Microsoft Surface Book Thread

Cosimo · 23 Dec 2015 at 09:40

Surface pen now has full customisation:

https://www.thurrott.com/mobile/mic...-offers-full-surface-pen-button-customization

Cosimo · 30 Dec 2015 at 07:21

Orcvader said:
Been running AMIDuOS on my SP4: http://www.amiduos.com/

I missed my Android apps . Runs pretty well too. Did try Archon/Arc welder which uses Chrome but not all apps work with it. Only issue I noticed is the app does not like it when the SP4 goes to sleep.

There are a number of Android apps I could do with on here so I'll give this a try.

Cosimo · 5 Jan 2016 at 13:58

Now up for preorder in the UK:

http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msuk/en_GB/pdp/productID.332604800

Official launch on February 18th.

Rilot · 5 Jan 2016 at 14:15

I wish I could justify 1,600 for the Surface Book with the dGPU. I just can't though.

Glaucus · 5 Jan 2016 at 14:17

Rilot said:
I wish I could justify 1,600 for the Surface Book with the dGPU. I just can't though.

It's so close to being perfect device.

I recon 2nd or 3rd generation i'll be able to justify it.

xsnv · 5 Jan 2016 at 14:58

Really tempted by this but might just wait till Gen 2 when most the bugs have been ironed out.

Had issues with my first surface 3 and the Microsoft RMA process was painful to say the least.

kevpuk · 5 Jan 2016 at 15:34

Mmmm, so tempted - here's hoping MS offer a fabulous SP3 trade-in deal :rolleyes:

Cosimo · 9 Jan 2016 at 06:36

Fancy a cover then why not try some Toast:

http://www.neowin.net/news/you-can-now-toast-your-surface-book-and-surface-pro-4

picnic · 9 Jan 2016 at 09:26

I worry about cases like this, when the manufacturer has used the case to act as a heat sink to reduce active cooling requirements it seems wrong to wrap a blanket around it, wood is not that good at transferring heat is it?

Cosimo · 12 Jan 2016 at 06:50

Having poor performance with Illustrator and Photoshop using the nVidia GPU, well here is a fix:

There is an issue with the default power management setting for the nVidia GPU.

Steps:
1.Download and install GeForce Experience from here: http://www.geforce.com/geforce-experience/download
2.Once installed, right click on your desktop and select "NVIDIA Control Panel"
3.Click "Manage 3D Settings"
4.Go to the "Program Settings" tab and select "Adobe Photoshop (Photoshop.exe)" from the dropdown list.
5.Under the "Specify Settings" list, scroll down to find the "Power Management Mode" setting, and change it from "Adaptive" to "Prefer Maximum Performance."
6.Restart Photoshop, and optionally restart your computer for good measure.

"Adaptive performance" saves power, but it is not the ideal setting for Photoshop. I don't work for Microsoft or Adobe, but here's my theoretical explanation for why this default setting is terrible for Photoshop:

Unlike 3D games or video editing where the GPU is consistently active, Photoshop only accelerates certain tasks, so there is a delay in the time you start drawing and the time the system directs more power to the GPU. This delay slows apparent drawing speed and responsiveness. By setting the GPU to "Prefer Maximum Performance," the GPU always has the power necessary to process your brush strokes.

You could set "Prefer Maximum Performance" as a global setting instead of Photoshop specific override, but this might negatively impact your battery life in times when you're just surfing the web.

Hope this helps you! We stumbled through many incorrect solutions and depressing workarounds before discovering this one for ourselves.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...n/0b897071-ac8c-4e39-99ab-e863e60b5796?page=3

jonneymendoza · 12 Jan 2016 at 11:23

Cosimo said:
Having poor performance with Illustrator and Photoshop using the nVidia GPU, well here is a fix:

There is an issue with the default power management setting for the nVidia GPU.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...n/0b897071-ac8c-4e39-99ab-e863e60b5796?page=3

would a similar fix work for sp4/ iGPU's?

Cosimo · 12 Jan 2016 at 12:22

jonneymendoza said:
would a similar fix work for sp4/ iGPU's?

I suspect that there isn't such an issue with the SP as it only has one GPU and that is integrated into the CPU so it is always available to change power states.

I doubt very much where any Intel GPU software would allow for any GPU optimisations but with a registry edit hack it is possible to max out Intel HD 520 graphics on the SB and SP4:

http://www.windowscentral.com/how-max-intel-hd-graphics-surface-pro-4

I've not seen anything to up the Core i7 Iris 540 graphics performance on the SP4.

Cosimo · 12 Jan 2016 at 17:03

The pen:

changing the tip:

Cosimo · 15 Jan 2016 at 06:53

A long term review:

lolage · 20 Jan 2016 at 11:08

I'm a bit annoyed the enter key is only a single key height.

Rroff · 20 Jan 2016 at 11:22

Cosimo said:
A long term review:

Definitely think these kind of devices are the future - though needs to be lighter than the book and personally (though might not be to everyones liking) would prefer a dock with an upgradable higher end GPU rather than a slightly better GPU in the keyboard (or even both though that seems a bit unnecessary).

POB · 20 Jan 2016 at 15:49

lolage said:
I'm a bit annoyed the enter key is only a single key height.

That is a USA layout.

The UK Type cover has a correct full size enter key.

So I'd expect a UK one to be normal.

Cosimo · 20 Jan 2016 at 16:03

lolage said:
I'm a bit annoyed the enter key is only a single key height.

Hasn't made any difference to me when I'm typing.

Cosimo · 26 Jan 2016 at 15:01

Up to £400 cash back when you pre-order the Surface Book and trade in an old laptop or tablet:

http://www.windowscentral.com/uk-surface-book-pre-orders-can-get-400-cash-back-trade-offer

Cosimo · 28 Jan 2016 at 08:50

Surface Book Firmware Update 1/27/16:

January 2016 updates

The following update will be listed as “System Firmware Update – 1/27/2016” when you view your update history.

When Surface updates are provided via the Windows Update service, they are delivered in stages to Surface customers. As a result, not every Surface will receive the update at the same time, but the update will be delivered to all devices. If you have not received the update then please manually check Windows Update later.

•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.

**** Microsoft Surface Book Thread ****

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Microsoft Surface Book Thread