Battery Drain in Sleep

[Techno-guy]

After really enjoying my Surface Pro 3 for the entire afternoon and evening yesterday, gave it a good charge back to 100% and then unplugged it for the night to see how it performed. I used it a tad (maybe 1%) and then went to sleep. Woke up and found the battery at 93% which was pretty disappointing considering my iPad does not drain at all in sleep mode.

Also, the Surface was sleeping 'so much' (ironic since it was also draining battery) that it needed a reboot. Didn't just wake right back up upon opening it like it should have. NEVER have this type of issue with my iPad that reliably wakes right up each and every time after turning it on.

Love the Surface 3 but for this price, it really needs to meet (or exceed?) iPad standards when it comes to standby/sleep battery drain and waking back up reliably. Interested to see what others experienced last night.

 

[Sonic77]

Did you install the firmware update ?

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[ytrewq]

I shut mine down last night charged at 92%. When I booted up this morning, it was at 88%. Assuming it lost 1-2% from shutting down and then booting back up, it seems to have lost 2-3% during a six-hour window during which it was completely shut down.

While it seems like an area for improvement, I'm not too worked up about it.

 

[Techno-guy]

Did you install the firmware update ?

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I did...firmware update and all other updates were fully installed which is why I was especially surprised it didn't wake up properly. I thought that was fixed. It didn't need an overly ambitious press of the power button, but it definitely did not come out of sleep without protest.

 

[Sonic77]

I did the updates as well and used shut down instead of sleep.
Battery show drain as well 6% or so , which seems a lot given it was shut down?

Other wise the battery life seemed OK, 6-8 hours estimated.

 

[Cleavitt76]

I shut mine down with 57%. After 8 hours of sleep mode it was at 54%.

 

[Techno-guy]

One guy on the Surface Forums site said he lost 19% overnight!

Overnight Battery Drain Loss Results

 

[BaritoneGuy]

After really enjoying my Surface Pro 3 for the entire afternoon and evening yesterday, gave it a good charge back to 100% and then unplugged it for the night to see how it performed. I used it a tad (maybe 1%) and then went to sleep. Woke up and found the battery at 93% which was pretty disappointing considering my iPad does not drain at all in sleep mode.

Also, the Surface was sleeping 'so much' (ironic since it was also draining battery) that it needed a reboot. Didn't just wake right back up upon opening it like it should have. NEVER have this type of issue with my iPad that reliably wakes right up each and every time after turning it on.

Love the Surface 3 but for this price, it really needs to meet (or exceed?) iPad standards when it comes to standby/sleep battery drain and waking back up reliably. Interested to see what others experienced last night.

With connected standby sleep is different than in the past. For the first 4 hours it wakes up periodically and keeps things like email up to date. After 4 hours it truly does go to sleep.

 

[cbreze]

My surface 2 was bad at losing power in sleep mode to the point I would just shut it down most of the time. Now after the latest update it is better but still loses. Why are people leaving it in sleep overnite anyway? It reboots fast so why not just shut down?

 

[YCSMD]

You can get battery stats by open up CMD and entering:
powercfg -batteryreport

That makes an html of your battery usage stats which you can also open by typing:
Battery- report.html

 

[darthhen]

I had the same issue yesterday morning. But afterwards, I installed the updated firmware update. So I'll see if I get this problem again.

Also, check out the thread over at Tablet PC Review, http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/microsoft/: "Disable connected standby: Get advanced power profile access and reduce CPU power usage by 25% by undervolt" For some reason, WP Central won't let me insert the link.

 

[fancy0479]

With connected standby sleep is different than in the past. For the first 4 hours it wakes up periodically and keeps things like email up to date. After 4 hours it truly does go to sleep.

Then I want the option to disable it.

 

[darthhen]

I lost 5% battery in 7 hours. Still on the fence whether to disable it or not.

 

[Techno-guy]

Ok...quick update on battery drain. Last night was my 3rd night with the Surface Pro 3. I still have connected standby on and, surprisingly, overnight I did not lose even 1% of power. It stayed at 100% all night in sleep mode for 8 hours. Maybe the first night or two it had lots of catching up to do? Time will tell but it's a good sign for sure.

Only disappointment is that wake-up is not as seamless as an iPad or even a MacBook Air which you just open after any number of hours of sleep and it turns on, literally, immediately. With the Surface 3, you have to open it, press the power button, wait for it to spring to life, input a password (no way to disable that even though I have password on wake disabled) and then it fires up. Sort of ridiculous if you ask me.

Microsoft really needs to improve this wake-up process because it makes using the Surface less like a tablet that you can just pick up anytime and go and more like a pretty slow and laborious laptop to fire back up.

Sort of defeats the purpose of having a hybrid tablet, if you ask me.

 

[mozman68]

So, you wouldn't say it's the most incredible, miraculous start up time for a laptop? :evil:

 

[astondg]

I know the SP3 is a tablet/laptop hybrid but given what it can over an iPad performance wise I don't think it's fair to expect it to be as good in battery life and instant-on, the available hardware just doesn't allow both those things at this time. Comparing the Surface RT variants to an iPad would be fair and the Surface Pro variants to a MacBook would be fair.

