MicrosoftTablets

What is the Microsoft Surface’s battery life like in the real world?

Surface White - for some reason we don't have an alt tag here

Estimated battery life ratings from manufacturers are all well and good, but nothing beats usage in the real world. I’ve been using my Surface with Windows RT tablet fairly heavily since I got it just under a month ago, and the battery life has been great. I’m usually able to get through an entire day with a decent amount of power left over on the medium screen brightness setting.

On an average day, I’ll catch up on the news for about 15-20 minutes before my first class, then switch over to OneNote (either the Windows Store app or the included desktop application) to take notes during the 75-minute lecture. This is followed by a fairly long break – three hours and 15 minutes – during which I’ll write articles for Pocketables, Anythingbutiphone, and Anythingbutipad; play games like Angry Birds Star Wars; watch a movie or TV shows; or read a book – all on my Surface. Then it’s two back-to-back 75-minute classes, with the first one once again consisting of heavy note-taking. When it’s all said and done, I usually have about 25%-40% of my battery life remaining at the end of the day, plenty for use during the evening.

I wouldn’t call the Surface’s battery life extraordinarily long, but in the real world, it’s enough for me.

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William Devereux

William Devereux is the former Microsoft editor at Pocketables, as well as a Microsoft MVP and SkyDrive/Outlook.com Insider. As his title implies, he wrote about all things from Redmond, including Windows 8 and Windows Phone. He is currently carrying a Windows Phone 8X by HTC and a Microsoft Surface with Windows RT tablet.

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