Microsoft refuses to clarify policy on replacement Surface Pro 4’s

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Microsoft’s uneven and unpredictable policy for replacing Surface Pro 4 tablets with hardware failures has created ill will and angry customers. There
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woody, GreatAndPowerfulTech

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In my case, Microsoft has created a permanent non-Surface customer. If their service was excellent and the products easy to repair, I’d highly recommend Surface devices to our customers. Instead, I steer business customers that require a light thin Windows laptop to other companies with products that meet their needs and receive as high of an iFixit repair-ability rating as possible. Destroying a machine to service it is never a plus. Surface devices, except for the Ryzen powered laptop, are all terrible devices in that regard.

Apparently, MS is happy with the niche they have with the Surface products.

GreatAndPowerfulTech

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GAPT: If I might make a suggestion: Perhaps you and others like you, with ample experience on this matter, because of your occupation taking care for others of numerous devices, could start somewhere, as a service to others, a new thread where: (a) there are links to sites with sound information on the reparability of laptops and (b) you yourselves could recommend certain laptops primarily from this point of view, along with your reasons for doing so.

Ex-Windows user (Win. 98, XP, 7); since mid-2017 using also macOS. Presently on Monterey 12.15 & sometimes running also Linux (Mint).

MacBook Pro circa mid-2015, 15" display, with 16GB 1600 GHz DDR3 RAM, 1 TB SSD, a Haswell architecture Intel CPU with 4 Cores and 8 Threads model i7-4870HQ @ 2.50GHz.
Intel Iris Pro GPU with Built-in Bus, VRAM 1.5 GB, Display 2880 x 1800 Retina, 24-Bit color.
macOS Monterey; browsers: Waterfox "Current", Vivaldi and (now and then) Chrome; security apps. Intego AV

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GreatAndPowerfulTech wrote:

Instead, I steer business customers that require a light thin Windows laptop to other companies with products that meet their needs and receive as high of an iFixit repair-ability rating as possible. Destroying a machine to service it is never a plus. Surface devices, except for the Ryzen powered laptop, are all terrible devices in that regard.

Surface Pro X recently scored a more reasonable 6/10 repairability with iFixit:

https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Microsoft+Surface+Pro+X+Teardown/127703

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Surface Pro X may still be improved in overall repairability compared to earlier Surface models, but the batteries are still glued in and very difficult to replace.

Which, in turn, leaves purchasers with the same dilemma that SP4 owners have today:  Will Microsoft support these devices in 3 years if something goes wrong with the battery?

 

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What’s support from other manufacturers like without a warranty after three years?

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See, that’s the thing.  You can usually buy batteries for business/workstation laptops from the manufacturers for several years after the device was released.  I just checked Dell’s web site for a quick example…. replacement battery for a Latitude E6540 (a 4th-gen Core i7 system released in 2013) costs about $100.

The non-serviceable battery on the Surface line is a bit of an outlier in this space.

 

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digitalmediaphile wrote:

– and what would the satisfaction percentage be today? If customers posting in the SP4 Microsoft Answers Community Forum were polled..

Is that the best place to find satisfied customers?

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Sadly, it’s probably the best place to find DISsatisfied customers!

Dell E5570 Latitude, Intel Core i5 6440@2.60 GHz, 8.00 GB - Win 10 Pro

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