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Consumer Reports Refuses To Recommend Microsoft Surface Book 2 (betanews.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Earlier in the year, the review group said that problems with reliability meant that it was impossible for it to recommend any Microsoft laptop or tablet. Now Consumer Reports says that this extends to the Surface Book 2, meaning that the device will not be recommended. Microsoft is likely to be similarly disappointed with Consumer Reports' statement about the Surface Book 2. Speaking to Benzinga, Consumer Reports' spokesperson James McQueen said: "We will evaluate the performance of the Microsoft Surface Book 2 once we get it into our labs next month for testing, but we will not be able to recommend it. Our decision to withhold our recommendation of all Microsoft laptops and tablets is still in effect."
The lying traitor has to go.
Why bring up a recommendation when you haven't tested it.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
I have nothing against people saying they "hate" or "love" a product but it might help to have a reason? Does it cost too much, have short battery life, ect, ect? At least give a reason slashdot! :)
Thee seems to be a trend of pre-judging products, as of late. The Tesla Model 3 is anticipated to be average, despite no one in the industry having access to it. This feels like the same sentiment.
If it was post-review to say "we don't like this product" I could understand. But this is a pre-review "aint no way we are going to recommend this...because Microsoft".
Suddenly I think a lot less of consumer reports.
Bad User. No biscuit!
Consumer Reports has credibility and a dedication to science and the truth; if they don't recommend a product, they have damned good reasons backing that up.
I don't think much of CR recommendations.
In 1998 or so they recommended the Mercedes 320 ML SUV. IIRC they said it was one of the best things they ever tested. I bought one partially based on the recommendation.
The next year they said Mecerdez-Benz products were so shoddy they advised people not to buy them. And they were right the second time, my car was a POS. I'm pretty sure it was really a beta test version for working the bugs out.
They often don't have any idea what they are talking about. Several years ago I was looking for a new camera, and I know cameras very, very well. I reviewed current Consumer Reports articles, and they had absolutely no clue what they were talking about. I had similar experiences with some of their other verdicts. I have zero confidence in anything that they say.
So, while I haven't used a Surface Book, I am on my second Surface Pro machine, and they are phenomenal.
Much like Tesla fanboys you're mixing reliability and the functionality of a product. They can test one, they'd need a crystal ball to predict the other.
They also recommended. A product so bad, the class action put Maytag out of business. They ended up selling the name to Whirlpool.
Not really. If Toyota releases a mid-range commuter car you can assume it will be reliable due to the company's history and that the vehicle is based on established technology. Likewise, if Ford releases a fuel-cell sports car, you can assume it will be less reliable.
Microsoft has a history of making shoddy hardware, and the fact that they've upgraded the latest model doesn't mean they get to start with a completely clean slate.
Slashdot: providing anti-social weirdos a soapbox, since 1997.
Here is your kopecks comrade!
First they make a statement that they think the Tesla Model 3 will have average reliability despite noting they haven't looked at it or had enough discussion with anyone who has looked at it to make any kind of statement...and now they preemptively have a recommendation (or lack thereof) about the Surface 2 despite not having received it yet?
If they can make statements about products without actually laying hands on them, that's some impressive skills. But where's the actual "Reporting" come in if they're going to make statements about unreviewed products?
I distinctly remember CR giving the Honda Ridge-line the recommended buy for a pickup truck. It had the lowest hauling capacity, smallest bed, and lowest towing capacity of any of the reviewed trucks, but it had a really nice ride and got decent gas mileage.
Well that's not what a pickup truck is for. Throw some sheetrock in the back. Fill the bed up with dirt. How well does it clean up with a hose? How do the tiedowns work? Load it up with tools and take it down a logging road. Yeah people buy trucks that don't need them, but they are a small minority. There's a reason all the truck ads show them driving off-road and hauling things. The F-150 is the most popular vehicle among millionaires. Those are contractors who own their own companies and drive tools around to their job sites.
Nope. The Ridgeline had a really nice radio so it gets the nod.
My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
Not true. My MS Natural Keyboard was one of the better keyboards I've owned; definitely one of the better reasonably-priced ergonomic keyboards I've used. And while the Dove-bar mouse might not have been the most ergonomically sound, it and the next couple of generations of MS mice were all excellent.
It's telling that the only good examples I can come up with are a couple of decades old...
Like do CR actually report on products anymore or do they just ask a magic eight-ball?
"We will evaluate the performance of the Microsoft Surface Book 2 once we get it into our labs next month" Who are you? Since I don't know you, your technicians and testers, your testing methodology, your testing conditions, your preferences and inclinations, I am going to ask you to shut the fuck up and stop stating your little opinions in a matter-of-fact way.
.....wgo fucking reads or gives a shit about consumer reports other than marketers?
