It has enough ports, removable touch screen, GTX 1060, 13 hours of battery life, higher pixel density and costs the same as the latest MacBook pro which has none of those. Nice job MS.
But I'm still unsure if I should buy it. The reviews with all the problems are scary af. It feels like 30% of all SB2s are complete fails and you have to be lucky to get one where nothing is wrong.
@@fjwio780 I bought one a month ago and have had it restart once due to that bad windows hello update which was fixed Dec 11th by MS. Honestly, I don't understand when people say this is expensive. What? ALL competing laptops with similar specs are the SAME PRICE AS THE SB2!WITH NO DETACHABLE TABLET. This is the hands down the best PC ever made. All-in-one.👌
Black Panther or maybe it is a valid point that Surface Book is plagued with problems if only you are a bit more informed, and being less of a judgemental prick? It is a known issue that MSFT has issues in QC with their Surface lines, and EVEN the Surface Book 2 is not without problems either. For instance, not enough power delivery for the 15", power button issues, sudden display crack, etc. On paper the Surface Book is a fantastic laptop, even I once considered to purchase the Surface Book 2, before I dig deeper into the user experiences freely available on the internet. But once the novelty is gone, you'd start the notice all the drawback of this otherwise beautiful machine.
My 1st gen was working well for 2 years until just now its base battery stopped charging. Bought it refurbished, maybe that had always been an issue with my unit in particular. It was the weakest model available so I'm happy to finally upgrade, the original was really spectacular until its unfortunate end, and that's even with a weak shitty one like mine, just a good laptop, simple as that
Tom, you should tell Microsoft that you only review products if you can do a short-term, 6-month and 12-month review of and that they need to let you keep your review unit for a year. Then every year you can upgrade without having to worry about the price. If they seem hesitant, then you can remind them that Americans are more likely to believe a reviewer with a British accent. Is this possible?
@@Thetechchap Has the additional benefit that you get the new unit before inevitably the battery gives out (which leads to a host of nasty problems with the SB), and the glued shut expensive piece shows its throwaway nature. Seriously, if you aren't willing to perform a few dicey surgical procedures on the thing, or know somebody who does, this must be one of the most expensive per-ownership-time devices there is.
My dream laptop with everything I needed but still big in size.... anyway once again nice video Tom .....thanks.your English and dressing sense for every video is damn good
I have a Surface Book 1 with top specs (1TB, 16GB, i7, Nvidia GPU). However, I've finally weakened and splashed out on the 256GB 15" SB2. Looking forward to it. Edit Feb 2019: Not regretting the decision one whit.
The lack of Thunderbolt 3 is unfortunate, but I believe it's because of the limited lane count on ULV CPUs. This already uses some for the internal GPU, and then 4 more for the PCI-E SSD, so it just had none left. And between Thunderbolt 3 and a good internal GPU, I think they chose right.
The main selling point for me is being able to edit photos and draw right on the screen without needing a separate Wacom. I also like the detachable screen because it makes it easy to share with people at a table.
If u plan on using it for work as well as entertainment and work in an industry that might put its tablet/drawing functionality to use, go for it, can't recommend this for anyone unless they aim to use every last ounce of what they're buying here
MegaGouch i had the surface book 2 for a month before returning it (couldn't justify the price) and the surface connector is one of its best features, tbh.
What does the surface connector do that no other charger can do? I have a older surface product, and the charger is no better than any laptop barrel charger I have used. Sure you can connect it to a dock or hub, but so can USB-A or USB-C. When you aren't charging the surface connector is useless, where as a USB port can be made use of. Most importantly by going to USB-C charging, you can have a port on either side of the device and charge from either side, every laptop should do this!
MegaGouch magnets... The original magnetic connector on surface 1 and 2 is rubbish. This is much better. It's probably more durable than a USB-C connector and also avoid accidental cable drag
Been looking forward to you getting your hands on this for a while! I was initially set on the 15" MacBook Pro as I've been a Mac user for almost 10 years but now that I've gotten more into photography I'm starting to feel like this would be a better buy, especially since they're the same price. Would love to see a 3 way comparison between them and the XPS if you have the time, great video as usual!
I’m buying one next month: 1tb 16g i7 from B&H (New York - no sales tax for California). I’ve been to the local Microsoft store so many times, they know me by my first name. Beautiful computer, great typing experience and will do every thing I need. I also use a Northwest Falcon with 10 core for heavy rendering so the Surface Book will be used for traveling. Great review, yes it’s expensive - so what, I’ll use it for business and pleasure and plan to keep it for awhile.
I found the Surface line great for drawing, writing, or collaborating with others at a coffee shop (I have an SP4). But if you're not going to use the pen with this thing, it's hard to justify the price.
