On our standard Windows battery rundown test, in which we fix the display brightness and loop a video endlessly to exhaustion, the Surface Pro scored just three hours and 46 minutes, despite having a 42.5Wh battery a third larger than the 31.5Wh pack in the Surface RT.

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This reality forced Microsoft to come up with its own magnesium chassis, highly compressed touch-stack for the screen, and a host of other patents and innovations to hit 1.5 pounds with all-day battery life, while not turning the Surface into a heavy, bulky device.

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Battery efficiency, lifespan and even safety could be vastly improved, the researchers believe, by increasing the surface area of the active materials that make up the battery electrodes.

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It uses nanoscale materials to boost the performance of its batteries (making an electrode out of nanoparticles increases its surface area, which in turn decreases the battery's internal resistance and improves its ability to store and deliver energy).

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The VivoTab further distinguishes itself with its 8MP rear camera (as opposed to the 720p rear camera on the Surface) and an additional 7 hours of rated battery life via its docking station.

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On the bottom side, the notebook is sealed in such a way that you can't easily get at the battery, SSD or RAM. (This is pretty typical for Ultrabooks.) That bottom surface is also where you'll find the speaker strip, which is somewhat unusual: laptop speakers are usually located in the keyboard area or around the sides.

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The scientists turned lithium-ion battery materials, such as copper, into a sprayable liquid form, which can be applied to any surface and turn it into an energy storage device.

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