The upcoming tablet with Windows 8 Pro will have about half the battery life of Surface RT

Nov 30, 2012 07:40 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft is gearing up for the debut of the company’s second tablet in its history, the officially-called Surface with Windows 8 Pro, as the device will finally hit the shelves sometime in January.

While the Redmond-based technology company has already confirmed pricing for the two models running Windows 8 Pro, Microsoft provided almost no detail on the battery life of the new tablet.

A few hours after Microsoft rolled out pricing, Panos Panay, general manager for the Surface division, confirmed via his Twitter account that “Surface Pro would have approximately half the battery life of Surface RT.”

This is, of course, pretty vague information, especially because Microsoft has always avoided to provide accurate information on the battery life of Surface RT.

If we are to trust the official Surface RT specification list, its battery lasts up to 8 hours, but a Microsoft spokesperson told us that higher figures are very likely to be achieved in real life.

Still, Surface with Windows 8 Pro is going to be a mix of ultrabooks and tablets, but with a battery life of up to 4 hours, there’s no doubt it may disappoint some of its owners.

What’s more, running high-performance apps on the tablet is very likely to drop autonomy even more, bringing the Surface Pro in line with other laptops already on the market.

Of course, more accurate figures on the Surface Pro battery are expected to be released in the next couple of months, as we get closer to the official launch of the product.

Microsoft is yet to reveal the launch date, but the company has confirmed in a press release rolled out yesterday that its device would see daylight in January 2013. The tablet will be available in two different versions, with 64 GB and 128 GB, and will be offered with a price tag of $899 (€690) and $999 (€770), respectively.