Great video! I really want this laptop and defo looking at getting one! Just torn which size to get. Ive been to the shop and looked at both. The 13.5 is great with the 3:2 screen ratio, in tablet form feels good and is great for portability which i like. But the 15 has that GTX1060 and with that extra screen size is nice, but it is a lot bigger to carry and travel around with, which is my concern.
You left out the fact that this is TOUCH SCREEN, A WACOM TABLET, and an awesome overall piece of hardware! Hell, and I am a Macintosh guy! Oh I forget PORTS, PORTS, and PORTS!
Like you said the location of the audio jack on the upper right corner of the screen makes sense if you use this device in tablet mode. However, in laptop mode the headphones cord would be dangling across the keyboard. 2 easy solutions for this problem: 1) use wireless headphones, 2) if you use wired headphones, just route the cord around the back of the screen. Pretty simple.
I am a student self-studying art and animation. And I do game a lot. I bought the 15in 1tb model. I can present my project easily with the tip of my hand detaching the screen. Flip the screen and attach it again, then I can do art, lift it up a little to Studio Mode, there's my portable movie theater. Clean and large screen, long-lasting battery. And after a long stressed day, charge it and I can play REAL games in full detail. I live abroad. When I miss my friends, cough cough I need constant validations from my friends to tell me how nice the webcam is. Overall, I'm happy with this device If you can take full advantage of this device, you won't regret it
Cheers for the review. Got the 13 1tb. Its awesome except for the damn keyboard backlight which times out and goes off after just a few seconds. Need a wayto set this permanently on
You should export video in Media Encoder, not Premiere. The latter cannot use CUDA acceleration, thus video card performance is irrelevant in terms of video rendering speed
It does for certain things like working with GPU accelerated effects, but not for rendering/exporting. To export faster with CUDA you need to use AME. This is accurate for Adobe Premiere CC
Well, something must be off. Until now I just knew it from Creative Cow forums, I guess, but now I've checked it, too. I've got 96-100% CPU usage on Premiere, 1 minute rendering, 0% GPU. On AME it's some 50-90% CPU, 64% GPU and 7 seconds rendering time. Not sure what's the cause of the difference in results that we're experiencing, but OK, as long as your rendering time doesn't bother you, I reckon everything is alright :)
I got the highest spec one from my work - Not sure I would have bought it myself - but it is a ridiculously good machine! It replaced an older top spec macbook pro.
I am not such a gamer as I used to be, though I have a laptop with a GTX 1050 Ti, sometimes I like to play DOOM, maybe some CS:GO or GTA 5. I really don't want the bigger Surface Book 2 just because of the GTX 1060, but how does the GTX 1050 compare in performance with the GTX 1050 Ti and how will it stand in the next 3.5 years for a casual gamer?
Here is something you need to know before making a conclusion that doesn't make sense about the CPU. Yes its a 15 watt cpu but it does jump up to 35 watts when it turbo boosts to 4.1 ghz. Its no longer a U cpu when using in high performance mode and will destroy allot of i7s out there. You can find this information on intels extreme tuning utility. Its a great fast portable laptop that has great battery life because of that dynamic cpu.
agree, this is why i like the U CPU, but they have only 12 PCIE lanes, thus with 4 lanes going to NVMe SSD, 4 to GPU and 4 to everything else (wifi etc) they couldn't fit in a TB3. I wish intel would increase this count a bit.
Never mind the expensive surface book..... You look like James McAvoy from the X-Men Movies.. haha.. But I do love all your videos Tom especially the "Monitor Buying Guide - What You Need to Know" It really help me a lot choosing my monitor. Thank you. and Bless you in the future. ^_ __^v
While I do agree it should have a TB3, I don't think TB3 currently has any real usage for 99.9% of the potential users. If your laptop already has a 1060, at the current prices of graphic cards, the price you'll pay for an external graphics accelerator and the acceleration you'll gain are hard to rationalize.
Remember that you can also use TB3 to connect docking stations. I have a 2017 15" MBP and although I was skeptical at first, being able to hook up a docking station with a single cable that charges your laptop is just amazing. So for me, it would be a deal breaker anyway and to be fair if you're paying that much for a notebook you should be getting access to the latest technologies.
A Thunderbolt 3 docking station that contains extra USB, display, Ethernet, and audio ports would be very handy for a device like this if you want to use it as a desktop replacement.
While I really wish that TB3 was in this, there just isn't enough PCI lanes for there to be one without getting rid of the surface connector. The surface connector does let you plug in a surface dock, and thereby two monitors, Ethernet, and give you four more USB type a ports. But you can't drive two 4k monitors. That said, microsoft promised to support surface accessories into the future, so as I already own a dock, being able to continue to use it is really nice.
