Microsoft’s Surface line has become an enormous success over the last couple of years, but recently many users have been complaining about power usage issues in the wake of recent firmware updates. Now, the company is attempting to placate users with a fix that will apparently solve these problems.
Last month, there were widespread reports of the Surface Book and Surface Pro 4 suffering from difficulties relating to power usage. In some cases, users were reporting that their systems would appear to be in sleep mode, but would continue to use up its battery life and have no charge the next time it was needed.
In a blog post published yesterday, Microsoft’s Panos Panay announced that new updates developed in response to user feedback were being distributed. While there’s no explicit mention of a fix, Panay does suggest that the updates will help users “get the most of the power management options that Surface is designed to offer.”
Response to this latest update on Reddit has been largely positive. Users are reporting that most battery issues have indeed been solved, and have also noted fixes to audio errors, and to a problem where a blank screen would be displayed after coming out of sleep mode.
Panay speaks at length about his desire to build devices that people love in the above-referenced blog post, and further stresses the paramount importance of user feedback. This could be written off as good consumer discourse, but the fact that users are responding so positively adds some credence to his statement.
The Surface line has gone from an uncertain proposition for Microsoft to one of its most successful ventures. While the hardware has so far built up plenty of good will among users, it doesn’t take long for that reputation to be squandered. But if this week’s updates are as comprehensive as they seem initially, they will do a great deal to help keep Surface devotees happy.
