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[neogaffer1]

There are plenty of incredible desktop setups you can get for $1500 that would more than fit that criteria!

i'm a college student who needs a laptop to take notes on in class. why would i spend $1500 on a desktop and another couple hundred on a shitty laptop when i can spend all of that on a single laptop that has pen and touch for taking notes in class, and can do almost everything that the desktop can.

that's the sort of audience ms is going for, that and young professionals--artists, engineers, architects, etc--who would use the pen and might need some GPU oomph from time to time.

up until now, the laptop that fit that bill the best is a retina Macbook Pro. Now, it's a Surface Book, and it'll only get better with later generations.

It's really not a great laptop for that specific use.

the only laptops that would otherwise fit the bill are big and heavy and have no battery life or are stupidly overpriced (even moreso than the surface book)...and also have no battery life (happen to have the latter). compared to the choices available, this laptop is pretty great.

 

[MogCakes]

that's the sort of audience ms is going for, that and young professionals--artists, engineers, architects, etc--who would use the pen and might need some GPU oomph from time to time.

Digital art students may find some connection with the stylus and touchscreen (not so much the GPU), but engineering and architecture students in particular would find it near useless. I can speak on that from experience. For my purposes, I bought a $1500 MSI GT70 because the workstation variants with Quadro cards wouldn't benefit me at this stage in my career. At least with the GT70 I get good gaming life out of it. I'd never spend that much on a Surface Pro just to take notes in class with a stylus and some light gaming.

the only laptops that would otherwise fit the bill are big and heavy and have no battery life or are stupidly overpriced (even moreso than the surface book)...and also have no battery life (happen to have the latter). compared to the choices available, this laptop is pretty great.

That would be the Surface Pro's battery life and light weight speaking to you. It's the practicality, styling, and convenience of it that is most attractive to its target audience, not its gaming potential.

 

[fawaz]

For the people expecting a super powerful graphics card, how would you propose they deal with the heat? The thing would overheat and power down every 10 minutes while gaming!

 

[Tathanen]

If the thing can run TF2, Hearthstone, and Overwatch, I'm satisfied. My Surface Pro 2 is already running those first two at 1080p, so I'm not particularly worried.

 

[neogaffer1]

Digital art students may find some connection with the stylus and touchscreen (not so much the GPU), but engineering and architecture students in particular would find it near useless. I can speak on that from experience. For my purposes, I bought a $1500 MSI GT70 because the workstation variants with Quadro cards wouldn't benefit me at this stage in my career. At least with the GT70 I get good gaming life out of it. I'd never spend that much on a Surface Pro just to take notes in class with a stylus and some light gaming.


That would be the Surface Pro's battery life and light weight speaking to you. It's the practicality, styling, and convenience of it that is most attractive to its target audience, not its gaming potential.

i'm an ece major and i have a razer blade right now. in high school i had a shitty convertible with a resistive touchscreen and pen and touch capabilities, and i found it incredibly useful for schoolwork. having something that can do pen and touch and manage some sort of gaming is what i and many other people i know would kill for. in fact, the only reason i got a blade was because of its gaming potential--otherwise i would've gotten a laptop that could do pen-and-touch, but if my blade broke right now there's no doubt that the one device i'd get is the surface book.

 

[Animator]

1GB memory can't even hold full hd pixels

 

[F0NZ]

If the thing can run TF2, Hearthstone, and Overwatch, I'm satisfied. My Surface Pro 2 is already running those first two at 1080p, so I'm not particularly worried.

My sentiments, exact. The SB will be my on the go, traveling, business meetings, etc workhorse. It does everything I need it it to do and then some. Is it going to run the latest and greatest games on very high at 1080p60, no. But, I don't think that it was designed to be a gaming laptop.

Bring on October 26th.

 

[rezuth]

For the people expecting a super powerful graphics card, how would you propose they deal with the heat? The thing would overheat and power down every 10 minutes while gaming!

If only there was some kind of invention that could chill electronical products that get hot! Something that could be used on billions of products in order to cool them. I hope they can solve this gigantic problem in the future.

 

[Hoo-doo]

I don't know what you all were expecting. This is still an ultrabook but with a optional dGPU. PC gaming is very far down on the priority list of this thing.

 

[Kyoufu]

Still no word on UK pricing or release date. Is this even coming to Europe?

 

[Newlove]

Still no word on UK pricing or release date. Is this even coming to Europe?

This is as much as you know:

 

[giga]

Isn't the 940M close to the M370X in the 15" MBP? Granted the latter has 2GB of ram, but that seems about right for $1800 and Apple-like prices.

 

[kmag]

According to reddit the dGPU is based on 940m with 1GB VRAM GDDR5.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Surface/comments/3p4ht6/analysis_of_surface_book_gpu/

Interesting, I'd ruled out anything less than a 950m (with the 950m being the obvious candidate due to the limited memory) because the 950m is the first in the series with GDDR5 support. Pretty surprising they'd go to the trouble of adding that to a 940m, when they could have used the 950m and just throttled it.

 

[giga]

Isn't the 940M close to the M370X in the 15" MBP? Granted the latter has 2GB of ram, but that seems about right for $1800 and Apple-like prices.

