Microsoft Surface Pro 3 (128 GB, Intel Core i5) (Renewed)

Update: “AMAZON REFURBISHED” is a misrepresentation, really it’s just a used device.
Update: My 5Ghz band died on the wireless adapter for my Surface. Spoke with Amazon support, their standards for refurbishing are vague at best. See my chat log:Monique: Yes, I have seen that this is a common issue. Have you tried to contact the manufacturer to see if they have the resolution for this common problem?Me : The device is not under manufacture warranty, the support I have avalaible is via TechNet, it’s common network troubleshooting, does not resolve issue.Me : also changed my WAP’s channels across the entire 5gthz band still no resolution, other devices on my network function fine at 5ghzMe : When the 5Ghz band doesn’t show eSSIDs, The entire device needs to be shut off, then powered on, at that point it will populate the SSIDSMe : Sometimes, will connect.Me : After troubleshooting, it’s a hardware issue.Monique: I definitely do agree. Since this item was sold from a third party seller on our website, we do not have access to their inventory to send a replacement. We can refund you for the device and you may feel free to re-purchase from another seller on our website.Me : Ok. Also, from my review and others, I’m concerned about what QA standards go into refurbing these machines.Me : My device was extremely dirty out of the box, and others had issues with damage on their devices. How would I know if I will receive a device that’s actually been tested?Monique: All the devices that are certified refurbished by Amazon are tested.Me : What about battery capacity and use, is there a certain number of cycles limited or design capacity percentage to meet the standards?Monique: Yes, but I am not sure what the seller bases them off of.Me : what standard does Amazon have?Me : Batteries only last a certain number of cycles, years, when will it approved as “refurbished” 95% capacity? 80%, 70%? This tablet had 150 cycles on the battery, its capacity is still good, but what’s the standard since Amazon is not clear. Apple refurbished is really like new, the Macbook I’ve bought years ago had 2 cycles on the batteryMonique: Products sold under the Certified Refurbished on Amazon label have been tested and certified to look and work like new by a qualified manufacturer or a specialized third-party refurbisher who is either the seller of record, when that is not Amazon.com; or the vendor, when Amazon sells products that it sources from vendors.Me : “Work like new” should have a standard in place for battery capacity required. Otherwise, to put bluntly, these devices are just used, not refurbished.Me : Essentially that’s misrepresentation of the product stating it’s “like new” with a battery that has over 150 cyclesMe : I think Amazon needs to clarify what tests and standards go in the refurb process. I would like an exchange only if I feel confident in the device I will receive. Otherwise, This one still functions for the time beingMonique: The refurbishment process includes a full diagnostics test, replacement of any defective parts, a thorough cleaning and inspection process, and repackaging by the seller or vendor.Me : I understand diagnostics, but what % of a battery is deemed to be bad?Monique: It varies upon usage and we do not have access to the diagnostic specifications of the refurbish process.PROS: 256GB 8GB Ram Surface Pro 3 for $430! Perfect function, perfect screen/glass, works with Pro 4 case Keyboard, All day battery life, includes a new/like new AC adapter.CONS: Used item, not refurbished. Very dirty and gross, 93%-98% battery capacity w/ 150+ cycles, minor physical wear scratches, nothing major, Outdated Win10 image installed. Questionable “refurbishment process”I’m disappointed by the “refurbished- like new” quality of the description listed for this device. From my experiences with “refurbished” items from Apple, Dell, and directly from other manufactures, they literally replace and refurb any wear part on the item making it function and look like new. Batteries are replaced, chassis are cleaned and if damaged, replaced with new parts. In the past, the three generations of Macbook laptops I’ve bought brand new had hardware issues; versus the discounted factory-refurb 2011 one that’s still kicking with absolutely no issues for years on end.That said, this Surface is not “refurbished”, it’s used. The amount of work put into refurbishing it is minimal. The screen was cleaned and the OS was reset so you can complete the reinstall of Windows 10 Pro. Note, the Anniversary update was not applied, after reinstall so an older image was used. As for the back, I can tell you the prior owner was pretty gross. The silver magnesium