4 ms·

So many negative comments just because it's Microsoft. If you don't like the OS, obviously this machine is not for you. Personally I think it looks nice, but I

So many negative comments just because it's Microsoft. If you don't like the OS, obviously this machine is not for you. Personally I think it looks nice, but I have a Surface Pro 2 that works just perfectly fine and I love it. The hardware on it is still good and I don't see any reason to upgrade.

AlphaWeaver 9y ago
I think that in itself speaks to the quality of the Surface device line... I myself have the first Surface Book, and I will likely upgrade to the 2 at some point, but not because my current device doesn't serve me well... I'm glad this thing is still working like new and I don't have huge urges to upgrade because I suddenly feel inferior, like some other tech companies try to pull... EDIT: Don't work for MS, just a happy Surface owner.
- staticelf 9y ago
  Yes, the machines they produce is very high quality and lasts a very long time. Longer than any other laptop I have used. Even if I have used it for quite some time it still feel fresh and performant.
  - ant512 9y ago
    Last I heard MS were having reliability problems with the Surface: "The breakage rate for Microsoft Corp’s Surface devices is significantly worse than for other manufacturers’ laptops and tablets, Consumer Reports said, adding that it was removing its “recommended” designation for Surface products." https://www.reuters.com/article/us-microsoft-surface/microsoft-surface-devices-fail-on-reliability-consumer-reports-idUSKBN1AQ1EP https://www.reuters.com/article/us-microsoft-surface/microso...
    - JBiserkov 9y ago
      That report is based on faulty data and has been discredited.
    - staticelf 9y ago
      I don't know about the pure statistics, but my experience and other people I know (which actually still run the Surface Pro 1) have had a great experience. In the past, there was a minor issue that the surface tablet didn't understand that you removed the keyboard. But that seems to be fixed now and it didn't happen that often anyway.
      - ako 9y ago
        Surface pro experience where I work is not good. I had my surface for a few months, after every holiday it had problems starting. After my summer holiday, where it was powered off for 3 week, I could not get it to power on anymore. Had to return it to Microsoft, got a replacement. Replaced that with a thinkpad t470s. Much better experience so far, and having 24gb also helps if you run a number of docker images.
- mey 9y ago
  In the same boat, I love my Surface book. The primary reason I would upgrade is for i7 and 16 gb at this point. At this point the price to replace a system that is working great I can't justify. As a result I will probably upgrade to the SB2 in a few years and still be very happy.
- achompas 9y ago
  > I'm glad this thing is still working like new and I don't have huge urges to upgrade because I suddenly feel inferior, like some other tech companies try to pull... I don't get this. Your feelings of inferiority are your own feelings, not the fault of a tech company's marketing agency or some other external agent.
- chrismorgan 9y ago
  The Surface Book was good enough on paper that I ordered one without ever having seen one in person, and being willing to switch from Linux (Arch with i3wm) to Windows for it. It has not disappointed me.
scarface74 9y ago
I don’t think most of the comments are about the computer, they are more about the poor marketing. Even that’s not entirely fair. The submitted link was to the blog post, not the marketing page that someone else posted.
Fnoord 9y ago
If you don't like the OS, can you not slap Linux on it? I found this thread on that subject [1] not sure how feasible it is. [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/SurfaceLinux/comments/3qcqha/ubuntu_on_surface_book/ https://www.reddit.com/r/SurfaceLinux/comments/3qcqha/ubuntu...
- jsl1212 9y ago
  Yep. I run latest Ubuntu on my Surface Pro 4 and it's great. The touchscreen doesn't work, although there are plenty of custom kernels out there that would fix that.
  - 0xFFC 9y ago
    Oh this laptop was bot detachable and didn’t have touchscreen! Man, I would have bought it in heartbeat. I don’t reason why Microsoft pushes touchscreen anymore. Considering their Win10Phone is dead already as they are the one admit it. So we have detachable Surface Pro which is great. But we can a surface laptop without touchscreen, on it.
    - roryisok 9y ago
      There's a surface laptop without a detachable screen, it's called the surface laptop. It does have a touchscreen but if you don't want that just don't touch it. You can even disable it permanently in device manager if you like
  - komali2 9y ago
    >The touchscreen doesn't work Doesn't that eliminate one of the primary draws of the platform? I love taking notes and whiteboarding on my SP3.
  - skinnymuch 9y ago
    You still like the Surface Pro enough with the touch screen not working? One of its biggest draws? That's seems quite nice. Major points in the Surface series favor.
gamad 9y ago
I have the original Surface Book. I like it. I used to use Macs. Microsoft won't pay astroturfers to lurk in hacker news. Too bad.
kpxxx 9y ago
That's because Microsoft is trash. Typing this from an SP3, which I overall like very much. I was given this, so I have no misgivings. But the overall sloppiness of Windows and the years of varying quirky behavior I've had with this thing has been very annoying. Windows has an excuse when the hardware is arbitrary, but with the surface line there is no excuse. If I had paid more than a few hundred dollars for an SP3, I would be quite upset with the numerous annoyances. As of now, it generally works ok. Of course Windows is still trash (which app do I use for settings again)? But yeah, once you start taking people's money in Apple ballpark (and these are not cheap), make things work at least as good as Apple (which, yes, isn't perfect), or expect negative comments.
- skinnymuch 9y ago
  You can expect negative comments for every OS in existence. You seem to dislike Windows quite a bit. To the point where it seems personal or you have a vendetta against it. Yes things like settings are silly in modern Windows. But they aren't make or break stuff. There's major positives to be seen from Windows too. They are the only major player trying to get touch working on desktop. That's not easy to do. You don't specify what sloppiness or "years of varying quirky behavior" so I can't say much about that. If I wanted to really criticize the other OSes I have experience with - MacOS and Ubuntu. I'm sure I could come up with sloppiness issues and varying quirky behavior too. It wouldn't be hard at all, but it wouldn't be right either. They are both solid OSes overall (at least for now).
  - kpxxx 9y ago
    > You seem to dislike Windows quite a bit. To the point where it seems personal or you have a vendetta against it. I have better things to do then have a "vendetta" against either a corporation or a piece of equipment (I don't know which you were insinuating). At the same time I have no reason to defend commercial entities that should do better. Like I said, I use the goddamn thing (SP3) as a daily driver for mobile use. It doesn't change the fact that numerous things have been appallingly broken for a stack completely controlled by Microsoft. I absolutely do not care to enumerate the "quirky behavior". For that you can go to answers.microsoft.com and also get a laugh observing that shitshow of unhelpfulness.

