Surface Pro 11 and Surface Laptop 7 get an important battery-preserving feature

Microsoft has some good news for the owners of the Surface Pro 11 and the Surface Laptop 7. The latest firmware update delivers a new feature that will help you prolong your computer's battery health. Additionally, the update packs a few other welcome improvements.

With the August 2025 firmware update, Surface Pro 11 and Surface Laptop 7 can limit the maximum charge level to 80%. Charging the final 10-20% is the least efficient; it takes much more energy than lower levels and puts more stress on the battery. As such, limiting the maximum charge level helps prolong the lifespan of the battery. A battery charge limiter is now a common feature on modern devices, such as phones, tablets, and laptops.

Of course, despite the energy efficiency of Qualcomm's Snapdragon X processor, cutting off 20% of the battery is quite a hit. Therefore, Microsoft lets you switch back to 100% or use an adaptive mode that promises the longest battery life while being easier on the battery.

The August 2025 firmware update also fixed security vulnerabilities and addressed the following bugs:

• Fixes an issue that caused unexpected shutdowns to occur after updates were installed and shutdowns related to the monitor display.
• Fixes an issue that caused the backlight to flash when devices were used at the lowest brightness level.

Full release notes with the list of new drivers are available here (Surface Laptop 7) and here (Surface Pro 11).

You can update your computer's firmware by heading to Settings > Windows Update. While the updates have no known issues, it is better to back up important data before installing, since firmware updates are non-uninstallable. Also, note that the new battery feature is only available on ARM-powered Surface Laptop 7 and Surface Pro 11. Intel-based variants have yet to receive this feature.

Source

Hope you enjoyed this news post.

Posted Wednesday 13 August 2025 at 3:52 am AEST (my time).

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