14 DAY TRIAL // The Surface Book started shipping last week, so the first customers who pre-ordered the device via Microsoft’s online store have already received it.
But it took less than a full week to discover the very first problems impacting the Surface Book, and in addition to the screen flickering issue that we already told you about a couple of days ago, it turns out that there’s another bug that’s impacting battery life.
Complaints posted on Microsoft’s Community forums indicate that both the Surface Book and the Surface Pro 4 are suffering from what seems to be an issue dramatically reducing battery life and causing overheating in sleep mode.
There are some reports that this might be caused by Windows Hello, the new biometric authentication feature that’s exclusively available in Windows 10, so if your device is losing battery at a very fast pace, try to disable this feature to see if there’s a difference.
Disable Windows Hello
To disable Windows Hello, simply launch Settings, click on Accounts, and go to the Sign-in options menu, where you should be able to configure not only Windows Hello but also the other authentication methods that might be supported by your PC.
“It's not abnormal for them to drain fast in the first few days due to indexing and a variety of other initial maintenance tasks. But Windows Hello creates is very own problem, and that one will not go away. Not until Microsoft fixes it,” one of the users whose device has been impacted by the issue explains.
Microsoft hasn’t yet publicly acknowledged the bug, but the Surface team is most likely already looking into the issue, so expect a patch or a firmware update anytime soon. Most likely, the next firmware release should fix all problems and its release will probably take place on next month’s Patch Tuesday.