This little guy is so useful and handy when working. Very happy with my 16 gb spx sq2. Only 256 gb, cloud storage ftw, but plan on swapping in a large 1 tb nvme shortly. Essentially maxing out what I can do with a surface pro X.

Since 2020/2021 all we heard is M chip, M chip, M chip, build quality. And I get it, even as a lifelong Apple hater on the verge of just pulling the trigger on a MacBook Pro (even though I still can’t find my way around MacOS after 3years with an m1 Mac mini while my windows skills are IT-pro employable) because it seemed the Mac guys were living in the futuristic citadel as Windows devices appeared to be in the slums surrounding it. The MacBook like the Rolex of computing right now.

Framework is cool but it isn’t the answer the overall market needs, though its presence is needed. Earlier ARM surface devices were too far in infancy.

The Surface Ultra can be the answer and game-changing. They’re capitalizing and stressing on Mac’s main weaknesses:

-lack of repairability while Microsoft is stressing repairability

-local LLM usage (Apple is lacking imo)

-touchscreen

-gaming (looks like they’re getting partnership from game studios to commit to ARM compatibility

Repairability cannot be understated. It will make the Apple device the one in the slums by comparison, and force adaptations from Apple.

Microsoft has a chance to save the part of the market like me that hates MacOS yet is still considering the switch due to no real rivals from Windows devices for such a sleek efficient powerful futuristic minimalist device.

They just have to really nail down gaming compatibility, even if not right away. But really great move by Microsoft to stress repairability, pledge to gaming compatibility, and LLM usage

This is the first device that actually made me believe in ARM Windows, as I went out of my way to get Intel surface pro 11 because I thought ARM was a miscalculated move that could be abandoned

THE BIGGEST BLUNDER

That hideous CoPilot button. Filthy. At least go back to calling it Cortana. Then it would actually be cool af, I wouldn’t mind that at all. The mfing Cortana button, fuck “CoPilot”. Massive blunder here Microsoft, aiding a lot to the Microslop viewpoint.

TLDR; the Surface Laptop Ultra can be the answer the market has been looking for, where even lifelong windows users are switching to MacBooks, as it stresses repairability, gaming, local LLM, and has a touch screen. Very clever positioning by Microsoft, but they’ve gotta do something about that hideous CoPilot button

Windows can be cool again.

The Windows Laptop Problem. Why act like Surface laptops don't satisfy most the things he criticize the Dell laptop for. I know the Surface laptop 7 cost more than the neo but its 10 X a better laptop.

so lately my cousin borrowed my surface laptop go. But when i get it back, i saw this. I asked her then she said she don’t know how to use the touchpad so she just use the touchscreen

That little statement they put out bothered me because the very smart and hardworking people at Microsoft and Intel do not owe us Surface Book/SP4 customers an apology, they did nothing wrong. The person or people that owe customers an apology is whoever made the call to ship the Surface Book and SP4 months before they were ready. If I was on the Surface team I would be very upset that they apologized on my behalf even though I didn't want to release the product yet!

Give it a +1 if you agree

Everyone is comparing it to the M5 but I was personally more interested in seeing how it stacks up vs M1, M2, M3 etc. given that Apple has had years to fine-tune things, and even my M1 is still an incredible laptop. I honestly didn't expect it to score so well and was especially impressed with GPU performance. Cinema 4D + Redshift represents a real workflow for me. I like using them as benchmarks since I find it translates pretty well to real world performance, especially Redshift.

Looking at my Surface Book 2 right here which won’t charge beyond 0%, well-equipped with a malfunctioned trackpad, MagSafe copycat charger which doesn’t even work 99% of all time, I can’t help but wonder what have I done to deserve this…

It all started 3 years ago, when an idiot full of naïveté purchased a Surface Book 2. “It’s Microsoft, must be as good as the MacBooks” “whoa! Look at the design” i thought, while making the worst purchase of my life. I thought I was gonna make the most out of the 3000 dollars spent on a freaking pc. When the Surface Book 2 was shipped, I was all over it, I couldn’t leave my pc alone.

However, weird things started to happen. “Perhaps it was my fault as a company as big as Microsoft wouldn’t do any fault” I gaslighted myself as my GPU started disconnecting by itself. I, as a responsible consumer, contacted Microsoft support. Apart from the Microsoft technician trying to do things I’ve done (duhh, I’m gen z), everything went well and I finally am approved for a free replacement device.

I spent a week waiting for my new device was in anxiety, since I was a student, living alone, and this wasn’t a cheap purchase at all. When the replacement product is shipped, my life was full of hope until I saw my new surface book 2 DENTED! You shipped me an old device which probably was someone else’s malfunctioned one?! That low microfuckingsoft?! And guess what, things didn’t go better. I got my device replaced for a total of 4 TIMES!! with multiple issues.

Enough is enough and I decided to keep my fifth device for good this time. You think my device was good? No no no, I was just tired of spending all these time back and forth with Microsoft and decided to give my rights up as a consumer. The issues were irritating but minimal, the MagSafe copycat started to break down and only charge when it was in good mood idk, and eventually my trackpad stopped working. Who need trackpads when you have a mouse right.