Okay maybe not.

 

[maeh2k]

I don't know what people expect from what's basically a 13" Ultrabook. None of them have quad-core CPUs and powerful GPUs. They just don't have the necessary battery size and cooling.

 

[longdi]

Seriously what were you guys expecting? MS made a nice marketing pitch of a conference, but i always doubt they could engineer anything extraordinary when they are going to use standard parts from Intel/Nvidia. ie. Asus/Lenovo/Dell/HP could do the same thing as surface book.

I am more impressed with Dell new XPS15- quad cores, touch based UHD screen with ultra slim bezel, 16GB ram and 10-hours battery. It has a real 960M too! It is cheaper than the surface book! That is what i call a real Wintel laptop, not some comprised book-top with only marketing hoo-haa.

 

[Irminsul]

I am more impressed with Dell new XPS15- quad cores, touch based UHD screen with ultra slim bezel, 16GB ram and 10-hours battery. It has a real 960M too! It is cheaper than the surface book! That is what i call a real Wintel laptop, not some comprised book-top with only marketing hoo-haa.

I mean, you just described the difference between 13" and 15" laptops, but if you think that's something noteworthy, okay then...

 

[rezuth]

I don't know what people expect from what's basically a 13" Ultrabook. None of them have quad-core CPUs and powerful GPUs. They just don't have the necessary battery size and cooling.

Regular people who buy PCs expect significant power for such a price. Lets not pretend like it would be impossible either. They simply choose to focus on other aspects of the product and thats fine.

 

[BeforeU]

Okay maybe not.

SB has custom 940M with GDDR5

 

[giga]

SB has custom 940M with GDDR5

Alright so it should be better than those scores then.

 

[longdi]

I mean, you just described the difference between 13" and 15" laptops, but if you think that's something noteworthy, okay then...

Well if you going to spend that kind of money, why not get a real laptop for your school/work use? Why go for a compromised ultra-book?

XPS15 dimension is closer to your typical 14+" laptops.

Height: 0.45 – 0.66" (11-17mm) | Width: 14.06" (357mm) | Depth: 9.27" (235mm) | Starting at weight: 3.9 lbs (1.78kg)5 with 56Whr battery, SSD and non-touch display; 4.4 lbs (2kg)5 with 84Whr battery, SSD and touch display

Furthermore MS was sneaky with the 2x macbook claims, so much so that both GAF threads on the new surfaces in OT and Gaming allured to them as the "best" laptop ever!

 

[strata8]

Well if you going to spend that kind of money, why not get a real laptop for your school/work use? Why go for a compromised ultra-book?

XPS15 dimension is closer to your typical 14+" laptops.

Of course, I forgot the XPS 15 had a detachable screen and digitizer. Wait... it doesn''t.

 

[maeh2k]

Well if you going to spend that kind of money, why not get a real laptop for your school/work use? Why go for a compromised ultra-book?

You mean like the "best laptop ever" Macbook Air or the 13" Macbook Pro Retina?

 

[Jeels]

So, I cancelled my pre-order and explained to the MS rep it was because of the dGPU not being up to par. He recommended the 1500 Asus zenbook.

 

[Yaari]

So, I cancelled my pre-order and explained to the MS rep it was because of the dGPU not being up to par. He recommended the 1500 Asus zenbook.

Which one is that? Can't find much when I google for it.

 

[Raistlin]

If only there was some kind of invention that could chill electronical products that get hot! Something that could be used on billions of products in order to cool them. I hope they can solve this gigantic problem in the future.

Size incurs physical limitations for heat dissipation.


If one wants that sort of performance, they're looking at the wrong category. This is considered an ultrabook, not a desktop replacement.

 

[Raistlin]

Regular people who buy PCs expect significant power for such a price. Lets not pretend like it would be impossible either. They simply choose to focus on other aspects of the product and thats fine.

There must be an awful lot of upset Mac owners

 

[rezuth]

There must be an awful lot of upset Mac owners

I don't think a normal consumer would buy a Mac to get the best bang for buck on raw performance. Apple has never ever been in that race with the Mac. They are sold as "Premium" devices and not gaming machines. Which probably is why Apple has such a high satisfaction rate.

Size incurs physical limitations for heat dissipation.


If one wants that sort of performance, they're looking at the wrong category. This is considered an ultrabook, not a desktop replacement.

No 13" computer exist with a better dedicated GPU? Come on son. No one is talking about them making a desktop replacement but surely you can admit they might have skimped a bit?

 

[The Dutch Slayer]

Still no word on UK pricing or release date. Is this even coming to Europe?

Could have done a search IN this thread for the answer :O
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=180895394&postcount=318

From my EU PR email about all the MS news today.
NO RELEASE planned for the Surface Book as of yet sadly US and Canada only for now
DAMMM ! this machine looks AMAZING.

 

[giga]

No 13" computer exist with a better dedicated GPU? Come on son. No one is talking about them making a desktop replacement but surely you can admit they might have skimped a bit?

With a similar weight, size, and battery to the 13" MBP? I'm not sure if it does.

