Products · Product
Microsoft Surface
Raised as a usability problem by 265 people on Hacker News over 18 years (2009–2026), in 191 threads.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads this year.
No issue was raised by at least 3 people in 3 threads in the last 5 years.
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- 12Device is slow to use out of the boxUnreviewed
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Every issue, all time, most people first
Kickstand works only on hard, flat surfacesUnreviewed
20092026- Dual-screen form forces opening the phone and makes one-handed use impossible2020-08-13
- Keyboard cover keeps failing and the company blames the user2020-01-26
- Kickstand hangs past the knees, so the device is impractical to use on a lap2016-12-20
On-screen keyboard is small and nearly unusable in landscapeUnreviewed
20092026- On-screen keyboards inconsistently appear when focusing text inputs; touch UI janky and inconsistent2024-05-21
- On-screen keyboard is small and almost unusable in landscape mode2022-06-26
- On-screen keyboard is small and almost unusable in landscape mode2022-06-25
Few apps respond to touch correctly, making touchscreen unusableUnreviewed
20092026- UI is unresponsive, touch controls inaccurate, and programs slow to launch2024-06-25
- Windows touchscreen unusable, few apps respond to touch correctly2021-04-21
- Windows 10 isn't fully touch-optimized, so it's hard to use without the keyboard attached2020-06-11
Touchpad moves cursor while typing, and Type Cover fails on uneven surfacesUnreviewed
20092026- Touchpad moves the cursor while typing, and the Type Cover keyboard is unusable on uneven surfaces2016-03-12
- Touchpad on keyboard cover is frankly terrible to use2015-11-11
- Typing and trackpad mouse are hard to use, keyboard small and missing keys2015-10-21
Input lag causes typos, late pen strokes and freezesUnreviewed
20092026- Apps and input lag badly, causing typos, late pen strokes, and freezes2023-06-27
- Apps lag, freeze and drop typed input, causing typos and delayed pen strokes2023-06-10
- Typing lags so words appear late, causing typos; apps take seconds to respond2023-01-29
Hard to use on lap, uncomfortable flat, awkward in portraitUnreviewed
20092026- Screen too far to read comfortably and keyboard too far to rest arms on lap2020-05-11
- Hard to use on a lap or in hand without a flat surface2020-05-11
- Keyboard is unusable on a lap; needs a flat solid surface2020-01-25
Right-click works only in a tiny touchpad cornerUnreviewed
20092026- Small click targets and hidden controls are hard to hit with a finger2020-05-23
- Two-finger right-click is unreliable and the motion feels worse2020-05-11
- Single finger left click sometimes registers as right click2016-12-27
Too heavy to comfortably use as a tablet, so touch goes unusedUnreviewed
20092026- Convertible design too heavy to comfortably use as a tablet2021-09-23
- Runs so hot it becomes unusable to hold as a tablet, and is too heavy2019-05-23
- Too heavy to comfortably use as a tablet, so touch goes unused2016-10-28
Phantom touchpresses constantly occur on the touchscreenUnreviewed
20092026- Touch screen is laggy and pen registers touches about 1cm away2026-03-11
- Touchscreen controls require looking at the screen, interrupting the creative workflow2018-06-28
- Phantom touches move the cursor and send typing to the wrong paragraph or app2017-05-23
Touchpad lags on short movements, making precise pointing hardUnreviewed
20092026- Touchpad lags for half a second to three seconds, fixable only by rebooting2020-12-29
- Touchpad lags on short movements, so precise pointing is hard to achieve2020-08-28
- Touchpad imprecise for short movements, can't be fixed by adjusting settings2020-08-28
Fn key tap toggles fn-lock, breaking alt+F4 and other shortcutsUnreviewed
20092026- Tapping Fn toggles the function-key layer, so later presses do the opposite and users can't build muscle memory2026-06-10
- Fn key toggles fn-lock on tap, so alt+F4 and other shortcuts stop working2026-01-12
- Fn key toggles its mode when tapped accidentally, all the time2020-05-24
Device is slow to use out of the boxUnreviewed
20092026- Laptop is so slow the person literally cannot get work done2026-01-28
- Using it is painfully slow, with weak RAM and CPU2022-10-18
- Opening the device or loading a single tab is so slow it's painful to use2020-05-11
Save dialog and file browsing so tedious user returned deviceUnreviewed
20092026- Save dialog and file browsing were so tedious the user returned the tablet2024-11-27
- Tablet unusable; closing apps requires messing with file dialogs2022-02-06
- Save dialog has tiny buttons and folder tree that are hard to operate by touch2012-11-22
Swipe gestures often missed, and swipe-down to close lagsUnreviewed
20092026- Palm rejection is poor and the back swipe gesture behaves inconsistently across apps2016-12-12
- Swiping from the left edge switches apps unexpectedly, unless the user changes a setting2013-02-01
- Swipe gestures often missed; swipe-down to close app lags and takes many tries2012-11-07
Parallax and hand covering screen hamper stylus inputUnreviewed
20092026- Stylus lacks accuracy and has a weird parallax feeling, so user gave up using it2020-11-13
- Parallax and hand covering the screen make stylus input harder to use2017-01-23
- Input is slow, imprecise, and interprets accidental touches as zoom gestures2011-01-06
Combined touch and mouse UI forces oversized controlsUnreviewed
20092026- Touch keyboard flakily fails to appear and window decorations block controls with no way to hide them2018-01-17
- Combined touch and mouse/keyboard UI forces compromises and oversized controls2015-03-31
- Office's small controls don't work well with touch and forces switching to classic desktop2012-10-24
Detaching tablet from keyboard is too slow and clunkyUnreviewed
20092026- Removing the keyboard forces tablet mode even with an external monitor, so it can't be used detached on a desk2022-10-26
- Keyboard detaches from the tablet and peripherals drop out2020-03-30
- Detaching the tablet from the keyboard is too slow and clunky2016-10-31
Apps start slowly and graphics lag behind an iPadUnreviewed
20092026- Intel apps like Photoshop run so slowly they are borderline unusable2019-11-16
- UI lags and stutters when browsing files in the tablet2014-05-23
- Feels a step slower than an iPad, with apps starting slowly and sluggish graphics2013-07-31
Unreviewed issues were grouped by machine: Claude Haiku labelled each comment as a usability complaint, named what it's about and summed up the problem in a line, and a small model grouped similar problems. Nobody has checked them by hand. Expect mistakes.
