Microsoft has released its first firmware updates of the year for its newest Surface devices. The updates bring a range of improvements to both the Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book, and will no doubt be welcomed by users of both devices; Microsoft enthusiast Aaron Hall, for example, who was among the first to spot the rollout of the updates, certainly greeted their arrival with some excitement:
Microsoft published details of what the new January 2016 firmware packages bring to each device on its Surface update history support pages. For the Surface Pro 4, the update includes:
- Surface Embedded Controller Firmware (v103.899.256.0) adds battery charging enhancements and thermal tuning.
- Surface Fingerprint Sensor driver update (v2.2.10.6) improves accuracy.
- Wireless Network Controller and Bluetooth driver update (v15.68.9037.59) improves access point compatibility and throughput on 5Ghz networks.
...and for the Surface Book, the new firmware includes:
- Surface Embedded Controller Firmware (v88.899.256.0) adds battery charging enhancements and thermal tuning.
- Wireless Network Controller and Bluetooth driver update (v15.68.9037.59) improves access point compatibility and throughput on 5Ghz networks.
- Surface DTX driver update (v1.3.202.0) improves detection of the Surface keyboard to the clipboard.
In addition to the updates list above, the following additional update is available for Surface Book devices that have the optional NVIDIA GeForce GPU discrete graphics chip:
- NVIDIA GeForce GPU update (v10.18.13.5914) improves stability.
The stability improvements promised by the NVIDIA graphics driver update will surely be greeted with open arms by Surface Book owners, given that some have continued to experience display driver crashes in recent weeks.
However, it seems that the updates don't address one of the most serious issues that owners of both the Surface Book and Pro 4 have had to endure. Both devices shipped with a known issue preventing them from properly entering a 'sleep' state, resulting in high battery drain even when not in use. The problem was among several for which Microsoft apologized to buyers of both devices last month.
Source: Surface Book / Surface Pro 4 update history via @GoodThings2Life
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