Microsoft Surface Book Announced!

Neilc28

Neilc28

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Neil
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Pitched as the "Ultimate Laptop"

13.5" PixelSense
267 PPI
Optically Bonded
Backlit Keys
Glass Touchpad
12hr Battery-Life
NVidia GeForce GPU
GDDR5 Memory
 
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I thought the decision between an SP3 and SP4 was difficult, now they announce the SB! :runaway:
 
There was a lot of talk about the screen, which, of course, is critical for photographers. So we'll have to wait and see, but if it lives up to the hype then it could be a great buy. My main dilemma is mainly round tablet vs hybrid vs laptop. Just can't decide if the SBook is too big to when the keyboard is detached.
 
Looks great! May have to move on the MBPR...after all I am a PC guy ;) that loves his Mac haha
 
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Xenon54 said:
My main dilemma is mainly round tablet vs hybrid vs laptop. Just can't decide if the SBook is too big to when the keyboard is detached.
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It's probably great without the keyboard when you are on the sofa. And great on a desk with the keyboard. But if you want to carry something on a day out, you might be better off with a second, small (8-10in) tablet.
 
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I cannot believe this thread hasn't seen more commentary, is it just all the MBP users still picking themselves up off the floor as they can no longer lay claim to the prettiest designed laptop on the market?

So thoses that know tech better than I how does this stack up, seems a reasonable beast
 
I have Mac and PC (we'll prob about 7 PCs and three Macs), the SB looks great so far but it's how it comes together as a device that matters to me, for example my MBPR has a genuine 12+ hour battery life, the touchpad is the BEST I have ever used and so on, it's i7 flys through RAW images in LR and the whole 13" format packs easy in my bag. I can't wait to get a SB and see how it compares, but also will keep my MBPR for my daily needs, the Mac OS is so streamline doing simple tasks is an un-bloated pleasure compared with the clutter bundled into MS these days.

Given that Mr Moores law seems to be correct you can expect something faster anytime soon ;)
 
It looks awesome and I so badly want one and maybe just me being pedantic but for the cost i would have liked to see thunderbolt or usb-c included to future proof and accommodate faster external drives when I'm guessing there's limited user upgradability. Loving the 3:2 screen though wonder what it will be like for colour accuracy, wish more laptop makes would realize 16:9 screens aren't the only option for pc's.
 
That new laptop looks a fantastic piece of kit. As soon as I heard Pci SSD I was sold lol

I was watching the work flow using Premiere Pro. It looked faster than my PC. Seriously impressive

Having said that I can't justify the price of the laptop so a Surface Pro it will be (not sure between the 3 or 4 though yet, I'll wait for reviews). If I was buying purely for work, and my work involved being on location more, the laptop it would be.

There's also the HP Surface clone that was announced yesterday (looks a little under powered for my needs but great value) and Dell are due to announce their version (today I think?)

So I'll give it a while and see which fits the bill best before ordering.

I think I'm turning into a W10 fanboy. The Lumia 950 XL was pretty impressive and as long as it's available in UK will be my next phone. Yay - Android free :)
 
I use the Surface Pro 3 i7 now and I have to say for power over portability it wins hands down.
I really think Microsoft have something with this new device.
It looks a good design too.
I won't bash Apple either I used a MBP 15 as main machine but boy it was heavy! But very capable too
 
I haven't read too much about the SB but a verge article I saw yesterday suggested the standard keyboard was £100 extra but to get the GDDR5 graphics you'd need to buy the higher spec keyboard for £150 as the video card is built in to that? Not sure how true that is but if so it means you're only going to get the best performance when it's used as a full laptop?
 
I have been thinking about getting a Surface Pro, particularly as it will run Windows apps which is a big failing of iPad. the Surface Book looks good and the hinge looks very interesting - it is nice to see Microsoft really trying to do innovation things in hardware design as well as software.
 
I use a SP3 and it's a fantastic bit of kit. The screen is lovely too! I'm glad the new keyboard and pen will be backwards compatible with the 3 - can see myself upgrading them (they type cover is ok, but there is a bit of flex and that is something they explicitly say they've improved in the new cover. I'll test one in a shop once it's out to see if that claim holds true).
 
That's the combo I'm leaning towards Brian, SP3 and new keyboard. Having said that I bet I end up with SP4 :)

Which spec do you have? Tempted to look at the i5/256gb/8gb model
 
Wissel said:
That's the combo I'm leaning towards Brian, SP3 and new keyboard. Having said that I bet I end up with SP4 :)

Which spec do you have? Tempted to look at the i5/256gb/8gb model
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I've the i5/256gb/8gb. On the SP3 the i7 isn't worth the extra money - its only marginally faster, but because it has a higher thermal load it rapidly ends up throttling back and you lose the speed advantage until it cools down. I've been able to do various mathematical modelling tasks on the i5 with no problem - it's been suitably fast. From my point of view, the only downside is the lack of a CUDA compatible GPU as we use various software packages in work that can take advantage of that. On the other hand, if it's a task that really needs the processing power then I have access to desktops with suitable cards and laptop with a GTX880m for working while travelling. I try to take only the SP3 when possible though and that's a pretty regular occurance.
 
My only other concern with the laptop layout is that the new hinge looks good but, due to leaving a gap between the screen and keyboard, there's a risk that if the SB gets squashed inside a bag, the compression point is going to be that gap. With a standard laptop layout all of the pressure is distributed across both flat faces of the screen/keyboard. Without actually trying it I don't know for sure but it does appear to be a bit form over function.
 
