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Sharing my opinion on Surface Pro 3 from Microsoft

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ddywz

New Member
Just wanted to share my opinion on this mobile device that Microsoft has released. Sorry Microsoft but this is going to be a bad review. I went to Best Buy local store as I wanted to take a look at this flagship machine but unfortunately they did not carry in stock any versions of SP3 with i7 processor. Don't know why, but you can never find any of this high end machines for a quick view and get a feel before you commit to buying them. Trusting Microsoft products from the past experience I ordered one through them and so it arrived two days ago. I sat on my office and opened it carefully to see how it looks and feels. I was very happy to see that the unit was very well packed and everything else looked in good shape with no damage from shipping. The multi-position kickstand really shines and very useful. Unfortunately this is where my joy ended. Please note that I have not gotten a chance to power up the device yet. Should I? As I positioned the kickstand at the best angle for my eyes and tried to adjust my chair I noticed this horrible optically destorted reflection of my ceiling round light of my office on the SP3 screen. As you keep following the reflected object(ceiling light) around this display you would notice all kind of oval shapes of its reflection, especially on the upper side of the display where the camera and the sensor is mounted. This is clearly a manufacturing defect in the display itself, or the wrong assembly is used for it with unacceptable quality control I should say. Why Microsoft, why? You proudly display that stupid scale where SP3 weighs less than an iPad or a MAC pro. What weight has to do with quality? If you want to release a flagship don't mess around with cheap quality parts. If a nice display with a thicker glass would add another 100g on its weight go for it. Remember that the flagship starts with the display. All that hard work you do inside with i7, 8GB RAM and 512GB SSD work hard to present something enjoyable to your eyes through that display and if this display is crap... oh well...
Although my decision was to return it immediately, I did powered it up to see the rest of it. What I did was I setup a totally black screen saver and took the PS3 in a dark room. I discovered that on those areas where the reflected object was out of shape were the areas that the display also had backlight bleeding issues. In my opinion this display got to be so thin that is not able to hold is own shape and it is only 12inch display. Imagine same display quality on a 50inch screen. Being so thin when glued on its edges this warps or changes shape which causes optical characteristics to change on it. Yes, it is a glossy one and you chose it to be glossy. If it was a mate one maybe these optical imperfections would not be so pronounced. When I bought this unit I also bought its docking station that offers a display port so I could connect it on my 30inch monitor and used it so all these issues I'm complaining are gone. True, but Microsoft is asking for a lot of money for this machine. The i7, with a 512GB SSD costs $2,000.00 and I get this kind of quality? This is not acceptable. I went back to BB to exchange it hoping that I got a bad unit. Before doing so I looked at other demo models of SP3 with i3 and i5 and they all had warped displays. I walked to the MAC's area and looked at those screens and they looked perfectly flat with no optical distortions on objects reflected on them. I don't like MACs and I have my reasons for not buying one. With what I saw I returned this device and will wait or look for something else. I think Microsoft should do a better job in quality check of these devices before they are released.
 

raqball

Active Member
Well.....

I had some issues with a previous i5 /8 /256 unit and I think I had to exchange it 3 or 4 times I can't remember. But mine were for obvious issues. I'm sorry but in your case you didn't really appear to have any issues. You based the screen off an optical reflection from a light on the ceiling? Come on now, seriously?

You returned it, without even using it, because of an optical reflection from an office light in the ceiling .. I'm not trying to be rude, but I should have stopped right then and there..

Backlight bleed. Yes but don't most screens have this issue? I agree it should be solved because I hate backlight bleed and have seen a few SP3 that have serious bleed.

As far as MacBook's go, Google search 'ghosting' -- 'burn in' and 'yellow screen'.. I believe last I checked there was a 2,000 page thread on the Apple support forum re: the screen issues I mentioned above..

As far as the glossy screen goes, I like it. Some like a mate screen and some like glossy. For what it's worth, I believe the new rMBP's have a glossy screen as well.. At least my 13" did and it also had backlight bleed at boot.

Anywho, that's my .02 worth.
 
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D

ddywz

New Member
Well.....

I had some issues with a previous i5 /8 /256 unit and I think I had to exchange it 3 or 4 times I can't remember. But mine were for obvious issues. I'm sorry but in your case you didn't really appear to have any issues. You based the screen off an optical reflection from a light on the ceiling? Come on now, seriously?

You returned it, without even using it, because of an optical reflection from an office light in the ceiling .. I'm not trying to be rude, but I should have stopped right then and there..

Backlight bleed. Yes but don't most screens have this issue? I agree it should be solved because I hate backlight bleed and have seen a few SP3 that have serious bleed.

As far as MacBook's go, Google search 'ghosting' -- 'burn in' and 'yellow screen'.. I believe last I checked there was a 2,000 page thread on the Apple support forum re: the screen issues I mentioned above..

As far as the glossy screen goes, I like it. Some Li,e a mate screen and some like glossy. For what it's worth, I believe the new rMBP's have a glossy screen as well.. At least my 13" did and it also had backlight bleed at boot.

Anywho, that's my .02 worth.

What do you mean I do not have issues? I don't think you are reading it correctly. We all know that all glossy displays reflect back and that's nothing wrong with that. the issue is that the reflected object are distorted indicating an uneven display. Have you ever looked at yourself on those bad mirrors where your face looks funny? Sorry but for 2000 US dollars this device costs it better be pristine and clear of these defects.
 