As stated before the SP3 should offer connected standby with instant on in the first 4 hours of entering sleep, so it should start up just as quick as a MacBook Air, but after the 4 hour mark it goes into a deeper sleep mode more like what a traditional laptop would and that's what gets you the extended standby time. It's all a trade off of performance vs longevity vs convenience.

Out of interest what percentage does a MacBook Air drop if left for 8+ hours overnight and does it still turn on instantly then? I think my old, 2009, MBP would still turn on quickly after 8 hours but it had lost a huge chunk of battery during that time.

 

[WillysJeepMan]

I know the SP3 is a tablet/laptop hybrid but given what it can over an iPad performance wise I don't think it's fair to expect it to be as good in battery life and instant-on, the available hardware just doesn't allow both those things at this time. Comparing the Surface RT variants to an iPad would be fair and the Surface Pro variants to a MacBook would be fair.

As stated before the SP3 should offer connected standby with instant on in the first 4 hours of entering sleep, so it should start up just as quick as a MacBook Air, but after the 4 hour mark it goes into a deeper sleep mode more like what a traditional laptop would and that's what gets you the extended standby time. It's all a trade off of performance vs longevity vs convenience.

Out of interest what percentage does a MacBook Air drop if left for 8+ hours overnight and does it still turn on instantly then? I think my old, 2009, MBP would still turn on quickly after 8 hours but it had lost a huge chunk of battery during that time.

On my 11.6" MBA, it drops 3% over 11 hours, and it still turns on almost instantly. In contrast, I was able to tweak my Surface 2 to only drop 3% over 8 hours, but always had difficulty waking up.

 

[astondg]

On my 11.6" MBA, it drops 3% over 11 hours, and it still turns on almost instantly. In contrast, I was able to tweak my Surface 2 to only drop 3% over 8 hours, but always had difficulty waking up.

Well the SP should be able to match an MBP, at least hardware wise, so it sounds like there's still some work to be done. Hopefully MS can continue to improve power usage and instant on over time.

Personally I'm ok with waiting 10-20sec for my SP to start up after extended sleep but I also wouldn't turn down instant-on if they could make it happen.

 

[jedge]

Only disappointment is that wake-up is not as seamless as an iPad or even a MacBook Air which you just open after any number of hours of sleep and it turns on, literally, immediately. With the Surface 3, you have to open it, press the power button, wait for it to spring to life, input a password (no way to disable that even though I have password on wake disabled) and then it fires up. Sort of ridiculous if you ask me.

Microsoft really needs to improve this wake-up process because it makes using the Surface less like a tablet that you can just pick up anytime and go and more like a pretty slow and laborious laptop to fire back up.

That's definitely something they could improve upon. Maybe if they somehow shut down the desktop side of the OS but leave the RT side on, they could achieve an instant-on device like the iPad?

What about using the pen? How long does it take from suspend to being able to write in OneNote? I'll have to try it out.

On the one hand, i LOVE the instant-on of my iPad, such a breath of fresh air when i first got it compared to two decades of Windows computers. On the other hand this is a fully functional Win8 laptop, security and multiple user accounts have to be taken into consideration.

One suggestion: use the Picture Password feature.
Swipe left to open Charms -> Change PC Settings (at the bottom) -> Accounts -> Sign-in options
Instead of typing in a password, it shows you a picture and you have to perform 3 "gestures" on it to unlock. You get to choose the picture and gestures. If you forget you can still type in a password.
I'd never heard nor seen this feature before, and it sounds kinda strange, but i gotta say it is really cool and fast. It hasn't once rejected me or been frustrating. And it's surprisingly secure if you think about it. Good job Microsoft!

 

[Techno-guy]

Ok...last update about battery life from me but some who don't own it yet may be curious where all this ends up before they purchase one. I've now had the Surface 3 for 4 nights. Last night, it drained 4% overnight. So, in the 4 nights I've seen drain from 0% - 6%. Obviously, it depends on what it's doing after I close it up.

I love my Surface 3 but it's definitely nowhere near the battery sleep performance of my MacBook Air ( 0% drain overnight) or my current generation iPad (0%). Somehow, Apple knows how to make their products sleep while consuming zero or near zero battery. It's clearly a remarkable achievement.

And, the Surface 3's slow wake up still kills me. Thanks for all the suggestions and I've implemented a number of them. Some say the Surface is a Tablet - fine, so it should wake up instantly like an iPad, right? Not even in the same league. iPad = instant. Surface = 5-10 seconds from a dead sleep after it goes into 'deep' sleep at 4 hours.

Ok, others say it's a fully functional laptop. Fine...then it should wake up instantly like a MacBook Air, right? Not even in the same league, either.

Apple products clearly spoil you that when you want to use them, you just open them up and they work without complaint. 5-10 seconds for the Surface to wake up may not seem like a lot but it reduces the 'always ready' capability of just wanting to look something up quickly, check a quick email, etc. It changes the nature of what the device can do, and for those that disagree, use an Apple product and see how them always being ready to go truly changes how you use them.

Microsoft clearly has some work to do if they want Surface to be a serious contender in a market with some really outstanding products. Not disparaging the Surface 3 because I love it and I wouldn't give it up, but I do shake my head at its battery drain and slow wake up after 4 hours when directly compared to the products Microsoft themselves say we can replace it with.