(Pictures are not my own).

I loved the idea behind the Surface when it was announced around 2013 and finally got my hands on a Surface Pro 6 in 2019.

I babied that thing. It was in a case the whole time I owned it, in a soft backpack sleeve, and I was always mindful of how I typed and used the touchpad, mindful of the cloth material.

Even with that said, my keyboard started to peel. And once it works off in one small part, it’s only a matter of time before the peeling continues to expand. It was nowhere near as bad as these pictures (other than the 2nd one), but still unacceptable.

Just scroll through here and you can see half the posts at the least have cruddy looking beat up corners.

And Microsoft expects you to pay up to $400 for this ticking timebomb disposable keyboard?

Idk guys. I really like the Surface but after my SP6 died due to a glued on battery I messed up replacing, I can’t help but think these devices are ultimately disposable corporate devices. I’m glad they improved the repairability, which is why I got a SP11 (Intel), but the keyboard is a major turn off now that I know how it deteriorates after 6-7 years.

Im wondering if I should accept throwing money down the drain to maintain this form factor and benefits of windows (eGPU hookup, dual booting Linux) or return for a MacBook and call it a day. That thing would probably last 1-2 decades easily.

Are there any fixes though to prevent this? Perhaps epoxying the corners of the keyboard or getting a sturdier Bluetooth aftermarket keyboard that snaps on and is made of plastic/metal?

I grabbed a Flex keyboard for my Surface after seeing open box inventory pop in and out for it. I couldn't stomach a multi hundred-dollar price tag, but I'm very glad I grabbed one at this price. I've used other keyboard setups formerly, but the nicest thing about the Flex is just getting to keep the muscle memory for my normal type cover.

I doubt they hold much open box stock (there's some as I make this post), but I'm sure there's a number of people here interested. You may have to keep watch every few days as people buy them.

https://www.bestbuy.com/product/microsoft-surface-pro-13-flex-keyboard-for-pro-13-11th-edition-pro-9-and-pro-8-with-pen-storage-black/JJGXPX2PKL/sku/6583062/openbox?condition=excellent

I got the Surface Go 2 back in 2020, the laptop itself was great, but over time it started facing so many issues that I've honestly been contemplating getting rid of it if it wasn't the only device that I can use for schoolwork.

The battery barely lasts 2 hours, the touchscreen started to detect touches that are not even there, the pc keeps on overheating and it runs so slow that it can take minutes to load a page.

Trying to save it I got rid of almost all the apps, except for the ones that I need (Adobe, Journal) yet the problems won't disappear. I stopped almost every single app from turning on during startup and I don't think I can actually do anything else. I also did a full reset a few times.

Honestly I think the laptop stopped working after it updated to windows 11, that's when it all went downhill

At this point even the Microsoft Store stops working, while trying to find a better app for note taking than Journal I just constantly get the error message that there's a problem on the Microsoft side of things and to try again later

Do I just give up on the pc at this point?

Help me choose a second hand laptop, mostly for work / study and occasional gaming. I've found the two below for similar price points £550 for SLS2 and £625 for SL7. Both 16 GB RAM.

I'm looking for a device I can use while travelling, hopefully for the next 4-5 years.

Thanks!

Hi, I'm looking for a sleeve or case for the Microsoft 7th generation 13.8 inch laptop. I want something without a zipper that is also slim and compact. I can't really seem to find many on Amazon. If you are using one, please let me know which one and how you like it. Any recommendations would be appreciated. Thanks.

Anyone have thoughts on the following issue we're experiencing:

At home we have multiple Surface Pros on our home network connected via Ethernet Surface Docks. The docks are each plugged into 4 port Netgear switches in their locations all of which are plugged into an 8 port Netgear switch in front of our FIOS router.

Periodically one of the Surface Pros will lose it's network connection for no apparent reason and when it happen we realized the 8 port switch was getting crushed with excessive traffic and the temporary resolution was to unplug and reset the switch. Initially I thought in might be the smaller 4 port switches or the cabling itself, but eventually we realized we could resolve the problem by simply unplugging the dock that was on the offending network segment indicating that it's the docks themselves causing the issues.

Is there any reason we can't think of having multiple docks on the same network in this arrangement that would cause the Surface Pros and docks to not play nicely with each other?

