Surface Pro 4. I would't buy again for business

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#1530443 12-Apr-2016 09:02

gzt: You would need a dock for dual ext dvi monitors on surface book. Only one DP port. But if the dock is the source of the problem maybe there is some possibility of using a better 3rd party dock.

Btw just noticed MS offer a free adaptor for SP4 to use the SP3 dock. Old style Sp3 dock has only one DP port so does not help this topic.

Yes it does potentially help. You can use the one DP from the dock to drive one screen and the DP port on the PC to drive the other.

We use this configuration for dual monitors with our two SP3 machines and it is much more robust than using the newer 'cross your fingers if it is going to work' SP4 dock with the dual DP out.

gzt

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#1530516 12-Apr-2016 10:02

^ok did not know the sp3 DP was accessible like that. : ).

Edit: (Link to free adaptor)

gzt

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#1530520 12-Apr-2016 10:08

nathan:
gzt: Maybe something like this direct to dual DVI instead of adaptors:

http://m.belkin.com/us/p/P-B2B122/

But it's obviously a no-win. Retain investment in old technology or invest in new old technology ; (.

Then again maybe there is something cheap and horrible direct to DVI that does the job.

this will work, but understand it is suboptimal as you're pushing video over USB, using CPU instead of GPU, having to load 3rd party DisplayLink drivers into Windows etc

Suboptimal compared to the internal DP port maybe, but it is exactly the same scenario as the official surface pro 4 usb3 dock/mooring I would have thought.

Stu

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#1530556 12-Apr-2016 10:53

The official Surface Pro 4 dock/replicator connects via the power connector interface, not the USB 3 port, and uses the GPU for the two mini DP.

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#1532535 13-Apr-2016 13:20

correct, the Dock has additional hardware inside compared to Pro 3 Dock - a MST hub.

Surface never uses DisplayLink USB over video.

Surface Pro 2/3/4/Book support MST natively for multimon thru a single cable.

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#1536446 20-Apr-2016 12:06

please grab the new SP4/SB/Dock drivers that are on Windows Update.

We've done a lot of testing of these drivers with our partner Intel over the last few months, and the Dock with external monitors is much much more reliable now.

Check it out and let us know

https://www.microsoft.com/surface/en-us/support/install-update-activate/surface-pro-4-update-history

https://www.microsoft.com/surface/en-us/support/install-update-activate/surface-book-update-history

Stu

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#1537610 21-Apr-2016 16:38

@nathan

Certainly an improvement it seems. Still not perfect but so far I've had less issues in the limited testing today. (SP4 with SP4 port replicator with two monitors with HDMI ports)

ETA: At least they seem to be on the right track! Excellent, thanks.

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#1537662 21-Apr-2016 17:55

nathan:

please grab the new SP4/SB/Dock drivers that are on Windows Update.

We've done a lot of testing of these drivers with our partner Intel over the last few months, and the Dock with external monitors is much much more reliable now.

Check it out and let us know

https://www.microsoft.com/surface/en-us/support/install-update-activate/surface-pro-4-update-history

https://www.microsoft.com/surface/en-us/support/install-update-activate/surface-book-update-history

Thanks Nathan - I am on the road for the next week, so won't be back docked in front of dual screens until the week after next - so will update thread in due course. The dock is certainly the main driver of frustration and numerous re-boots - using the SP4 as a standalone device while travelling is much less stressful.

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#1537722 21-Apr-2016 19:56

Today I wirelessly connected my Surface to the HD projector in our meeting room and white boarded a solution with everyone around the table.

Being able to write / erase / highlight / move / cut / paste / all on the fly while we were talking around things was absolutely brilliant. I realised afterwards I could have been recording the audio too so when we review the drawings later we can be reminded of the context of each item and change that was made.

Constantly impressed by this device and how it enables work.

Having said that I'm on my second Surface Book now as the first had yellow discolouration all over the screen. Seemed to be a known issue and they swapped it out straight away.

smileynz

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#1538083 22-Apr-2016 13:21

We're using SP3 and Surface dock with dual screens at work and have about 60 SP3's each with a dual Dell monitor. 90% are working fine but we are finding if people are swapping docks ie using a dock hotdesk the SP3's don't like that so much. Very Frustrating so hopefully the latest surface dock firmware will help.

The below link also gives monitor compatibility which is very interesting.

https://www.microsoft.com/surface/en-nz/support/hardware-and-drivers/troubleshoot-docking-station-surface-dock

There is also a surface dock updater tool now - https://technet.microsoft.com/en-nz/windows/mt703784.aspx

JayADee

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#1538525 23-Apr-2016 06:59

I installed six or seven updates yesterday morning, rest haven't turned up yet. (none of the camera ones for instance)

JayADee

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#1538527 23-Apr-2016 07:13

gehenna:

Today I wirelessly connected my Surface to the HD projector in our meeting room and white boarded a solution with everyone around the table.

Being able to write / erase / highlight / move / cut / paste / all on the fly while we were talking around things was absolutely brilliant. I realised afterwards I could have been recording the audio too so when we review the drawings later we can be reminded of the context of each item and change that was made.

Constantly impressed by this device and how it enables work.

Having said that I'm on my second Surface Book now as the first had yellow discolouration all over the screen. Seemed to be a known issue and they swapped it out straight away.

Been meaning to try this out.

Also, can you cast to another win 10 PC on the same network like that? Or smart tv? Been meaning to try that too.

Were you using OneNote?

If you use OneNote for your note taking/drawing it records audio at the place you are drawing/note taking or whatever so it's in sync with the notes... haven't tried it myself (tho I use OneNote constantly) and OneNote is also searchable, changes ink to text and even does math. I often use OneNote to store photos, web articles etc. Great program. Wish I had had it when I was a student.

nathan

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#1538528 23-Apr-2016 07:24

You can cast to another PC natively in the Anniversary Update coming later this year
Or to any Miracast receiver already today (so probably your TV)

JayADee

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#1538541 23-Apr-2016 07:57

Awesome. That's going to be really useful.

gehenna

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#1540568 23-Apr-2016 11:37

JayADee:

Been meaning to try this out.

Also, can you cast to another win 10 PC on the same network like that? Or smart tv? Been meaning to try that too.

Were you using OneNote?

If you use OneNote for your note taking/drawing it records audio at the place you are drawing/note taking or whatever so it's in sync with the notes... haven't tried it myself (tho I use OneNote constantly) and OneNote is also searchable, changes ink to text and even does math. I often use OneNote to store photos, web articles etc. Great program. Wish I had had it when I was a student.

Yup I was using OneNote. I'm still pretty new to it. I have been using Evernote exclusively for years and OneNote never made sense to me until I got the Surface. Learning the features though and putting them to use in a meeting setting whenever I can, so I can work out their value to my workflow. Great to hear about the audio stuff, I'll try that out next week!

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