[pdch]

This is my second day of using my Surface Pro all day without plugging it in. I am just using it normally, checking email, websites, opening up PowerPoint and Word doc - just not using it constantly all day. Today, I turned it on and starting working with some PowerPoint slides around 10:30am. I checked the battery and it said I had 9 hours 23 mins left. I thought the time left HAD to be an error, but it is now 4pm and the unit still has 74% left. It is calculating the remaining 74% battery will last about 4 hours. As a comparison, after I fully charged the battery on day 1, I got about 4.5 hours of use before it ran down. That day, I DID use it constantly (of course, because it is a new toy). I am interested to see what a real world full run down will take by the end of this week.

Is anyone else noticing battery improvement since day 1? What kind of real world battery life are you getting?

I am not planning on plugging this in until the battery fully dies, so will try to report back with it's final life span.

[pdch]

Well, 12 hours later and it still has 32% battery. I'm going to have to charge it before it runs all the way down, need it for tomorrow. I know it wouldn't last this long if I were watching movies on it, but not bad for a work day device. Better than all but 1 of my laptops. I have an alienware 11x sandybridge i5 that will last over 10 hours running constant YouTube. It definitely outlasts my 18x :)

[sleepyking]

Well, 12 hours later and it still has 32% battery. I'm going to have to charge it before it runs all the way down, need it for tomorrow. I know it wouldn't last this long if I were watching movies on it, but not bad for a work day device. Better than all but 1 of my laptops. I have an alienware 11x sandybridge i5 that will last over 10 hours running constant YouTube. It definitely outlasts my 18x :)

Thanks for your input. Would like to see if any other owners are experiencing this type of battery life.I am on the verge of making the purchase. Battery is one thing I'd like more info on. The other is whether to wait and see if Nokia announces their tablet at the MWC this month (though it may likely be an RT device and a later release).Thanks

[vizagdude]

Today is my 3rd day and honestly, I think the battery did improve on my Surface Pro. I've been using on and off through out the day mostly browsing the net, watching some YouTube videos and checking email on the web and one Exchange account. I am yet to use it on a regular basis, I'm still getting used to the Windows 8 OS, so once in a while, I still use my Windows 7 laptop :). I hope the battery life improves and with the core i5, if I am getting around 5 to 6 hours of battery life, I'm a happy camper.

[cameradork]

Mine has been plugged in most of the time, but I let it go on battery on Sunday and didn't run it down the whole day with fairly minimal use: Installing some stuff, making a few Linux boot disks, restarting it like 50 times trying to figure out the UEFI thing until I realized I had a 32-bit version of ubuntu instead of a 64-bit version, some surfing and maybe 20-30 minutes of Jetpack Joyride. Probably had it on for three or four hours total? The real test is when I take it traveling in early March.

[baandoptager]

@Cameradork: You do know that every charge cycle slowly kills the battery and that having it plugged in all the time will almost guarantee a faster death of your battery.

[smoledman]

I think I'm getting around 7 hours.

[jmerrey]

If you start using it with a full charge, you'll get 4-6 hours of continuous use. Obviously if you use it a bit, then close the cover, then come back to it, it'll be longer. Hell, I came back to mine the next day and it still had charge. Does this mean it gets 24 hours of battery life? Of course not.

4-6 hours of use. That's the number.

[djncanada1]

I think it depends on apps. I usually get about 3-5 hours, I find apps like Chrome eat the battery life or having multiple apps open kills battery.

The Windows 8 Modern UI apps have better battery life.

I usually have Outlook 2013, IE, OneNote 2013, Skype, Bria 3 and usually Excel and or Word open.


Sent from my Windows 8 device using Board Express

[Toast95135]

I get about 4-5 hours with normal usage, 15% brightness, no bluetooth and max CPU set to 99%. I was playing DoD at full settings at around 10% brightness and got just under two hours of gameplay before I had to charge at 5%.

[garyjk]

if you want to get a report on your battery:

go to a elevated command prompt and then type the following:

powercfg /batteryreport
press enter

an extensive html file will be created. just look at the path in the return message and open it up.

