Microsoft has made the Surface Book in response to the MacBook Pro! Is it actually a Tablet or notebook? It’s a dilemma.
Microsoft has finally made its first laptop, if we can say that! As when we have a deeper understanding of how it functions we find the new Surface Book is not 100% like a laptop. It’s more of a hybrid, a mix of laptop and tablet. The reason we say this is because the new Surface Book has a screen that can be detached from the keyboard, and once detached it can be used as an individual device by using the touch screen function or the new Microsoft pen. Alternatively, when the Surface Book is connected to the keyboard it is complete, and can fold by 360 degrees to become a tablet. It’s hard to judge whether it’s a tablet with a keyboard, which goes as an accessory, or a notebook with a screen that can be detached from the keyboard. In the end we found it too hard to decide. What is more important to know is that the Surface Book is packed with some extremely powerful components which again gives it hybrid feel. In our opinion it is definitely competition for the new MacBook Pro device boasted by Apple.
Deals from Microsoft
Microsoft Surface Book – 128GB / Intel Core i5
Amazing design and quality
Microsoft Surface Book (128 GB, 8 GB RAM, Intel Core i5)
Free shipping11 used from $597.95
amazon.com
- 13.5-inch PixelSense touchscreen display (3000 x 2000) resolution
- Windows 10 Pro operating system
- Incredibly mobile at 3.48 pounds (1576 grams)
- Surface Pen included.
- Ships in Consumer packaging.
Microsoft Surface Book - 256GB/Intel Core i7/8GB Memory 2-in-1 13.5" Touch-Screen Laptop
6 used from $854.99
amazon.com
- 13.5-inch PixelSense touchscreen display (3000 x 2000) resolution
- 6th Gen Intel® CoreTM i7-6600 6th Gen Intel® with NVIDIA GeForce GPU (1GB GDD5 Memory)
- Windows 10 Pro operating system
- Incredibly mobile at 3.48 pounds (1576 grams)
- Surface Pen included
Microsoft Surface Dock
Free shipping12 used from $109.99
amazon.com
- Compatible With Surface Pro 3, Surface Pro 4, Surface Book, Surface Pro, and Surface Laptop
- 2x Mini Display Ports, 1x Gigabit Ethernet Port
- 4 USB 3.0 ports, 1x Audio out port
- Magnetic Surface Connect Cable
- High-Speed Data Transfering
Design
It is made very well but not as easy to use as expected. Many users would like the Surface book to be under a kilogram in weight, but this is not the case. It weighs around 1.5kg with the keyboard attached, still this is not too bad as many other notebooks are much heavier. What is certain is that it is as well constructed as the MacBook Pro, maybe even sturdier. It’s designs delights us! We saw in our tests that just as in the promo video recording and presentation by Microsoft it looks fantastic. It has the look and feel of a premium device that has had dedicated attention spent on its design. It looks luxurious and is worthy of its price tag of $1,499.
Display, keyboard and pen
Now to the screen, the Surface Book, like Google’s Pixel C tablet, has some strange proportions. The diagonal is 13.5 inches, with 3:2 aspect that is a bit higher compared to other tablets. Microsoft’s vision is that the “PixelSense” screen should be a similar format as the Surface Pro 3 or 4. The Surface Book screen resolution is 3000 * 2000 with excellent 267 ppi. The screen gives a nice view, where everything is clear, sharp and has vivid colors, as we would expected when investing $1500.
The display or tablet, cannot be easily separated from the keyboard. However, this device is high-class! Imagine if it could accidentally unlatch during the transportation or whilst carrying the Surface Book device … that would be disastrous. In fact, there is a button that needs to be pressed to release the screen. So, there are no magnets or templates for removing the screen in the form of pulling or sliding on the keyboard, you simply raise the screen and that’s it. Even the famous “click” isn’t heard.
Source: www.engadget.com
Engadget : we recommend it, especially to people who value performance
Engadget – the ultimate laptop, even if it isn’t perfect
Also, being able to turn the screen backwards and hook it up to the keyboard was considered . Thus allowing the Surface to transform into a device that can be used for presentations, how clever!
If you are concerned about the response of the keyboard when typing, we can tell you with 100% certainty that it is very fast. What we have noticed is that such keyboards can have a slightly worse pulsating effect during typing, but for those who are used to thin (slim) keyboards, this will not be a significant problem.
