Microsoft Surface Book (512 GB, 16 GB RAM, Intel Core i7, NVIDIA GeForce graphics)
- 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
Microsoft Microsoft Surface Book – 512GB / Intel Core i7 – 13.5-inch PixelSense touchscreen display6th Gen Intel Core i5 or i7Surface Pen includedWindows 10 Pro
$ 2,650.00
Microsoft Surface Book (512 GB, 16 GB RAM, Intel Core i7, NVIDIA GeForce graphics)
A Half-Week In,
HARDWARE
When you’re actually using the Surface Book’s hardware, the thing is spectacular. In laptop mode, it’s comfortable and fairly light. I’m writing this with the Book balanced on one knee with no issues, something I couldn’t do with prior surfaces. I’m a (not too crazy) mechanical keyboard user, and find the keyboard to give a good amount of feedback. The key spacing is perfect so that I had no issue adjusting to this keyboard like I have had others.
When you spin the screen around and redock it in “clipboard” mode, the whole thing feels a bit thick and heavy. However, it’s a worthy sacrifice for the extra 10 hour battery in the base and ability to stick things inside the gap. I had a job fair at my university the day I got the Book, and stuck all my resumes inside. I walked up to a recruiter, showed off my websites in Edge, then when asked for a resume, would open the clipboard and pull a sheet off. I have to say I felt like a rockstar 😛
In lone tablet mode, you get a good amount of battery, enough to run around for an hour or so and then redock later. Alone, the tablet is surprisingly light: lighter even than the gen 1 Surfaces. I spent all morning sitting on a couch watching YouTube videos and didn’t have to dock it to recharge. It’s not feasible to leave the base somewhere for more than a few hours though, as you need it for ports and the battery life.
Transitioning in between the various forms is the weakest part of the hardware experience, but gets less awkward with time.
Some nuances about hardware:
The build quality is supreme, not a cut corner anywhere.
You can charge the tablet part independently off the dock.
Reviewers complained of a “bouncy” screen while typing, which is barely noticeable in general and gone when at max hinge angle.
The fn key is sticky (you can leave it on to have access to the function keys instead of having to do fn->F5 every time you want to refresh).
The hinge is sturdy and feels like it’ll last a while.
The track pad is very “Mac-esque”. I’m not a huge fan, but many others are,
One battery does not charge the other while docked.
All in all on the hardware front, the Surface Book excels in almost every way.
SOFTWARE
It feels really silly to say it, but the Surface Book has the worst Windows 10 experience I have yet encountered. While not atrocious by any stretch, the experience leaves much to be desired. Despite having an i5 and dGPU version, the Book struggled to run the application f.lux and a YouTube video at the same time. I was shocked at the lack of Windows 10 gestures available out of the box. Even many ‘touch-friendly’ apps and games had issues. I tested Hearthstone, Mini Metro, Poker Night at the Inventory, Faster than Light, Minecraft Win10 Beta, and Papers Please with lackluster results.
Many have already complained of strange bugs and glitches, and in my first day with the Book I was able to bluescreen it. The culprit right now seems to be the custom Intel (and maybe Nvidia) graphics drivers, so seeing an alert stating “Intel Integrated Graphics Driver has recovered from an unexpected error” is not uncommon in graphics-related work.
I want to be clear: as far as I can tell, this isn’t an issue with Windows 10 in general or the Surface Book itself. I’ve been using Win10 for months with nothing to shake a stick at. I’m fairly certain this is a problem with its implementation on the Surface Book and in conjunction with the special software being used for the Book’s unique form factor.
Some nuances about software:
The hardware disconnect button requires a second or two of pressure before releasing to stop accidental release.
The hardware button always works, but sometimes the software one does not.
Even when in Linux, I can disconnect and reconnect the keyboard with the hardware button.
Windows Hello’s facial feature is creepily accurate and surprisingly useful.
Disconnecting from the dGPU will push threads to the integrated chip. (I think)
If you’re doing something that’s using the dGPU and cannot be pushed over for whatever reason, you cannot disconnect without exiting.
WRAP-UP
I love this thing. It’s a surprisingly useful device, with good specs and ridiculous build quality. I fully expect the software hiccups to be solved in the future, and wouldn’t worry too much about them in general.
5/5 for hardware, design, feel, use cases
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|Finally a Mac quality windows laptop,
The set up was a breeze. Ported everything from her Microsoft account. After installation of a few essential softwares this bad boy is good to go.
