Battery life during active use with built-in off, plugged to external monitor?

[EcoGuy137]

I think my title succinctly asks my question. I primarily intend to use my Surface Pro 3 as a tablet as a scientific lab notebook, taking notes on experiments, entering data, taking pictures of setups, and also in meetings for notes, and for reading journal article PDFs and taking notes.

But, at times I think I will 'replace' my desktop by using a mini displayport to hdmi adapter. I'm trying to figure if I need an extra charger for work. I assume if I plug SP3 into a external monitor and set its screen to turn off that battery life will be much longer? How much active use do you guess I can get in this mode with activities like using MS Word and the internet?

Thank you.

 

[GreyFox7]

I'd get the charger regardless. when connected to an external monitor is the perfect time to top off your battery for carefree all day use.

 

[EcoGuy137]

Fair enough, but I'm still curious to know the difference between its persistence with the screen off and on. I'm fairly sure the screen is something like half the energy draw?

 

[malberttoo]

I'd get the charger regardless. when connected to an external monitor is the perfect time to top off your battery for carefree all day use.

Well said, and I agree. Surround yourself with extra power adapters.

And welcome to the forum Eco!

 

[EcoGuy137]

Do you guys realize the power adapter is $80 alone? Is there a good alternative brand that won't catch on fire? Does nobody have an answer to the actual question regarding the longevity when the screen is off?

 

[jnjroach]

My experience would be you wouldn't see any real battery savings as external monitors are not tuned the same as mobile devices...

I can say that in my attempts I achieved 3.5-4 hours docked to an external monitor as the only display.

 

[Tsurugaya]

How can you turn off the SP3 monitor, yet keep the external monitor on? If I try it both turn off. What am I missing?

 

[jnjroach]

Desktop Display Control Panel - Use Display 2 only (or something to that regard) BTW this will render the Touch and Pen useless....

 

[Tsurugaya]

Ok, I thought it was on Charms-Devices