Grumpy2

Member
I agree with raqball. It would appear to me that you regretted your decision and are now trying to justify the reasons for returning it. Perhaps you should do better research in future before purchasing a product. That's my two bobs worth anyway. People like you who buy a product then return it without even trying it out make me sick. Complete lack of common sense here.
 

ptrkhh

Active Member
Yes I do agree that the display glass could be better, but having a thin glass is important for SP3's main function as a notetaking tool. In order to have the ink appear right below the tip of the pen, no matter from which point you look at it, the distance between them should be minimized. This is where thin glass comes in. I can notice that the glass is noticeably thinner than any glass in any device I have right now, but that doesn't mean its bad. There is a reason for that. And that doesn't necessarily mean the glass is cheaper to produce by the way. Moreover, 800gr is still heavy as a tablet, so adding 100gr (more than 10%) does mean a lot, and it would definitely be really noticeable.

Anyway, the glass 'disappear' when you turn it on (that's why you need a black screensaver in the first place), so it doesn't matter to me at all.
Id recommend to get a matte or glass-based screen protector if youre really annoyed with it. But personally, I take for what its worth, the ultimate notetaking machine (yes, BMW, I adapted your tagline)
 

bluegrass

Well-Known Member
the issue is that the reflected object are distorted indicating an uneven display. Have you ever looked at yourself on those bad mirrors where your face looks funny? Sorry but for 2000 US dollars this device costs it better be pristine and clear of these defects.

Who gives a rats ass about how you look in the reflection of the screen as long as everything is clear when I have something on the screen to look at. It's ridiculous to even look at the screen without it being turned on unless you just want to see were the smudges are so you can take you microfiber cloth and clean them. I don't think there is much argument that the SP3 has one of the best screens of any tablets/laptops out there right now.

We aren't an unfriendly group here. We're just trying to respond honestly to what we read.
 
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B'midbar

Guest
Just wanted to share my opinion on this mobile device that Microsoft has released. Sorry Microsoft but this is going to be a bad review. I went to Best Buy local store as I wanted to take a look at this flagship machine but unfortunately they did not carry in stock any versions of SP3 with i7 processor. Don't know why, but you can never find any of this high end machines for a quick view and get a feel before you commit to buying them. Trusting Microsoft products from the past experience I ordered one through them and so it arrived two days ago. I sat on my office and opened it carefully to see how it looks and feels. I was very happy to see that the unit was very well packed and everything else looked in good shape with no damage from shipping. The multi-position kickstand really shines and very useful. Unfortunately this is where my joy ended. Please note that I have not gotten a chance to power up the device yet. Should I? As I positioned the kickstand at the best angle for my eyes and tried to adjust my chair I noticed this horrible optically destorted reflection of my ceiling round light of my office on the SP3 screen. As you keep following the reflected object(ceiling light) around this display you would notice all kind of oval shapes of its reflection, especially on the upper side of the display where the camera and the sensor is mounted. This is clearly a manufacturing defect in the display itself, or the wrong assembly is used for it with unacceptable quality control I should say. Why Microsoft, why? You proudly display that stupid scale where SP3 weighs less than an iPad or a MAC pro. What weight has to do with quality? If you want to release a flagship don't mess around with cheap quality parts. If a nice display with a thicker glass would add another 100g on its weight go for it. Remember that the flagship starts with the display. All that hard work you do inside with i7, 8GB RAM and 512GB SSD work hard to present something enjoyable to your eyes through that display and if this display is crap... oh well...
Although my decision was to return it immediately, I did powered it up to see the rest of it. What I did was I setup a totally black screen saver and took the PS3 in a dark room. I discovered that on those areas where the reflected object was out of shape were the areas that the display also had backlight bleeding issues. In my opinion this display got to be so thin that is not able to hold is own shape and it is only 12inch display. Imagine same display quality on a 50inch screen. Being so thin when glued on its edges this warps or changes shape which causes optical characteristics to change on it. Yes, it is a glossy one and you chose it to be glossy. If it was a mate one maybe these optical imperfections would not be so pronounced. When I bought this unit I also bought its docking station that offers a display port so I could connect it on my 30inch monitor and used it so all these issues I'm complaining are gone. True, but Microsoft is asking for a lot of money for this machine. The i7, with a 512GB SSD costs $2,000.00 and I get this kind of quality? This is not acceptable. I went back to BB to exchange it hoping that I got a bad unit. Before doing so I looked at other demo models of SP3 with i3 and i5 and they all had warped displays. I walked to the MAC's area and looked at those screens and they looked perfectly flat with no optical distortions on objects reflected on them. I don't like MACs and I have my reasons for not buying one. With what I saw I returned this device and will wait or look for something else. I think Microsoft should do a better job in quality check of these devices before they are released.

You're talking about reflective properties of the Gorilla glass WITHOUT the screen being turned on in ambient light as reflected off a ceiling light, NOT quality of the powered screen display, whether it's mate <sic> or otherwise, much less any other merits of the system beyond a few high-level technical specifications.

Completely redonkulous review without any technical or valid functional merit whatsoever. I'd educate you on optics, but that would probably get destorted <sic> as well. #rolleyes
 

RémiM

Active Member
You're talking about reflective properties of the Gorilla glass WITHOUT the screen being turned on in ambient light as reflected off a ceiling light, NOT quality of the powered screen display, whether it's mate <sic> or otherwise, much less any other merits of the system beyond a few high-level technical specifications.

Completely redonkulous review without any technical or valid functional merit whatsoever. I'd educate you on optics, but that would probably get destorted <sic> as well. #rolleyes

I thought that the screen wasn't made of Gorilla glass ?!
 
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