Microsoft Defends Surface Pro’s Limited Battery Life, Storage Space

Pats its own back for not compromising on speed and performance Now that the first Surface Pro reviews are out, it seems that even those determined to overlook its hefty price tag are going to have a hard time justifying the Core i5-powered tablet’s piss-poor battery life to themselves. At around 4-5 hours, the Surface Pro’s battery life (or the lack thereof) belies the very reason people buy tablets â€" unwired, uninterrupted on-the-go use. Microsoft’s Panos Panay tackled questions about both the Windows 8 tablet’s limited battery life and lack of usable storage space in a  Reddit Ask Me Anything (AMA) session session on Wednesday. Panay, General Manager of the Microsoft Surface, defended the Surface Pro’s limited battery life, arguing that the device was optimized to take full advantage of the Ivy Bridge Core i5 inside it, “yet give the best battery life.” “The product was designed to take full advantage of Windows 8 coupled with the Ivy Bridge core processor from Intel,” Panay wrote in response to a question. “We created a product that did not compromise speed, performance in any way. With that, we wanted to be the best notebook/laptop product in its class, but still deliver you the tablet form factor.” Comparing it to the MacBook Air, Panay proclaimed the Surface Pro the best device in its class in terms of “battery size vs battery life.” However, he did concede that the small battery, which helped the company keep the overall weigh