Here’s Why Consumer Reports Won’t Endorse Microsoft’s Surface Laptop

Microsoft is relatively new to the hardware business and it appears that the technology company is struggling to be on top of the game. According to the publication on Thursday, consumer reports pulled its recommended rating for Microsoft’s Surface Laptop and the Surface Book– 128GB and 512GB storage options.

Sometime in December 2016, Consumer Reports said it would not recommend the Macbook Pros to consumers because of weak battery life, not until Apple came to its rescue- leading to a change in position by Consumer Reports. Shortly after the Surface Laptop was launched, IFixit downgraded the laptop for lack of reparability.

In a survey recently conducted by Consumer Reports, the Microsoft Surface devices was downgraded for durability issue. The survey included  nearly 91,000 people who have bought new laptops and tablets between 2014 and early 2017.  The study roughly evaluates that about 25% of Microsoft Surface devises will develop problems by the second year of using the product. “These problems could include randomly shutting down”, CNN reported.

The publication said in a report:

“Microsoft is relatively new to the hardware business and this is the first year we’ve had enough data to estimate predicted reliability for the company’s laptop”

Although, a number of Microsoft products, the Surface Pro for instance was rated highly in Consumer Reports laptop lab evaluations, the publication maintains its stance that it can’t recommend any other Microsoft device to consumers  due to “poor predicted reliability” in contrast to the other brands. “Predicted reliability” is also important to consumers.

In a defense to the Consumer Reports rating, a Microsoft spokesman said:

“Microsoft surface Pro is designed and built with performance and reliability in mind. Microsoft’s real-world return and support rates for past models differ significantly from Consumer Reports’ breakage predictability.”

Notably, Microsoft won’t be the only brand that has fallen short of the publication’s recommendation. The Tesla Model S and Apple’s MacBook Pro have also been blacklisted by Consumer Protection in the past. Nevertheless, this is the first time in two years the Consumer Reports would pull a laptop recommendation after it did for Hewlett-Packard models and Lenovo due to irreparability issues.

Following the report from the Consumer Reports’ survey, Apple remains the most reliable laptop and tablet brand. The publisher’s editor, Jerry Beilinson told Reuters:

“If you are very concerned about how long your products are going to last, it might be better for you to go with a brand that has a higher predictability”

This is obviously not a good one for Microsoft. Do you think the publishers went too hard on the technology firm by saying it can’t recommend “any other” Microsoft brand?