The newest 50 complaints
- Hidden pixels make some user interfaces completely unusable2026-08-12
- Tapping Fn toggles the function-key layer, so later presses do the opposite and users can't build muscle memory2026-06-10
- ARM Surface cannot use x86 printer drivers, so printing fails2026-03-21
- Touch screen is laggy and pen registers touches about 1cm away2026-03-11
- Charger is finicky, needs effort to seat and stops charging randomly2026-03-04
- Laptop is so slow the person literally cannot get work done2026-01-28
- Fn key toggles fn-lock on tap, so alt+F4 and other shortcuts stop working2026-01-12
- Creating a recovery drive requires typing serial into website and manually overwriting downloaded drivers2025-09-24
- Surface mouse has atrocious ergonomics, uncomfortable to use2025-08-11
- Save dialog forced file management onto a drawing task, making it feel like computing work2025-06-10
- Tablet clock drifts after power-off, blocking TLS and network sync until time is set manually2024-12-16
- Save dialog and file browsing were so tedious the user returned the tablet2024-11-27
- Boot loop after update, and reliability report gives no technical detail2024-10-29
- Firefox touch support is poor, so the user must rely on Chrome or Edge2024-07-16
- UI is unresponsive, touch controls inaccurate, and programs slow to launch2024-06-25
- Trackpad and screen input get disabled accidentally, causing frequent frustration2024-06-05
- On-screen keyboards inconsistently appear when focusing text inputs; touch UI janky and inconsistent2024-05-21
- Trackpad ignored because the user forgets the touch screen and never flips it2024-03-05
- Disabling Secure Boot shows a permanent red warning on every boot, and own keys can't be installed in UEFI setup2024-01-26
- Keyboard locale choice moves the @ symbol, blocking Microsoft account login during setup2023-11-10
- Hourglass cursor appears constantly, even when clicking a button in Outlook2023-09-13
- Trackpad clicks fail where tapping the touchscreen works2023-09-08
- Tablet mode experience is miserable, though tolerable2023-08-26
- Tiny buttons, menus, and save dialogs interrupt drawing; files must be sorted manually2023-08-26
- Device throttles and slows to a crawl opening Word2023-08-18
- Disabling secure boot triggers an ugly red boot screen on every startup2023-07-23
- Apps and input lag badly, causing typos, late pen strokes, and freezes2023-06-27
- Apps lag, freeze and drop typed input, causing typos and delayed pen strokes2023-06-10
- Keyboard sometimes delays waking, so user must wait for numlock LED before typing password2023-04-30
- Typing lags so words appear late, causing typos; apps take seconds to respond2023-01-29
- Apps lag, freeze and drop typed input, making everyday tasks slow and error-prone2022-11-04
- Removing the keyboard forces tablet mode even with an external monitor, so it can't be used detached on a desk2022-10-26
- Using it is painfully slow, with weak RAM and CPU2022-10-18
- Keyboard sections are not separated by spacing, making keys hard to find by layout2022-09-10
- On-screen keyboard is small and almost unusable in landscape mode2022-06-26
- UI can be janky when used as a tablet2022-06-25
- Power button sticks out so it randomly turns on in the bag and drains battery2022-06-25
- On-screen keyboard is small and almost unusable in landscape mode2022-06-25
- Dial takes a couple seconds to respond after sitting unused, too slow for on-demand use2022-05-27
- Windows updates break settings: brightness adjustment lost, reconnected Bluetooth devices jump to 100% volume2022-02-14
- Tablet unusable; closing apps requires messing with file dialogs2022-02-06
- Machine is glued together, so the SSD can't be reached without breaking the screen2022-01-26
- Home, End, PgUp and PgDn keys are non-standard and arrow keys are crippled2022-01-12
- Hardware failures meant the whole machine was swapped, forcing data restore and Windows setup again2021-10-14
- Laptop wakes or reboots overnight for updates, losing unsaved documents2021-09-24
- Convertible design too heavy to comfortably use as a tablet2021-09-23
- Pressing power button does nothing for seconds, so user presses again2021-08-29
- Windows touchscreen unusable, few apps respond to touch correctly2021-04-21
- Web browsing is janky and slow unless performance mode is set2021-04-14
- Frequent UI bugs make the device frustrating to use2021-02-16