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[jax]

With the exception of Logic and Final Cut, what exclusive OS X software is there anyway? I don't understand the need for OS X?

Longtime Mac user btw

 

[bumpkin]

With the exception of Logic and Final Cut, what exclusive OS X software is there anyway? I don't understand the need for OS X?

Longtime Mac user btw

I use a bunch, but they're not mainstream software. Stuff like OmniGraffle for example, not available for Windows at all.

 

[Vhalyar]

I use a bunch, but they're not mainstream software. Stuff like OmniGraffle for example, not available for Windows at all.

Hey OmniGraffle buddy. My job's switched me to a PC so no more mockups for me with OG.

 

[dampflokfreund]

Looks great, I will buy the next version of that, with Pascal GPU and LTE.

 

[M_A_C]

That ASUS-ZENBOOK-UX303UB Actually looks really nice. It on sale at Costco for $999. Anyone have one?

 

[Netherscourge]

A 940m is really really slow. I was just making the point that there are (and have been for a while) Ultrabooks with dedicated GPUs.

Notebookcheck has a good overview over pretty much all notebook GPUs.

Cool, thanks.

Looks like it's 980M or bust for me!

 

[neogaffer1]

Cool, thanks.

Looks like it's 980M or bust for me!

not necessarily--a 960m/970m is still pretty powerful

i have a 765m and i could still run tpp at 900p fully maxed out with a locked with dips 30 fps. if i dropped it to mid/high 900p i could run it at 40-60 fps

 

[Lazaro]

not necessarily--a 960m/970m is still pretty powerful

i have a 765m and i could still run tpp at 900p fully maxed out with a locked with dips 30 fps. if i dropped it to mid/high 900p i could run it at 40-60 fps

Remember the Surface Book will ship with custom drivers as well.

Also I find Notebook Check unreliable with it's data.

I've had a 9600m and 670m GTX that performed alot better than most of the tests posted by Notebook check.

Although that may be because of always improving GPU drivers.

Spoiler

Also Surface Book is a gaming device because the Xbox team is contributing to the device ;p
Gears, Gigantic and Ori which are Xbox titles from Microsoft Studios were shown off on Surface Book compared to Surface Pro.

 

[neogaffer1]

Remember the Surface Book will ship with custom drivers as well.

Also I find Notebook Check unreliable with it's data.

I've had a 9600m and 670m GTX that performed alot better than most of the tests posted by Notebook check.

Although that may be because of always improving GPU drivers.

Spoiler

Also Surface Book is a gaming device because the Xbox team is contributing ;p

it's very important to note how big of a difference drivers make. when my laptop came out, it was benchmarked as running dishonored at 900p mid to high with 50-ish fps. when i got it, it was after nvidia put out a driver update that optimized heavily for dx11, and i was able to max out dishonored at 900p plus force 4xSGSSAA through nvidia inspector and still get 40-50 fps.

 

[thequickandthedead]

the xbox team isn't going to magically make this a gaming laptop

 

[Diablohead]

What is this equivalent to?

I'm trying to figure out where that GTX940M to GTX980M GPU line compares to the Desktop GTX GPUs, to get a better idea of what level of gaming I can expect.

in the showing yesterday they displayed gears of war ultimate edition and that moba with monsters game (name I forget) and both looked like they were floating around 30fps, I say that because the stream was 30 and the video playback of gears was dropping a frame now and then.

At what res is the question though, most likely 720p

 

[OEM]

Waiting for the benchmarks.

 

[neogaffer1]

the xbox team isn't going to magically make this a gaming laptop

they're starting with a 960m. it's already a gaming laptop

 

[thequickandthedead]

they're starting with a 960m. it's already a gaming laptop

do we have official confirmation?

 

[neogaffer1]

do we have official confirmation?

no, but if we're assuming that xbox team is making the drivers than we can assume the other half of that statement is true. unless we're not assuming xbox team is making the drivers, at which point why are we even talking about custom drivers?

 

[calder]

Looked at the MS website, thought it seems kinda cool if a bit overpriced.

Then it switched me to the Canadian prices. Holy shit lol.

 

[UpDownLeftRight]

Still not seeing the value in this for me as a pc gamer. I can buy some perfectly good gaming laptops already for less. But more importantly with Steam streaming any old off the shelf machine already can fill that niche for me. Been considering grabbing a surface tablet just for that actually but I can't see much benefit to those with a beefy system already.

That's not to say that there aren't some good ideas in there, just I'm not seeing how they would benefit me, especially considering the premium involved.

 

[Dreams-Visions]

I did that and it was buggy as all get out.

wut

they're starting with a 960m. it's already a gaming laptop

there is absolutely no reason to assume anything unless you enjoy spreading bullshit. wait for the 3rd party reviews.