[dstrauss]

if you want to get a report on your battery:

go to a elevated command prompt and then type the following:

powercfg /batteryreport
press enter

an extensive html file will be created. just look at the path in the return message and open it up.

Hate to sound like a total newb, but nothing will open the report (IE10, Chrome, Word) other than Notepad, which is just the html text for hand editing. Any suggestions?

[garyjk]

mine opens with ie. went to the desktop, opened my computer and used ie10 to open it, not the metro version. did you try ie on the desktop?

[Flavio76]

I think I'm getting around 7 hours.

I'm getting the same , or something more on a full day of work, which consists of connecting surface via HDMI to a monitor, wireless mouse and keyboard. Constant chrome for online emails, office 365 word and PDF files reading.

[jmerrey]

I'm getting the same , or something more on a full day of work, which consists of connecting surface via HDMI to a monitor, wireless mouse and keyboard. Constant chrome for online emails, office 365 word and PDF files reading.

You're getting more than 7 hours of CONTINUOUS battery life on a Surface Pro with external monitor, wireless mouse and keyboard?

Listen, there is a guy in this thread looking for honest answers because he's considering plunking down $1,000 on a Surface Pro, and battery life is a concern. That's ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS. Please, go easy on the exaggerations. They don't do anyone any good.

[Flavio76]

It is true! I always set the power to "save power"mode. When I leave my desk it sleep after 7 minutes....


It goes through one day of work..... ( I'm not a data analyst 😃 )


Also I think external monitor helps battery conservation.
Forget the word continuous, its misplaced in my other post....👍

[chezm]

Hi guys,

I'm looking to invest in a Surface Pro possibly later this year, waiting on Pro 2 to be announced.

I've got an Acer desktop that i use 99% for music recording/editing, this will not be replaced for a long time since my setup is analog. Its a great desktop, the recording part of music is minimal, must of my time is spent editing/mixing/mastering and thats where i want the surface pro.

I don't own a laptop, my wife has a 7 year old Toshiba i updated with an additional GB of RAM so it runs fine for her browsing and such.

I've got a Nexus 7, this is a browsing toy and thats it.

Played with the Surface Pro at best buy this weekend, blown away....love it.

My questions:
- How long does it take to charge the battery?
- I plan to use Cubase, pretty heavy music application program...does anyone have any idea how long the battery would last with a pretty intensive program? is 2 hours a fair figure?

[vertigoOne]

I plan to use Cubase, pretty heavy music application program...does anyone have any idea how long the battery would last with a pretty intensive program? is 2 hours a fair figure?

I have been able to use Autodesk Revit for over 2 hours on battery and it is a heavy application...but I am able to use Revit in power save mode. Not sure how music creation would do in power save.

[chezm]

I have been able to use Autodesk Revit for over 2 hours on battery and it is a heavy application...but I am able to use Revit in power save mode. Not sure how music creation would do in power save.

I did a quick good search on Autodesk Revit, wow that looks much more heavy than Cubase (what i use it for). Thanks for the insight.

[jmerrey]

I wonder if they improved battery life with the firmware update today? I have never gotten more than 5 hours of continuous use (twitter, outlook, word, excel usually) before, but right now I'm sitting at 4 hours and I have over 65% left! I hope it's not a fluke. I'll call my dad tomorrow and see what his results are. He's always gotten 4-5 hours of continuous use also.

[jmerrey]

Nevermind on all that. I started getting suspicious when the battery level wasn't changing. Sure enough, right around 5 hours she died, but without the usual 20% and 10% warnings. I'm guessing the level indicator got stuck. I hope the latest firmware didn't mess it up.

[swanlee]

My real battery life is about 4.5 hrs of real constant use. If I let it sit their turned on it can probably go 12 hrs but the only worthwhile statement on battery life is how long it last with constant use.

[rdubmu]

I am usually able to get a little over 4 hours.
Sent from my Nokia Lumia 920 using Board Express