I got the 13 inch version as I use it as a tablet fairly often and even the smaller version is just about usable due to size, I can't imagine holding the 15 inch screen size on a plane for example
I bought the surface laptop and I really like it. The only downside I see to it is that its "premium" keyboard textile might get dirty throughout the years.....
Good review. I personally have the 13". It has 8G of memory and 128GB SSD(I might upgrade to the 256). My money tight but thanks to my tax return I was able to get it. Love it.
Musicians need a large tablet that is light weight enough to fit on a tiny stand - this is possibly the most ideal option for musicians. I'm always on the search for the largest most portable screen that can support a stylus and music notation software.
Separating the GPU and CPU out thermally between the screen and keyboard is such a great idea, the 1060 is higher wattage than any of the comparable size/weight 15"ers would have. Even without being a tablet hybrid, I think that idea should be borrowed to be able to have higher end GPUs in smaller sizes. And I really wish Apple would use anything remotely comparable, the 1060 is a good what, 2-3x higher performance than the top Radeon Pro 560.
I like the tablet mode, as i read books in bed, and simply would not even consider anything other than a 2 in 1, which is how this came up on my radar, still not 100% on the 3x2 aspect, my ideal 2 in 1 would be 16.10, but after much searching nothing seems to outclass this in much of anything, so it's looking like the one i'll buy next, used at £700
No thunderbolt 3.....but really sad it doesnt have a 2tb option at that price...i have heard the read write speeds are not great either....i wouldnt normally consider the smaller watt cpus but the idea of having no tablet to buy to do my artwork was almost makin me hit buy despite the large price.... the ability to do everything on one device is really a great idea for people who have to draw on photos in photoshop and need more power than a tablet can deliver typically. You said it was color accurate....but i read only something like 70 percent adobe rgb?
Anandtech did a detailed display analysis for the Surface Book 2 (which they then declared as having "the best display on any laptop"): www.anandtech.com/show/12167/the-microsoft-surface-book-2-15-inch-review/5
I've got to say as a user of the 15" for around two months, its ok. Thing is consumer reports doesn't even consider the SB2 because the line of SB's has been so faulty, and i've found that true. First SB2 I bought had dozens of dead pixels. Which is fine, returned it, second one's screen crapped out after about six weeks. Bottom line is I think there's still some refinement to be done to this line before its worth the close $3k you're gonna put into it.
As a long time surface pro user I'd love to own a surface book 2, but yeah, I suspect it's actually a business decision Microsoft made to keep surface prices high and not upset their OEM'S by taking too much hardware market share. Awesome machine, but way out of my budget
I'm a guitar player, and use a Surface Pro 4 on portrait mode to display my music sheets. My tired old eyes could surely appreciate a 15" tablet in portrait mode for this use. However, the price makes it a no-go. :-(
I recently visited a local store with the intention of buying a Macbook or i Pad Pro but by the time i came out i had fell in love with the original Surfacebook. They're great devices and i highly recommend them. Can you(or anyone) recommend the best external monitor for a reasonable price? Thanks Great video btw 😃
The point is simple. No matter what the price is, past 4 or 5 years you'll have to change it. Often even earlier (My X1 Yoga, sold as MIL-SPEC got cracks on the back cover of the display for no reason and it's expanding, this despite the hefty price, resulting in either a display change or a notebook change soon since warranty just expired). That price is genuinely too high. Amazon has one with top specs (1TB SSD included) for 2600 dollars. It's at least 300 usd over a reasonable price. That display turning into a tablet doesn't look the strongest solution either if you really use the tablet often as wearing would take a toll on those hinges. So not good for whoever really does and intensive use of all those functions, and i do, both for note taking and for tablet mode to read ebooks. But the joke about going to a meeting pretending to be important is a good one that has me still chuckling. And the review is good, indeed.
I own a Surface Book 2 15" and a Surface Laptop i7. I must say that I almost prefer reaching for my Laptop than Book even if the screen is a bit smaller..its still a pretty darn great screen. For me, I dont like junking up a computer screen with finger prints so I very rarely detach it...and it seems like it gets kind of warm the more I draw on it...more than an Ipad Pro does that I also use. After using both for a few months, my ideal machine is a Surface Laptop that somehow can have some more powerful graphics. I know you can't slam GTX in these thin machines, but maybe something a tiny bit more powerful than the Iris plus. And if its possible to put the 8th gen quad core in it and the heat is handle-able, that's a really really great system! Again, I know there are physical limitations with hardware. If they could slim down the Surface Book 2 a bit, it would be great too!
