Surface book battery issues
- Thread starter Wu2kayY
- Start date
Also the battery estimate you are seeing is highly dynamic based on the period it used to collect its metrics and the load while it was estimating. I've seen my estimated battery life go from 4 hours to 10 hours based on what I was doing at the time. One other thing you need to consider is that while it is optimizing the OS in the background it will impact battery life, too. Once that optimization is complete then it will settle down into a normal low tempo utilization. Beware Chrome. It eats battery like mad.
The CPU usage seems to be normal. I will usually see Edge using up about 2-6%. I think this is quite normal isnt it?
@ Aegeas: The battery life display is changing dynamically, but I see e.g. 3 hours a lot more than 8 hours when 80% are left. The actual battery life is just not even close to 8 hours or the promised 11-12. I am using the device since almost 2 weeks, so I doubt that this going to just take care of itself.
Using battery mon I see a discharge rate of 9000-12000 mW.
Is there any way to run an error analysis on the battery or it usage?
@ Aegeas: The battery life display is changing dynamically, but I see e.g. 3 hours a lot more than 8 hours when 80% are left. The actual battery life is just not even close to 8 hours or the promised 11-12. I am using the device since almost 2 weeks, so I doubt that this going to just take care of itself.
Using battery mon I see a discharge rate of 9000-12000 mW.
Is there any way to run an error analysis on the battery or it usage?
tatornator12
Member
After finally receiving my replacement unit my Surface Book has been running smoothly, but I do have to quip about the battery life. I've noticed that I don't even come close to the promised 11-12 hours even in Battery Saver mode. I've disabled almost all of the background apps and uninstalled Chrome. I love this device, but the battery life is pretty bad.
tatornator12
Member
It says directly on the Surface Book page under Exceptional Performance (Buy Surface Book - Microsoft Store). Yes, it says "up to" rather than "promise," (I don't care about semantics here) and that tests were performed under specific conditions as defined at the bottom of the page, but I expect at least 8-10 hours out of even light use. All I've done so far is surf the web on battery saver mode with the screen brightness turned down and as a result, the battery has drained pretty quickly. Like I said before, I've uninstalled Chrome and halted most background application processes. Therefore I'd expect to get close to the numbers stated on their website. Again, I love the device, but the battery does not last as long as advertised.
leeshor
Well-Known Member
That's more like it.
I can't speak for the book but I can say I have managed to push 11 hours twice on my SP4, with what most would call normal use. Manufacturers ALWAYS find a way to get the maximum life from batteries as an "up to". That's SOP. In real life few people get there. That applies to all battery operated devices. It's a major topic on the phone forums where few people have gotten close to the "up to" figure.
I can't speak for the book but I can say I have managed to push 11 hours twice on my SP4, with what most would call normal use. Manufacturers ALWAYS find a way to get the maximum life from batteries as an "up to". That's SOP. In real life few people get there. That applies to all battery operated devices. It's a major topic on the phone forums where few people have gotten close to the "up to" figure.tatornator12
Member
I'm also wondering if the battery is still adjusting since it's quite new and I've barely used/charged the machine. I know that sometimes it takes a few drains and charges for the battery to enter it's "normal cycle". I'm hoping it gets better with more usage and some firmware updates.
The only good thing is that some people seem to get 11+ hours and I wouldnt have bought the device if prior tests had come to the conclusion that battery life is poor.
So I hope this still an exemption that will be fixed in the future.
I dont care about symantics either. So if you "promise", "claim", or mention up to 11-12 hours of battery life and you only get 5 hours it is going to leave unsatisfied customers behind. That should be clear.
So I hope this still an exemption that will be fixed in the future.
I dont care about symantics either. So if you "promise", "claim", or mention up to 11-12 hours of battery life and you only get 5 hours it is going to leave unsatisfied customers behind. That should be clear.
So far on an SP4 I managed over 11 hours and might make it over 12. However, 9 looks like a very achievable average for my web browsing but each persons usage is unique. I used IE with Flash disabled and Ad Blocking, not Edge which currently doesnt have AD blocking (when it gets it we'll see what it does). There's no way you'll get there with the current AD laden Internet without AD blocking.
My test consists of almost continuous use with only a few minutes of Connected Standby time with Screen set to 32%, almost never shutting off. Continuous use may entail; page reading and scrolling, typing as in this post, multiple tabs open, bouncing from site to site, copying and pasting, flipping back and forth, sniping screen shots, saving, and uploading, video clips, using other apps occasionally, installing updates...
Yesterday and today I had some longer connected standby times and battery life was reduced from my previous continuous use times even with the "updated battery driver" (not sure this really does anything). It could be there are maintenance tasks waiting for a free moment to "help me" optimize my computer eating up battery when I'm away. TBD.
With moderately conservative settings Id think 7 hrs should be achievable by most on SP4 (more on SB) although everyone has their own preferences for how they want to work. I don't think more than 50% brightness is going to get you there maybe not even more than 40%. I suppose some don't want to be bothered and just blaze away, like driving 85 on the highway, to low battery life. To each their own. In addition to the screen, other heavy battery users are likely syncing frequently with OneDrive, or other things that cause a lot of CPU, network or disk activity.
My test consists of almost continuous use with only a few minutes of Connected Standby time with Screen set to 32%, almost never shutting off. Continuous use may entail; page reading and scrolling, typing as in this post, multiple tabs open, bouncing from site to site, copying and pasting, flipping back and forth, sniping screen shots, saving, and uploading, video clips, using other apps occasionally, installing updates...
Yesterday and today I had some longer connected standby times and battery life was reduced from my previous continuous use times even with the "updated battery driver" (not sure this really does anything). It could be there are maintenance tasks waiting for a free moment to "help me" optimize my computer eating up battery when I'm away. TBD.
With moderately conservative settings Id think 7 hrs should be achievable by most on SP4 (more on SB) although everyone has their own preferences for how they want to work. I don't think more than 50% brightness is going to get you there maybe not even more than 40%. I suppose some don't want to be bothered and just blaze away, like driving 85 on the highway, to low battery life. To each their own. In addition to the screen, other heavy battery users are likely syncing frequently with OneDrive, or other things that cause a lot of CPU, network or disk activity.
tatornator12
Member
I disabled OneDrive last night and will further assess my battery capabilities. I may need to switch to IE for tablet functionality (I've been using Edge) since Firefox, which I mainly use in laptop mode, does not support touch screens as widely (as in the touch keyboard does not come up automatically).
leeshor
Well-Known Member
I'm pretty sure that if I only did word processing I could easily hit 12 hours, maybe even more. I get 10-11 easily, using Firefox with AdBlockPlus and a ton of other extensions but no Flash Player. Even full screen Youtune doesn't seem to add battery drain though I have used it for Youtube that much. One thing is for sure, Youtube looks great. I have OneDrive on but there isn't a lot syncing yet.
I use my SP4 off the charger and only charge it when it gets around 20%-30% and I pull it when it's fully charged. My sleeping battery use is <0.5% per hour and has been since the first full charge.
My customers are averaging 8 hours as far as I can tell but they are using it for things other than what I'm using it for. It seems that using Illustrator CC is using a little more battery.
I use my SP4 off the charger and only charge it when it gets around 20%-30% and I pull it when it's fully charged. My sleeping battery use is <0.5% per hour and has been since the first full charge.
My customers are averaging 8 hours as far as I can tell but they are using it for things other than what I'm using it for. It seems that using Illustrator CC is using a little more battery.
