Surface Book Review: Microsoft's first laptop is on to something

[Scorpus]

The Surface Book is one of the most compelling products Microsoft has released in several years and for the first time in decades, the company's first laptop.

While Microsoft’s line of Surface Pro tablets has proven popular among a certain crowd of productivity enthusiasts, they haven’t managed to truly replace a laptop for most users. Acknowledging that is the case after three generations of Surface Pros, the company has taken alternate direction in the quest for the perfect hybrid.

The Surface Book is a laptop first and foremost. The device comes with a solid keyboard base, rather than a thin keyboard cover. When the two parts are connected, the Surface Book looks just like a laptop, but at the click of a button the display can be removed and the device used as a free-standing tablet.

Read the complete review.

 

[Uncle Al]

Got a chance to test drive this baby and over all I would give it a strong 8 on a 10 point scale. As mentioned in the article, it appears that either didn't consult or listen to their product stylist on a few issues so there is room for improvement. The OS works well and the pen is a nice touch but the price point! It will be a hit but until they can get that price point down it won't be a grand slam.

 

[Peter Farkas]

Got a chance to test drive this baby and over all I would give it a strong 8 on a 10 point scale. As mentioned in the article, it appears that either didn't consult or listen to their product stylist on a few issues so there is room for improvement. The OS works well and the pen is a nice touch but the price point! It will be a hit but until they can get that price point down it won't be a grand slam.

I totally agree. I am a MS fanboy and got utterly disappointed when I saw the price tag on the Surface Book and Lumia 950s... MS has gone a little wild with pricing. They are positioning their devices as premium with these prices but they should understand that their loyal customers are very much different than Apple's.
MS fans will never pay such an unrealistic price, unlike the Cupertino fanboys who are happy in their ignorance paying Apple's insane prices. Sorry, honestly no offense, but all Apple products are extremely overpriced and overvalued... I hope MS will not follow Apple down that road...

 

[Cryio]

The GPU in the Surfacebook isn't a 940M, it's a 940 with GDDR5 memory, basically the new 940MX Nvidia recently released http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-940MX.156033.0.html

 

[p51d007]

I'll stick with a thin laptop for now. I have a 1 TB hard drive that is half full now.
I use it to store backup copies of the photos I shoot. (along with a couple DVD's, ext HDD, home computer)
128 GB isn't enough, once they hit the 500gb range, and the PRICE COMES DOWN, I might consider it.
I can get a good quality higher end laptop for less than these. The tablet part doesn't appeal to me anyway.
That's what my 6.1" screen cell phone is for. I'd be too busy wiping fingerprints off the hybrid screen.

 

[Peter Farkas]

I'll stick with a thin laptop for now. I have a 1 TB hard drive that is half full now.
I use it to store backup copies of the photos I shoot. (along with a couple DVD's, ext HDD, home computer)
128 GB isn't enough, once they hit the 500gb range, and the PRICE COMES DOWN, I might consider it.
I can get a good quality higher end laptop for less than these. The tablet part doesn't appeal to me anyway.
That's what my 6.1" screen cell phone is for. I'd be too busy wiping fingerprints off the hybrid screen.

Clearly you don't need a hybrid ;-)

 

[Teko03]

Got a chance to test drive this baby and over all I would give it a strong 8 on a 10 point scale. As mentioned in the article, it appears that either didn't consult or listen to their product stylist on a few issues so there is room for improvement. The OS works well and the pen is a nice touch but the price point! It will be a hit but until they can get that price point down it won't be a grand slam.

I totally agree. I am a MS fanboy and got utterly disappointed when I saw the price tag on the Surface Book and Lumia 950s... MS has gone a little wild with pricing. They are positioning their devices as premium with these prices but they should understand that their loyal customers are very much different than Apple's.
MS fans will never pay such an unrealistic price, unlike the Cupertino fanboys who are happy in their ignorance paying Apple's insane prices. Sorry, honestly no offense, but all Apple products are extremely overpriced and overvalued... I hope MS will not follow Apple down that road...

I'll have to disagree --- the Surface brand isn't intended to market to them masses. Mac holds about 6% of market with it's Mac OSX-based hardware.

Microsoft caters to the premium high-end market because 1) They can't sale at too low of a price because that would take away customers from it's OEM partners --- Dell, HP, Lenovo, etc. If the Surface was priced to sell to the masses, Microsoft would single handedly destroy the hardware companies they've partnered with for 30+ years. No one wants that. 2) The hardware developed by Microsoft is also meant to set the bar for their OEM partners when it comes to the vision Microsoft has for the future of computing. Microsoft is essentially forcing them to become more innovative --- and I believe it's working (Lenovo's Yoga Pro is a great example).

Point is, if you're complaining about the price of the Surface brand, you're not it's intended customer. Wait for the OEM partners to create their own Surface Book like devices at lower price points over the next few years. A couple of them already have released Surface Pro type devices at a more reasonable price point (see the HP Spectre x2) .

 

[Peter Farkas]

I'll have to disagree --- the Surface brand isn't intended to market to them masses. Mac holds about 6% of market with it's Mac OSX-based hardware.

Microsoft caters to the premium high-end market because 1) They can't sale at too low of a price because that would take away customers from it's OEM partners --- Dell, HP, Lenovo, etc. If the Surface was priced to sell to the masses, Microsoft would single handedly destroy the hardware companies they've partnered with for 30+ years. No one wants that. 2) The hardware developed by Microsoft is also meant to set the bar for their OEM partners when it comes to the vision Microsoft has for the future of computing. Microsoft is essentially forcing them to become more innovative --- and I believe it's working (Lenovo's Yoga Pro is a great example).

Point is, if you're complaining about the price of the Surface brand, you're not it's intended customer. Wait for the OEM partners to create their own Surface Book like devices at lower price points over the next few years. A couple of them already have released Surface Pro type devices at a more reasonable price point (see the HP Spectre x2) .

You make point. Perhaps I am not the targeted customer for these MS devices.

 

[Squid Surprise]

I was VERY excited by this product... I'm not ready to purchase it yet, but I foresee me purchasing the Surface Book 2 or 3 (or 4, but I hope earlier)...

I assume that in a couple of years or so, the tablet portion will be pretty much the same as the Surface Pro equivalent, with the laptop portion being powerful enough to game...

 

[Scorpus]

The GPU in the Surfacebook isn't a 940M, it's a 940 with GDDR5 memory, basically the new 940MX Nvidia recently released http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-940MX.156033.0.html

The GPU is essentially a 940M in its design, but rather than interfacing with DDR3, it interfaces with GDDR5, which is true.

 

[Tom Satriani]

The review only talked about the physical appearance and weight. How about a REAL review? Does it sit there for 45 seconds trying to open a simple pdf like my Dell Lattitude? (Dell has this "protected workspace" which down the laptop to very annoyingly slow speeds, then sometimes just crashes and can't even print to a Dell printer when it's on this protect mode). Does it go to a blue screen for no reason sometimes.
C'mon, let's see a real review.