 

[Bacon]

The fuck? Of course it'll play a few games. It's a windows laptop. Every single one of the things will run games in some capacity.

But I don't see the point in having an OT on the latest Samsung or Asus Ultrabook on gaming side either. What does the Surface Book have to offer in terms of actual gaming hardware? I mean it's an incredible piece of tech but if you're looking to play crysis or any other high-end PC game this thing is dead in the water anyway. There are concessions to be made for such a slim and sleek profile. A dedicated mobile GPU in the base isn't really going to change it into a beast gaming rig and I think we all know this.

And the people playing games on their Surface tablets. Well congrats. I too played Tyrian on my Macbook Air, that doesn't make it a gaming computer. It would be pretty odd to see an OT on the new Macbook Air on gaming side.

The surface book is not a 'gaming laptop'. Just an amazingly designed piece of PC hardware running windows. To think I'd even have to spell this out is weird as hell.

Why does this bother you so much? Just go to the thread in off topic. No biggie

 

[isamu]

You guys can get much better machines than this one on ebay. I'd go hunting there if you're shopping for a new laptop. The one I bought smokes this one specs wise and I only paid $550 for it.

 

[LordOfChaos]

Not sure if this has been discussed to death in this thread, but I find the title a bit dubious. I think it was carefully worded fluff. If you watch it carefully he says "And adding the two processors [after talking about the GPU and G5 touch chip], it’s fundamentally two times as powerful" or something along those lines. He never says 2X the CPU, or even 2x the GPU which would be more believable against the Iris 6100 in the 13" MBP. He leaves it as vague as he can. I think it may be a lame calculation of CPU+GPU+G5 Gflops or something like that.

The lowest wattage Skylake quad is 25W, it may fit in there, except Anandtech reported them all as 15W models ruling that out. So the 2X as fast is either for the GPU against the 13", or some nebulous funky addition thing.

 

[AmyS]

Assuming the dedicated GeForce GPU is even more powerful than Nvidia's own Tegra X1, this could be right up my alley. I far prefer Windows to iOS (and Android) anyway..

 

[Frog-fu]

I hope the team behind Surface will be invoved in redesigning XB1 and designing the next console if there is one.

 

[Skux]

All I want to see is benchmarks! Could make a great Steam machine.

That hinge is amazing too.

 

[AP90]

I hope the team behind Surface will be invoved in redesigning XB1 and designing the next console if there is one.

This.

 

[LordOfChaos]

Assuming the dedicated GeForce GPU is even more powerful than Nvidia's own Tegra X1, this could be right up my alley. I far prefer Windows to iOS (and Android) anyway..

Nearly certain that it is. The X1 is only 500 full Gflops (forget the half precision 1Tflop claim). That is trivially easy to beat with mid range laptop chips. The rumored 950M in it is 1800 GFLOPS, if at full clock speed. Even a significant cull back of clock speed would easily leave it well over the X1 and any other ARM SoC.

http://gpuboss.com/gpus/GeForce-GTX-950M-vs-GeForce-GTX-660

 

[Warnen]

Can't wait to mess with the hinge when these things hit best buys and such

 

[Doffen]

You guys can get much better machines than this one on ebay. I'd go hunting there if you're shopping for a new laptop. The one I bought smokes this one specs wise and I only paid $550 for it.

I can guarantee that the laptop you bought does not cater to the market Surface Book is aiming for. And just telling us a price and saying it "smokes this one specs wise" really isn't saying much.

 

[Retromelon]

Could that guy in the op look any less interested

 

[brainchild]

Could that guy in the op look any less interested

He's not very photogenic in pictures, but his personality makes up for it. If you watch the conference, he'll have you coming away believing that you've seen God just by looking at a Microsoft device.

 

[neogaffer1]

there is absolutely no reason to assume anything unless you enjoy spreading bullshit. wait for the 3rd party reviews.

no, but if we're assuming that xbox team is making the drivers than we can assume the other half of that statement is true. unless we're not assuming xbox team is making the drivers, at which point why are we even talking about custom drivers?

.

 

[Suzushiiro]

I can guarantee that the laptop you bought does not cater to the market Surface Book is aiming for. And just telling us a price and saying it "smokes this one specs wise" really isn't saying much.

Yeah, as I read someone say on Twitter, you can absolutely get a laptop with much better specs per dollar... that weighs 10 pounds, doesn't double as a tablet, and generates so much heat it makes you sweat whenever you use it. Shockingly enough, making things small costs money.

