"Surface Book with Performance Base"

[Cimmerian]

Microsoft announced a re-hash of the Surface Book today with a much better GPU, I'll probably get it. Wish I could just buy the base though... Don't want to have to sell my upper half for way less than I bought it for just to get the exact same thing.

Buy Surface Book with Performance Base review - Microsoft Store

 

[BearFlag]

Wow, it's $500 more expense than the dGPU version I bought last year and they didn't update the processor. I'll pass.

 

[Orlbuckeye]

The new design is for the i7 only. They've added the NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 965M 2GB GPU and it now gets 3 more hours of battery life.

 

[Cobalt Wraith]

The new design is for the i7 only.

Uh-huh. Good marketing there at least The CPUs are so close spec wise (and a 965M so not past the capabilities of almost any i5 to keep up with) that they could totally pair that with an i5 version if they wanted to. Like the OP, I'd LOVE to see this sold separately. My only concern with such a move would be that based on the increase in price for the different bases, Microsoft seems to value the base by itself at $500+. Regardless though I think selling the bases separately is something we should at least push for, otherwise I'm concerned that gen 2 will roll around and we STILL won't be able to get a base separately. It would be nice just to be able to replace the main batteries every few hours, but the potential for incremental hardware upgrades by getting just the half you need would be fantastic!

 

[Cimmerian]

Yeah it seems odd that they haven't already sold the existing bases separately just for hot-swappable batteries sake, anyways, here's to hoping you can just get the performance base separately.

Also I already have the 1tb i7 so there shouldn't be any compatibility issues on my end, but like you said it should work just fine with the i5 as well.

 

[tanipat.pilco]

they should sell separately just wanna get only base for replace the old base too TT.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

 

[Orlbuckeye]

They aren't going to do that because the screen only has 3 hours of battery and they would sell one screen to multiple bases.

 

[MagneticPortal]

I don't know what Microsoft was thinking by having the base, performance or otherwise go dead on detach. It should still work as a bluetooth keyboard and the microsd card should be NAS. To conserve power, the NAS could sleep when not needed, as could the keyboard. Full shutdown of the base should be an option, but not the only option. Always half measure, eh Microsoft? Hololens with full display AR was too much to hope for too, I suppose. Maybe after we've gone broke buying the compromises you offer...... you'll do it right.

 

[jason10mm]

I don't know what Microsoft was thinking ...... you'll do it right.

See, you are thinking FAR too selfishly! MS probably has a 5 year plan for feature roll-out. First they have the surface book. Then they have the book with improved base (to prove it is possible). Then they sell the base separately. THEN they add a kickstand to the clipboard (to "ooohhhs" and "aaaahhhs" from the crowd as Panos casually pops it out for the SB3). Then they attach the clipboard to a crane like the Studio (more ohhs and ahhs) that adds another dGPU. Finally, after 5 years, they add a USB-C to the book so it can have a dGPU box like the Razer. MS is doing the same feature dance Apple does.

 

[tarrant64]

I don't know what Microsoft was thinking by having the base, performance or otherwise go dead on detach. It should still work as a bluetooth keyboard and the microsd card should be NAS. To conserve power, the NAS could sleep when not needed, as could the keyboard. Full shutdown of the base should be an option, but not the only option. Always half measure, eh Microsoft? Hololens with full display AR was too much to hope for too, I suppose. Maybe after we've gone broke buying the compromises you offer...... you'll do it right.

Microsoft was probably thinking...it makes sense and why would someone ever do that.

Detach the base just to continue using it as a bluetooth accessory? Your use case seems not all that practical. Disconnect the clipboard and what...find somewhere to put it? You'd have to buy a stand or something. There's no kickstand like the Surface Pro models.

And SD (not microSD, there is no microSD) card as NAS? What, over bluetooth? Slow. Wifi? Not the fastest but a lot more work would have to go into implementing that, which doesn't make sense when you can just attach to the base when you need the additional storage. I've not ever thought it'd be great if my built-in SD port would also double as a NAS.

I have a NAS. It's raid storage, fast, redundant, and plugged into my router and accessible to all my devices and provides services such as FTP, streaming, etc. as needed.

I guess I don't quite understand what you're looking for. A standalone Surface Clipboard with a bluetooth keyboard that doubles as a wireless NAS device? Because, that's not the Surface Book.

The base going dead on detach makes sense. It has nothing realistic to do, so why continue to waste energy.

 

[tarrant64]

See, you are thinking FAR too selfishly! MS probably has a 5 year plan for feature roll-out. First they have the surface book. Then they have the book with improved base (to prove it is possible). Then they sell the base separately. THEN they add a kickstand to the clipboard (to "ooohhhs" and "aaaahhhs" from the crowd as Panos casually pops it out for the SB3). Then they attach the clipboard to a crane like the Studio (more ohhs and ahhs) that adds another dGPU. Finally, after 5 years, they add a USB-C to the book so it can have a dGPU box like the Razer. MS is doing the same feature dance Apple does.

Not sure how much of that was serious or just flat our sarcasm, lol.

And people are so bent on getting USB-C, but I go out there and I can't find any accessories that make it worth my while to switch from USB 3.0 and pay the costs right now. Maybe in 5 years that will change, and it'll make sense to include it in every desktop or laptop out there. Right now it's a bit rare anywhere you go.

 

[tarrant64]

I agree with the previous comments in here about wishing it could be purchased separately. Wouldn't mind the cost of a boost in graphics performance if I could just get the base itself.

Also, hoping to see standalone 28" Studio-Like displays from Microsoft. they aren't in the display business but I was hoping with what they've accomplished with the Surface Hub and now the Studio, that it'll be around the corner. I would buy them to compliment my Surface Book setup - especially if it handles the DPI scaling well. I would buy 2, maybe at any price, the second they were available.