AlphaWeaver 9y ago

I think that in itself speaks to the quality of the Surface device line... I myself have the first Surface Book, and I will likely upgrade to the 2 at some point, but not because my current device doesn't serve me well... I'm glad this thing is still working like new and I don't have huge urges to upgrade because I suddenly feel inferior, like some other tech companies try to pull... EDIT: Don't work for MS, just a happy Surface owner.

staticelf 9y ago
Yes, the machines they produce is very high quality and lasts a very long time. Longer than any other laptop I have used. Even if I have used it for quite some time it still feel fresh and performant.
- ant512 9y ago
  Last I heard MS were having reliability problems with the Surface: "The breakage rate for Microsoft Corp’s Surface devices is significantly worse than for other manufacturers’ laptops and tablets, Consumer Reports said, adding that it was removing its “recommended” designation for Surface products." https://www.reuters.com/article/us-microsoft-surface/microsoft-surface-devices-fail-on-reliability-consumer-reports-idUSKBN1AQ1EP https://www.reuters.com/article/us-microsoft-surface/microso...
  - JBiserkov 9y ago
    That report is based on faulty data and has been discredited.
  - staticelf 9y ago
    I don't know about the pure statistics, but my experience and other people I know (which actually still run the Surface Pro 1) have had a great experience. In the past, there was a minor issue that the surface tablet didn't understand that you removed the keyboard. But that seems to be fixed now and it didn't happen that often anyway.
    - ako 9y ago
      Surface pro experience where I work is not good. I had my surface for a few months, after every holiday it had problems starting. After my summer holiday, where it was powered off for 3 week, I could not get it to power on anymore. Had to return it to Microsoft, got a replacement. Replaced that with a thinkpad t470s. Much better experience so far, and having 24gb also helps if you run a number of docker images.
mey 9y ago
In the same boat, I love my Surface book. The primary reason I would upgrade is for i7 and 16 gb at this point. At this point the price to replace a system that is working great I can't justify. As a result I will probably upgrade to the SB2 in a few years and still be very happy.
achompas 9y ago
> I'm glad this thing is still working like new and I don't have huge urges to upgrade because I suddenly feel inferior, like some other tech companies try to pull... I don't get this. Your feelings of inferiority are your own feelings, not the fault of a tech company's marketing agency or some other external agent.
chrismorgan 9y ago
The Surface Book was good enough on paper that I ordered one without ever having seen one in person, and being willing to switch from Linux (Arch with i3wm) to Windows for it. It has not disappointed me.

