If you are one of the lucky people running a Surface Pro 3, you will want to head into Settings > Update and recovery to check for new updates today. Besides the usual slew of security and x64 patches for the OS, a new firmware update is also being distributed. Firmware is the essential feature to make the hardware and OS work better together, meaning they tend to fix bugs, improve performance, and optimize the user experience.
Microsoft has published the specific changes to this firmware, which is on a rolling basis (meaning you may not see it right away). Here is what is new.
Surface Pro 3 "System Firmware Update – 9/9/2014"
- Surface Pro UEFI update (v3.10.250.0) improves system experience and enhances overall system stability, including Wi-Fi.
- Surface Pro Embedded Controller Firmware update (v38.6.50.0) enhanced support for system performance and user experience, including thermostat icon on boot.
- Surface Pro System Aggregator Firmware update (v3.9.350.0) increases the overall system reliability and compatibility with a Surface cover.
- Surface Integration driver update (v2.0.1102.0) enhances user experience, including Wi-Fi stability.
- Surface Wi-Fi and Bluetooth driver update (v15.68.3055.107) improves Wi-Fi/ Bluetooth reliability and system stability, and significantly enhances the user experience.
As you can, the focus of this update appears to be the continuing attempts to improve the Wi-Fi experience on the Surface Pro 3. Customers have complained about poor connectivity, dropped signals, and the "disappearing" Wi-Fi driver, requiring a soft-reset of the device.
How well does the firmware address these problems? It is too early to say, but if you have a Surface Pro 3, you can go and get the update now.
There does not appear to be any firmware updates for the other Surfaces, although they do get RT updates (where applicable) and x86/x64 OS updates, including Office today.
Source: Microsoft
