To Book or Not to Book...

[ChiGGz]

Again if you are willing to spend $2,700 on the Surface Book, that amount of money would not get you a "mid-level" gaming desktop. It would be high end, easily.

Hell I would get the i7/16gb/256gb Surface Pro 4 before I would get the $2,700 Surface Book. The SP4 i7 comes with the Iris Graphics and at this point I don't think there is going to be much of a difference between that and the GPU in the Book. Close to $1,000 cheaper for very similar performance.

If the form factor of the SB is not the be-all-end-all deciding factor for you, then I see very little reason to buy it. You could get much more power for cheaper.

Well, it would be more like $2700 minus sale of my SP3 i7 512. Otherwise I would not consider this at all.

Form factor not so much a selling point and I have no issues with the SP3 keyboard. But if the dGPU vs SP4 GPU is not that different, then that would be a sticking point.

 

[BearFlag]

I agree with what most of you are saying. Again, I'm a medium gamer with medium hardware requirements. Seeing as how my SP3 runs LoL and the other games I play at lower settings, I can imagine the Surface Book being a definite "gaming" upgrade and fitting my gaming needs. Question is how much better? which inevitably leads back to, should I get a mid-level gaming desktop and keep my SP3, or sell it and get the Surface Book for of course a premium in $.

But it seems the big question is how good is the dGPU and that won't be known until people get there hands on the product and do some benchmarking. Makes sense.

I think we are in similar boats. I also have a SP3 and would like to get a device with a larger screen that will also be better for gaming. Therefore I'm debating weather to sell my SP3 and get the new Surface Book (i5 dGPU) or get the new XPS 15 (i5 4K display) and keep my SP3. The former will save me around $300 (from the SP3 money).

I prefer having one device (Surface Book) but maybe having the bigger screen (XPS 15) coupled with my current SP3 might be better. I definitely want a table or clipboard so just having the XPS 15 alone is not an option for me. Also the new keyboard for the SP4 would be a great upgrade for my SP3.

Right now I'm waiting for full reviews to come out on both devices before I make my decision.

 

[mrsamtee]

Also... Use education website portal to get 10% off surface. Pretty significant.

 

[Cobalt Wraith]

I think we are in similar boats. I also have a SP3 and would like to get a device with a larger screen that will also be better for gaming. Therefore I'm debating weather to sell my SP3 and get the new Surface Book (i5 dGPU) or get the new XPS 15 (i5 4K display) and keep my SP3. The former will save me around $300 (from the SP3 money).

I prefer having one device (Surface Book) but maybe having the bigger screen (XPS 15) coupled with my current SP3 might be better. I definitely want a table or clipboard so just having the XPS 15 alone is not an option for me. Also the new keyboard for the SP4 would be a great upgrade for my SP3.

Right now I'm waiting for full reviews to come out on both devices before I make my decision.

Speaking of similar boats...

This is the exact same decision I am trying to make myself, down to the XPS 15 which also made its way to the table. I ran some benchmarks on my i7 SP3 as well as my 27" Lenovo all-in-one (which has been more than adequate for my work and gaming needs) and found that the Surface Book is faster than either by a fair margin according to the few tests I could find using 3D Mark run on Surface Book so far. My SP3 hits a score of 47,189 on Ice Storm Unlimited compared to 83,514 for the i7w/dGPU courtesy of andandtech (and I believe the gap between the i7 and i5 will be less than 7-8% based on available data). In the more strenuous Sky Diver test my SP3 scored 2,541 compared to 6,220 for the same Surface Book, courtesy of PCWorld. Since these stats also beat my casual gaming PC who's performance I am more than happy with, and particularly since Surface devices have historically outperformed my expectations for their stats, I think I finally have enough data to conclude that I will be getting a mid range Surface Book with a 27-34" monitor to replace both my devices. This means my Surface Book with dock will serve as laptop, tablet, and desktop for my needs without any complaints. The only thing I need hard numbers on now is the performance difference between the i5 and i7 models, because if the % difference in price and real world performance does end up about the same, I'll probably spring for the higher model rather than the 256GB i5 w/dGPU I currently have on order.

 

[sharpuser]

For me:

I considered:
- How often I use my Surface Pro 3 in laptop vs tablet mode (90%)
- What equipment I take along with my Surface Pro 3 to the office, or when traveling (mouse, to make up for the trackpad shortcomings)
- How often I use the kickstand (almost always)
- Details I must see on the screen (need ever better resolution)
- Battery life

The Surface Book wins in all these categories as a laptop with a good trackpad, screen hinge, resolution, and battery life.

 

[ChiGGz]

I would severely miss the kickstand though. Particularly on regional flights that have the pamphlet slots at the rear headrest. I would always pop out the kick stand and slot it, effectively giving me a heads up display panel on flights.

 

[sharpuser]

I will wager that some kind of lightweight kickstand or stand will be out by someone soon.