Surface Pro 4 and Book update finally fixes the power-drain problems

The newest Surface line of devices has been marred by a few unsettling problems. They just didn't seem to enter into the deepest of sleep states, which means the battery would run down far faster than you'd expect. Sometimes even being dead when you really wanted to use them. Some new firmware updates have been pushed out by Microsoft that finally solve those long-standing power drain issues.

The CEO of Microsoft, Panos Panay himself, actually posted in a blog post to communicate how thankful they are of patience from those affected. "Today's updates include a set of Microsoft and Intel driver and firmware updates for Surface Book and Surface Pro 4 that will help you get the most of the power management options that Surface is designed to offer and continue to make your Surface more productive," Panay wrote in the post. "We love our Surface customers. You are our early adopters and our fans and you keep inspiring us with what you are able to do with Surface. You keep pushing us to make Surface even better."

Power management was one of the first issues noted by some of the early adopters, and this update is long in the making. It was one of the most requested updates despite it largely being ignored until now. Battery life could potentially be reduced to around 3-5 working hours, sometimes even being completely drained once arriving at some far off destination. It didn't quite work as advertised, and was incredibly frustrating. And this is just in time for our long-term gaming focused review of the Surface Book. How delightful.

The updates that are being pushed out today are detailed below. There're a lot of fixes inside, too.

• Surface Management Engine update (v11.0.0.1202) improves system stability.
• Surface System Aggregator Firmware update (v88.1081.257.0) improves accuracy of battery status and battery life during sleep.
• Surface UEFI update (v104.1085.768.0) improves battery life and improves stability during power state transition changes into and out of sleep states.
• Intel Precise Touch Device driver update (v1.1.0.226) improves stability during power state transition changes into and out of sleep states.
• Intel HD Graphics 520 driver update (v20.19.15.4364) improves display stability, system stability and battery life.
• Intel Display Audio driver update (v8.20.0.745) supports compatibility with the updated graphics driver.
• Realtek High Definition Audio(SST) driver update (v6.0.1.7734) improves system stability.
• Intel Smart Sound Technology (Intel® SST) Audio Controller driver update (v8.20.0.866) improves system stability.
• Intel Smart Sound Technology (Intel® SST) OED driver update (v8.20.0.866) improves system stability.
• Intel Management Engine Interface driver update (v11.0.0.1176) improves system stability.
• Intel Serial IO GPIO Host Controller driver update (v30.63.1603.5) improves auto rotation reliability when tablet mode is turned off.
• Intel Serial IO I2C Host Controller driver update (v30.63.1603.5) improves auto rotation reliability when tablet mode is turned off.
• Surface Book Base Firmware driver update (v1.2.0.0) improves battery life during sleep.