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
    2019-11-13T14:30:22+00:00

    same got mine today and is making the sound aswell

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  2. Anonymous
    2019-11-14T21:31:13+00:00

    Got it 2 weeks ago, the problem persists on the SL 3, maybe this is normal on the SL 3

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  3. Anonymous
    2019-11-15T16:34:33+00:00

    I want to echo WhitePines Discription. 

    My Surface Book 3 is doing the same thing coming from the area of the F12 key. Here are some additional notes. 

    • The noise is persistent if plugged into the surface dock or not.
    • It will pause if you unplug the dock until it finishes processing the display changes back to the one screen.
    • It seems that under heavy loads it will become less pronounced
    • The noise is present with the laptop shut but the dock displaying on external screens

    ___________________________________________

    It seems the only solution is to get older so I can't hear that pitch anymore (so market the system to boomers not millennials) or wear earbuds all day to drown it out. 

    I know this is blasphemy but my old Asus Chromebook C302 is a better piece of hardware at 1/3rd the cost and can flip into tablet mode. Too bad for me that my employer has an obsession with MS products. Whenever possible I avoid using my surface opting for the chromebook or my phone.

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  4. Anonymous
    2019-11-18T08:42:55+00:00

    I have the same problem. Hopefully, Microsoft is adressing it in some way.

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  5. Anonymous
    2019-11-18T19:41:46+00:00

    Experiencing the same thing. It's buzzing but also kinda sound like coil whine when I listen close to the keyboard. Though it's not super loud, I can fairly easily notice it from 2-3 feet or more in a normal quiet home environment (even with the TV on in the background).

    Also I listened to a couple of SL3s at one retailer and it sounded like they had the same sound, but hard to hear how bad it was in a noisy shop.

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