Microsoft’s Surface team has detailed the upcoming Surface firmware update for the Surface Pro 3. This is the first time Microsoft has offered any details on a firmware update prior to its release on a Patch Tuesday of every month.
“As more of you are deploying, adopting and managing Surface Pro 3 devices in your organizations, you have asked to learn about the updates for the device in advance of them being available. Based on your feedback, we are sharing the key improvements that are coming to your Surface Pro 3 device in the upcoming update,” Microsoft stated in an official blog post.
Details of the upcoming firmware are below. It looks like Surface Pro 3 owners are getting various fixes and performance improvements with this upcoming update, including WiFi improvements. No word on when we can expect this firmware update, but it will likely be released during the December Patch Tuesday. Although, Microsoft does have a habit to release updates outside the typical second Tuesday of every month cycle.
- Surface Pro UEFI update (v3.11.350.0): Resolves scenarios where the device will boot to a black screen if McAfee Defense Encryption 7.1.1 is installed. Optimizes the FWPOST time to 3.7 seconds with the fast boot enabled. Prevents situations where system clock loses time when battery falls below 3%.
- Surface Home Button driver update (v2.0.1174.0): Along with the pen update below, this helps prevent scenarios where device may accidentally wake up from sleep while being stored or carried.
- Surface Pen Settings driver update (v2.5.14.0): Along with the home button driver update above, this helps to prevent scenarios where the device may accidentally wake up from sleep while being stored or carried.
- Wireless Network Controller and Bluetooth driver update (v15.68.3066.135): Enables better throughput after waking from sleep and connecting to an 802.11AC network. Ensures Infra scan list is not empty while connected to a wireless display adapter. Resolves an issue connecting to Cisco 1242 access points. Ensures device reconnects properly to a hidden SSID using a 5Ghz DFS channel after waking from sleep. Adds customer-requested functionality to prefer 5Ghz connections when both a 2.4ghz and 5ghz connection are present with the same SSID.
Further reading: Microsoft, Patch Tuesday, Surface Pro 3
