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

[anon(5327127)]

My iPad mini 4 states x for battery life but, when playing SimCity Buildit, I don't get that advertised battery life!!!!
My iPad mini 4, while browsing the web and playing from amazon cloud, doesn't get the advertised x battery life!!!

If MS advertised the fact that you get x amount of battery while doing x then that's all you can ever expect. That's just the way it is with ALL of them. Including Apple.

 

[jrhurley]

first time I have seen this on my SP4, it is after all the latest updates were applied earlier this week



note that I pull the SP4 off of power at 5 am and have not connected it to power all morning. Just turned it on at 11:30 am and noticed this

 

[mrmobileperformance]

If you use the Surface like a laptop, you will get up to 6 hours usage. If you use it like a tablet, you will get up to 9 hours. Microsoft's claim of 9 hours is based on continuous video playback at 50% brightness.

If you are using Chrome, Outlook, Excel at the same time at 75% brightness, you will kill the battery. Take comfort knowing the SP4 has better battery life than the 12" Macbook and adjust your usage accordingly.

At last somebody is talking sense in this thread. I can't speak for anyone else, but I got my Surface Pro 4 because it offers good performance in a form factor I like. I battery life is your only concern, do what I do on long car trips: Connect one of those 10,000 mAh (or more) batteries with an $8-dollar adapter.

But seriously: Getting good performance out of any device will take a toll on the battery. I use my Surface to accomplish the tasks, both work and fun, I bought it for and not to maximize battery life. I prefer watching a movie to watching the battery percentage.

As far as Microsoft's claim to nine-hour battery life is concerned, those tests are based on "typical", "normal" or "average" users. If they did exist, their usage patterns do not resemble that of any of the participants in this forum. In any event, these types of claims are always exaggerated, no matter which company we're talking about. I never got anywhere near the battery life claimed by Apple when I had my MacBook Pro many years ago, but I didn't cry about it, knowing that salesmanship is like election promises.



Sent from mTalk

 

[zkyevolved]

Sadly, I think if I were to get 6 hours I'd be happy... Ever since the last update, I'm getting 3 hours with normal usage, and 4 hours with minimal usage. I was getting 6 hours with normal usage, and 8-9 hours with minimal usage (like office documents or browsing the web a bit).

I really think Microsoft is fudging stuff up! I don't know what they're doing.

Yes, this is a powerful device in tiny form factor, and I was happy with 6 hours... But 3 hours is NOT acceptable with light usage! Today I spent the morning at the office with OneNote open (I entered maybe, literally, less than 100 words), printed 20 pages from the same PDF and listened to 2 songs total... This was at 10am when I disconnected it. It's now 3pm with 30%. And 20% of it dropped in the last 40 minutes, battery bar says 2 hours and 42 minutes elapsed time and total run time is 4 hours...

Pathetic What happened? Where did my 8-9 hours of battery life go!?! I had it a few weeks ago! No new apps, ONLY Windows Updates!

At last somebody is talking sense in this thread. I can't speak for anyone else, but I got my Surface Pro 4 because it offers good performance in a form factor I like. I battery life is your only concern, do what I do on long car trips: Connect one of those 10,000 mAh (or more) batteries with an $8-dollar adapter.

But seriously: Getting good performance out of any device will take a toll on the battery. I use my Surface to accomplish the tasks, both work and fun, I bought it for and not to maximize battery life. I prefer watching a movie to watching the battery percentage.

As far as Microsoft's claim to nine-hour battery life is concerned, those tests are based on "typical", "normal" or "average" users. If they did exist, their usage patterns do not resemble that of any of the participants in this forum. In any event, these types of claims are always exaggerated, no matter which company we're talking about. I never got anywhere near the battery life claimed by Apple when I had my MacBook Pro many years ago, but I didn't cry about it, knowing that salesmanship is like election promises.



Sent from mTalk

I did get my 8-9 hours with light usage... Now I can BARELY get 4 hours! SOMETHING went wrong with the Windows Updates... I've reformatted my SP4s SO many times in 3 months, I don't want to any more, and I don't think I should need to!

