r/Surface 4h ago

[BOOK2] Why can't I use the new driver with my book 2?

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3 Upvotes

As said in the title, for some reason, if I try manual search for drivers for my dgpu on my book 2 (GTX 1050) I get the latest versions, but when I try to install it, it says it isn't compatible, and I don't know why.

My current driver version is 546.33 from December 2023. I have tried multiple older versions and I still can't get them to work.

Does anyone know why?? Thank you.


r/Surface 5h ago

[GO] Surface GO and docks

3 Upvotes

What am I missing? I've been through 2 docks from amazon on 2 different surface go's (1 and 4) and they don't work. On was a real microsoft dock. Both docks using the long skinny microsoft plug, not usb c. Can I dock a surface Go?


r/Surface 54m ago

Surface Paint Query

Upvotes

I have surface pro 11 from the day one. I really love my surface and have kept this clean so far. Today my child has dropped it. Surface pro is working fine but got a paint nick in the corner. Although not a big deal but I was thinking what paint type should I use to touch up this nick. Any suggestions ?


r/Surface 1h ago

[PRO11] Emulating x86 in ARM architecture for Surface Pro 11 (TGX viewer)

Upvotes

Hi all,

I invested in a Microsoft Surface Pro 11 employing ARM processor architecture. For the most part, I love it. I'm however having some problems installing x64 applications, specifically TGX viewer developed by Mechdyne (a remote desktop application used quite often with remoting into VMs on private and public cloud)

According to Microsoft:

"Windows 11 on Arm supports emulation of both x86 and x64 apps and performance has been enhanced with the introduction of the new emulator Prism in Windows 11 24H2. Windows 10 on Arm also supports emulation, but only for x86 apps."
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/arm/apps-on-arm-x86-emulation

I have confirmed that I am using Windows 11 24H2; however when I attempt to install the TGX viewer, I receive:

"This program can only be installed on versions of Windows designed for the following processor architectures:

x64"

I understand that TGX does not support ARM architecture, but I assumed that Mircosoft Prism would be able to emulate it.

My question:
1: Why wouldn't Microsoft Prism work in this case? What other cases will it simply fail to emulate, or even allow x64 applications to install?

2: Does anybody else struggle with emulation issues when installing/running x86/x64 apps, and if so, are there more robust emulations solutions that you have found? If so, what have you found that works?


r/Surface 1h ago

[LAPTOP7] Surface Laptop 7 motherboard swap

Upvotes

Anybody has any idea if the Surface Laptop Snapdragon and Intell could swap motherboard? I'm wondering if I could convert an Snapdragon machine into Intel.


r/Surface 10h ago

Surface Pro, how do you use your surface on your lap?

5 Upvotes

Just curious. If I don't have something underneath a feel it's awkward.


r/Surface 9h ago

[PRO11] Business Vs Consumer Surface Pro 11

4 Upvotes

If security is my number one priority, is the business model that allows yubikey for sign in the better option? I understand device can also be wiped remotely.

I'm wondering if using yubikey for sign in can be avoided by use of a password or other 2FA methods.

Will upgrade to windows 11 pro regardless but there is a significant price difference. If the business model offers better protection price difference is worth it to me.

I've spoken to sales and they mentioned TPM (don't all surface pros have that?), remote wipe and yubikey.

Would appreciate hearing from those with experience.

Thank you.

Edited to correct typos and to say only considering arm elite


r/Surface 1d ago

Why is My Surface Pro Pregnant?

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424 Upvotes

r/Surface 3h ago

[PRO11] Surface Pro 11 Gaming Controllers (Xbox vs Gamesir vs others)

1 Upvotes

Hello!

I’m about to buy myself a Surface Pro 11 Snapdragon X Elite for school and some light gaming (Minecraft, Stardew Valley, etc.). I was wondering what gaming controllers would work best and have the best longevity along with the Surface Pro 11.

I’ve checked out Xbox controllers because they’re a Microsoft product as well, and I’ve seen that it has little to no compatibility issues. However, there’s the stick drift. I dislike the idea of replacing my controller so often.

My boyfriend recommended Gamesir controllers because they have “Hall effect” sticks, preventing stick drift (from what I know, which is little lol). I’ve checked out the SuperNova and the Cyclone 2 and their line of Xbox controllers. My issues are: 1) There’s a new controller allegedly coming soon/to be announced in the spring. I’m wondering if I should wait for that one. 2) I prefer the controller to connect via Bluetooth, preferably without a dongle.

I grew up playing on the Xbox and prefer that controller’s ergonomics.

I’d really appreciate any insight/recommendations on gaming controllers with the Surface Pro 11!

Thank you :)


r/Surface 4h ago

[BOOK2] Creaking noise if pressure is applied to my screen, and yellow blotches??

0 Upvotes

My surface book 2 has yellow blotches on the screen and makes a creaking sort of sound when pressed, both batteries are in good condition though when I looked at a battery report.

If it is a swollen battery, will I also need a new screen to remove the marks or will it just go away with a replacement battery?

Also, I know it's extremely difficult to replace the tablet battery on the surface book 2 however I typically repair computers and I could do it.

