Terrible battery life of surface pro 4 - do you agree?

[GatsbyGlen]

To go from 4% --> 1.5% is clearly software. Otherwise it would still be at 4%, don't you think? A bad transistor or battery or connection here or there will always be present, regardless of the software fix.

Agreed

 

[neo158]

I thought i didnt have any problems with my SP4 but i have found two.
I cant create recovery disk, is my first problem.
Then i tried to put it in sleep mode for the night to see the drain.
When i tried to wake it up the screen doesnt come on. Its black.
So i had to do a long press on the power button and restart it
And i noticed that the drain was 46% on a 6 hour sleep.
How do i install the drivers you mentioned?
I have the file, but doesnt know which file to press

Windows 10 does away with the recovery partition, you need to go into control panel and search for recovery and it should be the first option, when the wizard opens make sure the "Copy system files option" is checked, pick a drive and that's it, you then have your recovery media.

 

[Grimmric]

Windows 10 does away with the recovery partition, you need to go into control panel and search for recovery and it should be the first option, when the wizard opens make sure the "Copy system files option" is checked, pick a drive and that's it, you then have your recovery media.

This is my problem. I do all the things you say and have done it atleast 10 times, but with the same result.
I get an error message that say plainly that i couldnt create recovery disk.
No numbers or anything. Just a "sorry" and thats it.
I updated with the intel driver and tried it again with the same result.
Any more suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Grimmric]

@zkyevolved @GatsbyGlen
Thank you very much.
Everybody that experience drain when sleeping should install this Intel file.
I went from 46% in 6 hour in sleep mode to 8% in 5 hours. Its a huge difference.
And before installing file when i tried to wake it up i had to press power button 30 sek for a soft restart.
Now it wakes upp directly. Thank you again.

I called MS about me not being able to create recovery media.
They said its the same as the file i get from their homepage.
Hopefully its true.

 

[zkyevolved]

@zkyevolved @GatsbyGlen
Thank you very much.
Everybody that experience drain when sleeping should install this Intel file.
I went from 46% in 6 hour in sleep mode to 8% in 5 hours. Its a huge difference.
And before installing file when i tried to wake it up i had to press power button 30 sek for a soft restart.
Now it wakes upp directly. Thank you again.

I called MS about me not being able to create recovery media.
They said its the same as the file i get from their homepage.
Hopefully its true.

I've used that file to flash both my Sp4, since then, it's better. I'd recommend it and keep it safe.

 

[neo158]

This is my problem. I do all the things you say and have done it atleast 10 times, but with the same result.
I get an error message that say plainly that i couldnt create recovery disk.
No numbers or anything. Just a "sorry" and thats it.
I updated with the intel driver and tried it again with the same result.
Any more suggestions would be appreciated.

What drive did you choose as it must be an external disk?

 

[Grimmric]

What drive did you choose as it must be an external disk?

I used a SanDisk Ultra USB 3.0 32GB.

 

[neo158]

I used a SanDisk Ultra USB 3.0 32GB.

Is it formatted as FAT32 as that is one of the requirements?

 

[Grimmric]

Yes. I have done it with FAT32. And i did a full format of the usb and not just a quick one.
I wonder if i should try with a smaller usb (16GB or 8GB) and maybe with an older 2.0

 

[tbears99]

Is this driver update necessary with the I7 graphics card?

 

[zkyevolved]

I've discovered something ... interesting... Sleep doesn't 100% sleep! Depending on the number of applications / windows you have open, the more battery drain during sleep. Yesterday I left the office at 9:30pm, and it slept for 2 hours, and then went into hibernate. I saw it discharged 3% each hour instead of the 1.5% I get with most everything closed... I had an office document open, onenote, 3 tabs in chrome, and a few other applications loaded up. I just thought this was interesting ...

 

[ttsoldier]

I've discovered something ... interesting... Sleep doesn't 100% sleep! Depending on the number of applications / windows you have open, the more battery drain during sleep. Yesterday I left the office at 9:30pm, and it slept for 2 hours, and then went into hibernate. I saw it discharged 3% each hour instead of the 1.5% I get with most everything closed... I had an office document open, onenote, 3 tabs in chrome, and a few other applications loaded up. I just thought this was interesting ...

That's because it's not really sleeping. It's more like it's on with the screen off.

It is in "connected standby" mode or "instant go" , or whatever they are calling it.