Cuchulainn said:
I've the i5/256gb/8gb. On the SP3 the i7 isn't worth the extra money - its only marginally faster, but because it has a higher thermal load it rapidly ends up throttling back and you lose the speed advantage until it cools down. I've been able to do various mathematical modelling tasks on the i5 with no problem - it's been suitably fast. From my point of view, the only downside is the lack of a CUDA compatible GPU as we use various software packages in work that can take advantage of that. On the other hand, if it's a task that really needs the processing power then I have access to desktops with suitable cards and laptop with a GTX880m for working while travelling. I try to take only the SP3 when possible though and that's a pretty regular occurance.
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Thanks Brian. I have high power PC's here so wouldn't be doing anything too intense with a Surface.

I would like to be able to use LR and occasionally PremPro. I assume you use LR with no issues?
 
stevelmx5 said:
the standard keyboard was £100 extra
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I'm fairly certain the keyboard is included with the SB, but the cheapest model does not come with the dedicated gpu.

Cuchulainn said:
I've the i5/256gb/8gb. On the SP3 the i7 isn't worth the extra money - its only marginally faster, but because it has a higher thermal load it rapidly ends up throttling back and you lose the speed advantage until it cools down.
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The SP4 has new cooling which looks more efficient and the skylake chip has better power handling features, meaning there's a reasonable chance the throttling issues with SP3 will be significantly improved, meaning we might start to see bigger differences between the i5/i7 versions. The core m version is completely fanless and should have longer battery in comparison as well, so you get to really pick your preference here.

stevelmx5 said:
My only other concern with the laptop layout is that the new hinge looks good but, due to leaving a gap between the screen and keyboard, there's a risk that if the SB gets squashed inside a bag, the compression point is going to be that gap. With a standard laptop layout all of the pressure is distributed across both flat faces of the screen/keyboard. Without actually trying it I don't know for sure but it does appear to be a bit form over function.
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That's an interesting point, but I'd suggest that the fact it's machined out of one piece of metal means it's plenty strong enough here. I also doubt they'd forget to test that after the apple bending iphone fiasco.
 
chrism_scotland said:
I think the Surface Book looks good but I wish they would be more open about exactly which Nvidia GPU is going to be in the machine, if it was going to be something really powerful then I think they would have been shouting about it.
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I agree, but glossing over these things is straight out of the apple playbook. Most of the news and press coverage happens in the first few days, so it can suit them to delay publishing these details, and it's likely a custom chip anyway, so perhaps difficult to describe in a launch demo.

The only thing I say though it's unlikely to be only slightly better than the in-built graphics in the i7 chip otherwise there'd be no point in engineering one into the keyboard and people wouldn't pay for it.
 
Looks good (and expensive). The design is bound to win over some of the Apple crowd.

I've been enjoying Windows 10 for a while now and it's nice to see MS continuing their good run.
 
Wissel said:
Thanks Brian. I have high power PC's here so wouldn't be doing anything too intense with a Surface.

I would like to be able to use LR and occasionally PremPro. I assume you use LR with no issues?
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I don't use it as my main editing machine, but I have used lightroom on it with no problems.
 
I use mine linked to external 4K screen with no problem in editing. I do hope that there will be more speed difference between the i7 and i5 on sky lake for the surface pro.

The surface book layout is too much traditional laptop for my liking, and for the money they are asking I rather have a MacBook instead.

The surface 4 is interesting but will have to see real life test results to see whether it is worth an upgrade from the surface pro 3.
 
Seems my mate has one on pre order, can't wait to see it. Loads of us were chatting about it, some friends of mine like me have been with PCs since the start, I am a PC guy at heart but got a Mac two years ago to be free of Microsoft for a change, last Mac I had before that ran system 7!! Was only used for render stuff in the animation industry. My mate said as many have it will eat your MacBook Pro, I laughed (keep in mind I am a PC guy) and said yeah, BUT you don't own a Mac JUST for the hardware ;) it's the OS that makes it great...lol He still don't see my point... As I say I am excited to see it in action, the screen and touchpad will be key for me, hope they are as good as the hype.
 
Switching back from a MacBook I didn't realise how far ahead Apple Touchpads are. I really hope there is a huge improvement.
 
Currently running the i7 SP3, which love, I do everything on it, it's never let me down. and now with win 10 I love it even more!
Now the SP4 & SB have been announced, I'm in a bit of a dilemma.... but I think I'm going to shoot for the SB and keep the SP3 as my 'tablet', just for more portability really, where I cba to take a laptop with me, or don't want to disconnect the SB screen and only take that.
It says what 4? hours with the screen off dock? I'm not sure I'd trust that, as I can see that getting a bit close to the knuckle a few times.
Finally is the screen on the SB looks a peach (spec wise), the only niggle I've had with the SP3 is the yellowing strip down the left hand edge of the screen, I'm on my 3rd unit all with the same thing and I just can't be bothered to send it back again knowing it'll do the same thing again.

I paid a good chunk of cash for the SP3, and the SB is significantly more again, so if they haven't sorted that screen banding out it'll be a deal breaker... of course that wouldn't surface (pardon the pun) until a couple of months into usage. :S

decisions decisions!!
 
Yes but the Microsoft fan boys will still buy the Surface Book, despite the crazy price. Make it pretty and they'll buy anything.
Wait a minute!... Did I say Microsoft?
 
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ianp5a said:
Yes but the Microsoft fan boys will still buy the Surface Book, despite the crazy price. Make it pretty and they'll buy anything.
Wait a minute!... Did I say Microsoft?
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What Microsoft fanboys lol?

Wait for v2 or v3 of surface book
 
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