Pre-purchase USB question

[djxdj]

Hi!

Seriously considering picking up a Surface Book.

Let's say I'm watching a movie with the screen and keyboard attached. The movie is on a USB stick. But then I decide I want to walk to another room, so I detach the screen and walk away from the keyboard/base. What happens to the movie? Does it keep playing as long as the screen and base are on wifi together? Is the usb drive disconnected and my movie stops? Is there a way to keep it connected?

Follow up, are there any usb ports on the screen portion?

 

[Cruachan 11]

No USB ports on the clipboard.

I haven't tested what you are doing, but I would assume the drive will disconnect as my SD card (also in the keyboard section) disconnects when I undock. Streaming video should continue to work though (Online or DLNA/Network Share)

 

[zerospace-net]

No USB ports on the clipboard & 2 on the keyboard base. Detach the clipboard from the base and everything that is plugged into it will disappear (think of the base like a big USB hub with a keyboard and trackpad attached). The entire machine is housed in the clipboard except for the dedicated GPU (if your model has one), a second & the bigger of the two batteries, as well as the main USB hub, memory card slot and the mini-displayport video out jack. Basically, the base provides all of the ports plus a keyboard and trackpad.

Your movie will stop playing when you undock the clipboard, I have no doubt about that. Surface Book is a laptop primarily and a tablet secondary -- this is vitally important to understand, because it's a big part of the reason all the USB ports are on the base and not the clipboard. The clipboard battery lasts maybe 2-3 hours on its own (probably on the lower end of that if you're watching movies the whole time).

 

[worwig]

The movie will stop. What happens exactly will depend on the movie player you are using. It will likely crash and need to be restarted.

As mentioned, this is a laptop first. If you want that USB on the tablet feature, you should look into a Surface Pro 4.

 

[orlbuckeye]

Actually if you have an app running that is using the DGPU the screen won't detach until you close those apps. So the screen may not even detach. If you have all apps defaulting to using the integrated graphics the screen will detach while the app is running. I also have a SDXC card in my card reader and it send a message that the drive won't be there if detached.

 

[zerospace-net]

Actually if you have an app running that is using the DGPU the screen won't detach until you close those apps. So the screen may not even detach. If you have all apps defaulting to using the integrated graphics the screen will detach while the app is running. I also have a SDXC card in my card reader and it send a message that the drive won't be there if detached.

This is true, but in my experience there are very few things that automatically run on the dGPU (regular PC games, intense GPU applications like Photoshop, etc) -- Windows Store based games for me all run on the Intel graphics by default. Movie playback is probably going to happen on the Intel graphics by default, too, I'd guess.

 

[benjaminries]

This is true, but in my experience there are very few things that automatically run on the dGPU (regular PC games, intense GPU applications like Photoshop, etc) -- Windows Store based games for me all run on the Intel graphics by default. Movie playback is probably going to happen on the Intel graphics by default, too, I'd guess.

In the example given, this would not matter - forget the GPU, the example app would be using a USB mass storage device to read the video. That alone would not allow you to remove the base from the screen.

The base is a battery, maybe a GPU (or not, depending on model), USB, SD card, and power - no WiFi, no bluetooth. The release mechanism is software-driven. When you attempt to start the release sequence on the Surface Book, Windows 10 appears to go through the same "Safely Remove Hardware" sequence that has always been available in the system tray going back to Windows 95...

...and ever since Windows 95, before unplugging a USB device, you right-click that little icon and select "Safely Remove Hardware", and if you've got an open application that is using the USB device (e.g. reading or writing a file on a thumb drive), you get a dialog box that tells you that you cannot safely disconnect right now. If you go ahead and physically yank the device out, you risk crashing the app and corrupting files etc.

If that software condition is present on a Surface Book base disconnect sequence, it will simply leave the base connected and won't allow you to continue. Just like if the GPU is in use, you'll see an icon in the system tray that indicates the base is in use and cannot be disconnected. They have taken away the option to just physically yank the two of them apart.