Looking through the comments to see if anyone asked, but the approximate 1 minute difference in exporting for a short video isn't that shocking. What about a 10+ minute video export? Or render time for video?
I just bought the i7 16gb GTX1060 6gb 256GB SSD 15inch for £2350 (brand new) if somebody wants a realistic up to date price (UK Buyer) Hope it works well for me, bought it after watching this review :D
hey Tom, like you vidoes about this, can i ask you which one is good deal to buy surface pro 4 or surface 5?? i plan to buy one of those to replace my old laptop (asus x450j series) hope you can help me
After years of experience with the Surface Pro I can absolutely say that windows is not a good tablet unless you have tiny hands. The icons and areas to tap are way too small most of the time. I have a MacBook Pro 15' and got a SurfaceBook 2 and really wanted to love it. Alas, the Surface Book is not for me, the Mac is just too good and compact. I run both Mac OS and Windows 10 on it and it works flawlessly. iPad for tablet.
Amazing video!! Just need some advice: I'll be producing music, and will be using softwares like FL studio and Ableton. I would also use video editing softwares. I will be gaming quite less with little to no heavy games. Beyond that I'll just use my laptop as a regular college student. It won't matter whether I choose the 13 inch or the 15 inch right? Would the Intel core i5 be enough for the tasks I mentioned?
The price on the SB2 has come down to the lowest I have seen them and thinking of pulling the trigger. The SB3 should be out in the few months. Also waiting on new Dell XPS 15 to drop.
I just bought this off of a guy, am wondering if you install software on SD expanded memory, what happens if you detach the screen? Does the software/app crash?
I'd use the tablet mode when playing piano :) there I could either read the music sheet without printing it or watch a tutorial on TH-cam! Right now I do it with my phone but from a tablet it'd be much better :D
"going into a meeting holding a tablet taking notes...pretending you're important!" looooool!!!!! brilliant!
Agreed
Hahaha laughed so hard during that part! XD
EVAN gamer 40 2018 i
It has enough ports, removable touch screen, GTX 1060, 13 hours of battery life, higher pixel density and costs the same as the latest MacBook pro which has none of those. Nice job MS.
I have it, its great
@@Snoopy23134 good for u
But I'm still unsure if I should buy it.
The reviews with all the problems are scary af.
It feels like 30% of all SB2s are complete fails and you have to be lucky to get one where nothing is wrong.
fjwio You could get Microsoft to sort out the problem if you get a defected unit, so it’s not gonna be like going into a Casino
@@fjwio780 I bought one a month ago and have had it restart once due to that bad windows hello update which was fixed Dec 11th by MS.
Honestly, I don't understand when people say this is expensive.
What? ALL competing laptops with similar specs are the SAME PRICE AS THE SB2!WITH NO DETACHABLE TABLET.
This is the hands down the best PC ever made.
All-in-one.👌
It's almost been 3 years working on my original surface book. Never regret.
My worst laptop ever/
cant agree more, never regret
Unpolarize *Cause he's a butthurt Macbook owner who has never had one.*
Black Panther or maybe it is a valid point that Surface Book is plagued with problems if only you are a bit more informed, and being less of a judgemental prick? It is a known issue that MSFT has issues in QC with their Surface lines, and EVEN the Surface Book 2 is not without problems either. For instance, not enough power delivery for the 15", power button issues, sudden display crack, etc.
On paper the Surface Book is a fantastic laptop, even I once considered to purchase the Surface Book 2, before I dig deeper into the user experiences freely available on the internet. But once the novelty is gone, you'd start the notice all the drawback of this otherwise beautiful machine.
My 1st gen was working well for 2 years until just now its base battery stopped charging. Bought it refurbished, maybe that had always been an issue with my unit in particular. It was the weakest model available so I'm happy to finally upgrade, the original was really spectacular until its unfortunate end, and that's even with a weak shitty one like mine, just a good laptop, simple as that
Tom, you should tell Microsoft that you only review products if you can do a short-term, 6-month and 12-month review of and that they need to let you keep your review unit for a year. Then every year you can upgrade without having to worry about the price. If they seem hesitant, then you can remind them that Americans are more likely to believe a reviewer with a British accent. Is this possible?
Great idea! ;)
@@Thetechchap Has the additional benefit that you get the new unit before inevitably the battery gives out (which leads to a host of nasty problems with the SB), and the glued shut expensive piece shows its throwaway nature.
Seriously, if you aren't willing to perform a few dicey surgical procedures on the thing, or know somebody who does, this must be one of the most expensive per-ownership-time devices there is.
