Microsoft Explains Why Surface Book 2 Discharges Battery Even When Connected to Power Supply

Even though Microsoft is touting it as the "most powerful" Surface device yet, the Surface Book 2 suffers from a power issue that drains its battery even when connected to power supply. The Redmond company has confirmed the flaw in a media statement.

The Surface Book 2 comes with a Power Mode Slider that once set to the "best performance" option enables the machine to consume battery even when connected to the power supply. The power derived from the battery is used in "some intense, prolonged gaming scenarios" to make the maximise the utilisation of the available resources, The Verge reports citing a statement provided by a Microsoft spokesperson. The spokesperson also confirmed that the battery "will never drain entirely".

Tom Warren of The Verge noticed the flaw first at the time of reviewing the Surface Book 2 earlier this month. "The base battery discharges too quickly with the supplied charger, meaning the Nvidia card (located in the base) will disconnect in the middle of a long gaming session at maximum performance even if you're plugged in," Warren had noted in his review.

It is worth noting that the battery consumption often happens on the Surface Book 2 when the system uses the available Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 graphics for a long time. The notebook has two separate battery packs - one is in the screen and another one is within the keyboard base - that both gain power through a 102-watt charger that supplies 95 watts of current to the hardware. Interestingly, the processor in the Surface Book 2 itself requires 25 watts in the high-power mode, while the Nvidia GPU pulls up to 70 watts of power, as the Verge points out. This shows the lack of power supply through the available charger.

As per its official listing, Microsoft claims that the Surface Book 2 is capable of delivering up to 17 hours of video playback on a single charge. Early reviews have found that the device lasts for around 10 hours with mixed usage of some productivity apps and with the absence of gaming. All this suggests that gamers should not rely on the battery of the Surface Book 2, albeit the machine appears to be a strong competitor against Apple's MacBook Pro and Google's Pixelbook.

Launched back in October, the Surface Book 2 comes as a successor to the original Surface Book that was launched in 2015. The new Surface series notebook has up to eighth-generation Intel Core i7 processors, 6GB of VRAM, and up to 1TB SSD. The base, 13-inch Surface Book 2 model starts at $1,499 (approximately Rs. 97,200), whereas its 15-inch version is priced at $2,499 (roughly Rs. 1,62,000). India launch for the Surface Book 2 is yet to be revealed, though its entire range went on sale in the US last week.