Poll What do you want to buy, Surface Pro or Surface Book?

[unruledboy]

I am a big fan of Surface, I own a Surface Pro 3, I convinced quite a few people to buy Surface and they love it.

Now, do you want to buy Surface Pro 4, Surface Book, or not?

 

[unruledboy]

I go first: big fan of the new Surface Book, definitely buy it, but due to the week exchange rate AUD vs USD, and there is no option for i5+16G, I have to choose the mid range version with dGPU

 

[daniielrp]

Surface Pro 4, the Book just has too many complications and downsides. Unfortunately it seems to be a beautiful, but completely over-engineered creation.

 

[unruledboy]

Surface Pro 4, the Book just has too many complications and downsides. Unfortunately it seems to be a beautiful, but completely over-engineered creation.

Like what? the gap of the hinge? screen wobbly? expensive?

 

[daniielrp]

Like what? the gap of the hinge? screen wobbly? expensive?

Yes, the hinge is ridiculously over complex. Laptop hinges were solved about 20 years ago. That Muscle wire release catch? a Fulcrum? External GPU?

What problem do they solve? If that muscle wire catch is supposed to be super strong then why is there still screen wobble? If the hinge doesn't shut properly, surely it has failed in it's function as a hinge?

What they've created is a thinner Surface Pro 4 with 1/4 battery, no ports and that has to be tethered to a battery base to get real functionality and if you are lucky enough to have the money you can get a middling graphics card too.

 

[vsherry]

I don't have the funds, and I find the book overpriced. It's the one I'd buy, though, since none of the Surface Pro 4 upgrades is compelling enough to make me want to upgrade from my 4GB 128GB Surface Pro 3. The Surface Book configuration I'd want is 16GB 1TB. But that's $3,199. I have never spent that much money on a computer, and it's just dual-core. Can't justify that.

 

[hughlle]

I want the book, but think the design is as ugly as they come, let Ali e it's design flaws previously mentioned. And there are just too many compromises for me given the price. It's a very very expensive machine that has pretty average specs as a laptop, well, for the price I'd say low specs, and has very limited tablet functionality.

It's going to be the surface pro for me I think. I can easily afford the book but can't justify it.

 

[vsherry]

If you feel that way about the book, why do you want it in the first place?

 

[sharpuser]

Yes, the hinge is ridiculously over complex. Laptop hinges were solved about 20 years ago ...
What problem do they solve? ...

@daniielrp
I don't have my hands on one, yet, but the hinge design accommodates the ability to maintain tilt angle, detach the screen, and completely fold over 180 degrees.

I'm typing this from my MacBook Pro 15 Retina. Very hefty hinge on this one. Wobbles when I poke the (non-touch screen) screen. No detach. Can't go beyond about 120 degrees of tilt (can't even go flat). If you google search "foldable kickstand for laptop", you will see that MacBooks are well featured there. Many other laptops are, too. Arrests the wobble, and extends the tilt angle.

In general, the laptop hinge seems to be the mechanical weak point of the device. Some other laptops add a swivel to turn the screen backwards, then allow tilt, but no detach.

My Surface Pro has a kickstand, of course, which also cannot go beyond about 150 degrees, but does provide for the maintaining of tilt angle. But there is no way to use it like a laptop unless the kickstand also has room to rest on the lap or the desk top.

The not not closing completely over the keyboard might not be such a problem. Probably feels more like a "book". Might keep the keyboard half from breaking the screen, another common laptop malady.

I think Microsoft has made a bold new design which will be parroted or pirated by many others.

 

[MOFO]

Depending on when we find out the specs on the nVidia GPU for now I'll say Surface Book, if the GPU is powerful enough I might consider the i7 but will most likely get the i5 because it seems to be the better deal .
If the GPU is not a significant upgrade to the Intel HD520 I'll get a SP4, for my needs/wants the DGPU has to be at least twice as fast integrated Intel HD graphics or its just not worth it....for me anyway

 

[GreyFox7]

Where's the Both option? or Multiple selections, Won Lottery - using them for active wallpaper, All of the above.

 

[daniielrp]

I think Microsoft has made a bold new design which will be parroted or pirated by many others.

But it's not a bold new design as such, it's no different than a Asus Transformer but with a more complicated hinge.