Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book

[evident]

finally starting to consider a tablet, this thing looks great. I have too many computers / devices right now though!

 

[Skurge]

Then TDP will become an issue. I've demoed a Core M Broadwell based 2-In-1 from HP with active cooling. While temps were great, the TDP limit really hampered it while gaming.

I can imagine you would hit the TDP limit when gaming as it's stressing both the CPU and GPU and they have a shared TDP.

When it's purely a CPU load it should stay maxed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DyUitTVWlw

 

[Face2Face]

I can imagine you would hit the TDP limit when gaming as it's stressing both the CPU and GPU and they have a shared TDP.

When it's purely a CPU load it should stay maxed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DyUitTVWlw

Agreed. For CPU or GPU loads only it should be fine, especially since it has active cooling.

 

[sbpromania]

The Surface Book is a nice addition to the Surface family. I was searching lately for a good 2-1 device, and this might be it.

 

[Aristotelian]

Maybe I've been out of the tablet/laptop space for some time but an I7, 16GB ram, 1TB disk, is 2699 USD. Does that not seem really expensive? It's in the realm of what people paid for Vaio Z series - so is this product line meant to be the cutting edge in portable technology of this sort?

 

[Red Storm]

Maybe I've been out of the tablet/laptop space for some time but an I7, 16GB ram, 1TB disk, is 2699 USD. Does that not seem really expensive? It's in the realm of what people paid for Vaio Z series - so is this product line meant to be the cutting edge in portable technology of this sort?

It packs all of that into a thin, light, premium build. If all you care for is the specs you can find bulkier machines for less money.

 

[finbarqs]

damn, now playing starcraft 2 (since patch 3.0) I have to turn my graphics all the way down to low @ 1080p. This is running on a Q6600, 8GB DDR2, 8800GTX

 

[sweenish]

The Surface Book falls largely in line with equivalently spec'd SP4's + keyboard.

It'll be 3rd or 4th gen before I can afford one, but I think the Surface Book is a thing for me.

I'm very curious to see how the dGPU handles games. I don't see it really making regular computing all that much smoother. Curious about a few other things, as well. I look forward to the reviews.

 

[Sheninat0r]

damn, now playing starcraft 2 (since patch 3.0) I have to turn my graphics all the way down to low @ 1080p. This is running on a Q6600, 8GB DDR2, 8800GTX

probably wrong thread, but have you tried using the 32bit client instead of 64bit? some people are getting bad performance on the new 64bit binary.

 

[Seven]

damn, now playing starcraft 2 (since patch 3.0) I have to turn my graphics all the way down to low @ 1080p. This is running on a Q6600, 8GB DDR2, 8800GTX

Most likely a wrong thread, but you have an epic rig.

 

[Commodus]

Maybe I've been out of the tablet/laptop space for some time but an I7, 16GB ram, 1TB disk, is 2699 USD. Does that not seem really expensive? It's in the realm of what people paid for Vaio Z series - so is this product line meant to be the cutting edge in portable technology of this sort?

They currently top out at 512GB, but it's important to remember that this is an SSD, not a spinning hard drive. That added storage speed costs money! Also, 16GB of RAM is still considered high-end, and the Surface Book's 3000x2000 screen is both pretty sharp and unique in the laptop space.

 

[mmntech]

Maybe I've been out of the tablet/laptop space for some time but an I7, 16GB ram, 1TB disk, is 2699 USD. Does that not seem really expensive? It's in the realm of what people paid for Vaio Z series - so is this product line meant to be the cutting edge in portable technology of this sort?

The Surface Book is between $100 - $200 more than a comparable MacBook Pro. So yes, it is expensive.

Points in the SB's favour:
-Touch screen and stylus
-Higher res 13'' display: 3000-by-2000 versus 2560-by-1600
-Discrete GPU available on mid-tier models, not just the highest end.
-Lighter when used in tablet mode

There's still a few questions though. What processors and GPUs it uses exactly, and what the battery life will be like.

 

[zerogear]

I think I will still opt for Surface Pro 4 since that form factor fits my lifestyle more than having the Surface Book -- though I kind of wish they just came out with a Keyboard Dock that complemented the Surface Pro line instead of creating another product line.

Didn't Panay allude to having to remove the usb 3 port if they went thinner? Would you rather they did that?

Dongle for USB...., pls MS, don't go Apple, Pls.

 

[darkswordsman17]

I like these a lot but am also somewhat disappointed. And it's getting to be the same as all the others. There's a lot to like, but there's little things that kinda irk me. No USB-C? Have to pony up money to get the fingerprint sensor which is only on the cover? No iris scanner (I haven't seen any mention but I've seen some claim a RealSense or whatever camera but I haven't seen anything from Microsoft to corroborate that and their page for Surface Pro says Windows Hello needs hardware support, they don't specify if it is just the optional fingerprint reader or something more)? Some weirdness about the pen (I'm seeing places claim you can't recharge the battery and one place even speculated you can't even replace it so you'd have to get an entirely new pen?). dGPU sounds like its not going to add too much so I'm not sure why they didn't put more into offering higher end Intel offerings. But I think this is more meant as an indication of where they expect to be going (and if 14/16nm wasn't so delayed, we'd probably have a better GPU in there).

