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Battery Longevity of the Surface 2

TheNeighbor

New Member
I've had the Surface 2 for over 3 weeks now, and have been relying on using this for writing my research papers and eventually when I'll do my thesis.

There aren't much reports regarding the Surface 2's battery performance and I thought of sharing my personal experience. So far, my battery report has an average of just below 7 hours average from the many different ways I've used this thin device with a Type Cover. The longest on one charge was around 8.5 hours.
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Take for example for today, when I started writing at about 8:30am with 97%, using Word and flipping through DrawBoard for PDF reading on half the screen. I turned off the wireless connectivity 90% of the time, except when I needed to transfer images. I reached 5% with 15 minutes shy of 8 hours on battery. My screen was set at 50%, had my Type Cover's backlight off, and a mouse attached. You can see my battery stats above.

Microsoft stated 10 hours of total usage time for the Surface 2 for media playback. But considering that the Surface Pro 2 can normally operate around 5 to 6 hours, and reviews say the Pro 3 can go about a realistic 6.5 hours on a full charge.

Although more than 8 hours of continuous or accumulated productive usage per charge is good enough, I want to get the Power Cover even with the added thickness for probably getting more than 13 hours. Has anyone done this with their Surface 2? I want to be able to just leave the power plug at home, and get to use the Surface 2 all day without worrying about power.
 

GreyFox7

Super Moderator
Staff member
IMO using an external battery pack would be better unless your highly mobile and walking around but if you carry a bag packs could easily slip in. You could continue using the type cover you have with out the extra bulk and no backlight of the power cover. if your typing on the cover your seated and a cable to the pack when needed would be unobtrusive.
Battery packs come in a variety of sizes and the cable for Surface RT/2 & Pro, Pro2 are cheap.

Sometimes life sucks the life out of your battery so its better to be prepared.
 
OP
TheNeighbor

TheNeighbor

New Member
IMO using an external battery pack would be better unless your highly mobile and walking around but if you carry a bag packs could easily slip in. You could continue using the type cover you have with out the extra bulk and no backlight of the power cover. if your typing on the cover your seated and a cable to the pack when needed would be unobtrusive.
Battery packs come in a variety of sizes and the cable for Surface RT/2 & Pro, Pro2 are cheap.

Sometimes life sucks the life out of your battery so its better to be prepared.

The thing is, I want to carry the Surface 2 with a Power Cover inside a notebook, like how I've carved a regular A4 spiral notebook (you saw my post). I've look at the power bank options that give 12V the surface needs - quite bulky. And yes, $200 for the Power Cover is really expensive than a generic power bank with a special cord for the Surface 2.
But if it lets me just carry a "notebook", then I'd want to be able to get that.

I don't need the backlight, and I don't type even my laptop on my lap. And besides, wouldn't the thickness and weight of the Power Cover helps in typing on the lap since it gives some more stability?
 
OP
TheNeighbor

TheNeighbor

New Member
Seems like we arrived at some choices dependent on personal preferences.
Yeah, let's agree to disagree about the Power Cover to a power bank. I try to minimize and even disguise the gadgets I carry. And I am aware of the thickness and weight of the Power Cover. I'm thinking of designing a case that lets me slide/store either the Power Cover and the Type Cover when I need to.
 
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