Surface Book was announced during Microsoft’s Windows 10 Devices Event earlier this month. The first ever laptop built by Microsoft, is actually a lot more than a laptop, with a fully detachable screen that can also be flipped all the way around and used like a convertible, with the keyboard popping it up.
On the inside, the Surface Book has the latest Intel Core i5 and i7 processors, from the Skylake family. There’s also an Nvidia GeForce GPU with GDDR5 memory, however that’s located in the base, so you’ll need to keep the display docked to tap into its power. The dock also includes two USB 3.0 ports and an SD card slot.
The machine is supposed to keep running for 12 hours on a single charge. Microsoft claims this is the fastest 13-inch laptop ever made anywhere on any planet.
So, here’s a good question: Will the device’s many features be as positive as they appeared during the company’s presentation, or will they fail the test of real-life usability?
- Magnetic Pen. Microsoft’s holding system for the Surface Pen on the Surface Book includes magnets that hold the stylus to the side of the notebook. These magnets are strong, but they’re not so strong as to hold the stylus on to the notebook when you pull one from the other with a tug. If you’re the sort of person who wouldn’t be safe keeping a USB dongle plugged in to a notebook’s USB port in your backpack for fear of it getting broken off, chances are the Surface Pen isn’t going to stay stuck to your Surface Book. If you’re an extremely delicate user, and place all of your electronics in cases-within-cases, you’ll probably be safe.
- Surface Book’s hinge leaves a gap when the notebook is fully closed. If anything accidentally fell inside this gap, it may mean a scratched display – and too much potential for regret to own this device without investing in a secondary case.
- Flipping the screen on the go. At the Surface event, every demonstration of the flipping of the display was done on a table. What will happen when we’ve got the device in tablet mode (with the display facing outward) and we want to put it away, but have no table to set it on to flip? The process to detach the display from the notebook’s bottom is extremely secure, but not necessarily the easiest process to go through.
Source: SlashGear