What you need to know
- The Surface Pro 9 and the Surface Laptop Studio both received new firmware updates.
- Both devices should see improved networking and Wi-Fi stability.
- The Surface Laptop Studio will also receive fixes for unexpected shutdowns and various battery issues.
Microsoft has rolled out 2 new firmware updates for the Surface family of devices. The older family members of the Surface product line were on the receiving end of firmware updates this past June, and now it's time for the Surface Pro 9 and the Surface Laptop Studio to get a little bug-fixing attention. Firmware updates for the tablet and laptop and users of both can expect to see some improvements on networking and Wi-Fi stability after updating—though the hows and whys vary with each product.
Surface Pro 9
According to Microsoft's support website for the Surface Pro 9 users whose tablet features an Intel processor will be able to utilize the Intel Connectivity Performance Suite (CPS) app which improves your networking performance thanks to Intel's proprietary method of creating a personalized network experience depending on your own use case scenario.
You'll need to be running Windows 11 and have a hard disk drive larger than 256GB to utilize this new app, however. Microsoft also expects users to see better device and wireless connection stability thanks to some new drivers, listed below:
- Intel Corporation - Bluetooth - 22.230.0.2
- Intel Corporation - SoftwareComponent - 2.1123.505.3
- Surface - Firmware - 161.35.5.48
- Intel - net - 22.230.0.8
- Surface - System - 93.51.139.0
- Surface - Firmware - 11.0.143.0
- Intel Wireless Bluetooth - Bluetooth
- Intel Connectivity Performance Suite - Software components
- Surface TCON - firmware
- Intel Wi-Fi- 6E AX211 160MHz - Network adapters
- Surface Integration - System devices
- Surface UEFI - Firmware
Users with a Surface Pro 9 powered by an Intel processor can visit the Microsoft Support website to download the necessary firmware updates.
Surface Laptop Studio
Like the Surface Pro 9, the Surface Laptop Studio is set to get Wi-Fi stability improvements, but the overall update for the Laptop Studio is much larger than what was dished out to Surface Pro 9 users. Surface Laptop Studios are powered by NVIDIA's RTX 3050 Ti graphics cards, and users can expect a new driver to be bundled with the firmware update that will improve graphics stability and overall performance.
If your Surface Laptop Studio has been repeatedly throwing a notification that reads "battery not genuine" up on the screen you can breathe a sigh of relief as the July 2023 update will finally fix that error along with some other ongoing battery issues including the battery not charging even when connected to a charger. WiFi stability and overall system stability including unexpected shutdowns when the battery is not fully charged are also being fixed as part of this update.
New drivers for the July 2023 firmware update include:
- Intel - Net - 22.230.0.8
- Intel - Bluetooth - 22.230.0.2
- NVIDIA - Display - 30.0.15.1215
- Surface - Firmware - 8.201.139.0
- Surface - Firmware - 18.105.143.0
- Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 160MHz - Network adapters
- Intel Wireless Bluetooth - Bluetooth
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti Laptop GPU - Display adapters
- Surface System Aggregator - Firmware
- Surface UEFI - Firmware
Additional information and the update itself can be found in Microsoft's Support for Surface devices. Regardless of whether you own the Surface Pro 9 or the Surface Laptop Studio you'll want to be certain that you're using Windows 10 20H2, Windows 11 20H2 or a newer version of Windows prior to updating.
