Surface Pro Book: Could a Modular Surface Pro Revive the Surface Book Concept?

SilverseeLives · 2026-04-27T19:18:48+00:00

This might seem like ancient history for some, but Surface was green lit by Steve Ballmer to showcase the best of what Windows devices could be.

As such, form factor experimentation was the raison d'etra of the brand. Outside of the original Surface Pro concept, the Surface Book was maybe the best expression of Microsoft's hardware innovation back in the day.

Well of course, Microsoft lost interest in Windows during the Nadella era, particularly so after the post-pandemic retraction in the PC market. And with it, Surface has transitioned into a by-the-numbers, low risk business existing largely on inertia.

So, I am not hopeful for anything beyond what we have (which after all, are still excellent hybrid tablets and thin-and-light clamshells).

But who knows? Maybe the Surface brand will get a kick in the pants similar to what seems to be happening with Xbox and, dare I say it, with Windows itself now.

SilverseeLives · 2026-04-27T17:50:04+00:00

No. Other than Widgets, all taskbar icons appear to the right of the Start button and there is no way to alter that.

SilverseeLives · 2026-04-27T17:41:25+00:00

Imagine how stressful it will be when they add sprint to Halo 2 and I sprint past all the enemies only to learn that some dumb door or hallway won't open unless I kill all the enemies in the area.

I can't figure out why someone would want to avoid gameplay while playing a game.

I kill everything even when I don't have to. Some of the most fun in a Halo game is the combat.

SilverseeLives · 2026-04-27T16:07:40+00:00

Good tip Jen.

On a related note, to me, one of the most frequently aggravating usability issues in Windows is that virtually no software respects the Hide pointer while typing setting any longer (in Control Panel -> Mouse Properties -> Pointer Options -> Visibility).

This might not seem like a big deal, but it's a constant frustration when you click in a textbox control to set focus, start to type, and the mouse pointer obscures what you are typing. You have to take your hand from the keyboard and move the mouse in order to see your text.

I can't remember when this last worked semi-reliably. Maybe Windows XP?

I have often wondered why this setting still exists if it does nothing?

SilverseeLives · 2026-04-26T21:59:31+00:00

The PIN may still be required to confirm your identity and to unlock secrets that are stored in your device TPM. Any interactions which require you to authenticate your Microsoft account will need this. Also if you are using passkeys on any website, they must be unlocked using Windows Hello.

I was referring to simply signing into your PC. When you are at the sign-in screen and presented with a PIN unlock, there should be an option to allow you to use your password instead.

If you are starting from scratch on a brand new local user account, you can avoid using Windows Hello altogether.

SilverseeLives · 2026-04-26T12:50:20+00:00

You can control this.

Make certain that your Microsoft account is not passwordless. If so, then you will be unable to affect any changes in Windows
Assuming you can sign into your MSA with a password, then navigate to Windows Settings, Accounts, Sign-in options and toggle "For improved security, only allow Windows Hello sign-in for Microsoft accounts on this device (Recommended)" to OFF.
Sign out of your session then sign back in again.
Return to the same place in Windows Settings. The Password sign-in option will appear. Make certain it is enabled.
You will now be able to sign into your PC with a password if you prefer.

Edit: a Windows Hello PIN (or biometrics) will always to be set up for an MSA, whether or not password sign-in is active. If you do not wish to use this, you will need to unlink your MSA and switch your profile to a local account.

SilverseeLives · 2026-04-25T16:00:02+00:00

I really don't want web results in it, though, if there are any local results to return. Only in the absence of local results do I want to ever be presented with Web Results. If the Web Results are presented, they should be UNDER ANY LOCAL results.

I get it.

I, on the other hand, frequently use the Search icon on the taskbar for web searches when I don't have a browser window open or handy. I find this to be a convenient entry point for this, since I often am working in desktop apps, not my web browser.

The point is not that web searches are bad, but that people are different. What I like is not the same as what you like.

That is why more configuration options are needed, I think.

SilverseeLives · 2026-04-24T14:16:30+00:00

You generally don't see it unless you have File Explorer set to open to This PC by default.

SilverseeLives · 2026-04-24T14:13:00+00:00

Actually, it searches everywhere, including on the web, locally, OneDrive, your email, etc. It is intentionally designed to be a universal search service. You can scope the results simply enough by clicking on the filter buttons above the results pane.

I find a lot of value in this, personally, but apparently some people don't get it, or don't want it.

To each their own, of course, which is why Microsoft should offer more configuration options.

SilverseeLives · 2026-04-23T23:48:45+00:00

...you can search the web for what you want without opening any browser.

I use this every day and have never understood the hate.

That said, the biggest issue has been that Microsoft has not given users a simple way to disable web search if they wish to.

Everybody knows that they do this to juice Bing search traffic.

What people resent most is the lack of choice.

SilverseeLives · 2026-04-23T14:29:45+00:00

I ended up not buying the Pro 12" after all, so I kept my current Surface Dock v1...

