Surface Pro 4 - I feel ashamed for buying it.

I bought this device a few days ago and besides problems i don't think i have experienced anything else with it. Bought this device for my boss, thinking that it would replace his desktop/laptop/tablet.

The first time i set it up, OneNote wasn't working. I had to go to some forums to read about the problem. Solved it by tweaking some garbage in the powershell. OneNote is now working, but not 100%. Sometimes it doesn't start when i use the pen. There are also instances when i clip something with OneNote and the Pen, it saves the image into a new "note", but the image immediately disappears after a second. Have to close OneNote and use the Pen again. What a disgrace.

Then started the default Mail application. Didn't work either. Had to tweak even more garbage in the powershell.

Then Microsoft Store was crashing right at the startup. Tweaked again, only that i've messed it up so badly that i had to restore from a "restore point". Fixed the problem after a few hours, again with the Powershell.

I thought that the problems would end at this point, but no. I had to experience bad screen flickering on battery, using the "suggested" mode. I'm ashamed to even give this device to my boss, because if he sees the flickering, what the hell do i tell him ? That it's normal ?

The fan also starts going nuts when the CPU goes at over 20%. The sound is pretty horrible, given that the current desktop has a Fractal r4, which cancels the noise pretty well. Good luck with having it in on a meeting or in a skype conversation.

The battery is a mess too. I can't use the Surface for more than 4-5 hours without plugging it into a power source. I would probably save more by using the "suggested" mode, but i prefer to go with "brighter", because it gets rid of the flickering.

Today i'm struggling with Microsoft Store again. It tells me "Check your internet connection Error - see details". Disconnected the wireless adapter, restarted the pc, still not working.
I can't wait to lose more hours on trying to repair this problem.

Also, the Microsoft Store is so poor in the apps library that i can't even find a decent PDF reader where i could add and personalize my own library. Something that could at least be 50% of what IBooks is.

I don't even want to get into the UAC subject. It seems like Windows 10 doesn't like when you disable UAC, unlike with Windows 7. Disabling UAC is usually the first thing i do when i install a windows, because i don't have time to confirm every stupid window that tells me that the .exe could be dangerous. When i disable UAC, i have problems with permissions. I have to run files with right click and "Run as Administrator". Sometimes i have problem copying files because of the permissions.

Another thing, I'm still wondering why they didn't place a magnet for the Pen right above the webcam. I have to remove the pen every time i use my device in landscape mode. I guess that this will probably be an innovative "feature" for the next Surface".


Anyways, to make it short: I wouldn't recommend this device to anyone. It had an immense potential but it ended by being a disgrace. I'm afraid to give it to my boss because of the random errors that he could encounter during a trip. He cannot afford to screw things up during a product presentation in front of potential customers.

 

Welcome to the forum

I have no idea what powershell "garbage" you're talking about but if you are fully patched and using brightness above 25% and have a good WiFi connection most of the issues you have ruin into shouldn't be there. A few of your problems could be because of a bad/poor WiFi, including opening OneNote. My suggestion would be to at least do a refresh if not a full reset. Start from scratch. None of the people I support who are using the SP4 are having any of those issues.

The only thing someone else needs to answer is your question about the PDF reader, but there are a bunch of them out there.

 

The updates that i have installed so far.



The WiFi connection almost always shows full signal.

 

Do you also have an external WD drive attached? Some of those have proven to conflict with WiFi, among other things.

 

What about the fact that your firmware install failed (twice)?

 

Don't have anything attached. Also, enabled UAC and the Microsoft Problem still persists.
0X80072EFD.
Tried to re-register the MS Store app in powershell. Tried wsreset.exe. Disabled/Enabled my internet connection. Restarted the Surface. Signed with another account in Store. Nothing works. It is tempting to do a refresh, but the thought of re-installing everything is what keeps me away. I will see...

Edit: Fixed it by going back in time via "restore points". Time to go to the next chapter.

Also, regarding to the firmware failing, i think that it was successfully installed shortly after.
The driver version for the "Intel HD 520" is 20.19.15.4326, which came after the one that addressed the flickering (included in the November update)

I see that some are saying that the flickering is again addressed in the "intel" update (with 4352 at the end) which wasn't released by MS as an update yet.

 

I would do the whole reset and see if everything appears to work before installing anything. If it doesn't, get it exchanged.

 

I would do a fresh start. Download the image from the Microsoft website and get that taken care of. As a rule of thumb for laptops, I always do a fresh install for anyone who is getting a new device. It usually works a lot better.

 

Isn't "ashamed" a bit melodramatic?

Edit: Just to add I have had UAC disabled from the moment I took this out of the box and have no problems downloading or running any app from M-Store. As for PDF readers there are literally dozens of them, not sure why that is an issue.

 

It sounds like it could be one of a number of things: 1) Your hardware is faulty, 2) you have installed some programs that interfere with the proper running and battery management of your device, and 3) something weird happened during the update process and has screwed up your Windows install. #2 and #3 can be ruled out by doing a system refresh and/or a fresh install of Windows 10 to start over from scratch. Once you've installed Windows, do all updates and then try to use it for a bit without installing anything else to see if everything is fine before you start adding programs.