Is your Surface Book 2 getting lag spikes when watching video content on YouTube or your browser?
Sometimes this may happen in other areas of the operating system, and you may not have a clue as to what causes it, even with higher performance settings already enabled.
We did the legwork and discovered several fixes you can use to restore your Surface so it can run as quickly as it once did.
Check Power Mode setting
Newer Surface devices come with adjustable power mode so you can balance between best performance and best battery life preferences.
To view the Power Mode setting, go to the task bar and select the battery icon. If your Surface device supports this setting, move Power Mode slider to Better or Best performance settings.
Plug in and let the device cool down
Sometimes your Surface Book 2 may lag because its too hot. Move it to a cool spot, and wait for about five minutes before checking if it runs faster. Make sure it is plugged in where possible.
Streaming videos or playing games are memory-intensive activities, so you might want to close your Surface for some few minutes to allow it to cool down.
Restart the device
To do this, go to Start>Power>Restart.
If none of these solutions help, you can always use top tips by Windows to improve your Surface Book 2 device’s performance. Otherwise try the next step.
Identify specific hardware issues on your Surface
There are tools built into Windows to determine if your Surface is running well or has hardware issues. These include:
- Windows Memory Diagnostic tool. You can go to the search box in the task bar, type the word Memory, and select Windows Memory Diagnostic. Select Restart now and check for problems. The tool will run and show you the test status, and the Surface will restart once the test is finished.
- Error checking tool scans hard drive errors. Go to File Explorer>This PC, and then right click Windows (C:) and select Properties. Select Tools>Error checking>Check.
Note: If any of these tools finds errors, contact Windows or Microsoft Support for further assistance.
Perform a clean boot
A clean boot will start Windows with minimal drivers and programs so you can tell which program is interfering with your video watching or gaming in the background. You can free up drive space before performing this task.
After the clean boot, reset your Surface device to start normally. To do this:
- Click Start and search for msconfig
- Select System Configuration from search results
- Under General tab, tap Normal Startup
- Tap Services tab
- Uncheck the Hide all Microsoft services box
- Tap Enable all, and then tap Startup tab
- Now tap Open Task Manager
- Enable all startup programs and tap OK
- Restart if prompted to
If you’re using Chrome and your Surface Book 2 still has lags, you can re-install Chrome to eliminate the slow dragging and scrolling experience.
Did any of these solutions help? Tell us in a comment below.
Elsie is a tech writer with 8+ years professional experience. For Tech News Watch, she brings rich experience contributing to topics such as Windows, MacOS, Android, and iOS among others. In her spare time, she loves checking out the latest tech trends, gadgets, and news, listening to music and cars.
Leave a Reply