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Surface 2 and Pro 2 |OT| Lap it up

Double battery life and that 2nd position for the stand.

Once you use that second position, you'll never go back.

Hmm, I'll probably hold off then. Those are both things I'd like improved but not worth paying $600 for that. The bigger screen on the 3 means more to me to wait for that eventually being clearanced.

One question though, did they change the pen on the 2 or the 3? I remember people saying the new pen was worse but I forget which model it started with.
 
This is due to the intel drivers that come from microsoft. to fix it, download the intel drivers from here and extract the exe to a directory. Then overwrite the current display driver through device manager by choosing the inf from the extracted directory. After the driver is installed, there should be an "intel graphics and media" icon in the control panel. Open it and go change the gamma settings to anything, apply, and then reset to defaults and apply again. This ought to remove the colour banding. Now, i've heard some people claim shorter battery life after doing this so it depends on what you want out of your sp2. Also, standard disclaimer about doing this at your own risk since it involves messing with drivers and whatnot.
Just saw this and no matter what I do this won't work, maybe because I'm using Windows 10 tech preview? When I do find disk and choose the inf file it says the folder doesn't contain a compatible display driver and to make sure it's compatible with a x64 computer. Tried older driver versions with the same issue.

Why doesn't Microsoft just fix the issue?
 

AnkitT

Member
Just saw this and no matter what I do this won't work, maybe because I'm using Windows 10 tech preview? When I do find disk and choose the inf file it says the folder doesn't contain a compatible display driver and to make sure it's compatible with a x64 computer. Tried older driver versions with the same issue.

Why doesn't Microsoft just fix the issue?

yeah i dunno about the tech preview stuff, but here's a step by step(its for pro 3, but the steps are essentially the same, just the intel driver might differ) which you can check out and see if it works: https://www.reddit.com/r/Surface/comments/2ripz4/enabling_intel_hd_graphics_control_panelupdating/
 

sammex

Member
Anyone have their power cable split? Mine is coming apart where the cable goes into the magnetic connector and now it's pretty dodgy. Seems you can't buy new ones any more.
 
I know this thread is all but dead but I'm having some troubles with my SP2.

I bought a 128 GB MicroSD card because I ran out of space on my original 128 GB, but for some really weird reason the card becomes what I can best describe as "unreadable" temporarily.

jEkW3FyMpb4tz.png

The indicator that shows how much space is left on the card goes missing, it only shows the name of the card, and when I click on it I get a message saying "Please Insert a Disk into SDXC (aka name of card)".

This doesn't happen all the time. The card is usually fine when I cold boot, and SOMETIMES when I wake up the Surface from sleep. Sometimes it's reading everything just fine and becomes "unreadable" completely randomly. It always fixes itself if I physically remove and insert the card again, but sometimes it stays "fixed" for a while and sometimes it breaks itself again within seconds. The card is all but unusable.

Things I've tried: reformatting to NTFS, updating the driver, renaming the card, changing the drive letter.

Any ideas?
 
I know this thread is all but dead but I'm having some troubles with my SP2.

I bought a 128 GB MicroSD card because I ran out of space on my original 128 GB, but for some really weird reason the card becomes what I can best describe as "unreadable" temporarily.



The indicator that shows how much space is left on the card goes missing, it only shows the name of the card, and when I click on it I get a message saying "Please Insert a Disk into SDXC (aka name of card)".

This doesn't happen all the time. The card is usually fine when I cold boot, and SOMETIMES when I wake up the Surface from sleep. Sometimes it's reading everything just fine and becomes "unreadable" completely randomly. It always fixes itself if I physically remove and insert the card again, but sometimes it stays "fixed" for a while and sometimes it breaks itself again within seconds. The card is all but unusable.

Things I've tried: reformatting to NTFS, updating the driver, renaming the card, changing the drive letter.

Any ideas?
RMA it.
 

HF2014

Member
Migh grab a surface pro 2 used. Wondering , can i pair my xbox one controller on it? Trying to find info on the web and i only see xbox 360.
 

blackflag

Member
I know this thread is all but dead but I'm having some troubles with my SP2.

I bought a 128 GB MicroSD card because I ran out of space on my original 128 GB, but for some really weird reason the card becomes what I can best describe as "unreadable" temporarily.



The indicator that shows how much space is left on the card goes missing, it only shows the name of the card, and when I click on it I get a message saying "Please Insert a Disk into SDXC (aka name of card)".

This doesn't happen all the time. The card is usually fine when I cold boot, and SOMETIMES when I wake up the Surface from sleep. Sometimes it's reading everything just fine and becomes "unreadable" completely randomly. It always fixes itself if I physically remove and insert the card again, but sometimes it stays "fixed" for a while and sometimes it breaks itself again within seconds. The card is all but unusable.

Things I've tried: reformatting to NTFS, updating the driver, renaming the card, changing the drive letter.

Any ideas?

This happens with my surface Pro 3. Exact same symptoms. I haven't tried to fix it much. It's still under warranty. I figured I'd try another card eventually and then take it to the store if that doesn't work.

I can't be of any help just sounds like you aren't the only one.
 
