Microsoft Surface Pro 2 Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi on October 21, 2013 12:01 AM EST- Posted in
- Tablets
- Microsoft
- Mobile
- Surface
- Surface Pro 2
Battery Life
Surface Pro 2 retains the same 42Wh battery and 48W charger as the original Surface Pro. I wasn’t pleased at all with the battery life of the original design, and I had hoped for a significant increase in battery life with Surface Pro 2. Microsoft claims up to a 75% increase in battery life compared to the original. In our 2013 tablet battery life test that turned out to be a 40% advantage – not shabby, but not where it needs to be. Update: Microsoft issued a firmware update that brings Surface Pro 2 up to 8.33 hours of battery life in our web browsing battery life test, or 76% better than the original Surface Pro.
I’m also beginning to think that Haswell’s video decode engine may not be all that power efficient. We did see better results out of OS X, but it’s still nowhere near what’s possible on the best ARM platforms.
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JumpingJack - Monday, October 21, 2013 - link
I believe he was making an "emperor's new clothes" type argument.beggerking@yahoo.com - Monday, October 21, 2013 - link
you should shut up until Air gets a touchscreen, or ipad gets a full OSXbackbydemand - Monday, October 21, 2013 - link
And when it does it will be "magical" and "innovative"KPOM - Monday, October 21, 2013 - link
I don't see the Air ever getting a touchscreen, or iPad ever getting OS X. I do see Apple's push to get the iPhone and iPad 64-bit processors as the first step in a massive improvement in iOS. Witness that everyone who buys an iOS device now gets Pages, Numbers, and Keynote. While they aren't up to Office standards, it's a sign that Apple wants to make iOS a "real" operating system. It's a logical strategy. iOS has a bigger market share than OS X.Therefore, Apple appears to be making a play to scale its mobile OS up to more powerful devices. It's starting from Apple's position of strength.Likewise, Microsoft is starting from its position of strength. Windows (for PCs) has a bigger market share than Windows Phone/Mobile ever did. Therefore, Microsoft is attempting to scale its PC OS down to mobile devices.
teiglin - Monday, October 21, 2013 - link
Thanks for the reviews as always. Never thought I'd see Penny Arcade cross-pollination in Anandtech!I'm still rather conflicted on your recent uptick of "on time" reviews--I know it's important (to OEMs and readers both) to get the reviews out right away at embargo lift, but I do miss the obsessive completeness of your dates-be-damned-we'll-finish-when-we-finish reviews. I do hope you'll consider putting off some of your full reviews and make sure you get every single test done that you want to run--I really miss your bevy of wifi quality tests, for example. Personally I like when you post quick impressions early but then follow on with the comprehensive review later.
takeship - Monday, October 21, 2013 - link
Another solution would be for someone do a moments after NDA expiry pod review, and then follow that up a few days/week later as necessary with a full fat review from one of the other writers. If I remember right, wasn't that done with the 2013 Mac Book Air review a few months ago? Best of both worlds. It may be a bit redundant, but most of us would read them both anyways.guste - Monday, October 21, 2013 - link
Completely agree with this post. I currently use a mid-2011 11.6" MBA and as a university student, the use cases of the Surface Pro 2 are really compelling. I've already seen a few of the original Surface Pros around classrooms and labs and so I pre-ordered one to give it a go. I was really hoping for a bit more here. I expect nothing useful from most other sites, but there's always a lot of meat on the bone here, so to speak.Anand, is there any possibility of you revisiting the Pro, with a more thorough follow-up?
frostyfiredude - Monday, October 21, 2013 - link
Are we the same person? I'm in the exact same boat here considering moving from the 11" 2011 Air to a Pro2 after having seen some classmates and profs pickup the original Pro. I've heard the phrase "this is the best purchase I've made in a long time" quite a few times in response to queries on the device.I'm in engineering so the pen will be awesome for technical drawings and all the graphs in our notes, something which has made the Air significantly less useful than expected.
guste - Monday, October 21, 2013 - link
We must be the same person, as I'm also in engineering (physics)... Or, more likely, there are a few of us that are looking for something life a bit easier.I came really close to getting the Pro last year, but that battery life was abysmal and frankly, I couldn't justify getting a new computer after one year anyway. The mid-2011 Air is still a fantastic machine and I've come to admire Mac OSX to the point that I'm a bit apprehensive about going back to Windows on a full-time basis. I think that's where my desire for a top notch Anand review is coming from and why I'm a bit deflated at the moment. It's not going to stop me from trying out the Pro for the next couple of weeks and making my own determination, but I'm still holding out hope for a follow-up.
guste - Monday, October 21, 2013 - link
Looks like Anand will be going more in-depth:https://twitter.com/anandshimpi/status/39214496614...
It may take some time though, as he's just flown out to cover the Apple event.
What concerns me is the conversation that follows the initial tweet, about the power optimization of Mac OSX vs. Windows. Some guy is comparing a 1366x768 MBA to the 1080P screen with a digitizer on the SP2. Power optimization is undoubtedly worse under Windows, but both he and Anand compared apples to oranges without batting an eye.