Post Your SP3 Power/Battery/Charging Issues Here

[dman27]

What is light duty for you and at what brightness setting? why use a $1000 plus computer just on light duty when MS says you can get all day use?

Some points from what was actually said:
1. Is this constanst browsing of the 25 web pages?

2. Doesn't Bluetooth enable the One Note quick feature? Again, this is a tweak and not reflecting actual use to disable a feature that Microsoft touts as one of it's biggest selling points.


Let me say, I think the Surface pro 3 is the greatest technological marvel in years. It just frustrates me to no end to have this incredible technology with one of the biggest talking points being battery life improvements over previous versions.

I have to say, I'm incredibly disappointed so far with my 4- 5 hours of battery life with normal use. normal use meaning 85%+ screen brightness, web browsing (such as this forum), watching several online videos, Office work (word,etc).

Is the expectation too high here vs what has been hyped by MS?

 

[jnjroach]

I think pundits and consumers alike read into what they wanted with the MS Battery Claims....

Light work for me was using Modern UI Apps like Tweetium and MUI IE and Mail rather than Office using default brightness with adaptive enabled, allowing S0iX to kick-in when I set it aside to do something else.

I also have Bluetooth enabled but no devices attached, I've installed no legacy Win32 Software

 

[drolem]

I usually just let my SP3 sleep overnight while charging. Some mornings the device is entirely cool, other mornings the upper right area is distinctly warm. Does this indeed suggest that the battery continues to get current even when fully charged, or are there CPU activities that are going on that cause the heat? Is this behavior to be expected?

As the battery is getting charged up the current is being reduced, and if it reaches 100% it will stop charging altogether, so it is OK to keep the machine plugged in all the time. Because it's a CS, not S3, there can be things going on in the background.

 

[dstrauss]

OK - here I go stepping into up to my waist...

Six hours of normal usage for a device this light and thin is outstanding. We are not playing here with a "Device" (iPad, Fire, Nook, Nexus) - this is a full on i5 ultrabook in sheep's (tablet) clothing. If we want it to go all day, it's going to have to weigh, and be as thick, long, and wide, as the MacBook Air 13" (and the MBA doesn't even have to drive a high res LCD). It's time we all learn to temper our expectations or move to a full size laptop or another platform.

My gripe (particularly at another forum I frequent) is with WiFi connectivity and battery drain during sleep, hopefully issue that will be corrected with the next firmware update (although I really have my doubts about the Marvell network card). I don't want another 1/2" thick SPro just to get 8-12 hours of battery life, nor do I want to see a 1.5# Type Cover to do the same. If you have to have 8-12 operational hours of Office, Photoshop, and Acrobat, then move on to a full(er) size ultrabook with lots of room for cramming heavy batteries. I just want the SPro 3 to deliver that 6 hours without running it down when it is supposed to be sleeping (and wake up and reconnect to the WiFi connections)

 

[jnjroach]

Hey dstrauss!!!

I hope we'll see an update next Tuesday....

 

[dstrauss]

Hey dstrauss!!!

I hope we'll see an update next Tuesday....

Hey Jeff - followed you over here for a little different action, but forgot to leave my attitude behind - have a happy Fourth of July weekend!

 

[kozak79]

Could the differences in reported usage time be the difference of the i3 and i5 devices. I'd imagine the i3 would use much less power. I pre-ordered the i7 and am not expecting 8 hours of battery out of it.

 

[HTee]

I have an issue with my surface pro 3 dying like 30 seconds after it hits 10%. Does anyone else have this issue? It discharges just fine and I'm getting about 5-6 hours on it with screen at 65% brightness but as soon as it hits 10% I get the warning, then 10 secs later I get 7% warning then 5 secs later it shuts down completely or "hibernates". I don't know if this is normal or if I should go exchange it. Please help!

 

[ipaq_101]

After the 7/8/14 firmware update I have noticed that my battery doesn't charge past 99.5%, is that normal? Shouldn't it charge to 100%? I don't really care about .5%, but curious if anything to get it to charge to 100%.

 

[toaf]

I know im just a surface 2 person but i have noticed with the power keyboard plugged in, i've had to toggle from high performance to balanced then back for the SP2 to charge just odd

 

[dman27]

Again I ask, how and why would you use this device with a 35% brightness? you cant even enjoy the beautiful colors that MS affords us. We need to really push for more user oriented reporting rather than say ridiculous statements like 6 hours is great with a barely visible screen. That brightness will lead to extreme eye strain and fatigue over several hours.

All that said, I really Love my SP3. I'm just pushing for more real life usage reporting. As much as I Steer others to the Sp3, I world be embarrassed to demo this beautiful unit to then at 35% brightness!!

Ask yourself, what brightness did Panos demo the unit for all of us at the unveiling?

 

[jnjroach]

I'm using 60% Brightness with Adaptive Brightness enabled and I'm getting 7 hours of Battery using internet and productivity so you don't need to use 35% Brightness.