After a silent December, Microsoft has released a number of updates for all three Surface Pro devices, with the biggest package being for Surface Pro 3 owners. This should make the experience better for a lot of users, since the Surface line is almost a billion dollar business for Microsoft.
The following updates should be listed as “System Firmware Update – 1/15/2015” when you view your update history:
Surface Pro 3:
- Surface Pro UEFI update (v3.11.450.0) adds support for updated HD Graphics Family driver.
- HD Graphics Family driver update (v10.18.14.4029) enhances display stability and performance, improves user experience when using Miracast adapters. Improves compatibility with DisplayPort monitors and daisy chaining.
- Wireless Network Controller and Bluetooth driver update (v15.68.3073.151) addresses connectivity issues while Hyper-V is enabled. Adds an advanced feature to control the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz band preference.
- Surface Home Button driver update (v2.0.1179.0) ensures compatibility with the Surface Hub app.
- Microsoft Docking Station Audio Device driver update (v1.31.35.7) improves the user experience while using the Surface Pro 3 Docking Station so that sound is available when a speaker is not connected to the docking station.
Surface Pro 2:
- Surface Pro UEFI update (v2.05.0150) improves the PXE boot experience with the 1 gigabit Surface Ethernet Adapter and further enhances the system security.
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HD Graphics Family driver update (v10.18.14.4029) enhances display stability and performance, improves user experience when using Miracast adapters. Improves compatibility with DisplayPort monitors and daisy chaining.
Surface Pro:
- Surface Pro UEFI update (v1.7.50) further enhances the system security.
Due to the fact that Microsoft is rolling out the update in stages via Windows Update, it may not be available yet in your area. Still, you should manually check later as these updates should make your device a lot more enjoyable to use, especially for Surface Pro 3 owners.
The Intel Graphics driver for the Pro 3 is a major update that brings partial acceleration for the VP9 video format used by Google Chrome, support for HEVC (for 4K Ultra HD video playback), and expanded Open CL and Open GL extension support. Furthermore, it has a number of fixes for freezing during Skype video calls and bugs in popular games.
If you have more problems with your Surface, you"ll be happy to know that now there"s a Twitter handle for that too.
UPDATE: For those of you who want to see the detailed list of fixes and improvements, Microsoft has kindly provided them here.
Source: Microsoft