Windows Hello & External 3D Webcams
My Surface Book spends much of its time running "lid-closed" while connected (through a Surface Dock) to a pair of 34" LG monitors. Of course, that means that I can't use the Surface Book's depth-sensing camera for Windows Hello logins -- and Windows Hello is something that I REALLY like about Windows 10 and the Surface Book! No problem, I thought, since there are a few external 3D webcams on the market that support Windows Hello. So I purchased a Creative BlasterX Senz3D webcam for this purpose. This should allow me to mount a 3D webcam atop one of my monitors and keep my Windows Hello login. WRONG!!! Unfortunately, the Windows Hello Settings does NOT provide the ability to choose a specific webcam. It exclusively uses the built-in webcam on the Surface Book, meaning Windows Hello is looking at a black picture from the closed lid of the Surface Book at login time. Is a fix in the works for this? At the very least, the Windows Hello Settings should be permit switching between available video sources. An even better solution would be the ability to specify a separate webcam when running "lid open" vs "lid closed" or "Docked" vs "Undocked".Meet the new Surface Book 2 - The most powerful and versatile Surface yet
The Surface Book 2 is the newest member of the Surface Family. This powerhouse features all day battery life (up to 17 hours), the latest generation of quad-core Intel® Core™ i7 processors, up to 16GB of RAM, up to 1TB SSD and the latest NVIDIA® GeForce® dedicated GPUs. Since this is the Surface family, the new Surface Book 2 is beautifully designed and crafted with premium materials, the innovative Fulcrum Hinge, and a detachable PixelSense™ Display in either 13.5” or the or the new 15” touchscreen. All this beauty comes with amazing functionality too. With four different modes to choose from (Laptop, Tablet, Studio and View), the Surface Book 2 will fit whatever task is at hand. It also features 2 USB 3.0 ports, a full-size SD card, and the first USB-C port in the Surface Family. There’s a new Surface USB-C to HDMI Adapter, and Surface USB-C to VGA Adapter to help you make the most of the new USB-C port. The Surface Book 2 plays nice with the rest of Surface family too, including the new Surface Precision Mouse, Surface Dial, Surface Pen, and Surface Dock, all available separately. Pricing for the 13” model starts at $1,499. The 15” model starts at $2,499. Read more about the new Surface Book 2 https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/devices/surface-book-2/overview.
Getting The Best Performance Out of Surface Book 965m
I originally posted this as a comment to the Microsoft Mechanics video, but I think this may be a better spot to find members of the Surface Team: When I first start stressing the 965m, I see it running at it's normal max boost clock (like my desktop 970 does). However, around when the chip reaches 70c (though not exactly, I have a feeling this is linked to a separate sensor) the system decreases the clock to around 800-1000mhz in order to keep the temperature from rising further (presumably to keep the surface that comes in contact with people's laps at a reasonable temperature). Is it possible to disable this (as I don't use it on my lap and GPUs are built to withstand temperatures in the 80s) or to turn up the GPU fans? I've spent hours trying to figure this out so I can unlock those extra 200mhz I see for the first minute or so.
Surface book 2, screen dimming with 30 seconds of inactivity.
Hi all, Not sure if windows issue or with my surface book 2. hoping someone can let me know how to turn off screen dimming due to inactivity after 30 seconds. hasn't been too much of an issue but today I wanted to watch a movie and couldn't see it properly because the screen would dim. I've tried all the power saver settings and turned off all screen savers. It does it whether plugged or on battery.
Rubber feet issues from the Surface Book 2 base
Good evening, Quick disclamer: I am not here seeking for support. I already went through costumer support and am only here to report on the proceeding done over the issue so that the experience can be shared with the team behind designing and engineering the device. I acquired my Surface Book 2 15'' in April 2018 in pre-order for the PT-PT variant of the device. The device ran without issues for the first months. First thing that I noticed was that the rubber feet installed on the base of the Book seemed to be bigger than the notch machined to acommodate them. The tip bulged a bit and was sitting about 0.5mm off the notch. It's understandable that being the two parts made of different materials under tight tolerances might end up making the two not fit exactly well on the final product, specially given that these were made for the first time for a 15'' variant of the Book. In late November that same tip started peeling off from the Book's base, which I simply pressed back into place to glue it again. The feet usually "snapped" to get over the 0.5mm difference in size between the feet and the notch. The same happened to the pair. As soon as dirt started getting glued to the gap created, it became more difficult to snap the feet tip back in place. With each subsequent heating and cooling from recharging/GPU activity, the unglueing of the rubber feet kept getting worse. After a few weeks the two rubber feet were detaching from the base on about 40% on one side and starting to peel off on the other. Due to repetitive reattachement of the unglued stretchs, the rubber feet started developing stress ruptures. It was at this moment, in February, that I contacted Microsoft online support to seek help for this issue. After contact with a member of support for Microsoft Portugal Surface Support, this is what I learned: - Replacement rubber feet and tape glue parts were not available for warranty maintenance nor purchase by the user to install; - Rubber feet damage was considered outside damage and are not covered by warranty; - Removing the feet and replacing them by a user solution wouldn't void the warranty since it did not interfere with the internals of the computer and would be considered aftermarket personalization (like applying skins or decals to the surface of the device); - Even if replacement of the feet wouldn't void warranty, the damaged feet should be kept in reservation so that in case of failure of the device due to hardware issues both the device and the feet can be sent together for maintenance; - The DIY feet should be removable if necessary. Given the conclusions taken from the chat with the Surface Costumer Service, I decided to remove the damaged feet and glueing tape from the device and, as instructed, were reserved. I then designed and manufactured two new feet in brushed stainless steel and glued it to the device. It has been working without issues for two months already. After this experience, I suggest the Surface team to review design and engineering of the rubber feet on the Surface Book's base, particularly the Surface Book 2 15'' variant with PT-PT keyboard layout, to check for eventual issues in manufacturing, tolerances, fit and finish of the feet in the base of the device. I also would recommend reviewing the effectiveness of the solution over repeated use, both in terms of the feet's fatigue resistance to abrasion and heating cycles of the device. Alternatives solutions should be considered. Given the nature of the part in question, providing replacement parts for existing devices should be considered by labelling the rubber feet as a "consumable" (like the rubber tires of a car). This concludes my report of the situation. If any more details are needed for further development feel free to ask.
