Microsoft’s new Surface Laptop Ultra update fixes reboot and display bugs

Microsoft’s Surface Laptop Ultra was blighted by some nuisance bugs at launch, but now the company has released some new firmware to resolve them. The October 22nd release addresses three notable issues in particular: screen flickering, unexpected restarts, and lengthy reboot times alongside unspecified “additional bug fixes and general performance improvements,” according to Microsoft’s announcement.

My colleague Tom Warren experienced some of these issues when he reviewed the Surface Laptop Ultra, finding that rebooting the device was “surprisingly slow” and that “moving a window around rapidly sometimes left a little trail.” He also ran into some speaker interference issues that were “loud enough to sound like firecrackers” and resolved them upon rebooting the Surface Laptop Ultra, but found that “it’s happened a couple of times now.” We’ve asked Microsoft if this is one of the additional bug fixes included in the update.

In its announcement, Microsoft says some additional steps “may be required” for Surface Laptop Ultra users after installing this firmware update:

We recommend that you restart your Surface to complete any remaining part of the installation. To restart your device, select Start, and then select Power > Restart.

The firmware update will be delivered to all Surface Laptop Ultra devices, but not every device will receive it at the same time. If you don’t want to wait around, you can manually install the update by following the instructions over on Microsoft’s driver and firmware page. The firmware update can’t be uninstalled or reverted to an earlier version.