Battery dead upon unboxing of new surface book

[PaoBit]

When I opened my brand new surface book, and pressed the power button it would not turn on. I later just plugged the charger and it did obviously. But, I've never had a laptop that had their battery literally 0% upon unboxing them for the first time? should I be worried? Is this an indication of any faulty battery?

 

[leeshor]

I have heard of that happening on Android tablets but not Surface, so far. I would consider that it may have turned on in shipping. You'll need to use it through a couple charge cycles to see if there is a real problem. I don't think so.

 

[sharpuser]

Not to worry.

It is good for these batteries (keyboard and clipboard) to be completely discharged occasionally, though not good for your first impression and unboxing experience.

Edit: Complete discharge shortens Li-ion battery life, indeed. Electronics are generally designed to stop short of this. -sharp

 

[PaoBit]

That's some good news. Starting up it froze and screen started after the restart. I may just exchange it for peace of mind

 

[leeshor]

The standard for most battery operated devices is to charge first, use later. I charged my SP4 for 3 hours before ever turning it on.

 

[PaoBit]

Ahhh. Never knew that lol. Btw i meant "screen started *flickering" on my last post. In any case thanks for the heads up

 

[leeshor]

It also likely needs updates and more updates.

Some devices come with instructions that say charge for X hours before use.

 

[GreyFox7]

I have seen a number of report around the web of Surface Books with dead or near dead batteries out of the box.
PFTC.

 

[Wayne Orwig]

Mine was dead out of the box.

I assume it was not fully turned off at the factory.

And no, it is NOT a good thing. A lithium ion battery that is left in the discharged state like that becomes unstable. The best you can hope for is that the safety electronics shut it down if it goes to far.

 

[PaoBit]

I exchanged it 3x and the batteries were all dead out of the box. I guess it's the norm. BTW when I click on display properties and check the gpu, it is only showing the Intel 520 graphics and no where does it show the NVIDIA gpu? I have the i7 256gb version.

 

[Seneleron]

only showing the Intel 520 graphics and no where does it show the NVIDIA gpu?

Hold down the windows button and hit X, then hit P to bring up control panel. on the top right, change the view to "Large Icons", then find and click on "Device manager" expand the tree under "display adapters". It should show both the intel device as well as the Nvidia GPU. If it does not, I'd return it pronto.

The standard for most battery operated devices is to charge first, use later. I charged my SP4 for 3 hours before ever turning it on.

I admire that. My philosophy has always been "hit it hard and hit it fast, if it's gonna break it'll break in the first 24 hours". Of course at this point the SB seems to be the exception...