Intel And Microsoft Working Overtime To Zap Battery-Draining Windows 10 Bug

Laptops long ago surpassed desktops as the form-factor of choice for PC customers. And for those that aren’t tethered to a wall outlet 24-7, every minute counts when you’re out and about running on battery power with your laptop (or tablet).

Given how mobile-centric we’ve become these days, it makes since that Microsoft and Intel are working together to help squash a bug that has cropped up in Windows 10 that reduces battery life. What Intel describes as a “minor bug” actually trims overall battery life of some Window 10-equipped machines by a little less than 10 percent compared to the same system running Windows 8.1.

“Intel and Microsoft are working to optimize drivers for battery performance on Windows 10 across Intel platforms,” said an Intel spokesman in a statement to PC World. “While we are working on technical optimizations, we have seen very minor hits to battery life… Do know that we expect battery life on Windows 10 systems to be nearly the same as on Windows 8.1 systems once the final Windows 10 drivers have been updated and released.”

While it's nice to see that battery life should now be equal to that of Windows 8.1, we would have preferred actual battery life improvements with a more modern operating system. However, given the added functionality and vast UI improvements that Windows 10 brings, we shouldn't be too greedy with our wants. 

Windows 10 will officially become available on July 29th, so both Microsoft and Intel have a few more days to work out any software and driver issues that are causing the battery drain. The battery-draining bug is just one issue that Microsoft is hoping to eradicate to ensure a smooth launch for Windows 10. The company has already issued a number of hotfixes and security updates for the those running the 10240 RTM build of Windows 10.