Microsoft’s Surface Book 2 has received good reviews since its release in October this year. The laptop-tablet combination supports Xbox controllers and is stuffed with high end hardware, enabling users to play all kinds of demanding games on it. There’s just one problem – it can’t seem to keep a charge while gaming even when plugged into a wall outlet.
It certainly appears to be a glaring handicap considering that the Surface Book 2 is among the most expensive notebooks you can buy in the market today. Microsoft reportedly bundles a 102W charger with the model that features the Nvidia GTX 1060 graphics card. It is customary for other companies to provide 150W or higher power supplies with their gaming-centric laptops.
According to The Verge, the Nvidia card disconnects in the middle of a gaming session even while plugged in if the Surface Book is set to maximum performance. Even in the ‘best battery life’ setting, the notebook allegedly does not charge properly if has to simultaneously handle a heavy gaming load. As of now, Microsoft is laying the blame on faulty power supply.
Well, it has to considering that it insists the Surface Book 2 can do heavy gaming and charging simultaneously.
UPDATE: Microsoft has confirmed that the battery could discharge when connected to the charger during intense gaming sessions, if the Power Mode Slider is set to ‘best performance.’ The laptop hybrid apparently passes on only 95W of energy from the charger to itself, sacrificing the ability to fully feed the processor, graphics card and other components at once.
So much for playing any heavy duty PC games on the new Surface Book while on the go.