finish was covered with yellow smudges from the smoker’s hands, and on the kick-stand between back of the device along the machined crease was a nasty yellow piece of what looked like ear wax! Gross!At that point I was debating on just shipping it back to Amazon for another replacement or just a return. Since it was already on my desk, and I had latex gloves, isopropyl alcohol and a beer nearby, I’ve mustered up the willpower to clean this mess. Fortunately, the paper towels used removed nearly all of the nasty mess, with q-tips I was able to remove the rest of the gnarly biological mater from the kickstand. To finish off, I went ahead and used a blower to attempt to blow out any dust accumulated from the heatsink area of the device.All said and done, the device actually looks pretty good. Even though my device’s original owner was a nasty slob, at least he didn’t drop it or scratched it up too badly. There’s a few minor wear marks on the back, but nothing too concerning.I’ve proceeded to use my most current Windows 10 USB boot disk to perform a clean factory format and reinstall. Everything is good. Updated the firmware, drivers, and checked the battery.You can check the battery by going to command prompt in windows, type: “powercfg /batteryreport”Overall, the battery usage shows 150 charge/discharge cycles, between 93-98% design capacity after the week of use. I’m not sure if I want to keep this device or just reformat it and send it back.

Four out of Five stars – got lucky again buying used.
I’ll start with this: I had read a lot of reviews of companies selling ‘refurbished’ Microsoft Surface devices, but just basically reboxing them without actually doing anything. In some cases, shipping dead devices. I had previously purchased a refurbished Surface 3, and had good lock with that. So, I would have bought from that company, but they didn’t have any more of those, so I had to do a lot more seller review checks on Amazon before I pulled the trigger on this purchase. So it bought this one from some company named “DealFisher” selling through Amazon as their warehouse / shipper.I wanted just another Surface 3 (Atom based) as a Windows based beside tablet. My wife wanted one, so I gave her my current one, figuring I didn’t really need it and would go back to using my old iPad. That is when I got hit with exactly why I went away from the dam* iPad: Websites that crash the browser. Everyone is using things the poor browser in iOS can’t cope with and it crashes them. So they have to reload the page over and over. And it is happening more and more frequently. This does not happen in Windows – thus back to a Surface 3.So the price on this was even cheaper than on a Surface 3. At $300, it was a steal. I didn’t even know they made a Core i3 version of the 3 Pro. This is it. The 4 gigs of memory you should really have, but only 64 gigs of storage space. For bedside browsing, this is more than enough.When I unboxed it, the battery was totally dead. I had to charge it for 15 minutes before it would start. But, start it did. And it immediately went into the ‘welcome/configuration’ screens of a fresh OS install. So it had been wiped and an OS reinstalled. But.. I think it was Windows 8. However I wasn’t given much time to figure that out, because once I stepped through the install screens, it immediately pulled down updates, decided it was ready to upgrade to Windows 10 and did so. I didn’t mind that because Win 10 is actually an okay tablet OS if you can live with the privacy invasion. (Hint, never use your real name or information if you have concerns. Or if you own an official license, then install Windows 8.1 ) **note: I did revert an older Surface Pro down to Windows 8.1 because it also works an a tablet OS and I feel a little more in control of it when I am going to put important things in there like my company work files and such.Thus began the 24 hours of updates. There were so many updates this thing had to apply. Very often when you finish installing updates, you should make it check again to see if there are updates to the updates. Yes, this really happens. In my case there were many updates. Quite a few required you to reboot so they could finish installing. Then you start again doing the next set of updates. That is life of a fresh install.But, that has nothing to do with the item in question. This Surface 3 Pro is a bit slower than the Core i5 version. If you can afford it, get one of those. If you want a simple adjunct / side computer to whatever you already own, then this works fine. Add on a Micro SD card like a 128 gig card, then you have enough secondary space to store things rather than the tight 64 gig drive. (The card slot for the Micro SD card, is behind the