 

[Gonzax]

I use my sp4 mostly as a tablet: reading, music in the background, occasional web browsing and mail and I get 9+ hours, sometimes it says 12 hours left, even more, so I am very happy with it. All of this, of course, once I disabled fast turn-on and windows hello, wi-fi off when I am not using it and screen brightness at 25%, which is more than enough for me being at home.

The problem is a lot of people expect to use it as a laptop and get that same time, which is simply impossible with this or any other device.

 

[zkyevolved]

The problem is a lot of people expect to use it as a laptop and get that same time, which is simply impossible with this or any other device.

That is true, but seeing 3 hours and 30 minutes total from what I got yesterday is absolutely pathetic with the minimal usage I gave it. I did NOTHING intensive at all. With the same usage I used to get 8-9 hours, now I'm getting 4 or 5 if I'm extremely lucky for some reason! During Easter vacation I'm going to format it from the image on MS's website....

Update: well, what I did was add a custom power plan. The processor is draining too much by jumping from .6ghz to 2 or 2.5 and then back down. Do this again and again to do basic stuff really drains it. I added a custom power plan that limited it to 60% of the CPU while on battery, and I'm getting 8 - 9 hours again. I notice 0 difference since I'm basically just loading a website, Readit, email, or watching youtube. I think MS needs to work more on how to limit the CPU when it's not actually needed.

 

[HES]

Being new to the SP4, can I ask how do you add a custom power plan? I am going to replace our aging UMPCs (yes they still work) with SP4s. We do field surveying where we use a BlueTooth enabled laser to connect to and draw in a very light CAD program (2D) only. I want to shut as much down as possible. The only thing for field work we really need is BT. So no WiFi, no Cortana, etc...

 

[jamesdcollins]

FWIW - I purchased an i5/8/256 Surface Pro 4 about two weeks ago. Initially I was getting 7-8 hours easily and did not see the battery drain issue or constant fan running issue. Yesterday my machine started running the fan continuously and the battery drained from 100% to 10% in about 3 hours. I have all the latest Microsoft updates applied.

So, I thought I had the issue. However, in the process of exploring ways to improve things, I discovered that Windows had the Windows Update Delivery Optimization turned ON. I never heard of this, but it causes the machine to try to download and/or deliver Windows updates from/to other sources besides Microsoft. I.e. other PCs on home or internet networks. I never turned this feature on so I suppose it is ON by default. Immediately after I turned it OFF my fan slowed and stopped and my battery life returned to a normal expected drain.

In my searches on the fan and battery problems I had not seen this fix mentioned before and I wanted to pass it along.

To make the change go to Settings, Update and Security, Windows Update, Advanced Options, Choose How Updates are Delivered, and then turn OFF the Updates from more than one place switch.

I have been using my machine on battery power for 5 hours already today and the battery meter still shows over one hour remaining. No fan running at all today either. That puts me back in the ballpark for battery life.

Perhaps this will help others.

 

[Corey Kramer]

i get better battery life now that i have uninstaled all chrome and Google apps from my surface. I haven't had problem with battery life but after running tests with chrome and how I used it and with out chrome running at all and battery life was improved majorly.

 

[Ac42]

Yeah I have Chrome on my Surface just for the times that Edge doesn't cut it. A majority of the time Edge (with the edited host file ad block) is all I need, but every now and then I have to fire up Chrome, and I'm amazed at how big of a hit my battery takes compared to the same task in Edge. My battery would drain more than twice as much in Chrome. I wouldn't be surprised if many people's battery complaints are tied to that as Chrome is so widely used.

 

[Mikeman]

With my screen turned down to about 75% - I get about 7-8 hours - as long as I am not using processor laden applications. Surfing the web, emails, watching a TV show - I get about 7-8.5 hours without issue. I did follow the instructions on how to charge the battery initially, and I make sure to drain the battery at least 2x a month.

