A New Theory About Surface and USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 (Premium)

I’ve been calling on Microsoft to add USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 to its Surface PCs for years. And in doing so, I envisioned a transition—that never seems to happen—in which it will slowly move each model, one by one, from the proprietary Surface Connector to this industry standard.

Now, however, I believe that there is a happy middle ground between my desire for Microsoft to do what I think is the right thing and Microsoft’s often-stated reasons for sticking with Surface Connector. In fact, it seems rather obvious in retrospect.

For those unfamiliar with the issue, Microsoft has long used a proprietary port called Surface Connect on its Surface PC for both power and expansion, in the latter case via Surface Dock. The port may be proprietary, but Surface Connect is basically just a good ol’ USB 3 connection. So it has all of the features of USB 3. And all of the limitations.

For most uses, USB 3 is fine for expansion: You can drive a single 4K external display at an eyeball-friendly 60 Hz, drive external peripherals like a keyboard, mouse, and hard drive, and connect to Ethernet networking, all at the same time. If you want to drive two external displays, however, you’re limited to 2160p at 60 Hz.

When Microsoft first created Surface Connect, most PCs came with proprietary power connections of their own and utilized USB (or perhaps other more proprietary connections) for expansion. So the nicety here is that you get both multiple use cases from a single port. And if you do wish to dock your Surface PC, you can do via a single cable, which is really convenient.

That said, the industry has since embraced two related technologies, in turn: USB-C, which is USB 3 with a smaller and more convenient port type, and Thunderbolt 3, which can be driven via a USB-C port instead of using a proprietary port, like Mini DisplayPort, as was the case previously. (Historically, most Surface PCs have provided Thunderbolt 3 video capabilities via Mini DisplayPort, as does the Surface Dock.)

As a result, I’ve been calling on Microsoft to adopt USB-C since at least 2015. And I’ve been calling on Microsoft to adopt USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 since at least 2016. It’s the way the rest of the industry has gone, and I’m confused why Microsoft, which makes the software that drives the PC platform, has not followed suit with its own PCs.

Publicly, Microsoft has taken an interesting stance on the topic.

For starters, it has argued, as it did in 2017 to The Verge, that USB-C had too many problems for it to use the technology on its own PCs, despite the fact that the rest of the PC industry had previously figured out how to ensure that flaky USB-C power supplies wouldn’t destroy their hardware.

I reacted poorly to this decision, noting that fear is not a virtue in product design. “This is the opposite of leadership,” I wrote in May 2017 in the wake of the Surface Laptop announcement. (That device lacks both USB-C and Thunderbolt 3.0.) “They’re not even following, they’re drifting off and walking backward.”

But Microsoft has also made a more customer-centric defense of its continued use of the dated Surface Connector. Its customers, especially its business customers, expect this uniformity. They expect that each subsequent generation of devices will continue working with whatever peripherals they previously purchased. A new Surface Book 2 still works with the Surface Dock that first shipped in 2015.

Speaking of Surface Book 2, that PC is the first from Microsoft to ship with a USB-C port. That port is not Thunderbolt 3-capable, which limits it in the same way as Surface Connector when it comes to power and expansion. But it’s a first tepid step into the future, albeit a belated one. The recent news about a Surface USB-C dongle finally shipping might be seen as the second belated step into this future: It will allow Surface Laptop and the 2017 Surface Pro to all provide power and expansion over USB-C. (But, again, not Thunderbolt 3.)

And that got me thinking.

What is Thunderbolt 3, exactly? In late 2016, I wrote about the USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 era, noting that USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 is exactly what it sounds like: The combination of a USB-C port (and USB capabilities) with Thunderbolt 3’s more advanced data transmission and video output capabilities. A USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 port can drive dual 4K displays at 60 Hz, unlike Surface Connect.

Unlike Surface Connect. Which is just USB 3.

And then the (retroactively) obvious hit me: What if Microsoft simply created a next-generation Surface Connect port that was both backward compatible with all existing peripherals and provided more modern Thunderbolt 3 capabilities? After all, USB has already been updated to do so, with USB-C. Surface Connect is just USB. Why can’t it be USB 3 and Thunderbolt 3?

I’m not a hardware guy, I know. But if the industry can drive Thunderbolt 3 over USB/USB-C, then Microsoft can certainly do so over Surface Connect.

And that changes my view of the future a bit. Where I previously expected a transition to a new port (USB-C) and to Thunderbolt 3, adding Thunderbolt 3 to Surface Connect—while still adding a USB-C ports to its PCs, of course—would let Microsoft be whole with all of its customers. Those power users how are demanding Thunderbolt 3 would get it. And those demanding the consistency of Surface Connect would get that.

It’s a win-win, for the most part. And while I still believe that doing this in tandem with a Thunderbolt 3-powered USB-C port on all Surface PCs going forward makes the most sense, I will at least concede that updating Surface Connect makes sense too. And that if that is all Microsoft does, so be it: The firm can retain what it views as a key differentiator while finally entering a more modern era of PC technology.

As a bonus, this new version of Surface Connect would retain the magnetic conenction, so someone tripping over the power cord wouldn’t send the attached PC crashing to the floor. This is something Apple and the rest of the industry lost with the move to USB-C for power.

So when might we see our first hints of this imagined change? My guess is this fall, and that an October hardware event with at least new generation Surface Laptop and Surface Pro PCs is the ideal time and place. Cross your fingers.

And if you know more about hardware than I do and can burst this bubble, please do. I really want to know if this makes any sense at all.