When he said "pretending you're really important " , I died 😂😂😂😂😂
My dream laptop with everything I needed but still big in size.... anyway once again nice video Tom .....thanks.your English and dressing sense for every video is damn good
I have a Surface Book 1 with top specs (1TB, 16GB, i7, Nvidia GPU). However, I've finally weakened and splashed out on the 256GB 15" SB2. Looking forward to it.
Edit Feb 2019: Not regretting the decision one whit.
Alastair Archibald is that laptop good for gaming 𝘢𝘯𝘥 work?
Mariana M Yes. I have MS Office and Adobe CS on it, and it’s perfectly good for work.
The lack of Thunderbolt 3 is unfortunate, but I believe it's because of the limited lane count on ULV CPUs. This already uses some for the internal GPU, and then 4 more for the PCI-E SSD, so it just had none left. And between Thunderbolt 3 and a good internal GPU, I think they chose right.
since the GPU is in the base, i would argue that they should sell a base with no GPU, but those 4 lanes go to a TB3 port, for eGPU
The main selling point for me is being able to edit photos and draw right on the screen without needing a separate Wacom. I also like the detachable screen because it makes it easy to share with people at a table.
"Or maybe you think you're good at art..." 🤣 Great video!
for the executives, that price isn't a problem
That's correct
AlphaIndi your solution ?
Picking mine up Friday. My original Surface Book 13.5 has been a fantastic device, 0 issues.
"Make you breakfast in the morning" 😂🤣
13inch in tablet mode OK but 15inch tablet mode crazy 😜
The surface chap 🤙🤙👍👍😎😎😎 but the price ☹️😭😭😭
If u plan on using it for work as well as entertainment and work in an industry that might put its tablet/drawing functionality to use, go for it, can't recommend this for anyone unless they aim to use every last ounce of what they're buying here
Tom! We need an update on how the business is doing, you at 200k now.
That screen really does look amazing, but they really should ditch the surface connector and put 2x thunderbolt 3 ports.
The price is crazy though!
MegaGouch i had the surface book 2 for a month before returning it (couldn't justify the price) and the surface connector is one of its best features, tbh.
What does the surface connector do that no other charger can do? I have a older surface product, and the charger is no better than any laptop barrel charger I have used.
Sure you can connect it to a dock or hub, but so can USB-A or USB-C.
When you aren't charging the surface connector is useless, where as a USB port can be made use of.
Most importantly by going to USB-C charging, you can have a port on either side of the device and charge from either side, every laptop should do this!
MegaGouch magnets... The original magnetic connector on surface 1 and 2 is rubbish. This is much better. It's probably more durable than a USB-C connector and also avoid accidental cable drag
Been looking forward to you getting your hands on this for a while! I was initially set on the 15" MacBook Pro as I've been a Mac user for almost 10 years but now that I've gotten more into photography I'm starting to feel like this would be a better buy, especially since they're the same price. Would love to see a 3 way comparison between them and the XPS if you have the time, great video as usual!
thank you for this review. I found it the most helpful out of all that I’ve seen on youtube, and decided to go with the 15”!
Toma how do find the usability so far ?
I’m buying one next month: 1tb 16g i7 from B&H (New York - no sales tax for California). I’ve been to the local Microsoft store so many times, they know me by my first name. Beautiful computer, great typing experience and will do every thing I need. I also use a Northwest Falcon with 10 core for heavy rendering so the Surface Book will be used for traveling. Great review, yes it’s expensive - so what, I’ll use it for business and pleasure and plan to keep it for awhile.
I found the Surface line great for drawing, writing, or collaborating with others at a coffee shop (I have an SP4). But if you're not going to use the pen with this thing, it's hard to justify the price.
im getting my 15" 512GB edition tomorrow. Super excited. Lots of people are buying because it's constantly selling out fast.
Great video! I really want this laptop and defo looking at getting one! Just torn which size to get. Ive been to the shop and looked at both. The 13.5 is great with the 3:2 screen ratio, in tablet form feels good and is great for portability which i like. But the 15 has that GTX1060 and with that extra screen size is nice, but it is a lot bigger to carry and travel around with, which is my concern.
You left out the fact that this is TOUCH SCREEN, A WACOM TABLET, and an awesome overall piece of hardware! Hell, and I am a Macintosh guy! Oh I forget PORTS, PORTS, and PORTS!
Like you said the location of the audio jack on the upper right corner of the screen makes sense if you use this device in tablet mode. However, in laptop mode the headphones cord would be dangling across the keyboard. 2 easy solutions for this problem: 1) use wireless headphones, 2) if you use wired headphones, just route the cord around the back of the screen. Pretty simple.
