Microsoft releases an entirely new Surface Book 2 15-inch with GTX 1060 inside the 2-in-1 form factor

[Redaktion]

Microsoft has launched three new Surface Book 2 models today, 13.5-inch with Intel HD graphics, 13.5-inch with Nvidia GTX 1050, and 15-inch with Nvidia GTX 1060. We take a look at the 15-inch model in this news article, including the stunning launch video.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Microsoft-releases-an-entirely-new-Surface-Book-2-15-inch-with-GTX-1060-inside-the-2-in-1-form-factor.258490.0.html

[Patric]

WTF 16GB.... This is certainly the (almost) perfect notebook currently, apart from a few problems:
- completely glued together, so forget repairing that thing
- they *had* quality problems in the past, let's hope they're fixed now
- no thunderbolt, not external monitor connection AFAICS
- the worst: only 16GB in the 15" model. WTF!
- last but not least: the price. OMG

Believe me: I would have bought this thing despite the glue and price, but not with 16GB. Why do they have to use LPDDR3 instead of DDR4?

[Greg]

Why? To save some money. Duh ...

[flaming_motion]

WTF 16GB.... This is certainly the (almost) perfect notebook currently, apart from a few problems:
- completely glued together, so forget repairing that thing
- they *had* quality problems in the past, let's hope they're fixed now
- no thunderbolt, not external monitor connection AFAICS
- the worst: only 16GB in the 15" model. WTF!
- last but not least: the price. OMG

Believe me: I would have bought this thing despite the glue and price, but not with 16GB. Why do they have to use LPDDR3 instead of DDR4?

WTF? WTF do you need more than 16 GB for? To drain more battery? That's all that extra ram would do. You don't need more than 16, not even for the most demanding tasks.

[Dddddd]

Can it charge through the USB-C port?

[dthrp]

- All else aside I am disappointed we don't get a Full HD screen option because -
scaling issues and battery life.
- Not doing anything demanding, using 22 / 32 GB of dual-channel memory right now. Absence of two ram slots at the least is a personal deal breaker.
- Glad too see they're pushing ULV + Max-Q. Can't wait to see full stress tests and thermal performance results.

[Weiman]

- All else aside I am disappointed we don't get a Full HD screen option because -
scaling issues and battery life.

Full HD? It's a 3:2 screen, not 16:9.

[dthrp]

@Weiman:

My bad, 2K for 3:2 aspect ratio, so 1620 x 1080. Although I didn't have the SB, I've had simply too many issues with even QHD on a 17" laptop. Thus can't imagine having to cope with high-res on a much smaller Windows device for that much price.

[Benjamin Herzig]

I believe the equivalent 3:2 resolution to 1920 x 1080 would be 1920 x 1280, which is used in some 3:2 Convertible devices.

[Craig Ward]

@Dddddd - While it appears to be mainly intended for external displays (it has replaced the DisplayPort), I remember seeing a quote somewhere from Panos Panay saying that the USB-C port does support charging, but not from all chargers, and I think at a slower rate than via their proprietary connector.

@dthrp - Just want to make it clear that because of the form factor, we suspect that it is a Max-Q variant of the GTX 1060 - although we couldn't find this specified in the press material (it all just said GTX 1060).

There is a chance that since the GTX 1060 is probably the only real heat producing part in the base that it might have a substantial cooling setup, which might allow a standard laptop GTX 1060 (maybe). It might also be a custom chip, a route which Microsoft has gone down before.

One of my colleagues is talking to a contact of his to try and get more information.