware issue after it was dropped, but that is not on MS. It got replaced by a Pro 4 for my wife to use at school, which she loves. One Note with a touch screen is beyond compare for note taking in class. For work, I convinced them to buy me a Surface Book, and with WSL I have full access to a Unix environment for development. It meets all of my needs. A few other people followed suit on this as well, and have all enjoyed it. I am moving jobs, and my new company offered me a new laptop, and continued to go with the Surface Book, and not the Macbook Pro. It just beats it for all of my needs. I can do all of the Unix development I need, as well as a touch screen, and a larger hard drive. All for the same price. Not to mention not being a fan of the latest keyboard the Macs have. I really believe the Surface line with WSL on it, especially after this creators update, is a completely viable platform for development. And do encourage others to check it out.