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Porsche Design Book One

eastwald

New Member
DO NOT buy a Porsche Book one !

I own one since may 14. I bought it because I needed an i7 with touch screen and 16 GB RAM, and there was no recent machine at that moment. The Surface pro was not out yet so I took the bet.

The Book one is clearly not worth the money :
  • - it is heavy and far less practicall than the surface
  • - the latch mecanism often blocks when putting the screen back into the keyboard. I detach the screeen by profesionnal use 10x/ day. It will never last
  • - the screen make continuously a small insect-like noise
  • - the windows hello camera blocked after 2 weeks, saying I deactivated windows hello, which I did not. I keeps doing that even after a windows hello reset
  • - the machine has trouble loading programs and drivers. I often need to restart twice or more in order the boot to work completely
  • - one of the USB c port has a contact problem, not good to connect external screen
  • - the vent is quite loud when on (although not as much as on my old SP3)
  • - there are no forums on Porsche website

the good :
  • - fast
  • - the stylu works well, is well designed with a strong magnet
  • - Porsche answered my questions by mail. Will it now admit all these problems I just mentionned them ?


I have a surface pro 3, which never stopped working as goog as 3 years ago. it's just it does not have 16 GB RAM which I need now.

I have a Surface Pro 2, and owned a Surface Book when it first came out which I promptly returned as it bricked itself within a few days use. I have encountered zero issues w/ my Porsche Book One and pre-ordered it. I signed up just to let the OP know, there are many people who join their work domain and get the associated group policy and end up blaming their issues on the device. I know it was a huge risk, but German engineering isn't world renowned for no good reason ;)

I'd re-buy it in a heartbeat. The support is great as well, though I only contacted them to find out how to get drivers if I wanted to do a clean install. I also use Windows 10 Enterprise, I don't know if that makes a difference. I do find it more stable than Pro on my other machines, I will say. But the Book One is by far my favorite laptop/tablet I have ever owned, not a single hitch since day one - truly amazing for a gen one product.

Also, still have my SP2 and use it almost daily depending which part of the house I'm in. Aside from the now 2 hour battery life, that thing is amazing. Better than the SP3 (aside from keyboard / mousepad - I hate the pad on SP1/2's) from what I've read - I don't do much gaming but the sp3 supposedly thermal throttles more than the 2.
 
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Afy

Member
I have a Surface Pro 2, and owned a Surface Book when it first came out which I promptly returned as it bricked itself within a few days use. I have encountered zero issues w/ my Porsche Book One and pre-ordered it. I signed up just to let the OP know, there are many people who join their work domain and get the associated group policy and end up blaming their issues on the device. I know it was a huge risk, but German engineering isn't world renowned for no good reason ;)

I'd re-buy it in a heartbeat. The support is great as well, though I only contacted them to find out how to get drivers if I wanted to do a clean install. I also use Windows 10 Enterprise, I don't know if that makes a difference. I do find it more stable than Pro on my other machines, I will say. But the Book One is by far my favorite laptop/tablet I have ever owned, not a single hitch since day one - truly amazing for a gen one product.

Also, still have my SP2 and use it almost daily depending which part of the house I'm in. Aside from the now 2 hour battery life, that thing is amazing. Better than the SP3 (aside from keyboard / mousepad - I hate the pad on SP1/2's) from what I've read - I don't do much gaming but the sp3 supposedly thermal throttles more than the 2.

Thank you very much for your reply. I am truly glad that you have had no issues with your device which is heartening. Given how few of these one encounters in the wild our views are extremely welcome and appreciated.

How do you find the hinge on the BO? That is the one area that worries me. I know it shouldn't given its pedigree.
Would also like to get your in-depth opinions /review on the Book One.

I still haven't decided on a replacement for my SP4, which quite frankly is humming along just fine.
 

Destinare

New Member
I bought the Book One too. The keyboard battery is faulty. The support suggested me to flash bios. After the flashing done, the battery is still not chargeable. Further, the device manager shows one "unknown device". The support advice me to exchange one.

With the supposedly new one, battery seems to be ok. But there is no keyboard back-light. I try to flash the bios, the device manager shows me "unknown device" again. Below is the error message:
- Device Instance Path: ACPI\QCI0702\2&daba3ff&0

- Parent Device: ACPI_HAL\PNP0C08\0

I was also told that this is the last replacement unit they have, otherwise I have to wait another 1-2 months.

Last night, I realized the tiny sounds come out from screen. It's really bad experience.

Overall, the support is responsive; the service is good but lack of quality to solve the problem.

For those who intends to buy the German's technology, beware that this Book One is produced in China, which is admitted by the service engineer.
 

Cuchulainn

Member

For those who intends to buy the German's technology, beware that this Book One is produced in China, which is admitted by the service engineer.

Only German design, that's for sure. No different than Microsoft, Apple, Dell, HP, Lenevo, etc. They are all manufactured by a small handful of companies. The Design Book One is manufactured by Quanta in Taiwan.
 

Cuchulainn

Member
Correct. Quanta has among its customers Apple, Dell, HP, Allienware, Lenevo, Toshiba and others. The comment wasn't intended as a knock on Quanta, just saying that German design, just like Apple's Designed in California, only goes so far and then it is one of about 4 companies manufacturing it :)

Doesn't quanta build laptops for Dell as well?
 
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Afy

Member
I didn't mean anything negative, was just curious.
I am still hankering for the Book One, but just cant get myself to risk it. Surprisingly it is cheaper to buy it from Microsoft than Porsche Design. I wonder what the returns policy is on it with MS.

The Verge Review
 

Cuchulainn

Member
No worries. I thought maybe you took what I said as a negative about Quanta. They are just another builder, not terribly different from the others in the market :)

I believe everything sold through Microsoft has the same 30 day return policy. Try it for awhile and live with it for a month. That will give you a much clearer idea of whether or not the pros outweigh the cons. They sure are an eye catching design.
 

ALI IBRAHEM

New Member
I have porsche book one , after I bought the 2017 surface pro and returned it to Amazon for twice time because of the poor quality screen,:mad::mad:, after this I purchased porsche book one, and I used it about a month ago
The machine is excellent with very high quality materials , I did not find any problem
until this moment
 
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Afy

Member
Ali could you do a review of it please? What are your impressions about the performance, hinge etc etc.
 
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