

Microsoft Surface Pro 2 Firmware Update Improves Battery Life - harryzhang
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7478/microsoft-surface-pro-2-firmware-update-improves-battery-life

======
rayiner
Very significant battery life update, which is nice to see. Though, this seems
to be another in a string of poor execution choices by Microsoft. Last cycle,
they shipped Windows RT with a preview version of Office that was slow and
buggy. That's what went into all the reviews of the device. Nobody covered the
final version update. This cycle, they shipped Surface Pro 2 as the successor
to a device that was widely panned for its battery life, while leaving 25% of
its battery life on the table. All the reviews of the Surface Pro 2 are
already out, and they all say "battery life isn't as good as we expected from
Haswell + 42 watt-hour battery." How many are going to go back and update
their reviews?

Sure, Apple this cycle shipped with keyboard/trackpad issues they're working
out, but: 1) apparently it didn't affect the review machines; and 2) they
didn't affect a part of the machine that was scrutinized for its failures the
last go around.

I had a thought the other day re: Surface Pro. It's not the device for someone
who wants to replace their laptop and their tablet. It's a device for someone
who wants to replace their desktop and their tablet.

I have noticed that many people who express positive sentiments about the
Surface Pro also consider the screen size, battery life and keyboard issues to
be less significant because you can plug in a desktop keyboard, mouse, and
monitor. My guess is that most of these people ordinarily work from a desktop
and see using their Surface Pro for short jaunts away from their desk. That
seems to be an excellent use-case for the device. Journalists, on the other
hand, seem very cold on the device. My guess is that journalists have fully
embraced the trend of using laptops as their primary machine. If you spend
most of your time working from a Starbucks, that 10.6" screen and type cover
are all you're going to get, and aren't an adequate replacement for a good
laptop. Certainly, I can't see myself ever buying one for personal use. My
laptop is my only machine, and I don't even have a desk at home, and $1,000+
for what's essentially a netbook-sized display and keyboard isn't going to
work.

I'm not sure how big that "desktop + tablet" target market is, especially
since Microsoft doesn't seem to have aggressively aimed Surface Pro at
businesses. I could see it being very handy at work with a dock, but only if
it were my actual desktop machine provided by IT. Also, it's probably too
expensive for businesses. The 8GB RAM model is $1,299 + $129 for type cover +
$200 for dock.

~~~
bane
> The 8GB RAM model is $1,299 + $129 for type cover + $200 for dock.

I don't think battery life is the only thing keeping this from flying off
shelves. I say this as somebody who's _highly_ interested in the Surface Pro 2
in concept.

As a tablet with attachable keyboard, I can't help but think of the SP2 as
what netbooks would have become eventually. Which psychologically makes me
think they should be around netbook prices. But it feels like everything is
overprices with the SP2, especially the type cover and dock. At the very least
I could see paying comparable prices for those accessories as I would for
other tablet equivalents: Samsung tablet dock is $35 and keyboard is <$40.
Even with a separate cover or two you can't reach those insane prices, and
let's be honest, _everybody_ is going to buy a keyboard.

$1300 isn't bad if you compare it to a MBA, but the Air _does_ come with a
keyboard and folding it is the same as covering it so...

$1300 is bad if you compare it to a similarly equipped laptop/netbook

$1300 is insane if you compare it to any other tablet on the market, even
though the specs are quite nice.

I think $800 for the tablet, keyboard and dock as a combo is what they need to
hit on the high end.

~~~
rayiner
I think Surface Pro would be a lot more interesting with Bay Trail at a much
lower price point.

~~~
zabuni
I've been looking at the Asus Transformer t100 for just this reason. If it
only had 4 gigs of RAM instead of 2, I'd have jumped on it.

~~~
mistermann
I just watched a video on it, very nice except 1366x768 is a show stopper for
me.

