Okay that's pretty crazy... Yeah I know all machines can have problems, but five?! Imagine what the cost of repairing or swapping them might be
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Consumer Reports Pulls Purchase Recommendation for Microsoft Surface Devices
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Na the windows 10 OS isn't bad nowadays, i have seen high returns for hardware. Displays/GPU failing.
I know it's an Einstein quote but it's total rubbish because isn't "doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result" the exact definition of practising something to get good at it?
No because what he was saying is "doing the SAME thing over and over and expecting a different result" he didn't mean learning from your mistakes! If you do exactly the same thing over and over yet you still expect a different result (even tho you have done the thing a number of times) it's insane!
I'm not surprised by this article tho, I've heard a number of people complaining about the Surface and Windows in general, it's always been the same with Microsoft tho really. I use to own Windows computers and they were terrible, once i switched to a Mac it was so easy, the user experience is by far the best and Mac's tend to last for many years (i still have a 2011 MacBook Pro). The Surface range has never appealed to me it's trying to solve a problem to something that doesn't even exist (2 in 1's) with touch screen on a computer, which i find a silly idea.
I lost respect for them in 1994 when they rated GM's Saturn sedan higher than the Honda Civic.
Thank you for the correction. I agree windows 10 is good. In fact I much prefer it to osx (never thought I would see the day). I said buggy, but I meant has hardware problems. Thanks for pointing out my terminology was wrong.
I love the comments that always seem to go the same way - "I always used to own Windows machines and they were so terrible, then I got a Mac and it was great"... what a bunch of BS. I personally think the Surface line is awesome, but prefer Apple products and macOS/iOS and so wouldn't go Windows as my primary system.
Personally, I grew up hating Macs, then slowly started to come around once I got an iPod - then in college wanted a Mac and was jealous of the Macbooks and such that others had, but I couldn't really afford them at the time and thus had Windows desktops that were great (except for the Dell XPS w/Win 7 that I bought and struggled with for 2 years... though they finally replaced it with a new XPS beast after an email blast to Michael Dell and the Board and it was fantastic and lasted almost a decade). Then I got a MBP in 2011 and at this point can't see switching back to Windows for my personal machine (though I would buy a Surface just to have as a secondary device if I could justify spending money like that, but I can't), though I did own an original Surface Pro for awhile in addition to my MBP, but returned it as it was a little too buggy in that first iteration.
My dad swapped his 15" Retina for a Surface Book and hasn't had any problems at all in a couple years now, my mom has a Surface Pro 4 and again, no problems... so from my anecdotal evidence, they don't seem to agree with CR reporting. Also I wouldn't use CR for reviews anymore as many have said, and I thought the whole Mac thing seemed like an outlier in comparison to other reviews at the time as well.
Personally, I grew up hating Macs, then slowly started to come around once I got an iPod - then in college wanted a Mac and was jealous of the Macbooks and such that others had, but I couldn't really afford them at the time and thus had Windows desktops that were great (except for the Dell XPS w/Win 7 that I bought and struggled with for 2 years... though they finally replaced it with a new XPS beast after an email blast to Michael Dell and the Board and it was fantastic and lasted almost a decade). Then I got a MBP in 2011 and at this point can't see switching back to Windows for my personal machine (though I would buy a Surface just to have as a secondary device if I could justify spending money like that, but I can't), though I did own an original Surface Pro for awhile in addition to my MBP, but returned it as it was a little too buggy in that first iteration.
My dad swapped his 15" Retina for a Surface Book and hasn't had any problems at all in a couple years now, my mom has a Surface Pro 4 and again, no problems... so from my anecdotal evidence, they don't seem to agree with CR reporting. Also I wouldn't use CR for reviews anymore as many have said, and I thought the whole Mac thing seemed like an outlier in comparison to other reviews at the time as well.
CR is the benchmark for this type of review and analysis which other publications chase after. They have no agenda to push or axe to grind. Comments like yours are clearly biased for some unknown reason. Please elaborate your anti-CR bias. Thanks.
No I wouldn't say it was false. I would say it was poor journalism and testing practice. Consumer Reports saw very uneven results in battery life (from 3 to 10 hours) and so they reported poor/uneven battery life and so failed the laptop.