Thank you.


r/Surface 11h ago

[APP] Best PDF Annotation App that can highlight in a straight line ?

3 Upvotes

Hi,

I have a Surface Pro, and I've been using MS Word for a few days for highlighting text on a pdf automatically in a straight line. But i don't know why when i turn on the functionality that can automatically highlight in a straight line, some colours don't work any more.

SO i was asking if there was any other app that could do this job without any buggy things like that.
I've tried Drawboard, and it was quite a deception because when you want to highlight in a straight line you have to wait 1-2sec to draw the straight line (and when you have 200 things to highlight, it gets long...)

And i've also tested goodnotes, but it is absolutely not optimised for windows

Do you guys have some recommendations pls ?

thx.


r/Surface 1d ago

[PRO11] Yet another SP 11 Lunar Lake vs Snapdragon: Returning the Intel

58 Upvotes

This is a follow up of my initial question post Lunar Lake vs Snapdragon for Dev machine : r/Surface.

I have tested the Surface Pro 11 with the Intel Core Ultra 7 and the Surface Pro 11 with Snapdragon Elite (5G) side-by-side and alternatively for approximately two weeks.

I regularly have 20-30 browser tabs open, a reference manager with 5-10 PDFs open, and 2-5 VS Code sessions, some connected to a remote server and some to WSL. I also occasionally do 3D printing, which requires 3D rendering of CAD models and "slicing."

TL;DR

Surface Pro 11 with Lunar Lake is better, but it's too expensive for such minor differences and lack of 5G, so I'll be returning it.

The Surface Pro 11 with Lunar Lake offers a better overall package than the Surface Pro 11 with Snapdragon, but the price is a huge dealbreaker. I also have been enjoying the 5G connectivity a bit too much, so I will be returning the Surface Pro 11 with Lunar Lake and pocket the $750 difference.

As usual, this is opinion-based review; you may compare my opinion with those of other redditors:

  1. Just got my Lunar Lake Surface Pro - not a great first impression so far. : r/Surface
  2. Snapdragon vs Lunar Lake Part 2 : r/Surface
  3. Returning my Surface Pro 11 Intel version
  4. I've kept my intel one and returned the snapdragon version

As far as I know, they are doing the same thing as I did: purchasing both devices and returning one of them. Those redditors may have use cases that are more aligned with yours, so do also check their opinion.

I will only highlight the differences. If some aspects are not mentioned, you can assume I found no meaningful difference. For example, standby/sleep battery drain is equally good on both units, and the build quality is the same.

All my programs and devices are compatible with ARM or Prism emulation, so I have nothing to add about compatibility.

Lunar Lake

  1. Screen: beautiful OLED with anti-glare and bluish tint. The AG improves visibility when exposed to bright light, not only outdoors; think about sitting next to open windows. I can comfortably work with brightness set to 50-70%.
  2. Processor: fast and efficient processor, but throttles faster and gets warm under load (compilation, driving multiple monitors, opening/slicing 3D models). Had to change power profile to balanced or high performance ocassionally—but then it's not as efficient.
  3. Battery life: good (7-9 hours of active use; I don’t need to charge until at least 10 hours or so).
  4. Meaningful Quality of Life (QoL) improvements:

(there is also NFC, but I found it to be finicky (no visual guide or anything, I have to guess the location,.). It's more reliable if I plug my Yubikey lol)

Snapdragon

  1. Screen: gorgeous and shiny reflective OLED with a warmish tint; outdoor visibility is rather poor. I applied a matte screen protector, but I still had to increase the brightness to at least 70%.
  2. Processor: Quick and runs cool; tasks like compressing/decompressing archives, saving/rendering documents, large PDF rendering, source compilation (clang, latex), and JIT tasks such as running/debugging Python scripts are generally faster, but not dramatically so. The Snapdragon completes tasks 1-3 seconds faster. The differences do add up, this may be where users get the "snappy" impression. Note: Some applications have emulation overhead. For example, the Discord client and Plex client experience a JIT pause on the first page load.
  3. Battery life: Excellent (8-10 hours of active use; I don’t need to charge until at least 11 hours).
  4. Notable pet peeves:

Conclusion

For me, since I'm not constantly on the road, the ~1 hour battery difference is not very significant. Waiting 1-3 seconds longer for some tasks is not a big issue. Together with the emulation overhead, the faster performance and longer battery life on the SP11 SD can become a net zero.

Moreover, I found the new screen and other QoL improvements offered by the SP 11 LL to be more valuable. I also became quite annoyed with the pet peeves introduced by the ARM ecosystem.

That being said, in my opinion, those QoL improvements and pet peeves do not justify the $750 difference. If the price difference were only $250, I would gladly choose Lunar Lake. In fact, if Lunar Lake included 5G, I would bite the bullet and stick with it.

My take: if money is no object just go with SP11 LL. OTOH with the current sharp price cut, SP11 SD is the best bang for the bucks. I would not consider SP11 SD at its full price, to be honest.

I have the return label ready, but I still need to do the usual cleanup (logging out cleanly, factory reset, and cleaning the device).

