Microsoft
Today, Microsoft announced a new Surface Book. After announcing a string of new processors and other devices, the Surface Book 2 was the next logical step. This announcement came on the heels of the unveiling of the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update.
The Surface Book 2 sees a slight redesign with new specs, graphics cards and the new ‘Coffee Lake’ processors. The Surface Book will come in two sizes: the 15-inch and 13.5-inch device. With the introduction of the 15-inch screen, this iteration of the Surface Book becomes the largest in the Surface Book family.
The new Surface Book 2: The fastest Surface Book ever, with 4 times more power made possible by an 8th Gen @Intel processor.
Like other Surface Books, you can remove the screen and use it as a tablet, and it will run as smoothly as it would if you were using it as a laptop. The Surface Book 2 will support the Adobe Creative Cloud better than the previous version of the device. There will even be a new Surface Dial functionality mixed in to Photoshop to help users easily access their most used brush settings.
In their Blog regarding the product release, Windows writes:
A laptop powerful enough to fuel the next wave of computing across mixed reality, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and immersive gaming. A laptop that empowers the designers, developers, artists, and scientists to imagine and build without limits and without compromises.
The Surface Book 2 will be available for pre-order on November 9 and will arrive in stores and be out for delivery on November 16.
Here are the specs for the devices:
| 15-inch Surface Book 2 | 13.5-inch Surface Book 2 | |
| Base CPU | Quad-core up-to 4.2GHz Intel Core i7 | Dual-core up to 3.5GHz Intel Core i5 (fanless) |
| Upgrade CPU | N/A | Quad-core up to 4.3GHz Intel Core i7 |
| Base GPU | Intel 620 | Intel 620 |
| Upgrade GPU | 6GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 | 2GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 |
| Storage | 256GB, 513GB, 1TB SSD | 256GB, 513GB, 1TB SSD |
| Weight | 4.2 pounds, 1.8 in tablet mode | 3.6 pounds, 1.5 in tablet mode |
| Battery Life | 17 hours, 5 hours tablet mode | 17 hours, 5 hours tablet mode |
| Camera | 5 MP front, 8 MP rear | 5 MP front, 8 MP rear |
| Base Price | $2,499 | $1,499 |
The Surface Book 2 comes in a base model with the ability to upgrade to a faster model for a price. The base specs look good, but the upgrade specs look better. Chances are we’ll know more once reviews start coming out. It looks like the Surface Books will be expensive, which isn’t a surprise, given that their main competitor is the Mac Book. The prices are about in line with the 13- and 15-inch MacBook Pro laptops that are available now. According to the specs, the Surface Book 2 beats the MacBook pro. It’ll make things interesting at least when these laptops become available in time for Black Friday and holiday shopping.
Google also announced a thousand-dollar laptop this year. The Google Pixelbook will also compete with the Surface Book 2.