 

[Irminsul]

No 13" computer exist with a better dedicated GPU? Come on son. No one is talking about them making a desktop replacement but surely you can admit they might have skimped a bit?

Even the Vaio Z didn't have really beefy dGPUs in them, and that was as much power as you could get within 13". So I really don't know where this idea of a 13" with a really good dGPU is coming from...

 

[Culex]

I wonder if it's the 900 refresh of the rare 845m?

Thats higher clock, 128 bit and uses GDDR5

 

[maeh2k]

No 13" computer exist with a better dedicated GPU? Come on son. No one is talking about them making a desktop replacement but surely you can admit they might have skimped a bit?

They exist (see the Alienware 13), but they aren't as thin and light and they don't have the same battery life.

 

[Ran rp]

it releases next week right? where are the revieeeews

 

[longdi]

They exist (see the Alienware 13), but they aren't as thin and light and they don't have the same battery life.

Gigabyte and Razer also sell tiny 13" with quad cores and 970m 6gb. Lol I don't expect them to last long with the kind of heat generated.

 

[Ran rp]

the main draw for me is still the high quality drawing tablet features and long battery life, and i rarely game on pc anyway. as long as i can get a last gen console-like experience i think i'd be content. my current laptop can't even manage that but gaming's been ok on it.

the price though.

 

[Zabka]

Any word on the DX12 multiadapter stuff being active for launch?

 

[btrboyev]

it releases next week right? where are the revieeeews

I expect average reviews. Not enough power for games, poor battery life in clipboard mode, lack of compelling Windows store apps...Same shit we hear from reviews.

 

[giga]

I expect average reviews. Not enough power for games, poor battery life in clipboard mode, lack of compelling Windows store apps...Same shit we hear from reviews.

Forgetting the price.

 

[btrboyev]

Forgetting the price.

That too.

 

[Radec]

940m? Yikes. But expected given the size of the SB.

 

[jagowar]

I am torn between this and the dell xps 13/15... I do think long term the SB would have less issues since MS would be the one updating it.

I have a dell xps 13 now for work and it has wifi problems from time to time which is annoying and can imagine that will get worse over time since dell has so many models to support where ms has just the surface line. But its also $300 more for an equivalent model.

 

[szaromir]

the only laptops that would otherwise fit the bill are big and heavy and have no battery life or are stupidly overpriced (even moreso than the surface book)...and also have no battery life (happen to have the latter). compared to the choices available, this laptop is pretty great.

You need (at least) 960M for comfortable experience in modern games, otherwise your life as a gamer will be truly miserable. Unless you literally only want it for LOL and classic games from generations past.

 

[Kyoufu]

I am torn between this and the dell xps 13/15... I do think long term the SB would have less issues since MS would be the one updating it.

I have a dell xps 13 now for work and it has wifi problems from time to time which is annoying and can imagine that will get worse over time since dell has so many models to support where ms has just the surface line. But its also $300 more for an equivalent model.

Well, I mean, a year later and my SP3 still has several bugs and issues which have not been fixed via Windows Update.

 

[Dash27]

So I need a new laptop desperately for business reasons. I'm going to be doing videos with Camtasia specifically. Mostly screen capture stuff, some added fancy graphic work as I learn how to do it.

256GB / 8GB RAM / Intel Core i7 for $2066.00 seems right to me. My current laptop is 5 years old now and still does the job it just takes a long time to render video.

I'm not sure how much more performance I'll get with another 8GB of RAM.

Anyone who does video editing have an opinion on if it's worth the extra $600 for more RAM and storage?

 

[Apath]

I don't know what you all were expecting. This is still an ultrabook but with a optional dGPU. PC gaming is very far down on the priority list of this thing.

For something so far down their priority list they sure did spend a lot of time emphasizing it.

 

[Kyoufu]

For something so far down their priority list they sure did spend a lot of time emphasizing it.

They showed a Gears game running on it and that's it. It was like a minute of the presentation.

 

[longdi]

So I need a new laptop desperately for business reasons. I'm going to be doing videos with Camtasia specifically. Mostly screen capture stuff, some added fancy graphic work as I learn how to do it.

256GB / 8GB RAM / Intel Core i7 for $2066.00 seems right to me. My current laptop is 5 years old now and still does the job it just takes a long time to render video.

I'm not sure how much more performance I'll get with another 8GB of RAM.

Anyone who does video editing have an opinion on if it's worth the extra $600 for more RAM and storage?

Why not look at Dell new XPS or Precision line-up?
Seriously the SB is just an ultra-book, and as good as it can be, i rather go with real laptop, you know 4 real cores and such for videos. Unless you need the digitiser in SB..

 

[kmag]

I expect average reviews. Not enough power for games, poor battery life in clipboard mode, lack of compelling Windows store apps...Same shit we hear from reviews.

To be honest from the moment it was revealed I think most people's instinct was "Very good, may buy the next version they come out with." A bit like the Surface to be honest. Most new consumer computing devices take a released iteration to work out the kinks, hell some take 2 or 3.

 

[Apath]

They showed a Gears game running on it and that's it. It was like a minute of the presentation.

They talked about its potential as a gaming device for a lot more than just that Gears demo.