Microsoft's Surface line of mobile devices has a lot of fans, including our own Bruno "morphine" Ferreira. Consumer Reports (CR) has traditionally been part of that fan club, giving various devices a place on its recommendations list. However, the magazine has now removed the "recommended" designation for all mobile Surface models after receiving tens of thousands of complaints from readers. The news is headlined by a two-year problem report rate of 25%, suggesting that a quarter of all Surface owners will experience problems with their devices by their second year of ownership.
Surface Laptops with 256 GB and 512 GB SSDs and Surface Books with 128 GB and 512 GB drives previously had a place on CR's recommended lists. Microsoft has only recently joined the ranks of computer manufacturers, and this is the first year that the magazine had enough data to "estimate predicted reliability for the company's laptops."
Microsoft disputes Consumer Reports' findings, stating its "real-world return and support rates for past models differ significantly from Consumer Reports’ breakage predictability." CR says that while hardware from the Redmond software giant has performed well in laboratory testings, the site's readers have had trouble with Microsoft's devices at higher rates than with those of other brands. The site's latest surveys tabulate results from almost 91,000 readers that own tablets and laptops.