{"id":3996,"date":"2020-06-12T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-06-12T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aviancetechnologies.com\/blog\/blog\/microsoft-surface-book-2-its-problems-and-a-proposed-solution\/"},"modified":"2020-06-12T10:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-06-12T10:00:00","slug":"microsoft-surface-book-2-its-problems-and-a-proposed-solution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aviancetechnologies.com\/blog\/microsoft-surface-book-2-its-problems-and-a-proposed-solution\/","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft Surface Book 2: Its problems and a proposed solution"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Microsoft Surface Book 2: Its problems and a proposed solution<\/h2>\n

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Why did I put up with Microsoft\u2019s Surface Book 2? Why did anyone<\/em>? That\u2019s the question I asked myself recently as I tried to convince the Surface Book 2 to recognize my 4K monitor, yet again.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Surface Book 2 users have suffered through quite a bit. There was the GPU bug that delayed a scheduled Windows update. Thermal issues. Even a power issue that was really never fixed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Most laptops survive PCWorld\u2019s review process without exposing major issues. But as I look around at the shelves housing our review units, I can see that the Surface Book 2 had a rough time of it.\u00a0Here\u2019s the 15-inch Surface Book 2 whose discrete GPU failed, possibly due to overheating. This 13-inch model\u2019s battery was dead on arrival. A second 15-inch Surface Book 2,<\/strong> about a year ago, decided to output nothing better than HD resolution (1366×768) on an external display.<\/p>\n

For its time, the Surface Book 2 perfectly represented the \u201cdo everything\u201d concept that was the core mission of the Surface Book line: a laptop with a tablet, that could deliver outstanding performance\u00a0and<\/em>\u00a0solid battery life. What I took from it in terms of productivity and performance, though, it stole back in frustration just trying to make it work.<\/p>\n

\"Microsoft<\/a> Microsoft<\/small><\/figure>\n

The face of a larger problem<\/h2>\n

That should never happen. Microsoft\u2019s premium PC asked buyers to pay $1,149, minimum, for a Surface Book 2, and up to a whopping $3,300 for a top-of-the-line model. At those prices, anyone who purchased a Surface Book 2 should have had close to a flawless experience.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Microsoft didn\u2019t deliver. Almost immediately, reviewers figured out that the Surface Book 2 drew too much power\u00a0for its AC adapter under load, such as in the middle of a game or a 3D CAD app that tapped the discrete GPU. In that scenario, the Surface Book 2 began pulling power from the battery, even while plugged in. A\u00a0CPU issue slowed it to a crawl, and problems with the discrete GPU eventually held up the Windows 10 May 2019 Update. Users also complained that the Surface Book 2 had an overheating issue<\/a>, where it would continue to operate while closed, and temperatures would climb to alarming levels (especially if you put the closed laptop into a bag).\u00a0<\/p>\n

That wasn’t all. USB-C hubs weren\u2019t nearly as prevalent several years ago as they are today, so Microsoft kept shipping the original\u00a0Surface Dock<\/a>, which it had launched with the original Surface Book in 2015. (The first Surface Book lacked a USB-C port, while the Surface Book 2 included one.)\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Diplomatically, I\u2019d call the Dock \u201cflaky.\u201d The first\u00a0Microsoft Store review<\/a> for the Surface Dock described it as \u201cjunk.\u201d Users wondered why the Surface Book 2 attached to the Dock couldn\u2019t support a pair of 4K monitors at 60Hz<\/a>, when the 2017 model of the Surface Pro could. But the combination of the Surface Book 2 and first-gen Dock still failed on even a simpler level. Today, after updating its firmware (and yes, the Dock contains firmware) our Surface Book 2 failed to recognize my 4K display while connected to the Dock. The Surface Pro 7 did. So did the Surface Book 3. (The Surface Book 2\u2019s USB-C port allows you to connect to a single 4K display, but only at 30Hz, a refresh rate that fatigues the eyes.)<\/p>\n