Why it matters to you
Microsoft is keeping the Surface Pro 4 competitive with regular updates, even if they aren’t the most exciting.
Tweaks to hibernation and sleep modes are at the forefront of Microsoft’s latest update for the Surface Pro 4. These changes will improve battery life and stability for a system that will now runs better when you’re not using it. There are also a handful of tweaks to touch up functionality and brightness controls.
With the advent of Windows 10, Microsoft made a big commitment to keep updates for its various hardware and software platforms coming regularly. It’s done a pretty solid job of that, but that does mean that occasionally there are releases which don’t exactly shake the world up. That’s what this latest release for the Surface Pro 4 is like — a nice quality of life improvement, but no big feature updates.
Available via Windows Update, or from the Surface Pro 4 drivers and firmware page (thanks MSPowerUser), the update aggregates a number of updates released recently for Surface Integration and Intel Precise Touch Device drivers. The Surface Embedded Controller Firmware update should improve battery life when the 2-in-1 is in sleep mode and touch support will also be disabled when the cover is closed. It’s said to improve overall system stability, too.
The Surface Integration update tweaks the way hibernation works, while the update to the Surface System Aggregator Firmware resolves problems with screen brightness when bringing the convertible laptop out of sleep mode.
Other improvements in this release include an update to touch functionality, an update to the Surface UEFI which refines the brightness settings, and a Surface Touch update to further optimize its functionality.
All of these improvements might be small, but they help keep the Surface Pro 4 a relevant piece of equipment when it’s being compared to the latest Surface Pro convertible tablet. Picking one or the other isn’t easy, as they’re both great devices. When that new Microsoft 2-in-1 is compared to Apple’s MacBook Pro 13 though, things are a little more clear-cut.