Sometime this year, my SB 2 started to not charge beyond 0% new achievement unlocked I guess. I couldn’t use my SB2 anymore as it was unacceptably laggy when on desktop without any apps launching. The laptop would just go off when the already funny charger disconnect by itself.

And all of that leads to today, why I’m writing this article. I scheduled a repair with Microsoft and guess what, 600 DOLLARS to repair my device! THIS WHOLE SHITSHOW IS ABOMINABLE! I finally decide to write to warn others and expose how shitty Microsoft actually is (as if windows isn’t shitty enough). I genuinely hope Microsoft will go out of business one day, when windows will be replaced by the far more superior, stable macOS. Microsoft is nothing but a scam, a whole 3000 dollars down the drain, with a piece of trash I don’t know what to do with it.

Edit 1: I got my SB2 fixed because what else can I do huh, I just hope Microsoft use all money they scammed to make better products instead of introducing gimmicky features which doesn’t even work.

Edit 2: Guess what, after I got by SB2 fixed, the screen keeps disconnecting by itself 🥹🥹. It’s completely unusable as the tablet mode keeps popping up every 3 seconds. I love you Microsoft and Surface 🫶🏻🫶🏻, I guess God have the best plan, you guys have made an atheist to believe in god all over again and that’s a significant accomplishment! Congrats 🤗

New Surface owner here.

I did a google search to find the best drawing software for the Surface. Came to this subreddit and found most people recommended Leonardo.

It is amazing! It was exactly what I was looking for! So elegant, so smooth and responsive, you can just focus on your drawing. I was suspicious at first since it's still in beta, but this software is extremely stable and reliable. I'm actually having more fun with my Surface+Leonardo combo, than I did with Wacom+photoshop!

Not to sound cheesy, but I've been kind of down lately and drawing on the Surface has brought me so much joy, and I just wanted to come here and say thank you. There's just this freedom with the Surface, you can draw anytime you want, anywhere you want. And the Leonardo app is made in a way that I don't even need a keyboard. The other day I was waiting in line, and I could just pick up my surface from my bag and start drawing, and it was so easy!

Anyway, I'm on a high right now from being so happy with my new purchases, that's why I'm rambling away.

Just wanted to say thank you to this subreddit for selling me on the Surface, and for recommending Leonardo.

Thank you!!

Don't read this sub. The posts at the moment aren't typical user experiences. They're a skewed set of user experiences.

If your new device makes funny noises when it shouldn't, such as the SB creaking, or the fan clicks or the coil whines take it back, it's broken - don't post here.

If something doesn't work, like the SB hinge doesn't detach when it should or there is light bleed on the screen or it won't connect to WiFi/Bluetooth take it back - it's deficient.

If the problem could possibly be a software problem do a clean install and make sure all the drivers are up to date. Then install your desired apps and programs one at a time. If it still doesn't work take it back.

It is expected to get very hot for maybe the first day of use as it installs updates, drivers etc. and indexes itself. Trouble is unlike with a regular hard drive you don't get any indication of this because the SSD is silent.

If you do have a good experience then consider posting.

Microsoft vs Apple.

I want to start this off by saying that there may be something I am missing and if so please do correct me, but I want to write this for others who are looking at this laptop as a potential option. At the current moment I wish I could go back in time and choose something else.

For starters, I believe these laptops were meant to be an ULTIMATE creative machine with a ton of processing power to be able to tackle any obstacles... similar to a MacBook but with a tablet level of flexibility. Unfortunately, none of the software that I would like to use function with this laptop. I would also like to say that although I did research (clearly not enough) many sources brush off the lack of support by saying oh yes, but it is okay because the laptop can emulate non supported software or that this is the future, and companies will support this in the near future. While this is true in some scenarios, you are EXTREMELY limited by this emulation so not all aspects of the software you are trying to run work properly due to the incompatibility, AND it seems that in the almost year of ownership there is no update in developer support for WARM. Don't get me wrong it is a beast at the limited things it can do, but for me personally that means close to nothing in the face of all of the things it cannot do.

I use my laptop for a few things (in theory):

School - Yes, this thing can take notes and browse the web, it does this just fine... BUT... as a engineer, almost none of the software I use such as SolidWorks is supported by this laptop. I am lucky enough to also have a PC setup, so I have to do that work at home. Which kinda negates the purpose and flexibility of a laptop.

Creativity - As a hobby I enjoy creating music and DJing... but this laptop does not allow me to fully utilize Ableton, my music production software of choice due to it not being supported, and Rekordbox which is my DJing software of choice does not work at all. This means that a big portion of the reason I spent money on this laptop for simply does not work. Yes yes I know, I should have better researched... that is why I'm writing this as a warning to other buyers. In my defense I was operating under the assumption that emulation would run them just find AND that because these programs could support an Apple ARM device it would work for my Windows ARM device... it does not mean that at all.

Gaming? - I did not get this laptop to game AT ALL... but it does suck that there is no option to play most all games because WARM is not supported. An Apple ARM device can play many games that this device cannot... and this thing has POWER so it sucks I cannot test it out on a game or two. Minor grievance but I knew that coming into this laptop so take that with a semi grain of salt.

