Microsoft responds to Consumer Reports Surface reliability claims, touts 98% satisfaction rate

In a report issued today, Consumer Reports found that in a Survey of over 90 thousand laptops and tablets carried out over a period of two years, Microsoft Surface owners were likely to run into problems at a rate which was higher than similarly priced competitors like Apple.  The firm found “that 25 percent of Microsoft laptops and tablets will present their owners with problems by the end of the second year of ownership.”  Due to this high failure rate Consumer Reports is pulling its recommended label for Microsoft’s Surface Laptops and tablets, including the newly minted Surface Laptop and Surface Pro.

Now  Panos Panay, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Devices, has responded to the report by stating catagorically that Microsoft stood behind their Surface products.

Expressing disappointment with the report, Panay claimed their own data found both their predicted 1-2-year failure and actual return rates for Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book were significantly lower than 25%. Additionally, other support incidents per unit (IPU), was now well below 1%, something which Microsoft calls a “record low.”

Microsoft underscored this claim by noting that independent consumer research by IPSOS in US, UK, Germany, France, China, Japan, and Australia, found 98% of Surface Pro 4 users and Surface Book users say they are satisfied with their device.

The news is of course somewhat at odds with what we have been hearing about Skylake performance in the Surface range, including widespread power management and other reliability issues.

Panos, however, said the company stood “firmly behind the quality and reliability of the Surface family of devices” and that there was never a better time to buy a Surface.

Does our reader’s personal experience chime more with Microsoft or Consumer Reports? Let us know below.