However, their test condition had Safari in developer mode, which had a bug at the time which hurt battery life. Developer mode in Safari is not a scenario for normal consumers, and this condition was also not disclosed in their report. They could have just noticed that battery life was perfectly fine for all other applications and even Safari itself when not in developer mode. They also could have just contacted Apple to ask about it, and Apple could have investigated and discovered the bug in developer mode.
But the test was for this one very particular scenario that was bugged and after having strange, uncharacteristic results they didn't investigate, they just jumped the gun, ran with the story, and it raced around the world.
This Surface story of course is different. It is the result of a significant amount of consumer feedback, so I do give it more weight than a single entity performing an artificial test unwilling to look into a strange result.
Not sure what you are delighted about? Microsoft Surface Pro is nothing more than a laptop minus the keyboard that you have to buy separately. Calling it a tablet is a strong reach especially considering that there are no apps for the platform. No-one is developing apps for the platform because they are tired of being burned by Microsoft. Google and Snapchat are an examples of developers staying away from the platform. I would go on but it's really like beating a dead horse (in your case, a dead horse with blinders on). Microsoft is failing.
Supply chain Tim, on the other hand, continues to run a well oiled machine and now has the entire industry hostage as the world awaits the next iPhone. When was the last time Microsoft ever had the industry on edge? Windows 95? Ha!
Enjoy the Microsoft products. I know it's lonely over there. Hope you didn't run out and buy a Lumia phone.
Take care!
Biased? Yes and No.
They review like an engineer. It fits onto a spreadsheet and can be evaluated in such a fashion.
They are missing consumer usability and subjective impression.
t. Didn't cr make commotions about macbook 2016? All sudden phil showed up and said hey...we got it fixed ....and all sudden cr was like "opps mbp is fine and dandy."
And here's back in 2012 when one of the forum poster mentioned about complaint against apple.
http://macdailynews.com/2012/07/10/is-consumer-reports-having-its-revenge-against-apple/
A bit off topic, but why not? I've owned three of their products, one being a 1994 Saturn I bought new. All three had numerous problems.
The Saturn was so bad that I traded it in after only two years. Bought a Honda Civic which I then owned for 17 years.
I have zero respect for Consumer Reports and their ratings.
They also rated Stroh's beer the mass produced beer.
I've owned my 2012 Cruze for over five years and over 101000 miles. It has been more reliable then my 2002 Honda Civic LX, which by the way didn't have ABS. A feature my Dad's Grand AM had in 1993 almost a decade before. Speaking of my Dad's Grand AM that car was a tank. We had it for over 11 years. I learned how to drive in it and so did my sister. It had two problems over the 11 years and 300,000+ miles. A shock that had to be replaced and the power steering pump died.
Before you deride the Pontiac for that, my Civic developed the same issues in 2009 which was a shorter amount of time and milage then the Grand AM. Not to mention my Honda Civic had an issue with the idle bar breaking.
I'm not saying Honda's are all bad because I love our 2010 Honda Fit Sport but I don't drink the cool aide regarding GM being horrible. Other then the design styles they are going with for their current new designs and their lack of a coupe that isn't a sports car. I'll probably end up getting a Honda Civic coupe in two or three years unless Chevy pulls a three door hatchback redesign of the Malibu with a nicer front end.
This is based on past experiences 10-20 years ago when my mom subscribed to CR and I used their recommendations. Maybe some of my complaints are no longer valid, but CR still feels somehow out of place in the world I live in now.
1) A couple of products I purchased which were recommended by CR failed. Sure it can happen, but I still felt let down nonetheless.
2) Outdated info/discontinued products still being reviewed, but no longer available or difficult to obtain from normal retailers/regional retailers.
3) New products often took 4-6 months, sometimes longer, after initial release to be reviewed. That irritated me the most since I thought I might as well wait now for the next generation of the product. I'm not sure how fast they are now, but the sites I go to will often review a product within days of release. A month at most. That's what you should expect now.
4) Free and better sites that I've found to be very reliable (so far). CR was slow to adapt to the digital reality, failing to realize that just like newspapers, their magazine increasingly didn't matter to the next generation of consumers and now they've become irrelevant to people 40 and under, maybe even 50 and under, hiding behind their paywall. I'm not saying that they weren't helpful to a lot of people over the years with their reviews, perhaps even making life-saving differences, but the times have changed and CR feels/felt like one of the many 20th Century dinosaurs that still roam, trying to hang on to their dwindling base. They may have a decent chance of survival, but more changes probably will be necessary for that to happen.