kickstand(llap on the back), out of the way and not along the edge.)This refurbished unit has a great screen with no scratches of chips. The magnesium body doesn’t show any scratches or scaring either. I guess I got lucky with this one.Everything on this seems to work, from USB port to charging port, touch screen to speakers. The screen is bright and shows no signs of ‘spots’ or discoloration. I really think that for every other hangup I have a about Microsoft software, their hardware offerings are always pretty high quality compared to their direct competitors. So I expected and found this to be of the quality I have seen on other new and used Surface devices.The interesting thing with this purchase; It came with a charger to recharge it, as you would expect. However, you would expect a used charger nicely cleaned, twist tied, and tossed in the box. What I actually received was a brand new Microsoft charger for the Surface 3 Pro. I know it is new because (besides the spotless look and the plastic baggy it is in) it came with the cables carefully wound in that pristine way they do at the factory, then each one wrapped with that single band of polyester tape that a knock-off factory would likely not expend the money on. So I felt good about that part of this.The only thing I could ding on this experience was the packaging. It wasn’t horrible, and no damage resulted from it, so it is a very minor touch point. The Surface was placed in a padded envelope of the kind they make from bubble wrap. It wasn’t sealed, but was just tight enough that the device didn’t slide out. That and the charger where then placed in a generic white box, much like a cut-to-fit pizza box of some sort. Good enough to stack on Amazon shelves. Amazon shipped it out in their typical ‘way too big’ box with just the very minimum of padding. In the end it survived.Why four stars? The device works. It shipped without damage. It had no signs of internal issues so far. It even appears to have shipped with a new power supply / charger. So far so good. I think the only thing I could complain about was packaging. It did’t impress me. I don’t know who does it. There was a included sticker / slip in the box detailing how vendors had to meet a certain level of quality to sell through Amazon. So maybe the vendor put that in the box, or maybe Amazon just packages the bits into a box. No idea. But it didn’t really make me feel like: ‘Wow, look at this packaging’. My last Surface 3 was also a refurbished unit. It came in a very nice box. Clearly branded as a Surface 3 and refurbished. And this wasn’t a sticker, but a full on printed-on-shiny cardboard paint job. Some good money spent on that experience. I am pretty sure it was identical to the original shipping box, as it have the tray it floated in, and a separate box for the power supply. It could easily be that Microsoft had someone doing the official refurb and boxing, and then having someone handle the sales. However, this one was not presented in any such nice fashion.Sometimes you get lucky buying used, and I can’t say I did not. It works just fine and I am using it right now to type this up right now, on battery power (which has lasted an expectedly nice amount of time, which on a device that you can not replace the battery in, is a significant issue).

Overall:Works perfectly and looks very good. mine has a small scratch at the back which is not visible thanks to the magnesium build.I wish it came with a pen just like the original surface pro 3, but that is not a big issue for me. If you want the pen consider the pen price before you make a decision.Performance:The tablet works fine for note taking and office documents. Anything heavier (web development or video editing) will speed up the fans and warm up the device and drain the battery really fast.Screen:No dead pixels so far and the touch is responsive and well calibrated.Battery:The battery seems to be working properly. After five full charge cycles, the full charge capacity of the battery is 40516 mWH which is 4% lower than the designed capacity of 42157 mWH, which is not a deal breaker for me.Conclusions:If it was a new device or it had a higher price tag I would have rated it 4 stars. For a refurbished device at this price, it deserves five stars.

I never thought I would be a PC person ever again, I have to say that I really love my Microsoft Surface Pro 3!I’m a bit disappointed it didn’t come with the Surface Pen, but that’s okay.I had no visible physical problems with my Surface Pro 3, it was almost like it was completely brand new. I just wish the battery life was a little better (only good for 5 hours instead of up to 9 hours), another than that. No real complaints about the quality of the refurbish!