 

[zkyevolved]

Today I had my CPU limited to 60% and I was getting about 4-5 hours of usage while updating blog posts and uploading some pictures I had taken with my camera. Nothing CPU intensive at all, and boy did I feel bad ...

 

[shawnthor]

Have we seen any increases in battery life since the two major updates in April and May?

 

[pdt]

Here's what I'm seeing from powercfg /batteryreport. There has been a steady improvement in battery life since March on my SP4 i5 8/256. I have done very little to optimize battery life other than keeping the screen at 35% and maximum CPU at 60% (see related post "No more throttle or fans..." on how to do this). I mostly use Microsoft Office 2016 (Outlook, Word, Excel), Edge, and Kindle Reader on this device. I am experimenting with Opera (Developer version) instead of Edge since it has built-in ad blocking and free unlimited VPN, which is useful for security when traveling. So far it works well and doesn't seem to negatively impact battery life.

 

[shawnthor]

Here's what I'm seeing from powercfg /batteryreport. There has been a steady improvement in battery life since March on my SP4 i5 8/256. I have done very little to optimize battery life other than keeping the screen at 35% and maximum CPU at 60% (see related post "No more throttle or fans..." on how to do this). I mostly use Microsoft Office 2016 (Outlook, Word, Excel), Edge, and Kindle Reader on this device. I am experimenting with Opera (Developer version) instead of Edge since it has built-in ad blocking and free unlimited VPN, which is useful for security when traveling. So far it works well and doesn't seem to negatively impact battery life.

View attachment 126781

You did the throttling tip and set the max on battery at 60%. What did you set the max when plugged in?

Thanks

 

[pdt]

100% when plugged in.

 

[Cane Prevost]

Stop being an apologist. I own a SP4 as well as a MacBook Pro. Apple's advertised times are what I get with typical usage, if not more. On my SP4...not even close to what MS is advertising.

My Macbook air never came close to the advertised battery time. It was advertised at 8 hours and no matter what I did I never got past 5. Same with my Macbook Pro. I never managed more than half the advertised time. I can confirm this with some authority as I do manage a lab of 38 Macbook Pro's and none of them will come close to the advertised battery life claimed by Apple. They are great machines otherwise but the battery life has been disappointing.

 

[onlysublime]

seriously, I think Skylake has been a big disappointment. it's just buggy. Still, I love my Surface Pro 4 and wouldn't trade it in for any other machine.

that said, there are things you can do to mitigate problems. Not ideal solutions but solutions nonetheless.

• When running low on battery, turn down screen brightness. just turning it down to 25% will seriously boost battery life. sure, it looks ugly but when you're low on battery it helps.
• Don't use Edge. I know, Edge is great overall but it really pushes a PC hard. Firefox sips battery compared to Edge and Chrome. Don't get me wrong. I use Edge when on my power supply or when I have plenty of battery. But it does make the fans kick in a lot more and uses battery more.
• Turn off Bluetooth. Bluetooth is still a battery sapper (though compared to these other problems, BT is miserly). The next version of BT will help but they've always said this with every generation of BT. Of course, this kills the Surface Pen which uses BT (miss the Wacom tech).
• disable WiFi when not using it. especially choose the option to disable WiFi when the machine is asleep. Turn off connected standby or whatever it's call nowadays. WiFi is probably second to screen brightness for battery life.
• shut down the machine rather than sleep. Seriously a Skylake problem. The SSD is so fast that cold boots are really short anyway.
• turn off the Cortana listening feature. I think this is one of those Windows 10 draining features and one of the reasons why Windows 10 uses more battery than Windows 8.1. My Surface Pro 2 with Windows 8.1 lasted longer on battery than the same SP2 on Windows 10.

 

[Byrese]

Way better than sp3

Posted via the Windows Central App for Android

 

[YKinase]

Originally posted by Byrese
Way better than sp3

Posted via the Windows Central App for Android

Could you explain why? I am contemplating the upgrade fro. Sp3/i5 to sp4/i7 with 16GB for developing on HoloLens. Worth it?