Microsoft has confirmed that its new Surface Book 2 laptop has a critical power problem, causing its battery to extensively drain during heavy gaming or significant GPU usage.
Priced from A$2,197 (for the 13.5″ model), Microsoft’s new laptop is more expensive than a base model MacBook Pro (A$1847).
The tech-giant has admitted its new Surface laptop is not ideal for gaming.
When plugged into the charger, the Surface Book 2’s battery reportedly drains during certain games, especially when power settings are set to maximum, as the device attempts to utilise the full power of its hardware.
Responding to The Verge a Microsoft spokesperson admits that the Surface Book 2 may not offer the “best performance” for gaming purposes, however, claims that the battery will “never drain out”:
“Surface Book 2 was designed to deliver unmatched power and performance for anyone who needs a powerful machine to work and create, making it a great option for STEM professionals (designers, developers, engineers)”
“The Surface Book 2 Power Mode Slider is provided as a means to give the user control over the range of performance and battery life. In some intense, prolonged gaming scenarios with Power Mode Slider set to ‘best performance’ the battery may discharge while connected to the power supply provided in-box with Surface Book 2.
“However, through power management design, the battery will never drain entirely, ensuring that users are able to keep working, creating or gaming”.
Some reviewers claim that the Surface Book 2 becomes “unusable” for gaming after less than ten minutes in battery efficient modes – the gaming experience also reportedly drops from 60fps to 30fps in some titles.
Many reviewers affirm that the “max performance setting” is needed to play games.
Consensus is the new laptop is designed to supply 95 watts of power between the charger and the device, which is not sufficient to run the graphics card, processor and other hardware components at its maximum setting.
