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New Microsoft Surface Pro Owner here! Got some questions about screen scratches!

vazls1

New Member
Hello all!

My brother and his wife both purchased a 128 Gig Surface Pro. After playing around with it for awhile, I went ahead and ponied up for my own. I was needing a new computer since I travel extensively and need to be able to do Office documents and watch Breaking Bad on Netflix.

On the whole, I'm happy with it. Since I spend about half my time in a hotel room, I bought the video out to hook up to the big screen in the hotels. I also run Adobe Inventor and it's great having the access to the big screen.

That being said, I've owned it for about 30 days and I noticed that my screen has gotten marred up really bad. These arent basic hairline scratches that you would expect to see but visible gouges in the glass that you can actually run your fingernail over and feel the indentations on. While they dont seem to affect the function of the syllus and touch screen, I'm really surprised because my Surface leads a rather cushy life compared to my Android devices but this is really unusual considering that this is a 1200 dollar piece of equipment and frankly, I would expect it to hold up a lot better than this, I wouldn't even classify this as normal wear and tear.

That being said, I was wondering if there was anything out there I could use to polish out the screen or if Microsoft offers any recourse. I purchased and financed it through Best Buy, I turned down the Geek Squad protection but I do have it insured through my credit union, (USAA). I was wondering if I could utilize the 1 year warranty.

Anyway, thanks for the help guys. BTW, if anybodies interested Im actually working on trying to build a custom case for it. I've included some photos of my prototype. Don't worry, I still need to include vents and include a stand but thats te rough shape. Thanks!

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mitchellvii

Well-Known Member
Well, there is a basic trade-off problem with a device like the SP. Either you go bare glass and get a super clear, easy to clean screen that scratches very easily from any grit or sand, or you do a screen protector that is far more difficult to clean finger funk off of.

Gorilla Glass will protect from anything with a hardness of "7" or less (for instance, your keys or some coins won't scratch it), but it is defenseless against anything harder (sand has a hardness of "8"). Until they come out with the new "sapphire" screen there isn't much we can do.

Just buy the most oleophobic screen protector (resists oils) you can find and use it. One bonus, a screen protector will tend to hide existing scratches. As scratches are "cosmetic" not sure if warranties will cover them.
 

Omni

Active Member
I've read about other people returning there Surfaces for screen scratches and Microsoft have exchanged them. Not sure about Best Buy however.
 
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vazls1

New Member
Well, there is a basic trade-off problem with a device like the SP. Either you go bare glass and get a super clear, easy to clean screen that scratches very easily from any grit or sand, or you do a screen protector that is far more difficult to clean finger funk off of.

Gorilla Glass will protect from anything with a hardness of "7" or less (for instance, your keys or some coins won't scratch it), but it is defenseless against anything harder (sand has a hardness of "8"). Until they come out with the new "sapphire" screen there isn't much we can do.

Just buy the most oleophobic screen protector (resists oils) you can find and use it. One bonus, a screen protector will tend to hide existing scratches. As scratches are "cosmetic" not sure if warranties will cover them.

Hello! Thanks for the reply. I'm curious as to what the difference is between the Gorilla Glass that the Surface uses and the equivalent Android devices. The reason I ask is because I had a Nexus 7 (that the surface replaced) for a year without a scratch getting on the glass, and that went through some tough battles. I would have rated my use of it as "moderate to extreme".

I'm concerned because if the Pro is already scratched from basic use after a month then what's it going to look like after a year of use?

As far as the hardness scale goes, I have to admit I was born with my life HUD disabled and I haven't figured out my console commands to turn it back on, so is there a "hardness" chart that I can refer to that assigns the values to these objects because the numbers aren't popping up when I look at them in real life. Thanks
 

CrippsCorner

Well-Known Member
Had mine for just over a month now (mostly light usage though) and it's still perfect. I know I'm gonna cry when it gets it first scratch though.

I curbed my Speedline's for the first time at the weekend, beyond gutted!
 

Nuspieds

Active Member
I have no scratches on mine.

I do not use a screen protector; I do use the Type Cover.

I do a lot of travelling and use it a lot on planes, airport lounges, hotels, etc. All since the February release and not a single scratch.

I certainly can't complain about its design.
 
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