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Consumer Reports Gives Its Recommendation Back To Microsoft's Surface Laptops (theverge.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the back-and-forth dept.

After pulling its recommendation in August, Consumer Reports announced that it is once again recommending Microsoft's Surface laptops. "Microsoft's reliability is now on-par with most other laptop brands," says Martin Lachter, a senior research associate at Consumer Reports. The Verge reports: Consumer Reports originally revoked its recommendations after a survey of 90,000 laptop and tablet owners found that 25 percent of Surface users reported having problems by the end of their second year owning the device. Its latest survey concluded that that's no longer the case (although the recommendation site didn't disclose the exact numbers for this year's polling). The newly re-gained recommendation applies to most of Microsoft's Surface lineup, including the Surface Pro, Surface Laptop, and Surface Book 2. Notably missing is the recently released 10-inch Surface Go, although that isn't getting the recommendation badge due to poor performance in Consumer Reports' lab testing, not reliability concerns.

36 comments

  1. Well I guess the check cleared then. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Of course maybe I'm just being cynical. But the again, the recommendation says that they are 'on-par with most other laptop brands'. And frankly I'm more willing to buy that everyone else is getting worse more than I'll buy the idea that Microsoft is getting better.

    1. Re:Well I guess the check cleared then. by technosaurus · · Score: 1

      Most other laptop brands run windows, so it make sense.

    2. Re: Well I guess the check cleared then. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Agreed. I'd like to see what changes Microsoft made the past month that improved the user experience enough for CR to change their opinion.

    3. Re:Well I guess the check cleared then. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Of course maybe I'm just being cynical. But the again, the recommendation says that they are 'on-par with most other laptop brands'. And frankly I'm more willing to buy that everyone else is getting worse more than I'll buy the idea that Microsoft is getting better.

      I'm absolutely certain that is what has happened here. I've seen very similar things with car reviews as far as consumer reports is concerned.

    4. Re: Well I guess the check cleared then. by guruevi · · Score: 1

      A few thousand dollars to the right people?

      --
      Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
    5. Re: Well I guess the check cleared then. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      On par at four times the cost, though.

  2. "senior research associate" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    what exactly is that? and are they experts at pointing and clicking shinys ?

  3. I'm probably not going to buy another one by alvinrod · · Score: 4, Informative

    I bought a surface book when they first came out, but probably won't get another one. Eventually it experienced some problems and Microsoft's support was bad. It was a pretty neat piece of hardware, but not a good value all things considered.

    1. Re:I'm probably not going to buy another one by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Eventually it experienced some problems and Microsoft's support was bad.

      Pity you didn't learn from the experiences of others. Remember when Microsoft was in denial about RROD?

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    2. Re:I'm probably not going to buy another one by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Red Ring of Death? What is that? </sarcasm>

    3. Re:I'm probably not going to buy another one by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      different division, fuckwad.

    4. Re:I'm probably not going to buy another one by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The surface line is basically Microsoft attempt at copying Apple, so basically its low quality at insanely high prices (they have seen how people like to get fooled in to thinking that a high price tag always equals high quality, no matter what.. this is also why Apple and Beats were a perfect marrige)... Just stay away from Apple gear and Microsoft surface gear...

    5. Re:I'm probably not going to buy another one by drinkypoo · · Score: 2

      different division, fuckwad.

      Different horn of the same beast, son.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    6. Re:I'm probably not going to buy another one by thegarbz · · Score: 3, Informative

      Eventually it experienced some problems and Microsoft's support was bad.

      That's interesting. We have two SurfacePros in the house and both of them experienced problems. The only reason I would consider another one is that Microsoft support was quite good to us. Both issues were turned around within 3 days with no cost to us. They simply emailed us a UPS sticker and that was that. 3 days later new devices arrived.

      That said, I did find it infuriating talking to their first line idiot support group. It took a whole 5 minutes for them to get through their bullshit: "Oh I'm sorry to hear that you're having problems. This is really not the experience I wanted you to have with our product. Let me see if ..." I actually cut him off and asked him if he wants good feedback then he should cut the bullshit all I want is an RMA number, not a marketing speech. But to the guys credit he became a normal person as I asked.

  4. Consumer reports NO, please stop!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I hate these things so much. I do tech support and have to deal with them when they are slow for no good reason. I think it is set to thermal throttle at like 66C or something. You can't fix it if something on it dies

    It is a slow computer. Yes, you can buy a new slow computer.

  5. Right to Repair by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Try repairing one of those. Lot's of luck buddy. Glued shut, no parts available.

