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March updates for Surface Book and Surface Pro 4 offer better stability

By Mark Coppock March 8, 2017

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

If you own one of Microsoft’s Surface devices, then you’re likely accustomed to waiting patiently for new driver and firmware updates that might solve a problem or two. Certainly, while Microsoft’s Surface line is full of great options and has sold well, the company has struggled at times with getting the machines to perform in a stable fashion.

Many of the worst battery and sleep issues were resolved with firmware updates in 2016 but that is not stopping Microsoft from making additional adjustments and improvements. On Wednesday, Microsoft issued the March 2017 update for both the Surface Book and Surface Pro 4 and provided the details in a TechNet blog post rather than the usual Surface update pages.

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For the Surface Pro 4 , a number of key components received new driver software versions. Of particular interest is the update to the solid-state drive controller that promises improved storage performance. Here are the details:

Surface UEFI (V106.1427.768.0) improves system stability and performance.
Surface Display (V1.0.6.1) updates the display panel driver.
Surface NVM Express Controller (V11.0.0.1) improves storage performance.
Intel Management Engine Interface (V11.6.0.1042) improves system stability on startup.

The Surface Book received some of the same and some different driver update, with an apparent focus across the board on improved performance and stability. Here is what has been updated:

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M (v21.21.13.7667) improves system stability.
Surface UEFI (v90.1427.768.0) improves system stability and performance.
Surface NVM Express Controller (v11.0.0.1) improves storage performance.
Intel(R) Management Engine Interface (v11.6.0.1042) improves system stability on startup.
Surface Integration (v1.1.328.0) improves battery life during sleep.
Surface Integration Service Device (v1.0.241.0) improves device stability.
Surface USB Hub Firmware Update (v1.0.519.0) improves stability and power utilization of the USB hub in the device base.

As usual, the update should roll along and update itself automatically and then ask to reboot the system. You can download the updates in MSI format from Microsoft’s Surface Book and Surface Pro 4 drivers and firmware page if you want to install them manually.

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