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OK. I apologize to everyone for the thread drift. But I have to switch places with EB for a moment in regards to design.
I actually think from an aesthetics point many of GM's designs surpass Honda. I rented a Chevy Trax several months ago and I really liked that little vehicle. It also seems that GM is designing the Cameron to look a lot more "classic" looking.
Honda's recent designs, to me at least, are a turn off. I particularly don't like the recent Civic. The CR-V shows a little promise.
Of course, I always wanted the Honda Civic Hatchback of the early to mid 1990's. That always looked like a fun little car to drive. I opted for the sedan because at the time it seemed more practical.
If it weren't for my huge concern over GM's reliability (and the fact that I can't financially afford a new vehicle) I would give the Chevy Trax or Buick Encore serious consideration. It seemed like the perfect car for me at least.
The thing about the Civic vs the Cruze and Malibu is I like the front end better on the Civic and hate the back end of the civic less then I hate the front on the Malibu and the back of the new Cruze. Neither is perfect like my Cruze is now. Honestly I might simply trade my 2012 Cruze LTZ for a 2014 Cruze LTZ simply to get the backup camera, side blindspot detection and bluetooth music and save my money.
If you do go with the Trax the engine is the same engine used in the first generation Chevy Cruze and all the Sonic models. It is tried and true and in my eyes it has proven to be a very reliable engine design.
Anyways sorry for going off topic.I don't know much about the 1994 Saturn that Consumer Reports was raving about but I'm sure they had their reasons. I know consumer reports has dumped on GM so I don't feel like consumer reports is just saying one brand is good and the rest are crap.
Plus it's very telling how much Microsoft charges for their iMac challenger and then they try to hide the fact that their i7 is not the same i7 that Apple uses and is in fact inferior. I don't like those kind of misleading tactics.
Your agist prejudice aside, what you post is only from your personal experience. But the reality is that CR isn't bought off or influenced by advertiser such as your typical webpage is. For a classic example, look no further than CR dinging the MBP last year for having lousy battery life. The users knew it and pointed it out in forums such as this and Apple discussions site but no other reviews picked this out. That's your problem when a webpage gets free samples from a widget supplier. Those reviews are biased and can't be trusted, nor will they rock the cozy relationship with the mothership. That is why CR is the benchmark. Indeed, the fact CR pointed out this problem caused Apple to react and forced them to FIX the problem. But yes, like you say, CR is irrelevant.
Cute.
But back to my point. If you think Apple is being innovative with laptops and tablets now with Cook more than Jobs; and if you think Microsoft was more innovative with Ballmer than now; then I guess we will agree to disagree.
I love the blend of touch, pointing device, and pen. You've got it on Windows. You don't on MacOS. Just got home tonight from spending 28 hour in planes and airports returning from the other side of the world. My colleague was traveling with a Dell laptop, MacBook, and iPad. I was traveling with a Surface Pro. One of us was envious of the other, and it wasn't me.
Microsoft hasn't got it perfect yet, but it keeps getting better and better. Apple has chosen to not be in that game. Good news for them is they sell twice as much hardware to each customer.
I'm not denying anything you say, but the reality is if you ask most people in their 20s or 30s if they used CR before they purchased a product or plan to in the future, you'll most likely be answered with blank stares, followed by 'no'. Is CR irrelevant? You ask different people, you'll get different answers, but you will notice a trend, one not good for CR. With that being said, I'm sure the people at CR are busy not only with testing products, but finding ways to appeal to the people who will help them keep the lights on and more in the future.
I do hope they're successful, given their role in improving all of our lives and the positive changes made by manufacturers in the past, some of them live-saving, because of CR. Of course, I had some bad experiences, but we all believe in second chances and perhaps CR has found ways to remedy my criticisms by now which I'm unaware of given the long absence of CR in the research I do prior to purchasing products.
They continue support because their bread and butter is enterprise not the consumer market, the opposite is true with Apple.
Windows+Office+SharePoint is a compelling product stack
You only had to see the issues week after week Paul Thurrott ( http://www.thurrott.com kinda like a Macrumors for Microsoft stuff) was having last year with his surface and then the comments of other users having the same issues to get a glimpse of what these devices were like to live with, not a premium device experience.