    Dell is the king when it comes to laptops that are easy to repair. Parts are and instructions are readily available. Might not be the sexiest on the block but they are easy to keep functional and in top shape.

    1. Re:Right to Repair by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      By the same token, they seem to require repairs more often than most brands. I had 2 Dells over a decade ago, and while it was relatively easy to find parts, they seemed to have issues with alarming frequency. Comparatively, I bought an Acer 8 years ago that, while not very fast, has yet to significantly fail in any capacity, despite rough handling and long travel distances.

      More on topic, I honestly can't see the appeal of the Surface Book, since it looks much more fragile and less useful than the average Dell or Acer.

    2. Re:Right to Repair by AlanBDee · · Score: 1

      I also found that because Dell is used by a lot of companies there are a lot more used, broken laptops on ebay that you can salvage for parts.

  6. What!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What could have possibly happened between August and now that would justify a recommendation? If 25% of people in August were reporting issues over the prior two years there is no way that could have come down significantly in one month.

  7. The Verge is not a reliable source by Billly+Gates · · Score: 1

    Here is my https://youtu.be/0vmQOO4WLI4"> citation. Yes that guy did the review?!

    --
    http://saveie6.com/
  8. Here are thefu full financials. Remove a director by raymorris · · Score: 5, Informative

    You may be thinking of commercial publications that choose names to try to sound like Consumer Reports, such as "Consumers Digest". Consumer Reports is very strict about not accepting any money from any company whose products they review and not having even the appearance of a conflic of interest. In fact, even creating the appearance of such a conflict of interest is grounds to remove a director from their board of directors, and to terminate any employee, as laid out in their bylaws and Conflict of Interest policy.

    Here are their full audited financial statements so you can see exactly where they get their money from.
    https://www.consumerreports.or...

  9. They don't poll every month by raymorris · · Score: 1

    They don't poll on laptops every month. I think they generally do each major product category once or twice a year. The August issue, printed in July and probably written in June, included the the results of a poll completed before June.

  10. They just got a recent funding boost too by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    oh wow, what a coincidence.

  11. The elephant in the room by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The elephant in the room is: do you trust Microsoft? I don't. It will take quite a bit of commitment to dispel the bad taste left by four decennia of predatory behavior.

    "Just Fucking Trust Us" --Satya Nadella

    1. Re: The elephant in the room by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The question i becomes: who do you trust?

  12. Re: Rapepublicans have one question: by datavirtue · · Score: 0

    Why the fuck did this piece of shit even appear for questioning? He could have bowed out and at least saved some honor. Ah, nevermind, he has no honor. I believe all the accounts, especially the first one. The second one sounds like a regular, rather uneventful, college drinking party. He was crying cause his life is fucking cooked. Overkill? Yeah but he brought it on himself by dragging this out. This is going to kill Trump. The fork has been inserted. Trump should have nuked this dude from space when the first accusation arose.

    Disclaimer: Life long conservative swing voter who no longer votes. Money talks, votes are quaint.

    --
    I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
  13. Re:Here are thefu full financials. Remove a direct by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    And if you believe that, I've got this great deal for you. It's an opportunity to make a lot of money, and not that much of an investment in a useful public-private partnership infrastructure project in the New York City area. You see, there's this bridge....

    Consumer Reports has been behaving in a VERY fishy way in the last few years. No, I can't prove that they're on the take, but they've certainly been behaving like they are. There have been a lot of these "not recommended" ratings changed to "recommended" after getting some attention.

  14. Several options by sjbe · · Score: 1

    What could have possibly happened between August and now that would justify a recommendation?

    An envelope filled with a large cash donation would be among my first guesses. There are some others but they seem less likely.

    If 25% of people in August were reporting issues over the prior two years there is no way that could have come down significantly in one month.

    Sure it could. You absolutely can reduce the incidence of quality issues very rapidly if you know what the problem is. The real question is whether this actually happened or whether CR screwed up their data collection.

  15. Consumer Reports Achilles Heel by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    As a former subscriber to CR, I lament the fact that they only test items that are for sale. 99% of the problems with computers stem from Windows itself. So say the donated working computers in our school with pink Best Buy repair stickers that have been converted to Linux. All of the owners donated the machines after being told that they were beyond repair.

  16. Until n-trig dead zones & phantom touches by ReneR · · Score: 1

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?... I wish there were class action suits in Europe, ..! :-/

  17. Re: Rapepublicans have one question: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Whenever someone tells you they don't vote, what they mean is they want YOU to NOT vote.

    If voting was unimportant, then they wouldn't keep trying to make it harder for you to vote.

    Vote. Vote for or against your particular monster. But vote.