Surface Pro 4

[DI Burnside]

You didn’t install AC in your shed ? Poor planning\design....

[Careless Whisperer]

You didn’t install AC in your shed ? Poor planning\design....

It's a fair cop, guv.

These last few days have clearly been out if spec for the insulation. Heating up in the morning sun, then not cooling down sufficiently during the day and night, before heating up again in the morning. Each day it's getting hotter and hotter in here.

Will be fine once the rain comes tomorrow...

[HappyGoLucky]

I've finally found a weakness with my Pro 4... it can't handle this heat any better than I can.

Today, I'm having to do my drawings in bursts of 45 minutes, then turn it off to cool down for a bit, otherwise it's shutting itself down.

Arse.

Oddness, mine has lived in the conditions you guys are temporarily suffering day in day out and I've never had any issues.

Like Deuts, I've got the dock hooked up to 2 screens and I'm still really happy with it.

I do keep looking at the Studio just because but in all reality the SP4 rocks.

[CJ+]

Still loving my SP5. Don't feel any need to upgrade.

[NNK]

I love my SP5, far better than my SurfaceBook for what I do on it.

[DI Burnside]

For reasons I've switched to a Dell 5290 2 in 1 at work and it's virtually identical to the Surface, don't know how they compare price wise in the real world (we get a decent discount from Dell)

[Dirk]

Dell build quality seems to be very good these days. We subjected a number of laptops to shock testing and one of theirs beat all the others and all the ruggedised ones.

These are massive shocks btw- you would not believe how much of an s-shape laptops can survive (for an instant on slow-mo) and stay in once piece

[Careless Whisperer]

Have any of you Surface Pro users been experiencing battery problems recently?

In the past month or so, I've had a few occasions where my SP4 has just shut off without warning when on battery power. When plugged in and restarted it shows the battery as empty, even though I'd only had between 0.5 to 2 hours usage since fully charged. Most days I still get the normal circa 6-7 hours battery life I'd expect form my type of usage, so it isn't a consistent issue.

A spot of Googling suggests this isn't an unknown problem, but there isn't a fix yet. I'm just running a couple of updates now in the hope it might sort things.

It's a bit of a bummer as I have got used to using my SP4 in meetings instead of paper and a pen. Will be a bit of a catastrophe if it dies during a meeting...

[NNK]

Have any of you Surface Pro users been experiencing battery problems recently?

In the past month or so, I've had a few occasions where my SP4 has just shut off without warning when on battery power. When plugged in and restarted it shows the battery as empty, even though I'd only had between 0.5 to 2 hours usage since fully charged. Most days I still get the normal circa 6-7 hours battery life I'd expect form my type of usage, so it isn't a consistent issue.

A spot of Googling suggests this isn't an unknown problem, but there isn't a fix yet. I'm just running a couple of updates now in the hope it might sort things.

It's a bit of a bummer as I have got used to using my SP4 in meetings instead of paper and a pen. Will be a bit of a catastrophe if it dies during a meeting...

My Surface Book used to do that and other weird battery stuff, one of the reasons I got a Pro.
The Book is plugged in all day now as my office pc so have no idea if it still does it.

[Deuteronomy]

I've noticed the battery life isn't as good as it used to be, but that seems to be the way of all battery devices.

[Careless Whisperer]

I've noticed the battery life isn't as good as it used to be, but that seems to be the way of all battery devices.

Yeah, but this isn't just a gradual decline. This is a random thing, meaning I'm losing trust in it. Most of the time I can do a whole days work on batter power, but sometimes is will die without warning after a couple of hours and on one occasion after half an hour.

If I can't at least go into an hour long meeting with confidence it will last throughout, then it's scrap to me. That sort of thing p*sses me off bigtime on devices when they're only 3 or 4 years old. Perhaps I'm the odd one out, but I expect equipment to last longer when it's been a significant investment.

[CJ+]

If I can't at least go into an hour long meeting with confidence it will last throughout, then it's scrap to me.

This is fair, but this

That sort of thing p*sses me off bigtime on devices when they're only 3 or 4 years old. Perhaps I'm the odd one out, but I expect equipment to last longer when it's been a significant investment.

is misplaced.

IT kit is never an investment - it's effectively a consumable, like toilet paper or instant coffee. There's a reason corp IT depts depreciate stuff down to zero over a three-year period. You should do the same. If it's something you use daily and on which your business depends, you should be replacing it before it turns into an unreliable liability.

Also, if you've had a SP4 for 3 years then it's cost you a little over a quid a day. That's not too bad, is it?

[Careless Whisperer]

If I can't at least go into an hour long meeting with confidence it will last throughout, then it's scrap to me.

This is fair, but this

That sort of thing p*sses me off bigtime on devices when they're only 3 or 4 years old. Perhaps I'm the odd one out, but I expect equipment to last longer when it's been a significant investment.

is misplaced.

IT kit is never an investment - it's effectively a consumable, like toilet paper or instant coffee. There's a reason corp IT depts depreciate stuff down to zero over a three-year period. You should do the same. If it's something you use daily and on which your business depends, you should be replacing it before it turns into an unreliable liability.

Also, if you've had a SP4 for 3 years then it's cost you a little over a quid a day. That's not too bad, is it?

It's a lot of money to spend on a bit of kit to do the job. Perhaps I should have just 'invested' in a cheap £250 laptop and a pad of paper and a pen - all of which would still be working now.

[CJ+]

Do that then.

[Deuteronomy]

What makes you think a cheap laptop will be any more reliable CW?

[span]

I've definitely found that the more I've spent on a laptop, the longer it's lasted. But that's up to a max of just over 4 years, the Dell I'm on now.

(although the 'g' key doesn't work, I have 'g' permanently on my clipboard and ctrl V every time I need to use it, which gets annoying when I use another computer because it's totally automatic now. So time for a change I think)

[Il Duce]

(although the 'g' key doesn't work, I have 'g' permanently on my clipboard and ctrl V every time I need to use it, which gets annoying when I use another computer because it's totally automatic now. So time for a change I think)

Laugh.

Utter madness!

[Careless Whisperer]

What makes you think a cheap laptop will be any more reliable CW?

My Wife's £250 Toshiba is about 4 years old and still going strong, despite being abused by wife and kids. Obviously doesn't have the functionality of the SP4, but cost about a fifth of the price too.

[tanglerat]

My Acer Aspire is 10 years old now.

It's a bit slow, but still going good.
I reckon it's helped it's longevity, not lumping it about everywhere.

[HappyGoLucky]

My Wife's £250 Toshiba is about 4 years old and still going strong, despite being abused by wife and kids. Obviously doesn't have the functionality of the SP4, but cost about a fifth of the price too.

But is that expected to or capable of doing 4hr presentations unplugged? Probs not.

I'm still well loving my SP4, but thinking of making it the home PC and upgrading for exactly the reasons CJ mentioned. It's a business tool and I'd be fcuked if it died on me on the job.

The new Dells & Lenovo's look good, but I'm quite tempted to stick with MS and get another surface... Every time I start configuring any of these things I end up with something approaching S$4k which is just madness, but I can't help myself. The company is paying for it, but it's still a lot of cash.