Surface Pro 2 gets battery boost from latest update
A recent firmware update for the new version of Microsoft's Windows 8.1 tablet increases the battery life on a single charge, says Anandtech.
Owners of Microsoft's Surface Pro 2 tablet should get more pep out of the battery courtesy of a recent update.
On October 25, Microsoft released a firmware and driver pack for the Surface Pro 2. One of the goals of the update was to reduce the battery juice required by the Wi-Fi hardware. And Microsoft seems to have succeeded in that area.
Running a series of battery tests, tech review site Anandtech found that the tablet now lasts for more than 8 hours while browsing the Web via a Wi-Fi connection. That number represents an almost 25 percent jump from the prior time of 6.6 hours.
Video playback over Wi-Fi showed a 16 percent improvement, rising to 7.75 hours from 6.65 hours on a single charge.
Despite the boost, the Surface Pro 2 still can't deliver the type of battery life found on one of the new MacBook Airs. Microsoft told Anandtech that the tablet's various sensors, its higher resolution display, its active digitizer, and its capacitive touch screen all increase the amount of battery power required.
