Microsoft's Surprise Product Announcement: the Surface Book Laptop

[dgstorm]

Microsoft was able to surprise us after all. Even though they announced all of the products we expected them to, they also added one to the mix that we didn't see coming. It's a new laptop called the Surface Book, and it is obviously designed to compete directly against Apple's Macbook like of products.

Microsoft outdid themselves with this one, packing in a ton of features into a slim and gorgeous new laptop. Here's a breakdown of specs and features:

• 13.5-inch PixelSense touchscreen display with 6 million pixels and 267 pixel-per-inch (ppi) ratio.
• Backlit keyboard that features 1.6mm key travel and “best-in-class key stroke” experience
• NVIDIA GeForce GPU with GDDR5 memory
• Precision glass trackpad with five points of touch - optimized “by the Windows 10 engineering team."
• Supposedly twice as fast as the MacBook Pro, and includes 12 hours of battery life
• Can disconnects from the keyboard converting into a Surface Pro tablet that’s about the same size as an A4 piece of paper - it also will work with a stylus, just like the Surface Pro
• The top of the display contains the main hardware (CPU, RAM and battery), but the base contains the GPU and ports
• Dynamic Fulcrum Hinge makes connecting the tablet side to the base easier

The Surface Book will start at $1,499 for the base model, and it will be available for preorder on October 7th. It will officially launch in retail stores October 26th.

 

[dgstorm]

Here's a more comprehensive breakdown of the internal hardware for the new Microsoft Surface Book:

• Size: 9.14 x 12.3 x 0.51-0.90 inches (232.1 x 312.3 x 13.0-22.8 mm)
• Weight: 3.34 lbs. (1515 g), GPU: 3.48 lbs. (1579 g)
• 13.5-inch PixelSense Display with 3000 x 2000 resolution and 267 ppi
• 6th Generation Intel Core i5 or Core i7 processor
• Intel HD graphics 520/NVIDIA GeForce graphics
• 8/16 GB of RAM
• 128/256/512GB/1TB of SSD storage
• Wi-Fi 802.11 ac/a/b/g/n
• Bluetooth 4.0 LE support
• Full-size SD card reader
• Two USB 3.0 ports and Mini DisplayPort
• 8.0MP rear-facing auto-focus camera, with 1080p HD camera
• 5.0MP front-facing 1080p HD camera
• Windows Hello face-authentication
• 36W power supply
• Up to 12 hours of battery life
• Windows 10 Pro operating system
• Surface Pen

 

[JUrUsQAUrqJYXwdRWCmGRufyA]

I am looking at the Surface Book but was disappointed that storage was limited to 512GB why was it not given the ability to have a 1TB just like the Surface Pro 4?

Buy Surface Book - Microsoft Store

 

[GreyFox7]

I am looking at the Surface Book but was disappointed that storage was limited to 512GB why was it not given the ability to have a 1TB just like the Surface Pro 4?

Buy Surface Book - Microsoft Store

I read some speculation about supply of 1tb PCIe SSDs and they would probably be available in early 2016.

 

[JUrUsQAUrqJYXwdRWCmGRufyA]

I am hoping that they will work with the top CAD companies to get this hardware certified. I hope that they get DS to quickly cert the Surface Book!

 

[sharpuser]

I ordered the 512 GB model. If the 1TB was available, I would have ordered it, instead.

However:
1) I have lots of space remaining on my 512 SP3, which I thought would be full by now. Maybe I don't need as much disk capacity as I thought
2) The SD slot certainly can supplement. I already own a 512 SD.

I'm 'Booked'.