Surface Laptop 3 Faint Buzzing Sound

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.

me too have the same problem. now cooling the laptop externally with additional USB fan!

Dear Mathew,

This is a major flaw in the MS Surface hardware.

There are some quick fixes (discovered by users), which I don't recommend. Personally I suffered a lot; they exchanged the devise 3 times and still it had some issue after the other but the buzzing sound stayed.

I gave the laptop to one of my junior colleague and not using it. My suggestion is that if you can then return this laptop for good. I tried couple of hacks suggested by the people, but that really drains the battery and I don't think its healthy for the life of Laptop.

Hope this helps.. Again get rid of this devise.

There really should be a note at the beginning of this thread stating very clearly that this is part of the design and absolutely cannot be fixed.

It's the way the hardware works. If a firmware fix was possible, it'd have been issued a long time ago. When the CPU is in an idle state, it'll buzz.

Increasing load or disabling panel refresh or any of the other workarounds shouldn't be recommended.

Thanks for your response.

I just wanted to know this is normal or not. I am not concerned with this sound if it is not a fault.

I am just using an extenal dc fan (as shown in the picture) under my laptop's stand. It keeps the metal body of laptop cool and the internal fan keeps quiet!

Othern than that, I love this device...

I am in Japan and currently using MS laptop 4, with same problem. That is a shame of Microsoft since there is no fix for this issue. I had replaced my device to the new one but the sound remained and I am so tired of this issue right now. I like Microsoft but this 1500$ device has disappointed a lots.