This is not my first post, I have posted about the problems several times before. This problem has hit me repeatedly, despite several replacements. I already had 2 SP4 pro (i5) replaced and the terrible problem of screen flickering consistently returned
after just a few months of normal usage. I finally got a SP5 (i5) around Dec last year, since the cooling system on SP5 is fanless and different from SP4, I naively thought that the saga of screen flickering would be finally over. Guess what, even with SP5
and just normal usage with MS Office most of the time, and always operated in environment that is air-conditioned or with fan under 30 C, the screen flickering simply hit without warning suddenly after barely 9 months of usage.
It really came out of the blue, it has been working well for 9 months. Last night it got very hot for no obvious reason, but I suspect the background download of Windows update was the culprit as an update became available which required me to restart the
SP5. Before restarting, the screen already turned really dark appeared to be close to 0% brightness with images burnt into the screen, even though the setting still remained at my usual level of 35% brightness. Soon after restarting, the screen flickered persistently
all the time. So the symptom is even worse than my past SP4 (usually started flickering after about 30 mins of usage).
I am totally disappointed with MS, this is a very dishonest company that only specialises in making expensive paper weight. It remains silent despite the problem became viral and widely reported everywhere, and withdrawal of recommendation by Consumer Report.
It only finally admitted the screen flickering is a real issue and offered half-hearted replacement with another (refurbish?) SP4, however, never honestly disclosed what the causes really are. Without the root cause identified and disclosed, how does MS expect
unfortunate customers to be confident with the replacement? Many of the unfortunate customers here had their SPs replaced several times and only to be hit by the problem again and again after several months.
Now it is confirmed for sure that SP5 is also hit by the problem (perhaps it has been reported in previous threads). What is causing the problem? Flawed design? Cheap and unreliable components? Or perhaps both? Then what is the tangible fix to address the
problem? There will be no more MS product for me, it seems to be only good at making bad and unrealiable product and then slaps customers with horrible after sales service that never address the issue causing customers to spend even more time, effort and money
until giving up. Frustrating.
I am now desperately looking for a non-MS replacement of similar form factor (eg. Lenovo Carbon X1-Tablet / Lenovo Mii 720 / Acer Switch 7). Any advice and recommendation on these or similar products will be greatly appreciated, thanks.