Category: Hardware

Hours before the Windows 11 unveil, Microsoft released a fresh firmware update for several Surface Pro tablets. If you use Surface Pro 5, Pro 6, Pro 7, or a recently released Surface Pro 7 Plus, new patches are waiting for you in Windows Update.

Microsoft recently announced its plan to start force-updating users with Windows 10 2004, which is now approaching the end of support, to the latest version, 21H1. Upgrading the operating system might cause some headache if developers have not prepared their drivers. Luckily, NVIDIA now offers Game Ready drivers with official Windows 10 21H1 support.

Several days ago, NVIDIA announced its plans to cease supporting Kepler-based GPUs (the GTX 700 series) and old Windows versions, namely Windows 7 and 8. Now Advanced Micro Devices follow suit. But unlike NVIDIA, which is to drop updates for Windows 7 and 8 in October 2021, AMD has already released a driver that only works on Windows 10. Beginning with Radeon Software 21.6.1, AMD's GPU drivers no longer support Windows 7, 8, and 8.1.

After a relatively long pause in releasing firmware updates for Surface computers, Microsoft is back with a host of new patches for several models. The company kicks in June 2021 firmware update roundup with Surface Book 3, Surface Laptop 2 and 3, and Surface Pro X. The latter includes models with the SQ1 and SQ2 processors, as Microsoft recently unified updates for two ARM-based computers.

NVIDIA notified its users about the upcoming end of support of the Kepler-based graphics cards, the GTX 600 and 700 series. On August 31, 2021, NVIDIA will stop supporting those cards and no longer provide any driver updates. The only exception is NVIDIA GTX 750 and 750 Ti cards based on a newer Maxwell architecture. Besides ending support for the GTX 600 and 700 graphics cards series, NVIDIA plans to drop support for Windows 7 and 8/8.1.

May 2021 firmware update is now available for US and European versions of Surface Duo - the only device in the Microsoft Surface family running Android, not Windows 10. The latest update brings regular Android monthly security fixes and general device/UI stability improvements. In addition to that, Microsoft has several specific bug fixes listed in the changelog. Here what is new in May 2021 firmware update for Surface Duo.

Microsoft continues to roll out May 2021 firmware updates for different Surface models. Following updates for Surface Laptop, Laptop 3, and Laptop 4, the company has released new patches and improvements for a bunch of other computers. This time, May 2021 firmware updates are available for the original Surface Book, Surface Book 3, Surface Laptop Go, Surface Pro 4, and Surface Studio 2.

Microsoft is pushing out the May updates roundup with fresh firmware for Surface Pro 4 and three generations of Surface Laptop. Here what is new in the latest patches for Surface Pro 4, Surface Laptop, Surface Laptop 2, and Surface Laptop 4.

Both first gen and second-gen Surface Pro X has received a humongous April firmware update with tons of improvements. Recently, Microsoft merged updates for Surface Pro X and Surface Pro X with the SQ2 processors. From now on, two ARM-based computers from Microsoft receive new unified firmware together. Despite that, this month's update is not the same for the two devices. Surface Pro X SQ2 gets significantly more patches than the original Surface Pro X. It is quite interesting, though, that Microsoft still mentions both SQ1 and SQ2 models in one of the changelogs.

Surface Duo, the only non-Windows device under the Surface brand, received the April firmware update. It contains Android security patches and a few quality improvements.