Use these tips to fix bad Surface Book battery life as soon as possible. Without them, expect to carry your Surface Book’s charger with you wherever you go.
The bad Surface Book battery life is frustrating because the Windows 2-in-1 shouldn’t have an all-day problem. Every Surface Book has two internal batteries, one built into its display and the other built into its base. Original models can last 12 hours between charges. Some updated models last even longer.
The problem is, you need all the battery tricks of Windows 10 to get that kind of battery performance from the Surface Book. You’ll need to let the PC dim and brighten its screen based on how much light is around you, and use Windows 10’s performance tools to let the PC prioritize battery life over raw performance. There are other simple things you can do to fix bad Surface Book battery life, like stopping unused programs from loading and turning off wireless features you’re not using.
How To Fix Bad Surface Book Battery Life
Dim Your Screen
The first thing you need to do to fix bad Surface Book battery life is to change your brightness settings. Your Surface Book has a detailed display that can really hurt battery life if it’s too bright.
Reduce your screen brightness to 50% or less when running on battery power. This will keep it bright enough to prevent glare and reduce the impact on your battery. To quickly change the screen brightness, open the Action Center by placing your finger on it and swiping to . You can also click the message bubble in the corner of your screen.
Display options in the Settings app give you more control over your screen brightness than the Action Center. Click the button in the corner of your screen to open the Start Menu.
Open the app by clicking the cog in the lower left corner of Start.
Click .
Welcome to Display Settings. This slider at the top of the screen lets you fine-tune how bright your screen is. Manually controlling the brightness of your screen makes it easy to keep track of how bright it is. If you want this control, uncheck the box next to it.
Stop Programs From Starting On Startup
Programs running in the background can have a huge impact on how long your PC starts up and can hurt your Surface Book’s battery life. Use Windows 10’s Task Manager to take control of these apps.
Click on the search box in the lower left corner of your screen. Type and press on your keyboard.
Inside the Task Manager, click the tab.
This is a list of every background task your computer is running when you start it. High-impact tasks slow down startup and can reduce battery life. If a background task is related to a program you don’t use regularly, select it from the list and click the button under the Startup Tab.
Close Programs You Are Not Using
To fix bad Surface Book battery life, you should close any programs you are not using. Start with programs that you know put a strain on your device, such as Photoshop, Premiere, and Apple’s iTunes. Close any tabs in your web browser that you are not currently using. The more tabs you open, the harder your Surface Book has to work to keep them all ready for you to browse.
Finally, click the arrow in the corner of your screen.
Here, open and close any minimized, unused apps.
Use Surface Book Power Slider to Manage Performance
You can have great battery life, great performance, or force your Surface Book to balance both with the Windows 10 performance slider. Tap or click the icon at the top of your screen.
This slider lets you set your computer’s priorities. When you move the slider to the left, Windows reduces the amount of processing power available to apps, games, and programs. In return, your computer will last longer between charges. Moving the slider all the way to the right improves performance and compromises battery life. By default, your Surface Book’s performance slider stays in the middle.
You can also use this menu to change the screen brightness of your Surface Book.
Turn On Battery Saver
Battery Saver is the perfect tool to fix bad Surface Book battery life. This soft switch automatically reduces your device’s screen brightness and limits what apps can do in the background. For example, Mail stops checking for the latest messages and other apps stop looking for updates if they’re not open.
Click the icon at the bottom of your screen.
click
There is a switch under Battery Saver. Flip this switch to and your Surface Book will stay in Battery Saver mode until the next charge. While you’re here, use the slider to decide when to turn on Battery Saver.
Turn Off Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or Both
Finally, turn off Bluetooth or Wi-Fi to help fix bad Surface Book battery life. Like your screen, you factor them into your battery life expectations so you forget how big of an impact they can have.
You don’t need Bluetooth to use your Surface Pen for writing, but you do need it to open apps with the eraser button. If you don’t have a Bluetooth speaker, headset, keyboard, mouse, or Surface Pen with you, click the button in the corner of your screen.
Type in the search field and press .
Now flip the Bluetooth switch at the top of your screen to .
You don’t need to go to the Settings app to disable Wi-Fi. Just make sure you save everything you’re working on.
Tap or click the icon in the lower right corner of your screen.
Click on it now.
