Surface Book Battery Life - what are you getting

Great to hear you are having issues like the rest of us. I thought you were the odd one out. Lol well, let's hope a fix comes soon. I'm sick of waiting and hearing complaints and no resolutions for our $2K+ pretty slabs of metal.

No hard feelings at all, and I myself think you are an optimistic user and I am glad that you have faith in Microsoft to fix these issues. At times, it helps prolong my weakening faith. Just know that sometimes your super-positive outlook on your particular experience can come across as minimizing the extremely bad experiences of select others.

P.S. Good news! Update: Windows Central is reporting tonight that a fix may come on "Patch Tuesday" next week on 1.26.16

http://www.windowscentral.com/windows-10-build-1058671-update-due-tuesday?utm\_medium=slider&utm\_campaign=navigation&utm\_source=wp

"A looming firmware update for the Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book is also reportedly on the horizon and may arrive with this update. However, more information on such a release is not yet confirmed. An earlier rumor suggested that this firmware update would come this past week, but that did not happen. Microsoft previously announced that they would fix the ongoing Connected Standby/InstantGo power issues with both devices sometime in early 2016. They company later apologised for "any frustration" customers are experiencing with the cutting edge hardware."

I watched the Microsoft Windows 10 Devices Event on Oct 8th.  When Panos Panay introduced the Surface Book I was sold hook-line-and-sinker.  I had to have one.  I was at the Atlanta Microsoft Store the next morning and they had one on display.  I spent a good bit of time with it and put in my order.

I re-watched the video of the presentation any number of times until my SB was ready for pick up at the Microsoft Store.  Panos Panay's often repeated words were indelible on my brain by now. With each new feature he would repeat the words "With the Microsoft Book this is the quality you SHOULD EXPECT!"

$2K+ you say?  For my i7/16GB/512GB with added Microsoft Complete Warranty, an extra black Microsoft pen, a nice case and tax, I dropped more than $3,500!  Yes, I EXPECT the quality to be there! It's time to deliver on that promise!

Same issues. Wanted to change from SP4 to SB (i7, 16gb 512 SSD), Got one to test

I spend lots of time running in-between meetings/workgroup sessions. Carying around a laptop (SB base) into meetings is frowned upon  or looking for a power point before a meeting is not on. Used the clipboard today. Started meeting at 100% (75% screen and battery saver enabled). At end of 1.5 hr meeting battery was at 39% and did not make it through my next meeting. Basically using One Note to minute/note/draw in meetings. Took over an hour to charge up again

As much as I like the unit very much, lovely keyboard, clipboard screen nice to use (although has some DPI scaling issues), but battery life of the clipboard is a non-starter unfortunately, so back to Microsoft it goes and I'll need to stick to the SP4, it seems [Pity]   

Cheers, all

Well, I've returned the SB to MS and gone back to my SP4

Frankly I miss the SB, esp. the clipboard size, ease of use and Light Room is much batter using the discreet GPU.

I'm not saying either the SB or SP4 does not have issues.. They do and some irritating ones. Hopefully in the next month Microsoft will come out of hibernation (like the SB/SP4 does to sleep and does not come out again), actually talk to their consumers and offer some real customer service... SURFACEGATE !!! Feedback across majority forums, blogs etc is that Microsoft is perceived to have really dropped the ball here and users seem very unhappy bunnies. We all make do but that's not what we expect when paying nearly $3000 for a unit. I do expect better. Well, that's my personal opinion and I do hope MS snr personnel read these forums and can pass our feelings up the chain somehow  Gripe done now. Apologies for venting.

That said, I will be replacing my SP4 (i5, 8gb etc) with a new unit beginning April (as my son needs my SP4 for school) so I have a choice of Sp4 or SB (both i7, 16gb and 512 SSD). I don't really want to go back to my MacBook Pro and really like the SB.

My killer is the SB battery life of the clipboard in meetings. I need "grab n go" and at least 3 hours usage to convince me it will work for me (when I tried the SB before I only got 2 hrs but to be fair, I did not use it for a full week for the battery to calibrate properly. I would be comfortable with 7 hours (full unit) and 3-3.5 hrs clipboard only

The docking/undocking, hanging when undocked, sleep, battery drain etc are all software/firmware issues which MS will I hope sort out by March (wishfully)

My question is:

How much real clipboard usage are existing users getting in meetings/workgroup sessions (even mind mapping)  when

1. 50-75% screen brightness, (maybe battery saver on) Bluetooth on for pen and even if I need to turn off wifi/use flight mode
2. use of OneNote for notes/drawings in meetings and Excel to update actions/lists

Thanks all

I typically get a full 3 hours on my clipboard. (i7/16GB). I make sure Chrome is closed and have the brightness around 50% because that's ideal for reading anyway. I'll have open Drawboard PDF (great program), along with OneNote, Outlook, and a few other things. Wifi and Bluetooth on, but I make sure Location is off (swipe from the right edge of your screen). Curiously adding the keyboard only gets me another 3 hours typically, which makes me think the machine is capable of 12 hours if they fix the excessive battery drain from the keyboard to display.

Agreed, my friend! It's a beautiful machine with much promise! The start of something great. I'm glad to be an early adopter like you. Patience is a virtue that many of us could learn from you.