Migh grab a surface pro 2 used. Wondering , can i pair my xbox one controller on it? Trying to find info on the web and i only see xbox 360.

you can use it via USB. wireless will require Windows 10 (you'll get a free upgrade on the Surface Pro) and the upcoming Xbox One Wireless Adapter for Windows.
 

T.O.P

Banned
Had a fantastic deal from a friend yesterday and i got myself a Surface 2 with the keyboard for 150€

Now i just need to get used to it, btw i'm seeing online that there should be a VLC player on the store but i can't find any, how come?
 

Treo360

Member
Still no W10 for my SP2. You'd think they would go to surfaces pretty early in rollout.

Did you try force updating? I'm on preview, it's good, but there are still bugs in the system. One of the bugs is that the onscreen keyboard will not pop up for some apps, namely the music app. Sucks, as then I have to change over to desktop mode in order to type anything.
 
What kind of battery life are people getting with Windows 10? I've dropped to like 3 hours at 25% brightness.

Imagine my battery is fucked but I doubt I can get it replaced at this point :/
 

Treo360

Member
What kind of battery life are people getting with Windows 10? I've dropped to like 3 hours at 25% brightness.

Imagine my battery is fucked but I doubt I can get it replaced at this point :/

Yeah same here, my pro was getting great battery life, but now with 10, it won't sleep for whatever reason, and it's dead before you know it
 
Had a fantastic deal from a friend yesterday and i got myself a Surface 2 with the keyboard for 150€

Now i just need to get used to it, btw i'm seeing online that there should be a VLC player on the store but i can't find any, how come?


Because unfortunately Microsoft doesn't give two shits about WinRT (unfortunately)

BofA app doesn't even work anymore.

The absolute last system i buy from Microsoft.
 
I'm having some trouble finding help online, everything seems to just return results for SP3 but does anyone use GIMP on their surface pro? I installed the wintab drivers but now I get lag when I use it and I'm trying to find a way to fix it.

Thanks,
 

maeh2k

Member
Loaded question but here goes... I am looking into buying a new surface. I have a surface 2 at the moment. They just release these things so fast it is hard to keep up. What would you guys say the most balanced surface there is on the market right now? Balanced as in power (for gaming, battery life, overall features, and price. Also why does it seem that with a surface 4 pro about to be announced soon the prices for surfaces 2 years old now are still so high? any help would be appreciated.

I'd probably wait till the Pro 4 is announced. After that, it might be possible to find some good deals on a Pro 3. The jump between Pro 3 and Pro 4 isn't going to be that significant.
 

NeOak

Member
What about the jump from 2 to 3? I mean they all have the options from i3-i7 correct? i5 seems like the perfect balance for me. any impressions from the pro 2 i5 model?

I have the SP2 i5 with 8GB RAM. Works just fine for whatever I need.
 

dLMN8R

Member
I never used the Surface Pro 2 but from what I understand its hardware is very similar to the Surface Pro 3. Primary difference is the form factor, not the power. And due to throttling, I think sometimes the SP3 is actually a little slower than the SP2.

There hasn't been a new Surface Pro released in well over a year. At this point, just wait and see what's announced on October 6th.
 
Quoted from the Surface 3 thread:

So how does the Surface 3 compare to Surface 1 Pro and Surface 2 Pro?

I prefer it's screen size (3:2 instead of 16:9) but otherwise which one would be a safer bet?

I'm asking this because one can find some pretty good deals online on both the SP1 and SP2

The screen size and form kind of scare me!

Also talking about the regular Surface 3, not the Pro.
 

Sai

Member
The Pro 3 is definitely more comfortable. But I think the Pro 2 still performs a better than the Pro 3 due to the latter's throttling issues, and it's cheaper as the older product, of course.

I really haven't been following up on information regarding the Pro 4. Throttling still a thing, right? If it had LTE options out of the gate, I would've upgraded to one regardless.

[EDIT] - Wait, you're talking about the Surface 3, not the Surface Pro 3. In which case, the older Pro models definitely have it beat in terms of price and performance. You'll have to decide whether the improved form factor is a worthwhile trade-off.
 
The Pro 3 is definitely more comfortable. But I think the Pro 2 still performs a better than the Pro 3 due to the latter's throttling issues, and it's cheaper as the older product, of course.

I really haven't been following up on information regarding the Pro 4. Throttling still a thing, right? If it had LTE options out of the gate, I would've upgraded to one regardless.

[EDIT] - Wait, you're talking about the Surface 3, not the Surface Pro 3. In which case, the older Pro models definitely have it beat in terms of price and performance. You'll have to decide whether the improved form factor is a worthwhile trade-off.

Not only the form factor but also:

- heating issues? Read that in some cases the SP2 heats a bit too much
- newer models = better support from MS?(firmware, drivers and such)
- type cover is a must for me. Is the S3 that improved comparing with the SP2 one?
 

dLMN8R

Member
The Surface 3 type cover isn't as good as the Surface Pro 4, but it's better than the Surface Pro 3. It's a bit sturdier, and the keys feel better.
 

Card Boy

Banned
I got a Surface 2 Pro from Work they where giving away but the image has being completely deleted due to security reasons. How do i load 8.1 on it? I got a legit licence to it. I thought it was as simple as wiritng the .ISO on a USB stick but the Surface 2 doesn't pick it up. I made a stick using Rufus. Keep in mind there is no base image.
 
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