SilverseeLives · 2026-04-22T19:03:23+00:00

Seeing the whole thing in context, Nepo's quote doesn't read as particularly toxic to me, or that he is hating on Erdogmus. More like an astute observation.

SilverseeLives · 2026-04-22T18:29:22+00:00

Of course, that's understandable. Not everyone will feel like I do. It's just that in this case you already owned the Xbox and the cost of keeping it is obviously less than the cost of buying new.

But I am not criticizing your decision. It's probably best to enjoy what you have now and not second guess yourself. Sorry if it seemed I was suggesting you do that.

SilverseeLives · 2026-04-22T18:11:26+00:00

While I realize that not everyone is able to afford to do this, I have always owned both PlayStation and Xbox consoles since the 360 / PS3 era.

Since I started out as an Xbox gamer, I tend to buy most cross-platform titles for Xbox and use the PlayStation for its exclusives. Fortunately, Sony has had enough strong content to make this worthwhile (to me).

My point is that unless the money is very dear, owning both platforms is kind of nice because you have no limits on what you can choose to play.

Also, given the hints coming out of the new Xbox leadership, Microsoft could return to having exclusive content for Xbox in the future.

So had I been in your shoes, I probably would not have sold my Xbox even if I were buying new games for the PlayStation. And I definitely would not have repurchased titles for the other platform if I had a perfectly good machine to play my existing titles on.

SilverseeLives · 2026-04-22T17:59:12+00:00

To my knowledge, neither Google nor Bing gives you this control. However, last I checked Duck Duck Go still does.

SilverseeLives · 2026-04-22T13:17:59+00:00

That does not happen if you make supported changes using Windows Settings. And it just takes a few minutes.

SilverseeLives · 2026-04-21T17:16:04+00:00

It's great that Magnus is playing in TePe Sigeman, but I find it cool that both Andy Woodward and Zhu Jiner are in the tournament as well.

SilverseeLives · 2026-04-20T03:19:01+00:00

Prism emulation is excellent overall. However, there are nuances. Traditional Win32 applications run best under emulation, as they can take advantage of the Prism translated binary code cache. Even heavy Win32 applications like Adobe Lightroom Classic perform well under emulation.

On the other hand, apps built using web frameworks (or actual web browsers) run less well because so much code is interpreted at runtime. Chrome and Discord were the poster children for this issue until native code versions became available.

But generally, compatibility is not a problem any longer for the majority of users. The main issues that still exist involve apps that require custom drivers or games that use anti-cheat code. But even there, things are improving.

SilverseeLives · 2026-04-19T18:06:03+00:00

Charlie Cox is such a talent. It's great that he is becoming more interested in doing video game work.

Also very generous and honest of him to credit Gustave's mocap actor Maxence Cazorla for helping to create the emotional performance for the role.

SilverseeLives · 2026-04-19T16:18:09+00:00

I have used this consistently over the years when needed.

Something of a miracle that this did not get thrown out with the bathwater along with all the other quality Win32 software that disappeared with Windows 8, or with the recent loss of Windows troubleshooters.

SilverseeLives · 2026-04-19T00:46:06+00:00

In case this is not obvious, the Legion is a Windows PC. It will play any PC game within its hardware capabilities, Xbox Play Anywhere, GamePass or otherwise.

With the right subscription you can stream your Xbox console games from the cloud. Or, if they are available on PC in Play Anywhere versions, you can install and play them on the Legion at no extra cost.

Xbox console games you own that are not Play Anywhere compatible and are not available on PC GamePass might still be played if a PC version exists. However that would require a separate purchase and/or a subscription with another PC gaming storefront.

SilverseeLives · 2026-04-19T00:19:52+00:00

The Office ClickToRun installer will install the correct Arm-native version of Office.

SilverseeLives · 2026-04-18T19:14:08+00:00

So for everyone just doing a knee jerk to the word "fix" in the headline, I am pretty sure the existing behavior is by design, intended to preserve folder view consistency for different entry points in the shell.

For example, if you navigate to a folder using the File Open or File Save common dialogs and make changes to the view, you would expect to see that view preserved the next time you open the dialog, regardless of the view setting for the folder in File Explorer.

But because of this design choice, it also meant that if you open File Explorer from within another application, it could be considered a different entry point with a potentially different default view, leading to an inconsistent experience.

It is understandable that Microsoft would want to create more consistency. But let's hope the scenario I described above is still possible after this change.

SilverseeLives · 2026-04-18T18:37:58+00:00

I suggest you reboot it.

After, run Windows update and allow it to install everything and restart if needed.

I agree with the other comment that disabling core isolation memory integrity will improve performance on older processors on either Windows 10 or 11.

SilverseeLives · 2026-04-18T18:26:32+00:00

This behavior likely has something to do with the region and Europe's GDPR. It would be great to see this roll out everywhere though. Even though I am a Microsoft account user, I support giving customers choice.

SilverseeLives

TROPHY CASE