Ice Lake issues: Microsoft is aware that the Surface Pro 7 is currently stuck on months-old broken graphics drivers

Intel Ice Lake looks pretty good on paper, but initial models have had a few bumpy roadblocks along the way. Certain DX11 benchmarks on 3DMark would fail to run up until Intel released a hotfix (1910.1007372) on October 30 alongside some much-needed performance updates. Meanwhile, the Microsoft Surface Pro 7 has become one of the first Windows tablets to ship with Ice Lake-U processors, but the latest Intel PCH drivers are incompatible with the tablet since Microsoft must first validate the drivers before distribution.

The end result is a Microsoft-imposed bottleneck: the Surface Pro 7 will be stuck on outdated Iris Plus graphics drivers until Microsoft can update on their own. Our Surface Pro 7 Core i5-1035G4 test unit, for example, shipped with the graphics driver version 25.20.100.7101 that dates back to August 5, 2019. 3DMark benchmarks would fail to run and attempting to update the driver through the Intel Download Center would result in the error as shown by the screenshot below. There are likely less official procedures to get the job done, but owners shouldn't have to circumnavigate or jump through hoops especially when it comes to Microsoft system updates.

We contacted Microsoft on the issue and they have stated that they are "aware of the [graphics driver] behavior as described and are working to fix this", but a timetable was not provided. Until then, Surface Pro 7 owners will have to live with months-old Iris Plus drivers on their brand new 10 nm CPUs unless if they're willing to install the latest Intel DCH drivers via other means beyond the Microsoft recommendation.