Surface Pro 11 performance

Question

Hi!

I have Surface Pro 11 OLED, Windows 24H2 with updates up to 12/10/2024. Thanks Microsoft for efforts about ARM64.

I don't ask super gaming performance from Surface Pro 11.

But elementary performance has questions. I'm about Windows interface speed - visualy speed of open folders, Apps, Windows settings etc.

I have other Surface - Go2 (Intel M3 CPU, 8 GB ROM). It has the same 24H2 and absolutely the same Apps set.

You may wonder, but Go2 does it visually faster - I nave enjoy to work with it.

What it the mystery?

Answer 1

Hi!

Any owner of Surface Pro 11 OLED understand advantage of Dark mode Windows 11.

This allows the eyes not to get tired so much.

But here's what happens when you open a folder, for example. First, a white background of the folder window appears for half a second - as in White (light) mode, then it changes to black, as it should be in Dark mode.

This is very annoying.

Is it possible to make it so that when you open a folder (disk, etc.), the background of the folder window is immediately dark - instead of these flashes of white for half a second?

Moreover, if you, for example, right-click on the disk icon and select Properties, you will see a white background again. And I would like it to be dark.

Answer 2

Mitchell, thank you for detailed answer.

1. About common performance of Snapdragon Elite. Of course you are right: it's should be faster then Intel M3. But visual compare of performane in standard task (work wit Windows interface - open folders, Settings, Office etc.) says that M3 is VERY VERY good. As to some Snapdragon delays in user actions - this is it "feature" :). I recommend to wait 5 minutes after Windows boot and all initial processes finish, then start to work. This trick allow Snapdragon to react faster to user actions.
2. About Dark Mode. Your advise of Clean Boot showed me the same effect. I have NO third-party software installed in My Surface Pro 11. This effect was noticeable right out of the box, after the first boot and assignment of Dark Mode.

I beleive that matter in the next...

Windows Dark Mode is not fully implemented - only partly.

When you open the folder, Windows continues to run in Light Mode, despite the Dark Mode being assigned. It draws a white background of the folder for a split second, then, "remembering" about Dark Mode, replaces white with black. The replacement speed depends on the performance of the graphics card.

You can say - this is the case everywhere. No, and here is a good example. When you open Settings and its tabs, Windows immediately draws a dark background of the windows - instantly, without intermediate white rendering. Why not do the same for folders (i.e. File Explorer) as well? Please convey this wish to the developers!

Answer 3

Hello DMITRYLYSAK,

Welcome to Microsoft Community.

We noticed that you seemed to publish two similar threads, so we merged the two threads together.

I'm guessing that this may be due to performance issues, or to put it more bluntly, your Surface Pro 11 May be slowing down for some reason.

Under normal circumstances, the performance of the Snapdragon X processor on the Surface Pro 11 should be significantly better than the Intel Core m3 processor, so the first thing I recommend you do here is to try to optimize the performance of the Surface Pro 11:

Tips to improve PC performance in Windows - Microsoft Support

That's because a flickering white background for about half a second when you open a folder is usually a sign that the computer is loading a dark mode, but it didn't happen on my Surface Pro 10. But I need to emphasize that similar situations have occurred in some other brands of computers. In other words, all computers may experience this phenomenon, but some devices are more powerful, so the loading speed is so fast that you can hardly see the white background is already done.

Another thing to look for is if you have some third-party software installed in your Surface Pro 11. If you have used some theme software, because such software will interfere with the theme setting of the system, it will cause this phenomenon. So I recommend trying a clean boot which starts Windows with a minimal set of drivers and startup programs. It can be used to determine whether a background service or program is interfering or causing a problem. 

These steps of "clean boot" might look complicated at first glance. However, to avoid any trouble for you, please follow them in order and step-by-step.

Once the clean boot is complete, test your Surface and see if the performance issues have improved.

Best Regards,

Mitchell | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

Answer 4

Hi DMITRYLYSAK,

I understand very well what you have conveyed to us. But I might still kindly suggest that you check some of your computer's Settings, especially those related to power saving.

Click on the Start menu -- Settings -- System -- Power and Battery.

• Try to change the power mode to the best performance, whether it is "Plugged in" or "On battery".
• Click Energy saver to check if "Always use energy saver" is permanently turned on. If so, turn it off.

There are also some Settings that may be related to this phenomenon, such as:

• Click on the Start menu -- Settings -- Personalization --Colors to make sure the "Dark" mode is fully selected, not "Custom".
• Click on the Start menu -- Settings -- System --Display--Advanced display, and then select a higher refresh rate.

I hope all this can be improved.

Best Regards,

Mitchell | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

Answer 5

Thank you.

After yesterday's big Windows Update, which includes updating the Qualcomm Adreno drivers, the white flash effect when opening folders is almost non-existent. Dark Mode now works well.

The only thing I didn't find... UEFI updated today, I can't find a description anywhere - what's fixed in the BIOS and what's new there...