I am a student self-studying art and animation. And I do game a lot. I bought the 15in 1tb model. I can present my project easily with the tip of my hand detaching the screen. Flip the screen and attach it again, then I can do art, lift it up a little to Studio Mode, there's my portable movie theater. Clean and large screen, long-lasting battery. And after a long stressed day, charge it and I can play REAL games in full detail. I live abroad. When I miss my friends, cough cough I need constant validations from my friends to tell me how nice the webcam is. Overall, I'm happy with this device
If you can take full advantage of this device, you won't regret it
Cheers for the review. Got the 13 1tb. Its awesome except for the damn keyboard backlight which times out and goes off after just a few seconds. Need a wayto set this permanently on
Hey Tom, love your videos
thanks saul! :)
You're welcome! :) Keep up the great work
Tom is bae?
Yep bought it. Brilliant bit of kit. No point of waiting - go for it.
You should export video in Media Encoder, not Premiere. The latter cannot use CUDA acceleration, thus video card performance is irrelevant in terms of video rendering speed
Interesting! May have missed a trick there so I'll check that out
It does for certain things like working with GPU accelerated effects, but not for rendering/exporting. To export faster with CUDA you need to use AME.
This is accurate for Adobe Premiere CC
I just checked this - it's the same whether i use PP or AME. Both use 20-30% of the GPU for rendering and take the same amount of time
Well, something must be off. Until now I just knew it from Creative Cow forums, I guess, but now I've checked it, too. I've got 96-100% CPU usage on Premiere, 1 minute rendering, 0% GPU. On AME it's some 50-90% CPU, 64% GPU and 7 seconds rendering time.
Not sure what's the cause of the difference in results that we're experiencing, but OK, as long as your rendering time doesn't bother you, I reckon everything is alright :)
Another great video review - I've got the 13" Surface Book 2 - plenty of power even for video editing, and the odd casual game of Overwatch :)
I dig your videos Tom. Great work!
I got the highest spec one from my work - Not sure I would have bought it myself - but it is a ridiculously good machine! It replaced an older top spec macbook pro.
I am not such a gamer as I used to be, though I have a laptop with a GTX 1050 Ti, sometimes I like to play DOOM, maybe some CS:GO or GTA 5. I really don't want the bigger Surface Book 2 just because of the GTX 1060, but how does the GTX 1050 compare in performance with the GTX 1050 Ti and how will it stand in the next 3.5 years for a casual gamer?
Here is something you need to know before making a conclusion that doesn't make sense about the CPU. Yes its a 15 watt cpu but it does jump up to 35 watts when it turbo boosts to 4.1 ghz. Its no longer a U cpu when using in high performance mode and will destroy allot of i7s out there. You can find this information on intels extreme tuning utility. Its a great fast portable laptop that has great battery life because of that dynamic cpu.
agree, this is why i like the U CPU, but they have only 12 PCIE lanes, thus with 4 lanes going to NVMe SSD, 4 to GPU and 4 to everything else (wifi etc) they couldn't fit in a TB3. I wish intel would increase this count a bit.
Never mind the expensive surface book..... You look like James McAvoy from the X-Men Movies.. haha.. But I do love all your videos Tom especially the "Monitor Buying Guide - What You Need to Know" It really help me a lot choosing my monitor. Thank you. and Bless you in the future. ^_ __^v
No Thunderbolt 3 is inexcusable in a laptop that costs this much.
While I do agree it should have a TB3, I don't think TB3 currently has any real usage for 99.9% of the potential users.
If your laptop already has a 1060, at the current prices of graphic cards, the price you'll pay for an external graphics accelerator and the acceleration you'll gain are hard to rationalize.
Remember that you can also use TB3 to connect docking stations. I have a 2017 15" MBP and although I was skeptical at first, being able to hook up a docking station with a single cable that charges your laptop is just amazing. So for me, it would be a deal breaker anyway and to be fair if you're paying that much for a notebook you should be getting access to the latest technologies.
A Thunderbolt 3 docking station that contains extra USB, display, Ethernet, and audio ports would be very handy for a device like this if you want to use it as a desktop replacement.
I'd be all over this if it had tb3 ports. But my 2017 MBP will do for now.
While I really wish that TB3 was in this, there just isn't enough PCI lanes for there to be one without getting rid of the surface connector. The surface connector does let you plug in a surface dock, and thereby two monitors, Ethernet, and give you four more USB type a ports. But you can't drive two 4k monitors.