------
InTheSwiss
That is actually a pretty big improvement. Kudos to Microsoft. The Surface Pro
2 is a really nice machine if you are looking for a tablet/laptop hybrid
however I still can't get myself away from a nice physical keyboard so settled
with the Vaio Pro 13 which is almost a dream machine for me. Although after
seeing the new PCIe SSD benchmarks in the new Mac Book Pro's I am a little
envious. My wallet is happy I went with the Sony though ;)

~~~
gabemart
> The Surface Pro 2 is a really nice machine if you are looking for a
> tablet/laptop hybrid

Is there a similar convertible that comes with a real, physical keyboard that
tucks behind the screen when not in use? I remember a few being announced but
am unsure if any come recommended.

~~~
anonymfus
Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga?

Nokia Lumia 2520?

> come recommended

[http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/all-
pcs](http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/all-pcs) — under "2-in-1 PCs"
category?

------
npalli
The Surface Pro 2 update is interesting and impressive. However, it seems the
performance went from bad to OK. Far more impressive, to me, was the
performance of the Sony Vaio Pro (from the article). It is seriously
stunning[1]. I mean, it normalizes to the macbook air 2013 performance. To top
it, it is 1080p touch compared to 1440x900 without touch for macbook air! How
did they manage that?

Recently, lot of flak was given to Microsoft for not being able to optimize
battery life[2]. Lot of the criticism seems unwarranted. As usual, the PC
manufacturers need to get their act together and work with Microsoft to
deliver. For far too long, they have been cruising along. Now with Dell going
private and building kick-ass laptops (XPS 15, m3800 - jury still out) as
well, looks like it is going to be an interesting next few years for the
windows ecosystem.

[1] [http://www.anandtech.com/show/7417/sony-vaio-
pro-13-exceptio...](http://www.anandtech.com/show/7417/sony-vaio-
pro-13-exceptionally-portable/4)

[2] [http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2013/10/why-does-windows-
ha...](http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2013/10/why-does-windows-have-
terrible-battery-life.html)

~~~
nbevans
Agreed.

The problem was never Windows. Windows probably has better battery life than
OSX with all other things being equal. Rarely is it given the chance to
exercise that equality though. The problem is hardware, the OEMs and indeed
even Microsoft themselves when they release broken firmware on their flagship
Surface tablet. The Sony Vaio Pro is one of the very very few that has got it
mostly all right. But I bet there is still room for tons of improvement even
from that.

------
VeejayRampay
Does anyone know why it is that the Nexus 7 has so much more battery life than
the iPad 4? Is it a matter of offering less and having it easier to not waste
CPU cycles or just that it's well engineered? Genuine question, I don't own
either of the two devices, just wondering.

~~~
tedunangst
Different wifi chipset? Different browser? If you look at the video playback
and GL battery tests, the nexus 7 goes from worse to much worse.
[http://www.anandtech.com/show/7460/apple-ipad-air-
review/8](http://www.anandtech.com/show/7460/apple-ipad-air-review/8)

------
amaks
No way. Surface (Pro) has too small screen to be used as a laptop, too
overpriced and almost unusable without that attachable keyboard which makes
its footprint almost twice that of the laptop, with abysmal battery life.
Also, everyone keeps forgetting that Windows takes half of the advertised
flash space.

------
wahaha123
cool,i wanna buy one.

------
1010011010
No thanks. Microsoft is a giant, anti-competitive patent troll and will not be
getting my dollars.

------
epo
I quite like the cynical suggestion that they overclocked the devices to get
decent benchmarks on release and are now dropping it back to get better
battery life. Fits in with what I'd expect from Microsoft.

------
n4n4ki
What's with all these Microsoft shills lately?

~~~
pieterhg
I recommend everyone to see where the person who submitted this link
works/worked.

~~~
jychang
He's a former PM at Microsoft, but it's still not relevany. Even if say, Adam
D'Angelo posted something related to facebook or a former Apple employee
posted something about the new 10.9 update increasing macbook battery life,
it's not considered "shilling".

~~~
seanmcdirmid
The fact that real names are involved and affiliations or history are obvious
make it even less likely to be shilling.

