Hands-on Surface Book review

[mva5580]

In theory the Surface Book sounds like a great device for me (I like having the full laptop use, but I enjoy using a tablet on the couch/in bed,) but I am definitely a bit worried about that alleged 3 hour battery life of the tablet.

I guess we'll just have to see because we don't truly know where that # is coming from and if it's the typical statement of battery life and 3 hours really means closer to 1.5, or if people are just kind of spit-balling due to the batteries that are inside.

Regardless, I would really hope at the very least the 3 hour mark is accurate and if anything you can get more than that if you turn the brightness down, adjust other power things like resolution, etc.

If the tablet truly only does get like an hour and a half of battery....it's bordering on useless. You have to factor in that you're not ALWAYS going to be pulling the tablet off of the dock at 100% tablet battery life, so this is going to be something that you would have to constantly manage if you actually care about using it away from the dock on a daily basis.

It looks like a great device overall, but that 3 hour battery life statement needs some real world usage.

 

[mva5580]

So I went to the MS Store today, and they had it.

After messing around with it for a short time I have to say it's very nice; definitely a "premium" device. The keyboard felt great and the overall build/construction quality seems top notch.

I went into Task Manager and the i5 version was definitely a dual core, so there you go I guess. No GPU in this model. Also I will say after handling the screen/tablet portion I now fully believe the 3 hour run time because it is really, really light and thin. Basically feels like holding a bigger iPad and considering the similarities in size I imagine it feels just like holding an iPad Pro, except you're using a full i5 PC.

Overall I was impressed, and it didn't change my mind either way in that I plan on getting the i5/8/256/GPU version. Maybe Best Buy will have some on release date.....

 

[DennyA]

Was at the mall today trying to buy my first suit in about 15 years because my wife won a Major Award and I get to go to her ceremony and stopped by the Microsoft Store just to see if they had a Surface Book in. They did!

And I have to say, seeing it in person, it doesn't disappoint at all! The keyboard is excellent, and the trackpad is the best I've tried on a Windows PC by a mile--felt just like a MacBook trackpad, but with the handy right-mouse-button. The screen is just stunning, with a ridiculously wide viewing angle (which might be handy when, say, watching a video with the kid during a trip) and colors that really pop. And obviously, text is super-sharp.

The screen-locking mechanism withstood some moron trying to test it by ripping it off on the store's only Surface Book. Surface Book 1, idiot 0.

I was really pleased with how light the screen felt removed from the Surface Book. It's heavier than my iPad Air, but because it's so much bigger, the weight is spread around and it still feels really light. Gonna be great for reading magazines/comics/etc.

Really, the only bummer is the 3-hour-ish battery life of the screen itself. But when I think of the scenarious where I used my Surface Pro 3 detached from keyboard, or where I use my iPad Air, they're never longer than that anyway. And if I'm reading in my lap, I can either just flip it around and use the keyboard battery, or you can attach the charger directly the screen.

No regrets at all on the preorder after trying it out!

Also played with the Surface Pro 4. Nice improvements, but I wouldn't have sold my Surface Pro 3 for one. But if I'd kept my SP3, I'd definitely have gotten the SP4 keyboard for it. Dramatically better for typing than the SP3 keyboard, which wasn't that bad. But the SP4 keys are separated, have a feel almost as good as the Surface Book's, and the cover itself has been strengthened so it has dramatically less flex than the SP3's.

The new Microsoft Band 2 looks way better than the old one. Disappointed they didn't make it waterproof like the Pebble, though, so you could wear it swimming/showering.

Underneath the Decal girl vinyls it's still perfect, just needs a bit of spit n polish on the screen that's all

Careful. When I took those off my SP3, it pulled off a bit of the finish on the kickstand. Ended up looking like the kickstand had a 1-inch scratch that wasn't there pre-vinyls.