Is Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 my worst laptop ever?

Question

No clickbait, the answer in case you don't want to read my reasons is easy: YES, is the worst laptop I've ever bought.

Now, let's go into the details.

I bought the Microsoft Surface Laptop 5, 15", Intel Core i7 - 8GB RAM, 512GB SSD approximately 6 months ago. I had been using my older laptop, Xiaomi Mi Laptop Air 13.3", since 2019. So far, everything was okay, but I felt I needed an upgrade in my laptop.

After weeks/months of looking for some laptops, I decided to get a Microsoft Surface. At this point, I think my research was not the best. Anyways, I started looking at prices, and eventually, I found a very good deal on Amazon. I wanted the smaller version (13") but the deal was only for the 15" laptop (big red flag), so I went for it. Needless to say, the laptop was new.

The very first day it arrived, I was anxious to open and start working with it, and the very first time I turned it on, again, the very first time I turned it on, after seeing the Microsoft symbol, the laptop made a sound and stopped abruptly (huge red flag). It's just a coincidence - I thought, so I turned it on again and everything was fine this time. Senseless, I decided to make it my primary laptop and put aside the Xiaomi since it was "the old one."

Then I started working with it. Because it has very limited port connectivity (also a very big red flag), I had to buy a cable to convert from HDM to USB Type C. After a few days, the laptop was not recognizing the screen. I looked at the drivers, searched on blogs, and nothing. Everything was new, the laptop, the screen, the converter. So I decided to return the cable. The guy told me that they never had any issue with it, but in the end, they changed it for a converter (and it worked :()).

Also, I started having issues with some Teams calls where the laptop screen went black for a second and turned back to normal. Just some minor issues, I thought.

Eventually, I had to travel due to work, and I took my new and fancy Surface 5 with me. Normally when I travel for work, it's really busy days, and I expect my laptop to be working at 200% capacity. But of course, issues. When I had to print multiple documents, while all my co-workers were printing with normality, all my printing works were frozen, and I ended up printing from other laptops. Another issue was when I was working with multiple Excel files at the same time, the Excel app was frozen steadily. When I say multiple, I mean 4 to 5 different spreadsheets.

After this business trip, I tried to return the laptop to Amazon. I explained the issues, and I sent it to them to check it. Unfortunately, two weeks later, I had it back at home... They checked something, and everything was perfect for them. What can I say? They are the professionals, right?

Since I was still in a busy period, I didn't want to waste my time setting it up again, so I decided to work again with my Xiaomi (from where I'm writing this). Needless to say, how frustrated I was when switching back to my older laptop and seeing the new, fancy, and expensive laptop in the original box.

Two months later, after Christmas time, I had the genius idea of cleaning the dust off and starting working with the Surface Laptop 5 (you know, one of these stupid New Year's resolutions that you know is not going to work). SPOILER ALERT: Two weeks later, here I am, writing this (with the Xiaomi laptop).

Every day I have issues with my Teams calls. When I have the mic on, I produce echoing to the rest of the people attending the call. And I say that I produce because I googled this issue, and a lot of people have the same issue, and it's always on my side. Checking the ways to fix this, it says: please check that the mic and the speaker are far enough. You want me to cut the laptop in two and stick each part on each wall of my office?

Also, I purchased a Microsoft Bluetooth Keyboard and I always use this instead of the laptop's keyboard. So every time to time, suddenly it stops working and I have to restart my laptop to make it work again. And the worst thing is that I can see that is connected...

Just to finalize, yesterday I was having a call on Skype, and right after this one, I had another call on Teams. So once I'd finished with the call on Skype, I closed the app and proceeded to start the call on Teams. Guess what? The camera was not working. I had to restart my laptop to fix it.

Just my humble opinion, this is not worth the price I've paid. The Xiaomi I bought almost 5 years ago (I swear Xiaomi is not paying me) works way better than the Surface Laptop 5.

So, if you came here because you want to change your laptop and you are looking for some reviews of the Surface Laptop 5, please run and don't turn back.

Answer 1

The problem seem with the hardware sadly. Does the warranty still cover it ? and I guess you are out of the refund date for Amazon too, so I would just return it to a Microsoft shop to repair or to get a replacement one in worst case if they can't repair it.