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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."
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.
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.
The reason is given in the first sentence, where it says they won't recommend due to hardware reliability problems with past Surface models. Once they receive concrete reliability data for this model, they may change their stance on recommendation if the reliability measures well. Until then it's fair to not recommend it.
Also, I'm going to make fun of your "ect, ect" where you misspell a simple, common, three-letter abbreviation wrong not once, but twice in a row.
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 before publishing the review.
Any sufficiently unpopular but cohesive argument is indistinguishable from trolling.
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.
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.
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?
Consumer Reports is perfectly competent. They only purport to give you reports by consumers. To that end, they do exactly what they claim. Now, if they claimed to be "Expert Reports" or "Competent-User Reports", then they'd be way off-base.
Perhaps you should adjust your expectations.
Tell that to the parking lot full of assholes who need a spotless shiny Super Duty to get to work at their IT job in Northern Virginia. Most people drive pickup trucks as fashion accessories, not to get work done.
To make men feel like little boys and get them to buy big toys they don't actually need or will ever use in the manner shown on the television?
Really, most people don't buy pickup trucks for their intended function. Go take a look around on the highway and see how many spotless pickup trucks you see. Something tells me none of those trucks are seeing anything resembling dirt or hard work.
To be fair, a large portion of the Model X reliability issues centre around those absurdly ridiculous and completely impractical doors. The Model 3 doesn't have those, and in fact is missing most of the complicated things that drag reliability down on the other Tesla vehicles, so "average" isn't a bad guess absent real data.
It's not enough to say "past products had X reliability, therefore future products are likely to have X reliability" it's also worth investigating what things tended to fail, and see if those even apply to the new product. It would be the same on a computer, if a specific model has tons of HDD failures, and the new model contains an SSD instead of an HDD, then it would be completely reasonable to assume improved reliability over the previous model until proven otherwise.
As for the Elon quote, I don't think a true statement has come out of his mouth in regards to Tesla in many many years. So I don't exactly take him as an unbiased source.
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.
As a Ridgeline owner, I can say that all of those "truck things" you mention are not a problem for it. It has a total passenger+cargo+towing capacity of 7000 lbs, which is quite enough for most people. For those that need more, Ford is going to sell you an F250 or F350, not an F150.
Specifically:
- Sheetrock lays flat in the bed of a Ridgeline. It hangs out the back. But it does that in an F150, too, and won't lay flat on the ones from 11 years ago, when the Ridgeline first hit the market.
- The bed cleans just fine with a hose.
- The tiedowns work like tiedowns, and quite well, TYVM. From 2006-2008, there were only 3 pairs of tie-downs, from 2009 onward there are 4 pairs.
- It can quite easily carry tools. Then again, so can a 1992 Ford Escort. Tools aren't heavy or large, typically.
- It can go off-road, as the mud/sand/snow isn't too deep (deeper than 15 inches and you're pretty screwed, especially in mud) and you're a decent off-road driver. This is the same as any other work truck.
That all said, the Ridgeline is an Accord on a tall frame. And yes, there are F150's that are just as comfy and spacious. But none of that makes that particular CR recommendation a bad one.
TL;DR: Parent poster passed judgement without evidence. News at 11.
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.