I see a lot of people going "its not about the specs" and I agree for the most part, the problem is, some of this stuff has very tangible benefits featurewise. USB-C alone would make a huge difference.

Maybe I've been out of the tablet/laptop space for some time but an I7, 16GB ram, 1TB disk, is 2699 USD. Does that not seem really expensive? It's in the realm of what people paid for Vaio Z series - so is this product line meant to be the cutting edge in portable technology of this sort?

No it is getting outlandishly expensive for what it is (the upgrade prices are actually even worse than Apple I think, even though I personally feel the Surface Pro and Surface Book both provide more value than similar Apple products even at their higher standard prices). They're taking a very decidedly Apple turn.

I think that is both to try and prop up Windows as every bit the premium experience that Apple offers, but I also think it is to appease OEMs, as I think a lot of people looking for newer computers are wanting Surface type 2-in-1s, especially with how good Surface Pro has gotten, and Microsoft really kinda stuck it to them (which is why I think Microsoft is now saying that these are meant to show off what is possible and Dell and Lenovo both have devices that are total Surface ripoffs coming out, incidentally I believe both have also announced enterprise deals involving sales of Surface Pro; it is clear that some sort of deal/appeasement was struck between Microsoft and OEMs). But this way they can undersell Microsoft all they want and Microsoft doesn't care as it'll get people using Windows. But at the same time we are getting improved devices, so OEMs aren't sabotaging Windows by releasing junk hardware for the cheapest prices they can.

It packs all of that into a thin, light, premium build. If all you care for is the specs you can find bulkier machines for less money.

No it is definitely more than that otherwise they wouldn't be able to get it down to $899 and $1499 in the first place. They're very obviously gouging people like Apple does. It is weird how I'm seeing largely just praise for Surface while Apple is being chastised (rightly so on the latter in my opinion, but Microsoft absolutely deserves some as well I think).

And keep in mind, I like the Surface Line a lot, and like the new ones quite a bit. I think they're stupendously better value than what Apple is offering now. And Android basically isn't even trying to seriously compete with them in tablets. Unless Samsung sweeps in with a range of excellent AMOLED 4K tablets or something, I don't see that changing either.

I think I will still opt for Surface Pro 4 since that form factor fits my lifestyle more than having the Surface Book -- though I kind of wish they just came out with a Keyboard Dock that complemented the Surface Pro line instead of creating another product line.



Dongle for USB...., pls MS, don't go Apple, Pls.

What are you people talking about? Have you guys not heard about USB-C?

And that's inevitable. Frankly I'm disappointed that the Pro 4 doesn't have it. I'm guessing the designs were finished months ago but they've been waiting on Intel's new CPUs. Plus they probably don't want to push too far, after all they have to give you reasons to upgrade next year (or whenever the next upgrade is, wonder how Intel's delays will impact as I'm not sure there will be a worthy upgrade at CPU for quite a while). But next upgrade we'll get the iris scanner, maybe 2 USB-C ports, probably full 4K, and maybe new dGPU (which could be a big improvement with the 14/16nm shrink).

I am curious how long before we get LTE modems as options.

 

[gus6464]

Funny how no one is mentioning that the Surface Book comes with the fastest laptop SSD on earth. 2500MB/s read and 1500MB/s write is no damn joke.

 

[obidamnkenobi]

So it's $900 for a laptop with a gimped m3 processor, no keyboard, and which will fall over if you use it on your lap? It jumps all the way to $1,300 if you want a real (i5) processor!

I guess it's thin and light, but dang that's a lot to pay for that! I think I'd rather have a proper laptop and pay less for the privilege.

edit: Is the keyboard included? It doesn't' say, but it's in the photos.. They don't even say which processor! There's like 8 different i5 processors, which one is it microsoft?

 

[Commodus]

So it's $900 for a laptop with a gimped m3 processor, no keyboard, and which will fall over if you use it on your lap? It jumps all the way to $1,300 if you want a real (i5) processor!

I guess it's thin and light, but dang that's a lot to pay for that! I think I'd rather have a proper laptop and pay less for the privilege.

edit: Is the keyboard included? It doesn't' say, but it's in the photos.. They don't even say which processor! There's like 8 different i5 processors, which one is it microsoft?

The keyboard's still optional with the Surface Pro 4, unfortunately, so you're looking at over $1K for a "real" minimum config, assuming you use the Surface the way it's meant to be used.

As for the processor: my understanding is that it's the Core i5-6300U, a low-voltage dual-core chip with a 2.4GHz base clock speed.