Surface Laptop 3 Faint Buzzing Sound

Anonymous
2019-10-23T21:50:20+00:00

Hello,

I’ve got the i5 8GB Surface Laptop 3 (13.5-inch), and today, while browsing the internet, I noticed a fairly faint  buzzing sound coming from under the keyboard. It was faint enough you couldn’t hear it from a couple metres away, and sometimes buzzed continuously, other times buzzed in short repetitive bursts.

It didn’t sound like the fan to me, so I opened up the task manager to see if browsing was straining the computer in some way.

I have updated the computer completely, but the buzzing persisted.

Is this a normal electronics problem? Is it actually just the fan? Or is it possibly a defective unit?

Edit/Update:

I took the device into the MS Store today to see if there was something wrong. The staff took it into the back and tested it. They found increasing the computer's workload caused the sound to increase and described it as a popping static-y sound. They replaced the device and I have a new one now. Unfortunately, I've found through usage that this one is also making the sound. I am waiting to see if a firmware update reduces the noise since it seems pervasive across the devices.

Surface | Surface Laptop | Install and update

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  1. Anonymous
    2020-06-16T14:59:24+00:00

    Just received the new unit black. 

    Atm, seems like the coil whining (static buzzing) is not present. 

    Do you have an idea guys how to trigger it instantly? So at least I can be 100% i have a working unit. 

    Many thanks

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  2. Anonymous
    2020-06-13T09:10:47+00:00

    Makes sense mate, you're right. 

    As I said, I rather sacrificing the touchscreen than using escamotage on CPU idling. 

    Hope this will eliminate the buzzing definitely. Will keep you posted as I should receive the refurbished unit mid next week.

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  3. Anonymous
    2020-06-12T16:30:34+00:00

    Of course, your reasoning is worthwile we’re all just disappointed in using escamotages like these on a machine worth 1500$. 

    having said that, i’ll wait mine that should arrive next week and keep you posted. 

    if the problem will still be there, and i think it’s the case, i’ll disable touchscreen rather than installing new softwares to reduce CPU performances.  

    Just a note, but disabling the CPU idling probably will have the opposite effect and increase performance when you have sudden high usage processes, as the CPU is never idle.  That comes at the cost of battery life, which is usually unwanted for portable devices.  It's also a setting built into Windows, nothing external.

    I bought the higher end one when I did it, so around $2600. I'm right there with you on being disappointed.

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  4. Anonymous
    2020-06-12T16:11:08+00:00

    Of course, your reasoning is worthwile we’re all just disappointed in using escamotages like these on a machine worth 1500$. 

    having said that, i’ll wait mine that should arrive next week and keep you posted. 

    if the problem will still be there, and i think it’s the case, i’ll disable touchscreen rather than installing new softwares to reduce CPU performances.

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  5. Anonymous
    2020-06-12T14:05:01+00:00

    What I mean is that since even if Nexus app stops the buzzing by preventing the CPU from going idle, would this really affect battery life that much?

    I noticed in Resource Monitor that CPU percentage increases slightly when Nexus is open (from about 2% to 4%), and a 2% increase in the CPU use seems a pretty worthwhile tradeoff in order to get rid of the buzzing.  In the absence of another fix I'll happily take it.

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