That said, microsoft promised to support surface accessories into the future, so as I already own a dock, being able to continue to use it is really nice.
love you Tom. love your videos
I got the 13 inch version as I use it as a tablet fairly often and even the smaller version is just about usable due to size, I can't imagine holding the 15 inch screen size on a plane for example
Nice review video. Waiting for Samsung galaxy S9 comparison video.😊
I bought the surface laptop and I really like it. The only downside I see to it is that its "premium" keyboard textile might get dirty throughout the years.....
Good review. I personally have the 13". It has 8G of memory and 128GB SSD(I might upgrade to the 256). My money tight but thanks to my tax return I was able to get it. Love it.
hey, nice presentation. And not to mention the editing!👌
Thanks!
Musicians need a large tablet that is light weight enough to fit on a tiny stand - this is possibly the most ideal option for musicians. I'm always on the search for the largest most portable screen that can support a stylus and music notation software.
"Pretend you're really important" 🤣
Separating the GPU and CPU out thermally between the screen and keyboard is such a great idea, the 1060 is higher wattage than any of the comparable size/weight 15"ers would have. Even without being a tablet hybrid, I think that idea should be borrowed to be able to have higher end GPUs in smaller sizes. And I really wish Apple would use anything remotely comparable, the 1060 is a good what, 2-3x higher performance than the top Radeon Pro 560.
great review
I would LOVE one of these. Wish I could afford it.
I like the tablet mode, as i read books in bed, and simply would not even consider anything other than a 2 in 1, which is how this came up on my radar, still not 100% on the 3x2 aspect, my ideal 2 in 1 would be 16.10, but after much searching nothing seems to outclass this in much of anything, so it's looking like the one i'll buy next, used at £700
Just got me one and im Happy with it.
caridad yuson how long does the battery last ?
I'll be buying that because I'll be starting to use CAD software for the first time, so I want the best tablet laptop there is right now.
No thunderbolt 3.....but really sad it doesnt have a 2tb option at that price...i have heard the read write speeds are not great either....i wouldnt normally consider the smaller watt cpus but the idea of having no tablet to buy to do my artwork was almost makin me hit buy despite the large price.... the ability to do everything on one device is really a great idea for people who have to draw on photos in photoshop and need more power than a tablet can deliver typically. You said it was color accurate....but i read only something like 70 percent adobe rgb?
Anandtech did a detailed display analysis for the Surface Book 2 (which they then declared as having "the best display on any laptop"):
www.anandtech.com/show/12167/the-microsoft-surface-book-2-15-inch-review/5
That review is from December. It would be interesting to see how the Lenovo and its HDR display compares to this.
Thumbs up for honesty.
I've got to say as a user of the 15" for around two months, its ok. Thing is consumer reports doesn't even consider the SB2 because the line of SB's has been so faulty, and i've found that true. First SB2 I bought had dozens of dead pixels. Which is fine, returned it, second one's screen crapped out after about six weeks. Bottom line is I think there's still some refinement to be done to this line before its worth the close $3k you're gonna put into it.
As a long time surface pro user I'd love to own a surface book 2, but yeah, I suspect it's actually a business decision Microsoft made to keep surface prices high and not upset their OEM'S by taking too much hardware market share. Awesome machine, but way out of my budget
I'm a guitar player, and use a Surface Pro 4 on portrait mode to display my music sheets. My tired old eyes could surely appreciate a 15" tablet in portrait mode for this use. However, the price makes it a no-go. :-(
I recently visited a local store with the intention of buying a Macbook or i Pad Pro but by the time i came out i had fell in love with the original Surfacebook. They're great devices and i highly recommend them. Can you(or anyone) recommend the best external monitor for a reasonable price? Thanks
Great video btw 😃
Can you do a book 2 pro vs dell xps 15? I can't really decide which one to get
“Maybe you think you’re good at art” bro calm down
The point is simple. No matter what the price is, past 4 or 5 years you'll have to change it. Often even earlier (My X1 Yoga, sold as MIL-SPEC got cracks on the back cover of the display for no reason and it's expanding, this despite the hefty price, resulting in either a display change or a notebook change soon since warranty just expired). That price is genuinely too high. Amazon has one with top specs (1TB SSD included) for 2600 dollars. It's at least 300 usd over a reasonable price. That display turning into a tablet doesn't look the strongest solution either if you really use the tablet often as wearing would take a toll on those hinges. So not good for whoever really does and intensive use of all those functions, and i do, both for note taking and for tablet mode to read ebooks. But the joke about going to a meeting pretending to be important is a good one that has me still chuckling. And the review is good, indeed.
Good video! For price Msb. Should be smooth to run.. no hiccups.. we hope...