The Surface Book comes with the Surface Digital pen, which increases your daily productivity. As claimed by Microsoft it can be used whether you are in laptop or tablet mode, i.e. either using the keyboard, touchpad, digital pen or touch screen.
- Gorgeous design and display
- Smart and interesting hinges
- Intelligent graphics switching
- Quite expensive
- Pretty much heavy
Hardware
The Surface Book runs on Core Intel i5 processor with 8GB of ram and 128GB of storage. And all we can say is that we have tested a very powerful machine. To be clear, the purchase of the Surface Book device includes a tablet, a keyboard, a pen and a charger. To buy the individual components that make up the Surface Book Device, which are: Core i7 CPU, 16 MB RAM, 512 GB, NVIDIA GPU, would cost more than $2,700!
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The Surface does not have the same performance when it is in tablet mode because Microsoft installed the NVIDIA GeForce graphics card in the housing below the keyboard, so when the Surface Book is in laptop mode it can perform more demanding tasks.
Microsoft claims that the Surface Book can hold up to 12 hours of use which would be ideal, however, in our tests it took much less.
Deal: www.amazon.com
Amazon.com: Apple quality design in a Windows 10 PC
The Microsoft Surface Book
Microsoft Surface Book (128 GB, 8 GB RAM, Intel Core i5)
- 13.5-inch PixelSense touchscreen display (3000 x 2000) resolution
- Windows 10 Pro operating system
- Incredibly mobile at 3.48 pounds (1576 grams)
- Surface Pen included.
- Ships in Consumer packaging.
$815.00
amazon.com
- 13.5-inch PixelSense touchscreen display (3000 x 2000) resolution
- Windows 10 Pro operating system
- Incredibly mobile at 3.48 pounds (1576 grams)
- Surface Pen included.
- Ships in Consumer packaging.
Microsoft Surface Book - 256GB/Intel Core i7/8GB Memory 2-in-1 13.5" Touch-Screen Laptop
- 13.5-inch PixelSense touchscreen display (3000 x 2000) resolution
- 6th Gen Intel® CoreTM i7-6600 6th Gen Intel® with NVIDIA GeForce GPU (1GB GDD5 Memory)
- Windows 10 Pro operating system
- Incredibly mobile at 3.48 pounds (1576 grams)
$1,014.50
amazon.com
- 13.5-inch PixelSense touchscreen display (3000 x 2000) resolution
- 6th Gen Intel® CoreTM i7-6600 6th Gen Intel® with NVIDIA GeForce GPU (1GB GDD5 Memory)
- Windows 10 Pro operating system
- Incredibly mobile at 3.48 pounds (1576 grams)
- Surface Pen included
Microsoft Surface Dock
- Compatible With Surface Pro 3, Surface Pro 4, Surface Book, Surface Pro, and Surface Laptop
- 2x Mini Display Ports, 1x Gigabit Ethernet Port
- 4 USB 3.0 ports, 1x Audio out port
- Magnetic Surface Connect Cable
$131.99
amazon.com
- Compatible With Surface Pro 3, Surface Pro 4, Surface Book, Surface Pro, and Surface Laptop
- 2x Mini Display Ports, 1x Gigabit Ethernet Port
- 4 USB 3.0 ports, 1x Audio out port
- Magnetic Surface Connect Cable
- High-Speed Data Transfering
Connectivity and ports
When it comes to ports Microsoft has succeeded in providing two USB 3.0 ports, a Mini DisplayPort, an SD card reader, Surface Connect for charging or connecting to the dock station, and of course the headphone and microphone jacks are there. Also, there are two cameras: a 5 megapixel front camera with the Windows hello option, and on the back is an 8 megapixel camera, both can record 1080p video.
Early verdict
With the Surface Book, Microsoft has once again set the standards high and is seriously working to become a leader in the production of these premium devices. If you want to have such a luxury notebook it will cost you $ 1,499. The price will remain at this level because they are intended for professionals and those with deeper pockets. After years of preparation, Microsoft has been able to make this hybrid laptop which is now the strongest on the market. It is beautiful, customizable, and with very powerful hardware it has transformed our idea if how a computer should look into a reality.
What customers say?
The audio quality is amazing for something that’s only 1/4″ thin. You WILL be impressed. The display resolution is fantastic, and ever bit just as peppy as Microsoft promised (even without the dGPU in the base!!). I can’t wait to load this thing up and really put it to the test.
SonarTech
