Microsoft Surface Book (Core i5, Nvidia GPU) Notebook Review

[Redaktion]

A book with some missing pages. If you want a one-of-a-kind notebook, then the Surface Book is the first to offer a dedicated Nvidia GPU in the keyboard dock to power an equally unique 3:2 tablet with one of the best displays for the size. It's surprising, then, that the Surface Book can feel so barebones at the end of the day.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Microsoft-Surface-Book-Core-i5-Nvidia-GPU-Notebook-Review.153126.0.html

[Francesco1]

I love this device, but how much is the Clickpad a deal-breaker? I'm used to dedicated mouse buttons on touchpads, will the Clickpad change my workflow significantly?

[jensen2]

Great job guys...  A very detail, unbiased and balanced review covering almost all aspects and features notebooks/tablets in general.

[Artem]

Thank you for the review! Great and full of isights as always!

Howrver, one aspect that I felt is a little unfair is the connectivity and docking. You don't mention the surface dock. It still does not provide native HDMI and costs some extra but it looks like an elegant and powerful docking solution otherwise (in my opinion) and can be used instead of the standard power brick. I also feel that saying that there is no docking port and not mentioning "Surface Connect" is not right.


Another small correction note:
"detachables currently in the market." I believe should be "on the market". :)

[unicorn64]

A little bit unfair :)
ad1 Surface Book is a premium device not only for business users but first of all for creators/artists/etc. due to best-in-class Surface Pen (not mentioned in Pro list)
ad2 I don't understand a weak battery life, e.g., arstechnica.com (wifi browsing 12,5 h for i5/iGPU, i7/dGPU) or engadget.com (video 1080p, 14h for i5/iGPU, 11,5 h for i7/dGPU), so, the best results in their laptop list

[Puppy]

Cons "native 3:2 aspect ratio not ideal for video or gaming" ? Fortunately ! The 16:9 crap other vendors are pushing everywhere is for anything but productive work. I also don't get why lack of HDMI is a cons as long as it has DisplayPort output. Again, pro monitors have DisplayPort inputs, no HDMI. The only issue is the lack of WWAN option.

[tangoseal]

Good review, detailed, and you raised some good points. I am typing this review on my Surface book actually. However, unbiased as I am still within my return window of this product I can say that I thoroughly enjoy it very much. It is a 4th generation and a 1st gen product stuffed into one so its a love hate relationship.

Where I feel you are being unfair is that there is native support for Display Port. The Display Port is taking over the industry and almost all top tier Television manufacturers have shifted to this interface. HDMI is going the way of the dinos and don't get me started on DVI.

This is not just a ultrabook or a laptop or a tablet. All of those can have touch screen interfaces that you can point your big fat cheeto grabbers with little to no precision and get around the internets just fine. What this does have is a precision graphics tablet that you can literally write very fine and detailed information on, a truly functional professional quality 100% gamut screen with a very dense pixel count.

I am tired of everyone trying to compare this thing to a full powered 8 kilogram GTX980M SLI Quad Core I7 Extreme gaming center. This is much much more than an Macbook and much more than a standard ultrabook. Give it some credit.

Will I retain this computer past my return window? Possibly so... im about 90% sure I will. It seems as if it is going to be perfectly viable and functional in academia where I exist full time as of now.

[fu]

did i miss or there is not? i'm looking for answer about how it working performance only in table mode?

the gaming score, the battery life, the temperature, 

[spwer]

We would really appreciate if you would run the numbers on tablet portion alone as thats pretty important... if it cant do more than 3hrs of light usage, it is very serious drawback. Thanks a lot!

[Francesco1]

@spwer
Yeah, other tests I've read say no more than 3 hours. The tablet has a small battery indeed.

@Puppy
I don't agree with you. 16:9 is the best aspect ratios for watching movies! However 3:2 is better for web browsing or typing, and, since that is what I will do mostly, I'm very happy for the aspect ratio they've chosen, it makes a lot of sense in a notebook (why the hell must they all be 16:9?!). Moreover, a full-sized HDMI would have been very useful as most TVs use it. I will need to buy an adapter.

[Omer]

Hi, I like to ask a a general question regarding screen res and battery life.-I ask it here as I consider getting this device, and this has a very high res-.
I currently own a Surface 3 with 1920*1200 resolution, because of scaling issues of a program I use, I deceided to try a lower res 1200*780 on it around 1.5 times lower than recommended. It look not that great on photos ect, but works for my program, and other apps.
More interestingly I noticed a higher battery runtime, I dis not test it with a mobilemark program or systematically comparing to original resolution, but seems to last longer., and windows shows higher battery remaining too. I also tried this on my FHD Lenovo t440s, with 1200*800 resolution. Again seems to last longer.
Could this be the case?-did you guys ever test it. If it is in my opinion Surface book may be interesting with using with a lower adjusted resolution for me, as it is too high as sold anyways. All I need at this stage from a laptop is ability to leave charger home for a full day, not an ultra hd-and unfortunately am tied to windows..
Thanks a lot

[unicorn64]

Your question is interesting :)
I can provide you link to Czech article (use Google translate), they did experiment with Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro, shortly:
3200x1800px (web, 256 min) --> 1600x900px (web, 454 min) => +77%
So, if you change resolution proportionally you have still crisp image with much better battery life.
http://www.cnews.cz/clanky/jak-se-meni-vydrz-s-ruznym-rozlisenim-displeje-notebooku-test/strana/0/1
Second possibility could be CPU underclocking/undervolting.

[klaun]

This is not a gaming or multimedia laptop, so I don't understand why missing HDMI or 3:2 aspect is a con.
Also not all games today are just console ports, and some do support aspect ratios different from "HDTV" (notice the TV), Games are not movies.
Display Port and 3:2 aspect are the major advantages of it.

Also I hope they'll never compromise battery life by replacing part of the battery inside the keyboard with a storage option. The battery is another major plus.

More interestingly I noticed a higher battery runtime, I dis not test it with a mobilemark program or systematically comparing to original resolution, but seems to last longer., and windows shows higher battery remaining too. I also tried this on my FHD Lenovo t440s, with 1200*800 resolution. Again seems to last longer.

Makes a lot of sense, since more pixels mean more work for the GPU. Increasing the resolution is the most straightforward way to increase GPU load.

[Sparc]

Review pointed as cons that no fingerprint reader, but no one word about its integrated RealSense infrared camera used with Windows Hello as login method?

[klaun]

The review facts were again very detailed and insightful, regardless of subjective opinions about features.