I have disabled this mode completely and use hibernate only. It takes like what, 5-10 seconds to wake up from hibernate? Ya, i can live with that.

 

[zkyevolved]

That's because it's not really sleeping. It's more like it's on with the screen off.

It is in "connected standby" mode or "instant go" , or whatever they are calling it.

I have disabled this mode completely and use hibernate only. It takes like what, 5-10 seconds to wake up from hibernate? Ya, i can live with that.

Yes. But I don't want connected standby. I want sleep. Like my surface pro 2 did. I got days and days from it. Also, depending on how often you hibernate your device, you could be running down your SSD in a matter of months or short years.
If you have the 4GB model, and hibernate 6 times a day, let's assume. That's 4GB x 6 = 24GB a DAY! x 6 days a week (one day to relax your device), 144GB a week! x 4 weeks a month = 576GB, that's over HALF A TB a month JUST for hibernating! This is not practical. I put my device to "sleep" about 4 times a day, and I need sleep mode. If you're writing 1/2 a TB a month extra, you'll wear out that SSD within 1-2 years... In 2 years that's 12TB just from hibernating, not from usage or downloading or changing files... Only from hibernating.

 

[Gonzax]

I disabled "connected standby", it is the only way to really shut down the Surface, otherwise the battery drain was unacceptable and as someone said before it takes just a few seconds to start up, I can certainly live with that.
As for sleep mode, in my opinion it is still a problem, it should not lose that much battery, MS should look into that.

 

[dkp23]

So those that will update to the intel drivers from sept, be aware this will result in having the website dis colorization again, when scrolling it could change to white to a yellowish tint for some sites.

Not sure if it improve my battery life on standby, will check later when i get home, i put it in sleep yesterday at around 645pm with 72%, lets see when i get home after 24 hours.

 

[zkyevolved]

On the Answers forum, they said today they're releasing a new update! Hopefully this update will resolve any battery issues, too! Woohoo!!!

 

[dkp23]

On the Answers forum, they said today they're releasing a new update! Hopefully this update will resolve any battery issues, too! Woohoo!!!

front page article only states the display crash bug, but hopefully it fixes the battery which i would lean towards the answer "it will not".

 

[zkyevolved]

front page article only states the display crash bug, but hopefully it fixes the battery which i would lean towards the answer "it will not".

I understand that, but.... The different releases of the driver has changed how much my device drains! It could be a secondary effects

 

[hbelton]

Applied to days SP4 updates from today and my performance has gotten worse. The fan runs almost constantly for no reason. After only a couple hours use I'm down to 50% battery. Quite disappointing. also tried the Intel drivers but they introduced the screen flicker issue. Where's receipt?

 

[dkbaj]

Hi everyone..

Just my little rant to get it out of my system ...

After the announcement of the SP4 and SB from Microsoft it reignited my interest in Microsoft and Windows as a personal device. Several years ago I moved across exclusively with Apple for personal devices. As for work it was still good old MS Office and I wouldn't have it any other way.. (Can't live without those Pivot Tables lol).

Over the weekend there was a really good deal on the SP4 and I had been eyeing them for about 2 weeks after several colleagues picking them up. I had my mind set and picked one up.. with so much excitement I opened it and it is one bloody sexy thing. I mean when a lot of used to look at the iPhone or iPad it was great and all but the Surface is really great design. The screen.. Amazing.. the type cover surprisingly better than most laptops.. the pen... even the additional USB port on the AC adapter is a great touch. I was amazed in every aspect.. but .....

then I remembered why I enjoyed using OSX so much ... I haven't encountered the BSOD for a very long time.. we're talking about years .. even my current Dell work laptop has been a workhorse for me with 20 tabs open .. excel .. powerpoint.. outlook windows all over the place and still .. not one crash I can recall. I have encountered it twice... the SP4 has froze on several occasions but worst of all is the battery life.

I would be happy if it even made it to 4 hours... it's averaging about 3:50 hours.This is with Chrome 5~ tabs and only Outlook open. I was really looking forward to getting a portable device that had battery life that would at least give me a day of work..

Even after I turn off Hello, adjust the sleep settings to hibernate, turn off all background apps and bluetooth it still manages about the 4 hours. I have looked at the Sleep and Power reports and there is nothing that stands out.. so the next question is whether I have encountered a dud...

Is there anyway to check whether the battery is faulty?