Surface Pro Sucks
It’s an overheating piece of garbage
In 2012 I got hold of one of the best computing devices I have ever had. An Asus Transformer Book Prime with keyboard!
For those that don’t know what this device is, it was just before the peak of Android tablets. Back when Android was trying to push into iPad space. A position that device makers have all but given up with only Samsung clinging on.
But back in 2012, Asus released this sleek super thin Tegra-powered Android tablet with an attachable keyboard to boost its battery life. With the keyboard, you’d get a good 8 hours of battery life from a computer with no fan, a 720p screen, and enough brute force to play GTA3 and play a 1080p video at the same time!
To be fair, it’s nothing compared to the computers we have today and even at the time, there were issues that Asus fixed with subsequent revisions. But that computer spoiled me for what a thin and light laptop should be and I took it everywhere. It was my primary computer when I moved to start work as a Doctor. It lasted for three years until the hinge in the keyboard shattered under my toddler son’s hands.
In 2020, I needed a new ultraportable that I could take everywhere again. My old laptop was dying and I seriously thought about getting Samsung Galaxy Tab with a keyboard, but in the end, settled on the Surface Pro 7. It was the cheapest one on sale, a Core i5 variant with 8GB of memory. The reviews for it said it was good enough and I trusted those reviews.
What the reviews missed out on was that without a fan, the CPU would chug to a grinding halt when it got just a little bit warm. I’m not talking about writing code or playing video games. I’m talking about having 5 tabs open in Edge (that’s right, I’m even using the Windows browser to try to help it) while watching YouTube.
Back in 2013, I moved to where I am now. It got just as hot then as it does now. But that Android-powered notebook would chug along with everything I needed it to do.
This Windows computer will not. To make things worse, it’s made by the people who make Windows! I get massive slowdowns, overheating, weird graphical glitches, drivers that kept getting rolled back, and weekly blue screen of deaths!
I’m aware of the ARM-powered Windows computers, but those Qualcomm chips are so underpowered compared to Apple’s that it’s laughable. Let me give you an example, here’s a video of Windows 11 running on Parallels.
If the embedded video didn’t work, jump to 4:15 in the video. That’s an x86 game running on Windows on ARM through Parallel. Now, Windows is not using Rosetta, it’s using Microsoft’s x86–64 to ARM translation layer, AND IT IS BLAZING! So where is the limitation on Windows on ARM hardware? Why can’t you pick up a super light but reasonably cool and powerful Windows-based laptop? I’ll tell you why.
It’s that stupid Qualcomm chip.
Regardless, I will not buy another computer like this. Intel (and likely AMD) chips cannot run without a fan. They’re just too hot and too power-hungry. Thin and lights are the area of ARM, as demonstrated by my ancient Android tablet, and my wife’s Macbook Air.
Today I’m going to go through the ardoise task of reinstalling Windows. For anyone who’s done that before, you know it’s going to be an all-day endeavor. I hope this will solve at least some of my problems, but I have my doubts.
Wish my luck.
