SurfaceBook with Surface dock and two external displays

[elee532]

Happy to report to you all that if the lid is configured in power management setup to keep machine running, with closed lid I can drive both displays connected to two mini display ports on the surface dock. The Intel 520 HD device driver is still not completely stable but is usable.

Can you please elaborate on where/what the settings should be to configure the kid to keep the machine running?

 

[benyukhis]

Control Panel\Hardware and Sound\Power Options\Edit Plan Settings
then press
Change advanced power setting
Power buttons and lid
Lid close action

I left mine as "Plugged in: Do nothing" so that when you close the lid, the machine stays on...

 

[protip]

Very interesting!

With the internal display disabled via this approach, I can close my Surface Book, which turns off its built-in display (sometimes, at least), and the two 4K external monitors will turn on! So this is progress.

However, the 4K monitors switch to 30 Hz, which is quite egregious considering they are not televisions—they are monitors. I tried using my shaved mini-DP to DP cable to connect one of the 4K monitors to the Surface Book's base (while one remains connected to the Dock). This approach continues to not work at all. I suspect that port is actively disabled when the dock is connected. So I now have my 4K monitors running at 30 Hz.

This is a step in the right direction but still unacceptable and not what we should expect. Namely:

• The monitors are running at 30 Hz which is unacceptable. Monitors should run at 60 Hz or higher. 30 Hz is suitable for televisions.
• The internal display must be disabled when connected to two 4K displays. This is clearly not the case in the advertising material (I believe a commercial I have linked elsewhere shows all three displays on).
• Obviously Windows Hello is meaningless with this configuration since the camera is not able to see me. This sucks because Windows Hello is one of the coolest Surface Book features.

 

[benyukhis]

Agree with everything you said but in the absence of the real fix I will have to continue this method and hope that MSFT will address this problem soon.

 

[tdf2001]

Some of the latest updates did something to improve dual monitor support with the dock. I have a 4k and 1080p attached to the dock and set my Power Options to Hibernate at this point. I have had good luck with the Surface book for the last 3-5 days waking up reliably and turning on both monitors without unplugging and replugging cables & dock. Not sure what changed but it is working much better for this config.

The single 4k does work at 60 hz. I have not tried yet to go back to 2 4k monitors which I am sure will be limited to 30hz due to the limited bandwidth of the dock connector. I have read on Thurott.com that it is a USB3 connection at the end of the day.

 

[protip]

I have not tried yet to go back to 2 4k monitors which I am sure will be limited to 30hz due to the limited bandwidth of the dock connector. I have read on Thurott.com that it is a USB3 connection at the end of the day.

Which, to my mind, makes this device that is billed as the "Ultimate Laptop" and a desktop-replacement, quite notably less than either of those claims. It's still a competent mobile device, but without the ability to set up a modestly-high end desktop computing environment using the dock, I've switched to building a new desktop workstation for my dual 4K monitors. My Surface Book was an experiment to see if I could replace a desktop computer with a high-end laptop. For now, it seems the answer is no. I will retain the Book as a mobile device.

The 4K situation would have been tolerable (if not really "acceptable") had the Surface Book's internal mini DisplayPort connector continued to work while docked, as is the case with the Surface Pro 4. SP4 users can attach one of their 4K monitors to the tablet and another to the dock to run both at 60Hz. Surface Book owners—by which I mean the people who paid slightly more than their SP4 peers—cannot do that.