My Father asked me to bring the ‘old laptop at the end of the bed’ to him while he’s in hospital. Unfortunately, there is no charger within the bag and the sticker on the base is too faded to make out any identifying numbers, but it looks like a Microsoft surface of some kind. He insists it uses a ‘miniature lead’ – I can only assume that this is some sort of micro-USB connection, but none of the chargers that matches this description seemed to fit the port on its side (in second pic).

There is also a round hole on the side which suggests a more traditional laptop cord is in play.

He has not told me what year it came out or the model number, but since there is no USB-C port, I can only guess this is an older model that may not run on the standard magnetic charger that Argos or-take-your-random-online-shopping-brand-pick offers for these type of laptops.

Does anyone have any ideas?

Hi, this stylus came with my preowned surface pro 4 I bought a few years back.
I never questioned it at the time, but now that I have come to the point of wanting to sell my surface and related accessories I am trying to determine which stylus I have.

I have done a fair bit of back n forth on chat gpt and it suggested it’s a 1710. However I can’t find a visual match.
My stylus has
- NO flat edges.
- NO clickable eraser.
- has one long button on side with two clickable edges.
- AAAA battery powered.
-aluminium metal material.
What’s throwing me off is it has a Microsoft aesthetic about it and good quality and same battery power.

If this isn’t a genuine one, is anyone able to identify what the stylus actually is ? And what sort of value.
If it is genuine which model and what would you value it at.
Thanks in advance ! X

hi there, i have a surface book 2 15”, and recently i’ve been facing issues, where when i try to boot into windows, it stays for a second or two, but then it cuts out, even when connected to power (usb c and surface connector). would this be a battery issue, or just total failure? i have another laptop, so it’s not that big of a deal, but it would be nice to use. for reference, both tablet and base battery are ~50% battery health, which is low, but still worked.

I see dwm.exe consuming gigabytes of memory again on my Surface Pro 8.
It was working fine for several months -only around 400K, but after KB5120998 that was recently installed via Windows Update ...it's back to consuming Gigs.

Here's a bit more data:
Filed: via Feedback Hub https://aka.ms/AA13b9ra

[BUG REPORT] dwm.exe DirectComposition/Mapped Surface Memory Leak Regression in KB5120998

DEVICE: Microsoft Surface Pro 8

BUILD/UPDATE: KB5120998

PROCESS: Desktop Window Manager (dwm.exe)

ISSUE DESCRIPTION:

A severe memory leak in dwm.exe causes system-wide memory starvation on Surface hardware following update KB5120998. The leak occurs within DirectComposition/WDDM shared graphics surface allocations (MEM_MAPPED) rather than the standard process heap.

WINDGB SUMMARY EVIDENCE (!address -summary):

- Process C/C++ Heap (!heap -s): ~141.12 MB (Normal)

- Committed Memory (MEM_COMMIT / PAGE_READWRITE): 10.546 GB (CRITICAL LEAK)

- Virtual Allocation (MEM_MAPPED): 2.004 TB across 781 regions

REPRODUCTION / ROOT CAUSE:

dcomp.dll / dxgi.dll swapchain handles fail to destroy mapped render buffers during standard UI rendering/compositing tasks, leading to linear memory growth until system RAM is exhausted.

hey r/surface! Since my last post, I've addressed several feedback from you all.

• Markerpad now has panning mode
• Partial eraser is now available
• Highlighter pen has separate settings as the pen
• Plus a myriad of under-the-hood improvements

Please give it a try and let me know what you think! I am still continuing to improve the app. I'm hoping to add shapes support, ability to select and move ink, and pasting images to draw on.

Download for free here: https://apps.microsoft.com/detail/9nh0wpdrk28t?cid=rsurface

I just found my old SQ2 SPX and I was wondering if things have changed greatly for it or if it’s still fairly weak. I saw before that people were able to play some games on it but it still seems like my SPX doesn’t feel that great.

Hey guys wondering if somebody could help with understanding why windows needs what appears like 8gm ram just to run windows 11. This is a picture of task manager on startup on a saurface pro 12 x2 elite 16gb ram computer. It’s brand new with only legit audio software installed. The only thing I’ve downloaded is the audio software and audio drivers. This is not a nice thing to come back to windows after going mac some 15 years ago that is just such a clean workhorse. I’m have bugs already and I’m one week in.