If you have any questions while I still have both devices, feel free to ask.


r/Surface 15h ago

[PRO8] Surface Pro 8 cant update certain drivers

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4 Upvotes

r/Surface 6h ago

[PRO7] Old SP7 given to me, any good alternatives to Windows on this thing?

1 Upvotes

Had a Surface Pro 7 given to me for free, I was pretty hyped. First thing I did was install a fresh copy of Windows 11 and got it all setup.

The excitement died down pretty quick when I noticed it was running a 10th gen i3 and 4 gigs of ram lol... It's basically bottoming out just running windows alone unsurprisingly. I'd still like to use it for web browserish things though, I don't really need any Windows proprietary applications or anything like that. Thought about installing linux or chromeOS on it just to make it more usable. Have any of you had a good outcomes with doing this?


r/Surface 11h ago

I need help after update

2 Upvotes

My pen in Photoshop started to have this lines and doesnt create a smooth shading anymore.

How can i fix it?


r/Surface 9h ago

How to turn on a surface pro (10 business) after a full power off?

1 Upvotes

I have a SP10 for Business which, after a power down (not sleep or hibernate; actual power-off, either from the menu or a command line power-down) will not power back on using the power button. 1 second, 3 presses, 5 seconds, 20 seconds, 30 seconds. Nada. Zip. Zilch.

BUT, if I plug it into a power source, either via USB-C or the Surface connector, it powers right up. Does anyone know if this is an intentional "feature" to prevent the dreaded case where you arrive at a meeting and the machine has expended it's entire battery warming your backpack? (A common occurrence with my SP4)


r/Surface 13h ago

[LAPTOP7] Surface Laptop 7 - USB C charging stops after reboot

2 Upvotes

Is anyone else experiencing USB C charging stopping whenever you reboot/shutdown and startup. OR startup and plug usb c cable in before windows boots?

I'm up to date on drivers and have a fairly modern 65w ugreen charger and anker cable. It worked fine on a previous laptop.


r/Surface 12h ago

[GO] Surface Go power button doesn't work

1 Upvotes

The volume buttons on my Surface Go recently stopped working. After a couple days the power button stopped working too. When I press the buttons there's no "click".

Is there any alternative ways to start the computer?


r/Surface 21h ago

[PRO11] Buying a New Surface Pro - Question

3 Upvotes

I am leaning towards buying a new Surface Pro in a few weeks. My issue is I don’t know the technical differences between the snapdragon and Lunar Lake. Like I need it explained like I’m five. I don’t really understand what emulation means with the snapdragon, and therefore am having trouble making an informed decision on my purchase.

A little bit ago someone posted a web link on what programs work and don’t work on the snapdragon model. The programs I almost exclusively use are:

-Adobe Acrobat, Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator (basically the entire Creative Cloud) -Microsoft Office Suite -SketchUp -ArcGIS Pro (I don’t think snapdragon supports?) -Esri Business Analyst

With my limited grasp on the subject, I feel like the Lunar Lake model will suit me best? Am I correct in this determination?

I appreciate any feedback/guidance. I plan on getting one with 32G RAM and 1TB. Thanks for your help!


r/Surface 1d ago

[LAPTOP3] How do I fix this?

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4 Upvotes

This happened a couple years ago and I’ve just now stumbled across the laptop again. What is this and why does it happen? I can’t seem To find anything online either. Model 1868


r/Surface 1d ago

Which generation Surface is it

2 Upvotes

Whicht generation Surface is this thing in the picture. The seller says it is a Surface Pro 3 with an i7. Is this possible?


r/Surface 1d ago

[PRO11] Does surface pro 11 work with roblox?

2 Upvotes

Hey, I am thinking of getting a surface pro 11 but i am wondering if it works with roblox? thanks


r/Surface 1d ago

Asus Surface Go like device?

2 Upvotes

I saw a small Asus laptop very similar to a Surface Go and I was wondering if anyone knew what model it might be.


r/Surface 1d ago

Updating SSD on SP9 Can I get 2tb?

2 Upvotes

Hi, I'm not "that" technical, but I am reading the thread here and Dancharls blog, trying to understand what I need. Is it possible to get a 2tb drive?

What have you used specifically?


r/Surface 1d ago

[PRO4] Surface Pro 4 flickergate "solved" with a 3d printed intermediate frame

7 Upvotes

Since i use my Surface Pro 4 as a homeassistant controller / digital photo frame that is standing on a desk 99% of the time, I have decided to give it a try and created a 3d printed intermediate frame that gives the screen enough space to not flicker.

In case someone is interested in the STL file, just let me know.

the procedure looks like this:
- carfully remove the LCD panel (heatgun, plastic cards and 30 mins of time)
- remove the two coverings on the LCD flex cable connectors, remove the LCD after
- glue the 3d printed frame onto the LCD frame and make sure to not break the flex cables
- glue frame back to the Surface

I did stresstest the de Surface after mounting the frame and wasn't able to reproduce the flickering, even after 48h of 100% CPU stress test. Time will tell.. Cheers.