I own a Surface Book 2 15" and a Surface Laptop i7. I must say that I almost prefer reaching for my Laptop than Book even if the screen is a bit smaller..its still a pretty darn great screen. For me, I dont like junking up a computer screen with finger prints so I very rarely detach it...and it seems like it gets kind of warm the more I draw on it...more than an Ipad Pro does that I also use. After using both for a few months, my ideal machine is a Surface Laptop that somehow can have some more powerful graphics. I know you can't slam GTX in these thin machines, but maybe something a tiny bit more powerful than the Iris plus. And if its possible to put the 8th gen quad core in it and the heat is handle-able, that's a really really great system! Again, I know there are physical limitations with hardware. If they could slim down the Surface Book 2 a bit, it would be great too!
if i have money. what better to buy? dell xps 15 or surface book 2 13 for programming and video editing? today i buy xps 15=)
only because of the price. I bought xps 15 i7-7700hq 16gigs ram for 1500 $
If u aren't gaming/rendering/drawing/editing content often then simply don't get the Surface Book 2
I really like this guys video's.
Looking through the comments to see if anyone asked, but the approximate 1 minute difference in exporting for a short video isn't that shocking. What about a 10+ minute video export? Or render time for video?
I'm not an artist but I want that surface dial to make myself feel special...
The tablet mode is very interesting when consuming media content on the bed... xD
"PRETENDING YOU'RE IMPORTANT" HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHA *CRIES*
“Or maybe if you think you’re good at art “ 😂😂😂😂😂
5-6h in tablet mode, you say? Did you actually use it in tablet mode? Only way you're breaking 3 hours is minimum brightness on a black screen.
Another high quality review, Good job Tom
Surface book isn't just a laptop...but also a tablet with great performance
Can you charge using the usbc port?
Would love you own of those some day but with hard word ama make it possible
that's the attitude to have!
I just bought the i7 16gb GTX1060 6gb 256GB SSD 15inch for £2350 (brand new) if somebody wants a realistic up to date price (UK Buyer)
Hope it works well for me, bought it after watching this review :D
I would definitely buy it. Thanks for the review. However I wonder if they will come out with Surface book 3 anytime?
SB3 should be out in the next few months.
So which is better Dell xps or this computer? And when are the next gen for these computers coming out?
love this lap
You should review the surface book 3
hey Tom, like you vidoes about this, can i ask you which one is good deal to buy surface pro 4 or surface 5?? i plan to buy one of those to replace my old laptop (asus x450j series) hope you can help me
After years of experience with the Surface Pro I can absolutely say that windows is not a good tablet unless you have tiny hands. The icons and areas to tap are way too small most of the time. I have a MacBook Pro 15' and got a SurfaceBook 2 and really wanted to love it. Alas, the Surface Book is not for me, the Mac is just too good and compact. I run both Mac OS and Windows 10 on it and it works flawlessly. iPad for tablet.
Is it good to buy Surface Book 2, when it has 8th gen i7 whose base speed is 1.9 GHz?
I would really like a black a dark gray one... why not Microsoft?
Wish there was a usb c port on the tablet part. Not a big deal though I guess.
Amazing video!!
Just need some advice:
I'll be producing music, and will be using softwares like FL studio and Ableton. I would also use video editing softwares. I will be gaming quite less with little to no heavy games.
Beyond that I'll just use my laptop as a regular college student.
It won't matter whether I choose the 13 inch or the 15 inch right?
Would the Intel core i5 be enough for the tasks I mentioned?
Yes, buy the 13 " to save some money.
The price on the SB2 has come down to the lowest I have seen them and thinking of pulling the trigger. The SB3 should be out in the few months. Also waiting on new Dell XPS 15 to drop.
Can anyone recommend me between Macbook Pro and Surface Book2 Which one is more smooth and easy to use for architecture?
Heard that Photoshop and Lightroom don't run as smooth on it, is it true?
Time to be motivated as fuck and get this laptop
The only problem I see is if the battery ages you can't replace it
So, no overheating issues with a gtx 1060??
I noticed this computer is a quad-core and most of the other laptops for this price are hexa-core, is there any difference?
@5:26 what ? Does that mean I cant edit videos on the go with the 1060???
it is very reflective right?
I just bought this off of a guy, am wondering if you install software on SD expanded memory, what happens if you detach the screen? Does the software/app crash?
hi is this suitable for autocad or revit. isit over price for autocad / revit user?
I have my sb2 15" but now the Dell XPS 15 with an i9 CPU is out. Now that's a pro laptop. Sb2 should of had thunderbolt 3
I'd use the tablet mode when playing piano :) there I could either read the music sheet without printing it or watch a tutorial on TH-cam! Right now I do it with my phone but from a tablet it'd be much better :D
Is there screen wobble when using it on your lap?
Are they going to update it with the 6 core processors?
Thanks!