Questions Before I Order

[cmcigas]

So I am about to order the Surface Book 256/i7/8. And wanted to know some of your opinions. I have been looking around the past few days on this forum and as expected I saw a pretty good amount of issues being the 1st gen for this product.

So far what I have seen is a not so good battery, trackpad and audio issues and what I thought I would take for granted, the keyboard not recharging the clipboard?

Can someone give me some opinions on those issues before I buy?

Personally I have an issue with the keyboard not being able to power the both itself and the clipboard at the same time, does that mean they have two different chargering ports?

Is there anything else I should know before I buy? Will there be a fully customizable Book soon so I can purchase a 128/i7/16Gb if available?

Should I really go for this or the SP4 (I really want a solid laptop and a tablet when I need it)

Thanks everyone!

 

[Wayne Orwig]

If you plan to use the clipboard a LOT, then I don't think the Surface Book is good for you. The SP4 is likely a better device. BTW, the keyboard will POWER the clipboard, but it will not CHARGE the clipboard. If it charged the clipboard, there would be a lot of inefficiency doing that.

My battery life is good, just not as great as I hoped. I assume that once it settles in, AND I look for battery hogs running in the background, I'll be good.
I have no trackpad issues.
I have what appears to be some display driver issues.

 

[cmcigas]

If you plan to use the clipboard a LOT, then I don't think the Surface Book is good for you. The SP4 is likely a better device. BTW, the keyboard will POWER the clipboard, but it will not CHARGE the clipboard. If it charged the clipboard, there would be a lot of inefficiency doing that.

My battery life is good, just not as great as I hoped. I assume that once it settles in, AND I look for battery hogs running in the background, I'll be good.
I have no trackpad issues.
I have what appears to be some display driver issues.

Yeah it does make more sense that it doesnt charge it but atleast it powers it. How would the clipboard charge then, as in which charges first the clipboard or the keyboard when the power is plugged in?

I wont be using the clipboard a lot, just when I dont need a keyboard that much like checking a few things in bed or something like that.

I guess just reading other posts, people are just freaking out way too much or over exaggerate in their posts.

 

[flar]

To be clear, if you plug in the keyboard and the clipboard is attached then the clipboard will get charged. It doesn't appear that the keyboard can charge the clipboard from its own internal battery, though.

The clipboard has the same charge/data port as the keyboard so that the power and dock are interchangeable with using it either with or without the keyboard attached - just plug them in where the clipboard would have connected to the keyboard.

I haven't measured charge rates individually and together, unfortunately so I can't answer your question about charging priority. Hopefully the clipboard has the priority, though, because when they are attached and on battery, the keyboard battery is used first (presumably to keep the clipboard fresh if you later undock it). Thus, a general "keep the clipboard as charged as possible" philosophy may hopefully prevail for both battery operation and charging priority...

 

[GreyFox7]

How would the clipboard charge then, as in which charges first the clipboard or the keyboard when the power is plugged in?

I believe they showed a graph of them both charging at the same time in the Anandtech review posted today.

 

[cmcigas]

Ok so now I completly understand the charging portion of the Book. Thank you flar, wayne and greyfox.

Now I am just trying to figure out what issues it has?

I read around here and some people have some issues with display drivers and sounds and one person with the scrolling issue.

Would you guys buy Book again right now if you had to or wanted to or would you go somewhere else?

This would be my first surface purchase and it would be for school for Network Engineering. Just trying to figure out if this is right for me or another Dell XPS even though their 2 in 1s arent what I am looking for.

Thanks again everyone