 

[AmyS]

Nearly certain that it is. The X1 is only 500 full Gflops (forget the half precision 1Tflop claim). That is trivially easy to beat with mid range laptop chips. The rumored 950M in it is 1800 GFLOPS, if at full clock speed. Even a significant cull back of clock speed would easily leave it well over the X1 and any other ARM SoC.

http://gpuboss.com/gpus/GeForce-GTX-950M-vs-GeForce-GTX-660

Ok yeah, thanks. I missed anything specific regarding what GPU might be in the new Surface.

 

[Renekton]

Cool, thanks.

Looks like it's 980M or bust for me!

965m and above will need to be paired with hotter CPUs like the HQ/MQ lines. Ultra form factor should be unfeasible. Tradeoffs tradeoffs.

 

[neogaffer1]

Ok yeah, thanks. I missed anything specific regarding what GPU might be in the new Surface.

it has 1 GB of GDDR5. we don't know what it is other than that. theory is its either a custom chip and as a result would explain why MS isn't giving a model number, or it's a low end chip which also explains the aforementioned, or that MS Store support is telling the truth and it's a 960m with custom drivers by Xbox team.

 

[Renekton]

it has 1 GB of GDDR5. we don't know what it is other than that. theory is its either a custom chip and as a result would explain why MS isn't giving a model number, or it's a low end chip which also explains the aforementioned, or that MS Store support is telling the truth and it's a 960m with custom drivers by Xbox team.

That's... interesting. The X1 GPU is closer to AMD 7790. I doubt it is custom too, since this is Nvidia we're talking about.

 

[neogaffer1]

That's... interesting. The X1 GPU is closer to AMD 7790. I doubt it is custom too, since this is Nvidia we're talking about.

the alienware alpha had a custom nvidia gpu

 

[rokkerkory]

best thing about this is the build quality, billet everything :drools:

 

[Renekton]

the alienware alpha had a custom nvidia gpu

It's just standard GPU OCed if I'm not wrong?

 

[Green Yoshi]

So gaming wise how good is it?

I heard it has only 1 GB VRAM.

 

[neogaffer1]

It's just standard GPU OCed if I'm not wrong?

from what i can tell it's closest to a OCed GTX 860m, it's not clear if there are more changes to it, but Alienware still listed it as a custom GPU, so there's that.

 

[Renekton]

from what i can tell it's closest to a OCed GTX 860m, it's not clear if there are more changes to it, but Alienware still listed it as a custom GPU, so there's that.

The reviews listed it as "custom OCed" so it likely just means an overclocked off-the-shelf part.

I don't think current Nvidia will make a custom PC part for anything else but their own devices.

 

[Tortahegeszto]

-Windows

U wot m8?
Every macbook I saw at uni were running either some kind of linux or windows.

 

[heroe_galego]

can i play titanfall on this machine?

I play titanfall at my surface pro 2. So yes, you can!

If the graphics card is a 970/980 is the best concept ever made.

 

[ILoveBish]

I play titanfall at my surface pro 2. So yes, you can!

If the graphics card is a 970/980 is the best concept ever made.

You should probably wait till the device is out and tested before saying this. The pro 2 destroys the pro 3 in gaming because the 3 overheats and throttles itself to a 386/dx2. I'm not convinced that Microsoft will address this with the pro 4 when they never fixed the 3.

 

[Bliddo]

With the exception of Logic and Final Cut, what exclusive OS X software is there anyway? I don't understand the need for OS X?

Longtime Mac user btw

Sketch 3, Xcode (for obvious reasons), and a bunch of command line tools and developer tools that are developed OS X first or OS X only (even rather mainstream tech like Facebook React Native for Android supports only OS X). Speaking as a mobile and web developer, OS X is the only choice since so many other devs use them.

 

[neogaffer1]

You should probably wait till the device is out and tested before saying this. The pro 2 destroys the pro 3 in gaming because the 3 overheats and throttles itself to a 386/dx2. I'm not convinced that Microsoft will address this with the pro 4 when they never fixed the 3.

the pro 4 is questionable, the surface book i doubt will have this problem

 

[strata8]

You should probably wait till the device is out and tested before saying this. The pro 2 destroys the pro 3 in gaming because the 3 overheats and throttles itself to a 386/dx2. I'm not convinced that Microsoft will address this with the pro 4 when they never fixed the 3.

Right? I waited forever to download a new cooling system from Windows Update.

 

[Henrar]

the pro 4 is questionable, the surface book i doubt will have this problem

Macbooks also throttle. This is way to thin chassis to support Core i7 and GeForce GPU at full load without dropping their clocks.

 

[Renekton]

You should probably wait till the device is out and tested before saying this. The pro 2 destroys the pro 3 in gaming because the 3 overheats and throttles itself to a 386/dx2. I'm not convinced that Microsoft will address this with the pro 4 when they never fixed the 3.

Surface Book though, not Pro 4.