Microsoft Surface Pro 4 (Intel Core i5, 4GB RAM, 128GB) with Windows 10 Anniversary (Renewed)

Beware! Defective Devices
I purchased a refurbished Surface 4 hoping to use it as a lightweight work device. I chose a refurbished device to perhaps save some money and keep an old, but otherwise useful, device from the landfill.I wish the absolute lemon of a device I received was in a landfill.Appearances were, at first, good. As standard for used devices it shipped with no documentation, only a power cord. It was wrapped and shipped quite well, and it was clearly cleaned before shipment. There was only one very tiny (less than 1mm in length) chip in the metal case which took me some time to notice. In terms of external quality the device looked excellent. Unfortunately, the excellent outsides belied the irredeemable insides.The device was nearly inoperable, and is utterly beyond saving by a normal user. When performing first time set up problems quickly became apparent. Touch controls did not work for this touch screen tablet computer. The device came without a pen or keyboard, and I was fine with this as I did not expect a used device to come with peripherals. However what was not fine was the fact that the device would not register touch inputs outside of the “power+volume up” menu. Touching would not move the cursor, touching would not bring up the on screen keyboard, touching the *touch surface* of this Surface Pro tablet did nothing whatsoever.Fine, perhaps the device expects you to have a keyboard or some other peripheral. I plugged in a USB mouse and was able to, with some difficulty, complete first time start up and connect my device to my internet. My problems were not yet over.Now on the windows desktop home screen new problems set in. I attempted to update the system – as I thought perhaps an update to the device’s software would correct the device’s issues. Here I ran into something rather novel, the settings menu would not open. No matter how many times I clicked, no matter how many resets I performed, I could not open the settings menu in order to update the device. I tried sifting through the menus to try to find some setting or other that might turn on touch controls, or otherwise render my device operable but, alas, nothing.At this point, frustrated with the increasingly useless device I had spent $274 on, I resolved to try a factory reset. As the settings menu obstinately resisted any attempt to bring it up, I brought up the command prompt and (still using a usb mouse and the on screen keyboard) entered “systemreset”.Enter the final, most damning, issue with this device – the battery. During multiple attempts at a system reset the device blue screened. The issue, I suspect, is the battery which cannot hold a charge. The device, by some miracle, shipped with the correct power cable. The cable was apparently the only thing about the device that could handle electricity. The machine holds no charge and instantly turns off the moment the cable is unplugged. The battery, I suspect, is fully cooked, or somehow removed. In any case, the machine would be useless for my intended purposes in such a state, even if the touch controls worked at all.In summation the machine I was sent:1. Would not respond to touch inputs2. Would not load key functions on the operating system3. Blue screened several times4. Had a battery life of approximately 0 secondsUsed and refurbished electronics are always a “your mileage may vary” proposition – especially in sight unseen purchases like over Amazon. Based on other reviews many people are happy with the devices they received, and you might be too should you order from Amazon Refurbished. I warn you, however, that your mileage might be like mine: a beautiful condition but useless device with an even more useless battery.

First delivery had a dead battery and defective touch screen (Be sure to check!)
Original Review:Battery held zero charge. Disconnecting from power cable resulted in immediate shut down regardless of how long it was attached.Large region of the touchscreen was damaged. It interferes with basic typing and makes some letters unusable in the default layout. I used the Paint program to check the scope of the damage. There was a region, a few cm wide, that stretched the entire length of the screen where touch inputs were lost or distorted.Product was not in acceptable condition despite being certified. I requested a replacement and will update this review when it arrives.Follow-up Review:I received a replacement which had more cosmetic damage but had a functioning battery and touchscreen. Much happier with the replacement. Be sure to test yours thoroughly when it arrives!

Great Surface Tablet!
This was my first Surface Pro tablet. Mine arrived in flawless condition. It honestly looked brand new. For this to only have a dual-core 4-thread i5 with 4 GB of RAM, it’s been pretty peppy for me. Programs open seamlessly and everything loads fine. Microsoft, unfortunately, is ending Windows 10 support in 2025, so I did install Windows 11 on mine, even though it doesn’t meet the requirements due to only the processor. I chose to install Tiny11, which is a lighter version of Windows 11 without all the bloatware. I think this also helped with the battery life and the lower amount of RAM. I only use mine for casual web browsing, so it met my expectations completely. This has a slightly higher than 2K resolution screen, so the visuals are amazing. It will be hard to use Windows at 1080p after using this. The speakers also sound great. The charger connects magnetically, so it can kind of be annoying since it can fall out quite easily, but it’s also an advantage since it won’t pull your tablet off the table or desk if the cable gets caught on something and is pulled. I love that it has Windows Hello, which unlocks your PC with face I.D. This has been a great purchase! Highly recommend.

Item arrived with zero charge. Was years behind in Windows updates. Took updates over several hours only to find that it would not take a charge at all. Tried a second charger – no difference. Cleaned ports – no difference. Updated drivers – no difference.Thankfully returned through Amazon