Microsoft’s Surface Pro 4, The MacBook Air Killer, Could Have 90 Minutes Extra Battery Life

Microsoft‘s Surface Pro 4 won’t be available until October, but more alleged information has leaked. MNR Daily has the scoop.

“The battery life of Pro 4 will have at least 90 minutes additional runtime than Pro 3. Pro 3 only has 9 hours runtime. All in all, Pro 4 may have 10.5 hour-long battery life. The battery life of this tablet is considered to be competitive compared with Apple’s iPad.”

DigiTimes also has leaked some additional details on Microsoft’s upcoming hybrid.

“Following the recent market rumor that Microsoft has placed a large order for Samsung Electronics’ 256GB solid state drive (SSD) to be used for its new Surface tablet, the related upstream supply chain reportedly has recently been notified to start mass shipments of components in September with the tablet estimated to become available in the market in October.”

DigiTimes goes on to note that the new Surface Pro tablet will feature the same ultra-thin form factor, bezel size, and 12-inch display of the Surface Pro 3. However, it will be updated with Intel’s new Skylake processor and Windows 10. As Day Herald reports, the Surface Pro 4 could make use of Windows 10 facial recognition in a feature known as “Windows Hello.”

“It makes use of several layers of 3D cameras in order to verify the biometrics of a user’s face. This is the only top product which supports this at the moment. If this technology is included in the Surface Pro 4, this would certainly be touted as a major development.”

Microsoft is not forgetting about those who have the Surface Pro 3. WinBeta recently reported that Microsoft has added an improved graphics driver for those upgrading to Windows 10. The upgrade adds features to the display and also adds a system asset tag and support for the Surface cover during a PXE boot. There is also an HD graphics driver update that improves general graphics performance and stability using Windows 10.

The new Surface Pro 4 will be competing with updated fall releases of the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and the highly-rumored iPad Pro. If the iPad Pro actually runs iOS X like some have predicted, it will definitely be a competitor to the Microsoft Surface Pro 4. Apple’s upcoming tablet is also expected to have a stylus that operates similar to the one for the Surface Pro 3.

The tablet industry has been suffering not only because of bigger phones, but because consumers want their tablets to do everything their laptops can do. Microsoft realized this with the Surface Pro 3 hybrid that works very well as both a tablet and laptop computer. Let’s hope the Surface Pro 4 can be just as revolutionary.

[Photo by Joe Raedle / Getty Images]