scarface74 9y ago

I don’t think most of the comments are about the computer, they are more about the poor marketing. Even that’s not entirely fair. The submitted link was to the blog post, not the marketing page that someone else posted.

Fnoord 9y ago

If you don't like the OS, can you not slap Linux on it? I found this thread on that subject [1] not sure how feasible it is. [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/SurfaceLinux/comments/3qcqha/ubuntu_on_surface_book/ https://www.reddit.com/r/SurfaceLinux/comments/3qcqha/ubuntu...

jsl1212 9y ago
Yep. I run latest Ubuntu on my Surface Pro 4 and it's great. The touchscreen doesn't work, although there are plenty of custom kernels out there that would fix that.
- 0xFFC 9y ago
  Oh this laptop was bot detachable and didn’t have touchscreen! Man, I would have bought it in heartbeat. I don’t reason why Microsoft pushes touchscreen anymore. Considering their Win10Phone is dead already as they are the one admit it. So we have detachable Surface Pro which is great. But we can a surface laptop without touchscreen, on it.
  - roryisok 9y ago
    There's a surface laptop without a detachable screen, it's called the surface laptop. It does have a touchscreen but if you don't want that just don't touch it. You can even disable it permanently in device manager if you like
- komali2 9y ago
  >The touchscreen doesn't work Doesn't that eliminate one of the primary draws of the platform? I love taking notes and whiteboarding on my SP3.
- skinnymuch 9y ago
  You still like the Surface Pro enough with the touch screen not working? One of its biggest draws? That's seems quite nice. Major points in the Surface series favor.

gamad 9y ago

I have the original Surface Book. I like it. I used to use Macs. Microsoft won't pay astroturfers to lurk in hacker news. Too bad.

kpxxx 9y ago

That's because Microsoft is trash. Typing this from an SP3, which I overall like very much. I was given this, so I have no misgivings. But the overall sloppiness of Windows and the years of varying quirky behavior I've had with this thing has been very annoying. Windows has an excuse when the hardware is arbitrary, but with the surface line there is no excuse. If I had paid more than a few hundred dollars for an SP3, I would be quite upset with the numerous annoyances. As of now, it generally works ok. Of course Windows is still trash (which app do I use for settings again)? But yeah, once you start taking people's money in Apple ballpark (and these are not cheap), make things work at least as good as Apple (which, yes, isn't perfect), or expect negative comments.

skinnymuch 9y ago
You can expect negative comments for every OS in existence. You seem to dislike Windows quite a bit. To the point where it seems personal or you have a vendetta against it. Yes things like settings are silly in modern Windows. But they aren't make or break stuff. There's major positives to be seen from Windows too. They are the only major player trying to get touch working on desktop. That's not easy to do. You don't specify what sloppiness or "years of varying quirky behavior" so I can't say much about that. If I wanted to really criticize the other OSes I have experience with - MacOS and Ubuntu. I'm sure I could come up with sloppiness issues and varying quirky behavior too. It wouldn't be hard at all, but it wouldn't be right either. They are both solid OSes overall (at least for now).
- kpxxx 9y ago
  > You seem to dislike Windows quite a bit. To the point where it seems personal or you have a vendetta against it. I have better things to do then have a "vendetta" against either a corporation or a piece of equipment (I don't know which you were insinuating). At the same time I have no reason to defend commercial entities that should do better. Like I said, I use the goddamn thing (SP3) as a daily driver for mobile use. It doesn't change the fact that numerous things have been appallingly broken for a stack completely controlled by Microsoft. I absolutely do not care to enumerate the "quirky behavior". For that you can go to answers.microsoft.com and also get a laugh observing that shitshow of unhelpfulness.