Microsoft Surface PCs No Longer Recommended By Consumer Reports

The non-profit publication Consumer Reports has pulled its “recommended” rating from Microsoft’s entire lineup of Surface PCs over reliability concerns. It says that the breakage rate for Surface devices is significantly worse than for similar products from other manufacturers. This is why Consumer Reports has decided to remove its recommended designation for Surface laptops and tablets.

Consumer Reports surveyed 90,000 tablet and laptop owners and found that an estimated 25 percent of Surface owners were likely to face “problems by the end of the second year of ownership.”

Issues reported with Surface devices included freezing, unexpected shut downs, issues with their touchscreens, and more. Microsoft was found to be a statistical outlier when compared to other brands as far as product reliability is concerned.

The study’s results show that the Surface products don’t have high reliability. Jerry Beilinson, the electronics editor at Consumer Reports, advises that “If you are very concerned about how long your products are going to last, it might be better for you to go with a brand that has a higher predicted reliability.”

Microsoft doesn’t agree with Consumer Reports, but that doesn’t surprise anyone. The company says that its return and support rates are significantly different from the study conducted by the consumer goods testing publication.

“We don’t believe these findings accurately reflect Surface owners’ true experiences or capture the performance and reliability improvements made with every Surface generation,” Microsoft has said in a statement.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: Computers
Tags: Microsoft, Surface