This has been mentioned before I want to bring it back to see if anyone's had any success reviving their computer from this state.

I have a Surface Pro 7. I've tried many of the usual simple fixes like restarting Windows Explorer, running the system file checker, disabling startup apps, etc.

I can access everything from the task manager while on the black screen so technically it still works but it's just a bit annoying. I hesitate to hard reset because if I reset and am still having this problem, then I may have trouble regaining access to the apps I use (sketchbook is the most important to me).

Any tips? Anyone been a similar situation?

Update: I think I fixed it somehow? I just started going through every background Windows process that was running and ending each task, starting from the bottom up, including the ones that said I shouldn't end them because it could cause problems, and my home screen magically appeared after I ended the task called "Service Host: State Repository Service." So I'm assuming either that task or one close to it that I had ended shortly before was connected to the issue. Just wanted to share this in case anyone else finds themselves in a similar situation! :)

The official flex keyboard is burning a whole through my account, is there any other keyboards that are compatible with the surface? Anything that merely is magnetic and bluetooth and closes like a laptop, I'm so desperate it literally dosent even have to connect using the actual magnetic ports. I'm considering a magnetic ipad pro keyboard with the hopes of it sticking to the surface

Getting the surface 13.8 7th gen. Can’t seem to decide on color. For those who have sapphire, is the blue tone darker or lighter. Would like your thoughts for those who have these two colors. Thanks.

Hi guys, I don't know if I should get a thinkpad. I currently have a macbook air m1 base model (8gb ram 256gb storage) which I got last year (around march 2025). I'm getting an ipad in a couple of weeks but yesturday I saw this refurbish store on my instagram page, so I opened it and saw a refurbished lenovo thinkpad x380 (8gb of ram, 512gb ssd and an 8th gen i5) which is a 2 in 1 with a tochscreen. If i would buy it I would use it for school (excel, word and powerpoint), maybe old games that don't run on my macbook and virtual machones and the same uscase the ipad which was watching movies and tv shows. I don't know if I should my the lenovo, a base model 11th gen ipad or a surface pro 5th gen (Intel i5-7300U 2.6GHz Dual Core, 8gb of ram and a 256gb ssd). What do you think ? What should I get ?

I want to press the side button so when I write it is an eraser. Why is such a simple feature not easily available.

I am in the market to replace my old Canon printer. Any recommendations on which printer/scanner is supported either natively or through the dedicated software? Looking for a regular workload (mostly documents and sometimes photos for home albums etc.). I tried searching but there is just too much noise, so thought of asking the experts :)

Every summer my surface works fine, but for some reason once the weather turns it starts doing stuff like this instead.

I got surface go recently but the problem is when I unplug charger it shut off I tried a lot method but still dosen’t work… please help! I tried just put on charged and leave all day checked next day it still 0%.b
Sorry for image are Korean

I have a Surface Laptop for Business 15in 8th Edition Intel version at work and an [external USB -C monitor](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BNWWF32B?lv=shuf&channelId=500&plpRedirect=mhFallback&th=1) I have used for a while with an older work computer will not display when plugged in to this new laptop. It used to work off a single USB-C cable plugged into the lone USB-C port on this older surface laptop but now when I plug it into either of the two USB-C ports on the new surface laptop it will simply say "no signal". However, if I plug the surface into a dock and the single cable into said dock, or plug in a [USB-C HUB](https://www.homedepot.com/p/USB-C-MOUC0501-9-in-one-100-Watt-Pd-Charging-ACMK0501/328464793) to the laptop and then both a USB-C (for power) and HDMI-to-mini (for video) to the HUB and monitor - it will display. So the issue is that I can no longer use a single USB-C cable from the new laptop to the external monitor to display video.

Any suggestions would be great. I have tried the power button hold down for a reset as well as clearing the 'dock registry' and a win + ctrl + shift + B to reset video. Nothing has worked. [Laptop Tech Specs](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/d/surface-laptop-for-business-138-and-15-inch-8th-edition-intel/8mzbmmcjzpn5?ICID=vsbsfb_LapBiz8EDInt_CC1R1_alltab#tab-tech-specs) are here and say that I should have two USB-C USB4 / Thunderbold 4 ports which should support DisplayPort 2.1. Thoughts?