I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
As long as they explain their reasoning, I think not recommending it at this time is a good alternative to waiting for a year's worth of repair data...
Not when their reasoning is just "Microsoft has had problems with reliability in the past so we refuse to recommend anything from them". The reliability of a product is not known until it has had a year of repair data by which time the product will be out of date. So it is fine for them to say that "like every review, we have no way to test longer-term product reliability and MS has had problems with this in the past". It is not reasonable to say that we refuse to recommend any product from a company because in the past they have had some issues with reliability. Do they refuse to recommend Samsung Galaxy products because they may burst into flames?
My source: Close friend who works at a car company designing pickup trucks. He knows his audience.
Most trucks don't handle well because they have a lot of leeway in the suspension for added weight. This makes them seem bouncy on the road. The Toyota, Nissan, Dodge, Ford and Chevy trucks all exhibited this "problem."
It's almost like the Ridgeline was the only truck designed to be driven around town not hauling anything. I guess only Honda knows who *really* buys trucks.
My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
guys, how on earth could they recommend something they haven't tested yet? they can't, idiots
So while their sweeping refusal to recommend might not be the best way to go...at least they're applying it to something that really is a massively overpriced piece of shit that no one should be buying in the first place. It's like a Chromebook Pixel in that there is no excuse for such an expensive product existing in a category that is doomed to mediocrity by unavoidable inherent limitations: tablets can't have great CPUs because of size, battery life, and heat dissipation issues while Chromebooks run the extremely shitty browser-as-platform joke called Chrome OS which is almost useless offline and can't do some very basic yet very important things required by normal people...like printing locally.
The Zune HD was pretty good... /ducks
Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
i dunno, i cannot justify getting a new surface mostly because my original surface pro refuses to fkn die. which seems inverse to CR claims.
Been considering it myself... Mainly to get both a pen and good discrete video. Held off because the high-res 4K UHD version unfortunately had an issue with a lose light diffuser leading to a black line on the screen:
https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/f...
Also, I'm not sure how well the pen will feel when trying to use it with a 15" laptop compared to a 13".
I don't think the lower-res HD version has that diffuser issue though, and it is quite a bit cheaper -- so I've been considering getting one of those to replace a four year old Asus laptop with discrete video. But it is now so close to the end of the year, maybe a deal will show up.
The new Chromebooks with pens are also tempting. I'm writing this using Gallium OS on a Acer 15" CB5-571 with 128 GB flash upgrade. So, I could imagine upgrading one of those newer Chromebooks the same way. But they won't have discrete graphics.
It's a shame Apple has so messed up their "Pro" line of laptops (too thin, few ports, decreasing reliability, touch bar craziness) while also continuing to ignore those who want a pen as well as a keyboard and UNIX-y OS.
A 21st century issue: the irony of technologies of abundance in the hands of those still thinking in terms of scarcity.
So, you can visit Amazon.com and read customer reviews. You can Google. Search forums, etc...
Consumer Reports did recommend the BMW i3. I however would not. As a matter of fact, because of the reviews from CR and multiple other sources praising the vehicle raised my expectations a great deal. I decided to get the BMW i3 as it's one of the cheapest cars you can possibly buy at this point in time (consider electric + retained resell value) and it has been the worst new car I have ever owned. I've owned used Toyota's which were substantially better than this vehicle. But I think CR and others decided that "It's BMW... ooh wow!!!".
Let's be honest... consumer reports will spend about a week with a product before recommending it or not. They'll dig up statistics and generally do whatever it takes to make a headline and sell an issue. But at the end of the day, unless a product either turns to gold or crumbles in their hands in a week, they have no real grounds to stand on to make long term evaluations of products.
For this, I recommend favoring customer reviews instead of consumer reports. They're far more useful and thanks to this internet thing, I don't need to use an antiquated magazine to get information on things.
P.S. I personally own several and love my Surface/Surface book computers. I would personally recommend everything except the now defunct Surface RT and a used Surface Pro 2 (as I damaged the kickstand and consider the damage related to design as I can't easily replace it... a part which clearly should be easily replaceable).
So it's a tablet.
Microsoft has a history of mixed bags. Part fantastic, part absolute turds. Any generalisation of a company like that doesn't make much sense, unlike your Toyota and Ford example who's products have been very consistent over many years.
Mind you as of late I wouldn't touch a German car with a 10 foot pole for all their reliability problems either. So things can and often do eventually change.
Will you guys stop bashing Hillary already? The biggest reason she lost is because she could not garner widespread support amongst the Left or center. Her biggest mistake was teaming up with the Democratic Elites to beat Bernie at all costs.
We hate her too. Did we sit there and bash McKain a full year after the election to deflect pressure off Obama?