General Laptop Problems- Many times I am watching videos on YouTube, how to fix this, how to change that, BUT those videos are not much of a help because they are not tech support for my device... because I am on ARM. Therefore, I spend hours reading through niche threads and trying wonky workarounds to get certain applications to work only for it to be squandered by the simple realization that oh it does not work because my laptop does not support it.

It is a shame that I am almost $2000 dollars in the hole on a laptop that I rarely use now because I cannot use it for just about any of the reasons, I would typically use my laptop. I trusted the process and the word that emulation works and that developers are working for WARM compatibility software, but I have reached out to many of these companies via tech support for work arounds and all of them say they have no timeline or foreseeable support for my laptop. I now own a $2000 dollar internet browsing machine and feel a bit lost.

If you are a WARM Surface user and you have found a way to make this laptop work for you, please do inform me in the comments... Or if you are someone who does want this laptop because it will work for you let me know I will sell you mine and hunt down one that better suits my use cases (this is a cry for help LOL).

Sorry about the long read but I needed to say all this and maybe help nudge some people in the right direction because a lot of the things I thought I knew about this laptop prior to purchasing I have since realized I was very wrong about. Thanks pals:)

I've been using the SP4 since the week of its launch, and I'm starting to understand why some prefer iOS/OSX products compared to others.

First of all, the device is unbelievably unstable/unreliable:

• infrequent lags and freezes

• countless required manual fixes (few battery fixes + turning functions off + flicker fix + wifi issues etc)

• the pen just stops working randomly

I don't remember buying an apple product and having to constantly check for updates/ spend hours manually fixing issues just to make the device half usable. And even if there were issues, those would be fixed immediately, in the span of a few days after release, rather than months like microsoft seems to be planning on doing.

And as a side-note, the SP4's experience as a 'on-the-fly' tablet is horrible if you get my meaning.

Let's say I quickly wanted to watch a video on youtube while taking a dump. This is what I have to go through:

1. wake it up from its sleep (5-10 sec)

2. move it to my face for winHello or use the horrible touch keyboard for PIN (the PIN keyboard never seems to come up automatically for me),

3. reconnect to wifi (which frequently disconnects after sleep for some reason)

4. open browser and use the touch keyboard (which rarely pops up automatically), and play the video.

No device that calls itself a tablet should take this long to open a goddamn video.

Comparing this to my 5 year old iPad 2, which literally takes less than 10 seconds from sleep to opening a video of my choice, I often find myself abandoning the SP4 for simpler tasks and using the iPad instead.

Yes, I get that this device is far superior in terms of specs. But the usability of the device is just horrible. It just feels like a very unstable PC with a great pen attached to it.

I'm not going to sell it, as it still is a great productivity machine, but goddamn Microsoft, I'm going to be hell of a lot more cautious buying your next product, if this is your idea of a finished product.

In the last couple of days I have seen an insane amount of comments/posts about the lack of usb-c in the new surface laptop and i would like to say: Nobody uses Thunderbolt 3/usb-c. The only "popular" use of it is eGPU and you shouldn't do that with a U-series processor. Most of the usb c accessories are overpriced and have much cheaper usb-a counterparts(e.g. Flash drives). And if you care about docking capabilities you can use the surface dock which will even let you charge the device(something that would have not be available if Microsoft gave you a usb-c port). Sorry for ranting but I just wanted to share my opinions on the matter.

Right now, you could walk into an apple store blindfolded, pick a computer at random and walk out knowing the product works perfectly straight out of the box with zero issues. People have always said this is because apple makes the software and hardware to work well with each other. Now that Microsoft is doing the same and onto it's fourth iteration of the pro line, there still seems to be issues. How does apple do it?

So I got my first Surface device about 2 months ago, and right before I went on vacation about a month ago my device stopped charging, and refused to charge at all. I processed a replacement device and got it back eventually. (In hindsight, I should have just done a return right then and there. Never make compromises on a a device that you pay that much for.) A few days ago the backlight started to go out on my 2nd replacement device, which became especially noticeable at low brightness levels. At this point I was absolutely fed up with Microsoft and their crappy quality control, so I planned on getting it returned since I am in 30 days of my replacement time. But Microsoft refuses to give me a refund, and insists on sending my ANOTHER replacement, even though I told them my woes of their crappy devices and demanded my money back because I am within my replacement/warranty date. The lady insisted that you can only return the device for a refund within 30 days of purchase, which is ridiculous, because I have been having to set up a new computer every 30 days. So I processed a new replacement, (it is surprising how willing they are to do this ), and am probably going to sell it on Ebay for a major loss. This is the last time that I buy a Surface product, and possible a Microsoft product ever again. The thing has been buggy from start, and should never rolled off of the production line. I know that I am probably going to get a bunch of down votes on this subreddit, but this issue becomes apparent every time I open the Surface page. Nothing but bugs and problems. I wish I had't been so naive as to think that they could work the bugs out by the time I bought it. Sorry, just had to rant.