Looking at the form factor and the build quality of the Surface Book, it is by far the closest laptop on the market compared with a Mac. I am using a
Macbook Pro myself so I am able to compare them side-by-syde. Surface book is just as beautiful, and feels just as premium, if not better. The hinge makes it look a little bit thicker than expected, but still very portable. The screen is crystal-clear, but keep in mind it has quite some glare.
I haven’t tested much on the performance side, but so far everything runs blazing fast including booting and opening – closing apps. Sepcs-wise, it shouldn’t disappoint. 6th gen i7 CPU, discrete Nvidia Graphics card, 16G of RAM, and especially the format of solid state drive is NVMe, the latest and fastest on the market. I have installed all the aforementioned softwares so hopefully after my girlfriend gives it some road test I will be able to update on the performance.
Regarding the features, I love its 2-in-1 capability, and its laptop-first mentality. By that I mean, if you use it under laptop mode (screen and keyboard together), you will never notice that it can be a tablet. A solid, all-round laptop. The detachable screen gives the Surface Book its unique versatility: it functions by itself as a tablet. Has 1024 pressure sensitive stylus. You can write notes, draw, doodle, do other creative works, read, etc, on the tablet. The writing experience is very very close to true pen-and-paper. If you own a Surface Pro, you probably understand what I’m talking about. What’s more, you can even turn the screen around, facing outwards, and still plug it back into the keyboard base, to make it a kiosk. Fold it all the way down, you got a clipboard. Versatility at its finest.
There are some Cons that I have noticed, however, that need some attention. But maybe some of them are just personal preference. I will leave you to be the judge.
1, The CPU is ULV, not the normal wattage processor that you see in most high-configuration devices. The 6-gen ULV i7 in the Surface Book only has two cores, whereas a previous generation non ULV i7 has four cores and higher TDP. This means, although Surface Book is fast, it probably won’t be up to highly demanding tasks, compared with those workstations.
2, It gets moderately warm, even under light work. I think that’s because the i7 cpu is fit in the ultra-thin screen. So if you run CPU intensive tasks, the screen can get hot; if you run GPU intensive tasks, the keyboard gets hot. Normally if a PC runs very hot, it will slow itself down, causing a lot of unresponsiveness and lags. I hope this device won’t be too bad on thermal handling. I will update on that.
3, The Graphics card is not the gaming chip that a gamer would expect. From early reviews and tests of this laptop, it shows that the Nvidia custom GPU is close to a GTX 940M in performance. So Don’t expect to play a lot of games with high settings with the Surface Book. However, mainstream games with med-to-low settings are most likely to cut it.
4, The hinge does make the Surface Book look a little bit weird. One end is thicker than the other end, and the laptop cannot completely be closed. But aesthetics mainly depend on personal preference. Personally I don’t see it as a big deal.
5, The battery life of the tablet alone is short. So you cannot unplug the screen, take only the screen with you and expect it to last all day. The screen has no port except a headphone jack (so no charging). I would say, this laptop is designed to spend only about 25% of the time as a tablet.
All in all, it’s still a well-designed and great-looking laptop, with mostly all of the latest bells and whistles. I hope this Surface Book can give my girlfriend a good 3 years (or more) of usage.
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|Apple quality design in a Windows 10 PC,
Customer Video Review Length:: 15:44 Mins
Microsoft has developed a new premium Windows 10 notebook tablet hybrid that’s truly every bit as a good as Macbook. The version I purchased as a dual core i5 processor, 256 GB SSD, and the optional GPU.
The Surface Book, like the other Surface products, is made out of lightweight magnesium and is relatively light. The gorgeous 13.5” 3000×2000 3:2 square display can detach into a full tablet, with a battery that can last for about 4 hours or so. The keyboard dock brings the USB and external display ports, so when the tablet is detached it won’t be able to connect to many devices with a wire. It does support Bluetooth, however.
The version I purchased came with an Nvidia graphics processor (GPU) that’s built into the dock. The GPU should bring a 30-50% performance boost in graphically intensive software that supports a separate graphics processor. It works with games too although it only has a gigabyte of onboard video RAM which is not ideal for demanding games like Grand Theft Auto V. But most games will see a boost in speed over the standard Intel GPU.
The keyboard is superb, the trackpad is almost identical to the one on my 2012 Macbook Pro, and the included stylus is excellent for graphics applications. It’s great for Photoshop especially for detailed work. I was able to lay the tablet flat on my table with the pen in hand, and it’s smart enough to ignore my wrist resting against the screen and look only for the pen.
While I remain a committed Mac user (primarily because of software that I use that’s exclusive to the Mac platform), I have to say this a real competitor to Apple’s hardware design dominance. If you’re a Windows user who’s lusted after the Apple design this Windows machine is every bit as good.
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