}
My Surface Pro 4. Now, this is by no means a review of how awesome Microsoft's Surface line of tablets are. But, it is a word of caution as well as a story of being thankful for making the best out of a seemingly horrible situation.
Wait, Am I Going Blind
So it all started one day when I was working on my Surface Pro and noticed that my vision was blurring. Granted, I was on the laptop for almost a solid 4 hours, so perhaps I needed some rest. I shut my eyes, opened it again, and started to worry. Is this it, am I going to blind? Am I being ok going blind for the simple reason of "working too much"? I looked up and my vision immediately cleared. Strange, everything is now in full HD. Staring back at my screen, I realized that my screen was flickering like crazy.
Gosh, not now. I can't afford to get it to change now.
Solutions...
Let's see, I don't have enough money in my Steem wallet (this was before Hive existed) to get a new laptop. Let's see what solutions can Google whip out. Turns out that I should be chucking my Surface in the freezer. That worked... for a moment and we were back to the screen flickering again.
This was when I stumbled upon Microsoft Surface's "flickergate". It turns out that I was not the only person who had an issue with his Surface Pro 4. I was told that I could get it exchanged for a new one. So I gave Microsoft a ring. The customer service was nice but they required more evidence to "prove" that my screen was flickering.
It was at this moment that my surface pro decided that it was done flickering and miraculously recovered.
The Hunt
I was disappointed. I was hoping that they were going to replace my laptop but without any evidence, I would not be able to claim it. So, I waited for the flicker to happen. I tried a myriad of ways to make the flickering happen. I watched a few movies, with no joy. I tried some light gaming, that did not help. At this point, I was disappointed. Perhaps, I was imagining things and that was when a flicker of hope happened (pun intended). There was a slight flicker that evolved into heavy flickering.
I quickly took a video and sent it to Microsoft. A few weeks later, a brand new (refurbished) surface pro arrived at my doorstep. It lasted for a year and a half before the same issue happened again. At this point, they were still kind enough to send me another replacement.
Conclusion
This was how my Surface pro has lasted me for the last 5 years. While technically not a new laptop, I'm just happy that I did not have spend money to buy a new laptop. I suppose the moral of the story is to go for laptops with known manufacturer's defects? But seriously though, defects aside, the surface pro has been a trusty laptop.