Color accuracy significantly drops on Surface Laptop Studio 2 when Night Light is on

Question

I just got a Surface Laptop Studio 2 and am using it with two HP M27fwa FHD monitors, and I noticed a problem with Night Light colors. On my Surface Book 3, there wasn't a significant drop in color accuracy with the monitors, but with the Surface Laptop Studio 2, the color accuracy drops so much that very light shades of green starts to look like yellow on the monitor. On the main Surface Laptop Studio 2 screen, the light green still looks like a shade of green, not yellow.

I believe I isolated the problem to the Intel Iris Plus Xe Graphics internal graphics. I guessed so because in Device Manager sometimes turning the device off and on would fix the problem with the colors.

I am using the Surface Thunderbolt Dock. I tried connecting directly to the Thunderbolt ports on the laptop instead of on the dock, I tried reinstalling the device and I tried reinstalling the display driver. Is there a way to fix this? Or is this a problem with the device? Or is this a problem with the Windows OS?

Answer 1

Hi Awesome Aasim,

We value your contribution to the Microsoft Community. It’s regrettable that you’re encountering color accuracy challenges with your Surface Laptop Studio 2 while Night Light is active. Let’s investigate potential remedies to resolve this issue.

1. Adjust Display Settings:
   • Go to Start > Settings > System > Display.
   • Expand the Brightness section.
   • Clear the options for:
     • “Change brightness automatically when lighting changes.”
     • “Help improve battery by optimizing the content shown and brightness.”
   • In Display settings, set the toggle to Off for Adaptive color.
   • Select Start > Settings > System > Display.
   • Expand the Brightness section, then clear Change brightness automatically when lighting changes and also clear Help improve battery by optimizing the content shown and brightness.
   • In Display settings, set the toggle to Off for Adaptive color. This setting isn't available on all Surface devices.
   • Select Advanced display, then under Choose a refresh rate, try changing the setting to 60 Hz, 120 Hz or Dynamic. This setting isn't available on all Surface devices.
2. Check Color Profile:
   • Sometimes switching the color profile can help. Select the action center icon on the taskbar, then choose the color profile you’d like to use.
3. Download and install the driver pack on your Surface laptop studio 2. This will help us update the hardware of the device.
4. Calibrate Monitor Colors:
   • Use the built-in Windows color calibration tool to fine-tune the color settings for your monitors.
   • Adjust gamma, contrast, and color balance to achieve better accuracy.
5. Test Direct Connection:
   • Since you’ve tried connecting directly to the Thunderbolt ports on the laptop, consider bypassing the Surface Thunderbolt Dock altogether.
   • Connect your monitors directly to the laptop again and observe if the color accuracy improves.
6. Try to use another cable, like the USB-C to Display port going to the second screen. So that we can get a good quality display.

Let me know if you have any further questions or concerns.

Kind regards,

Christopher.

Answer 2

I tried a repair upgrade. I have photos to indicate what is wrong. This is on an external monitor.

I did try turning off adaptive color, HDR, and the "change brightness automatically when color changes". This sums up the problem.

This is the specific color that I noticed is distorted:

I further think the issue is Night Light, since when I downloaded and turned on f.lux the colors went back to being accurate. Sometimes the Night Light colors don't get distorted, other times it doesn't.

And this is what it looks like with Night Light off:

Answer 3

Hi Awesome Aasim,

Thank you for your response. Despite of all the troubleshooting we have tried, it would be more beneficial for you to reach out our live support team so they can further check your device remotely and fix the issue Realtime for you. You may reach them by following the instructions below.

1. Go to Contact Us - Microsoft Support
2. Choose how you would like to get support for your Surface device.
3. Type in the problem you need help with.
4. Look at any available solutions offered and select Contact Support.

You can also check this forum article for a more detailed guide in reaching our live support: How to get Phone and Chat Support (for Surface Home/Consumer - Microsoft Community

You can also click this link. Global Customer Service phone numbers - Microsoft Support

Thank you for your understanding.

Kind Regards

Christopher.

Answer 4

I got the device exchanged at Best Buy. Having the same problem. I think it is a bug with the Intel graphics driver. Is there a way to manually roll back to an older graphics driver version even after a clean Windows install?

Answer 5

Hi Awesome Aasim,

Thank you for your response. Since you already replaced the device and have same issue. We check on the device and we did not see any know issue regarding the Intel graphics driver on this device. Surface Studio 2 update history - Microsoft Support. Windows 11, version 21H2 update history - Microsoft Support, it would be more beneficial for you to reach out our assisted support team so they can further check your device remotely. They will help you fix the issue Realtime and need to escalate they are the one can help you with the escalation.

1. Go to Contact Us - Microsoft Support
2. Choose how you would like to get support for your Surface device.
3. Type in the problem you need help with.
4. Look at any available solutions offered and select Contact Support.

You can also check this forum article for a more detailed guide in reaching our live support: How to get Phone and Chat Support (for Surface Home/Consumer - Microsoft Community

You can also click this link. Global Customer Service phone numbers - Microsoft Support

Thank you for your understanding.

Christopher.