Observations On Surface Dock

[unni_kmr]

I am making this thread to post by observations about the dock after 1 day of usage so that anybody who are considering buying the dock is aware of the cons.

1. Compatibility Issues With Mini Display Port Adapter.
Update:
This was solved by using Cable Matters Gold Plated Active Mini DisplayPort to HDMI Male to Female Adapter Supporting Eyefinity Technology & 4K Resolution. Now the monitor turns off as expected.

Original post:
My problem is this: monitor starts flashing once the Surface turns of screen because of the 5 minute timeout. This is a short recording of the issue:
hereI.

The posts listed below are regarding adapter compatibility issues:

• Has anyone bought a reliable HDMI adapter for the SP4?
• Best HDMI to Mini Display Port adapters
• Anyone else having issues with the Surface Dock not working with 2 screens?
• External Monitor Dock issues

2. Text blurriness on traditional desktop apps when taken out of the dock.



The first screenshot was taken from my 1080p monitor. The second one was taken after I detached the tablet from the dock.
I noticed this problem in Firefox & Opera. Edge & the News app didn't have this issue. So, I am assuming modern Windows apps are free of this problem.

3. I was honestly surprised to know that the dock doesn't have an SD card slot.

So far, I have faced only issues 2 & 3 and a bit from 1 (posted here). Otherwise, I like this dock setup very much. Let me see if any new issues spring up.

 

[unni_kmr]

To add to the point 2 regarding text blurriness, looks like it is the norm. Only modern Windows apps and a few others like Edge doesn't have this issue. Outlook 2016, Word 2016, Visual Studio 2015, latest Opera, Firefox all of them show the problem. It exists in both scenarios - if I have the Window open before docking and then dock it, or if I have it open when docked and then undock it. Only way I know to fix this is to reboot/logout.

 

[Blake Seaman]

+1 for the Soundblaster ROAR in the background.

 

[unni_kmr]

You have the first generation ROAR or the second? I am thinking of getting ROAR 2.

 

[seremify]

You have the first generation ROAR or the second? I am thinking of getting ROAR 2.

I was about to buy the Roar 2 when it was on sale and then two more models came out. In the end I never ended up buying any and bought a cheap Creative bluetooth speaker for the shower!

 

[unni_kmr]

Issue #1 I posted above was solved by using Cable Matters Gold Plated Active Mini DisplayPort to HDMI Male to Female Adapter Supporting Eyefinity Technology & 4K Resolution. Now the monitor turns off as expected.

Microsoft has a list of compatible monitors/cables/adapters here.

 

[Blake Seaman]

Assuming you're talking about the Muvo Mini, how do you like it? How does the bass compare to the Roar models?

 

[Misterb]

Issue #1 I posted above was solved by using Cable Matters Gold Plated Active Mini DisplayPort to HDMI Male to Female Adapter Supporting Eyefinity Technology & 4K Resolution. Now the monitor turns off as expected.

Microsoft has a list of compatible monitors/cables/adapters here.

I purchased the exact cable matters active adapter, as per suggested here, but it doesn't work at all. Everything worked just fine before with the dock and the adapter I had, but this one you have is never and is active and I wanted to see if I could get an even higher refresh rate. Unfortunately, I just get a black screen when I connect the dock now. Went back to the old adapter, and all is well, but I was really hoping to try this new one. Is it just a piece of garbage, or is there something I'm doing wrong?

 

[unni_kmr]

Sorry to hear that. I hope you will be able to return it. It worked for me probably because mine is a 1080p monitor.

I had posted about how this adapter worked for me on Microsoft forum here. One user replied this:

But I'm not so sure that the suggestions will work for monitors. On other threads and in reviews of the adapters, people have mentioned that the smaller "active" adapters like the unpowered Cable Matters didn't do it for the big screens. I tried a bunch of stuff and the only things that work are the active and usb-powered Apple cables to link to my 2560p DVI monitors.

I also noticed that the CableMatters adapter I used is not listed in Microsoft's compatible list here. The Amazon page doesn't list Surface 4 in the list of devices either. Microsoft's list do mention another CableMatters adapter. This one has Surface 4 in the compatible list in Amazon as well.

What monitor are you using and which was the other adapter (that works)?