So crashing the video playback app, in the example given above, likely is not possible because Windows just gives you a message telling you to close the app before you can disconnect the screen from the base.

 

[benjaminries]

PS for this reason I strongly recommend going with at least the 256 GB SSD option, rather than 128 GB - not only do the larger SSDs have reportedly better read/write speeds, but you'll need that extra drive space for photos and video (if you want to be able to use the "clipboard" feature while viewing any of them). Now I only really use SD and USB to copy files to/from my Surface Book before working on them.

 

[zerospace-net]

So crashing the video playback app, in the example given above, likely is not possible because Windows just gives you a message telling you to close the app before you can disconnect the screen from the base.

I haven't done any video playback from a USB device, but there is nothing that runs on my SB's USB that actually tells the special Surface Detach running system process that it cannot remove the screen from the base while that device is connected. You can do it, whether or not it is good or bad for the system or files. The only thing that actually puts a warning (and actually prevents you from initiating the detach process) in the system tray is something running on the dGPU. (Literally, the Surface Detach icon changes to show that something is running on it and that to detach, you must stop the process from running). In all other circumstances, the detach process is quite available, regardless of whether or not it is a good idea -- I know because I have accidentally clicked on the Surface Detach icon while my Surface Book is docked to a bunch of USB devices and guess what happens? They all simply close/disappear and the clipboard is unlocked from the base.

 

[worwig]

So crashing the video playback app, in the example given above, likely is not possible because Windows just gives you a message telling you to close the app before you can disconnect the screen from the base.

Nope, mine allows me to detach while playing a video. Then it crashes the video playback app when the USB memory card disconnects.

 

[benjaminries]

Nope, mine allows me to detach while playing a video. Then it crashes the video playback app when the USB memory card disconnects.

I stand corrected. That's poor design.

 

[orlbuckeye]

Mine doesn't allow me to detach if I have the DGP as the default and have apps open. I have to close the apps then it will detach.

 

[ccpopham]

There are now wifi network drives which may be a better option. The drive plugs into the your router and can be found through your network either through ethernet. There are even stand alone wifi enabled hard drives for example http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Satel...ag=hawk-future-20&ascsubtag=UUwpUvbUpU3426283

This maybe a better alternative.

Posted via the Windows Central App for Android

 

[zerospace-net]

I stand corrected. That's poor design.

I can't help but say it: that's not the only poor design on the SB. :angry:

orlbuckeye: What they're talking about is stuff that's running on the Intel GPU, not the nvidia one. Stuff running on the Intel GPU will permit the clipboard to be detached regardless of whether or not it is dependent on anything plugged into the keyboard base, like a USB drive. Anything running on the dGPU (as I said above) will prevent the clipboard from being detached until the program is closed.

 

[orlbuckeye]

I have a SDXC card that I allways leave in my SB. When I disconnect a message pops up and also the File Explorer pops up because that drive isn't available anymore. It doesn't prevent me for detaching. I also does the same thing when I re-attach the clipboard showing that I again have access to the SDXC card.


If I go to the NVidia application and set the default GPU as integrated I never get a message to close apps but if I change the default to Nvidia I have to close every app I have open.

 

[orlbuckeye]

I purcahsed the 8 gb DGP and 256 GB SSD and added a 256 GB SDXC card. My SD card sticks out but I don't mind I know others complain. You just have to copy the media you are watching to the C drive if you want to watch something attach. Remember the Surface Book is the PC of it's kind where there is a battery,Discrete graphics card and ports are in the keyboard unit. If that goes away anything plugged into it is unavailable when detached

 

[Christopher Lindsay]

In the example given, this would not matter - forget the GPU, the example app would be using a USB mass storage device to read the video. That alone would not allow you to remove the base from the screen.

This is not entirely true. The Surface Book does not seem to care at all if something is used through it's USB ports. It will disconnect the clipboard regardless of USB devices attached. It's the GPU use only that will prevent it from disconnecting. IMO there should be a usb warning at least.