How to Get Better Surface Pro 3 Battery Life

Microsoft’s Surface Pro 3 is a Windows 8 device in a league of its own. The entire Surface device lineup was born out of necessity. Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system focused on bringing the computer into the device age. It was Microsoft’s hypothesis that people don’t want a laptop and tablet. Instead, the company bet there was a market for something. He hoped he could create a device that could be both a laptop and a tablet. The Surface Pro was the first such attempt. The Surface Pro 3 is the first device in the series to come close to achieving this.

Microsoft makes the Surface Pro 3 available in multiple variants. There are versions with less powerful Intel Core i3 processors and high-end versions with more power and more storage. Each has a keyboard port, a full copy of Windows 8.1, a single USB port, and a stylus that allows users to take handwritten notes with the push of a button.

Really, the Surface Pro 3’s only flaw is its battery life. Microsoft’s documentation on the Surface Pro 3 shows that users can expect around 9 hours of battery life. This is compatible with most laptops, but not perfect for a tablet. Even more worrying is how Microsoft calculates this number. It just relies on web browsing. Here’s how to get better Surface Pro 3 battery life.

Make Your Settings

Getting better battery life starts with managing your settings on any device. The Surface Po 3 is no different in this regard.

What you want to pay attention to is your device settings. The Surface Pro 3’s large 12-inch display is perfect for editing documents, drawing or browsing the web. Powering this display consumes a lot of battery power. You can’t magically shrink the Surface Pro 3’s screen, but you can reduce the amount of power it consumes by lowering your brightness settings. To do this, place your finger on the screen and swipe right slightly to reveal the Charms Bar. You can also make the Charms Bar appear by placing your mouse cursor in the upper-right or lower-right corner.

Tap or click .

Now look for the setting and drag the brightness down a bit to save some battery power.

To be fair, the Surface Pro 3 has an ambient light sensor that detects how much light is in your surroundings and adjusts the screen brightness accordingly. If your Surface Pro 3 has already done this, you’re already set. You can lower yourself further if you need extreme power savings.

The next thing you’ll look at is the wireless and Bluetooth settings. Every Surface Pro 3 is equipped with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. For example, they are the ones that allow you to surf the Internet or connect to a wireless keyboard. You should turn them off when you’re on a plane, or if neither works for you.

Return to the Settings Charm as you did before. Instead of tapping or clicking on the screen, you want to tap or click on the settings. In our example, it is the Wi-Fi meter labeled 1KF148.

Now tap the side switch to disable both Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.

Most Windows devices allow you to quickly change these settings with something called a Power Profile. The Surface Pro 3 is probably one of the few devices that doesn’t let you do that because its firmware and settings already handle this sort of thing.

Save Power Hungry Apps for When You Have a Charger

Maybe you’re new to the Surface Pro 3, but not new to mobile computing. If that’s the case, you may have noticed that running certain apps kills your battery much faster. Because the Surface Pro 3 is part laptop and part tablet, the apps you run have an expected impact on battery life.

Not all Desktop apps are necessarily bad for battery life. Microsoft’s Office suite of productivity apps is fine. Watching a movie or browsing the web on Windows Media Player isn’t necessarily bad either. One thing to watch out for are apps that put pressure on the Surface Pro 3’s processor. Let’s take Adobe Photoshop for example. Running Photoshop will kill your Surface Pro 3 battery much faster than browsing the web. You want to save anything that will tax your CPU and turn on your fan until it charges.

Windows Store apps are built with battery concerns in mind and usually cost a lot less. If you downloaded it from the Windows Store, it’s pretty hard to imagine that it would burden your processor and kill the Surface Pro 3’s battery at an unreasonable rate.

Take good care of your Surface Pro 3. It’s unfortunate that the Surface Pro 3 doesn’t support the Surface Power Cover that older devices do, but with these tips you can perhaps browse longer than usual and stay productive for as long as you need to.