Surface Book 2 - An Update to MS's MacBook Pro competitor
One surprise that came out this week from MS was announcement of an update the to Surface Book line of premium laptops - now called Surface Book 2.
The big change was the expansion to two screen sizes 13.5" and 15" as well as updates on the i7 versions to 8th Gen Intel i7-8650U CPUs and nVidia GTX 1050 or 1060 GPUs. MS retains the 3:2 Aspect ratio with a 3000 x 2000 Pixel Sense display for the 13.5" and a 3240 x 2160 for the 15".
The general form remains the same with a detachable screen that turns the device into a tablet. Touch and Pen support is there - although MS does not include the pen ($99) and Windows Hello support is also there. On the 15" you also get XBox Wireless Support.
So the big performance gains are from the new 8th Gen Core CPU and nVidia GPUs. Now with 4 cores and 8 threads there is a significant performance gain of around 40%.
So these are certainly nice devices and reflective of MS continuing to push the new personal computing paradigm they introduced with the Surface line.
But you pay a dear premium for it. The entry level 13.5" that is still running a i5-7200U with HD620 graphics, 8GB of RAM and 256GB SSD is $1,499. The top of the line 15" with 16GB of RAM, 1TB SSD and GTX 1060 graphics is an eye popping $3,299. And even at that large number - you don't get a Pen or Dial.
And even things like Office are extra. MS needs to include an Office365 Personal license at least and should throw in the Pen and Dial as well.
I have not tested one - so I am not going to say it's a good or bad device. it certainly carries premium specs and the high end 15" is every bit a gaming laptop.
Compared to a Macbook Pro - 15" with 512GB SSD, 16Gb RAM, a Radeon 560 GPU and 2880 x 1800 display @ $2,799, a similarly equipped 15" Surface Book 2 is just $100 more @ $2,899 but brings the 8th Gen CPU and higher end NVidia CPU along with a larger battery and higher resolution. So it is a valid competitor.
With that said - it is a niche device that allows MS to say - yes we can compete directly against the MacBook Pro. At that price point both machines are not high volume and in the Windows space, HP just announced the z Book 2 which is similar in overall design with slightly lower specs but a $1,799 price point.
To me the question is this. Would you pay nearly $3,300 for a premium 15" Windows 10 laptop ?
Just as a sanity check - you can go out today and buy a new Dell Inspiron 15" 7573 2-in-1 with i7-8550U CPU, nVidia 940Mx GPU, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB PCI NVMe SSD and 1920 x 1080 Display w/ Touch and Pen support display with Windows Hello for $1,049.
Now sure the Inspiron does not have the high end graphics of the Surface Book 2 or MacBook Pro - but it will support all the of key features of Windows 10 at less than 1/3 the price. And if you bump the RAM and Disk to match - you're still going to be under $1,400..
This is the challenge that MS faces with Surface Book. From a functionality standpoint you can do the same things for a lot less. And versus Apple which has always been considered a premium brand - MS hardware isn't - they're trying but the perception is just not the same.
And so while the Surface Book 2 is certainly from a technical standpoint a premium device - like its peers in the Surface line is simply not going to sell in enough volume to worry Apple or any other OEM.
The big change was the expansion to two screen sizes 13.5" and 15" as well as updates on the i7 versions to 8th Gen Intel i7-8650U CPUs and nVidia GTX 1050 or 1060 GPUs. MS retains the 3:2 Aspect ratio with a 3000 x 2000 Pixel Sense display for the 13.5" and a 3240 x 2160 for the 15".
The general form remains the same with a detachable screen that turns the device into a tablet. Touch and Pen support is there - although MS does not include the pen ($99) and Windows Hello support is also there. On the 15" you also get XBox Wireless Support.
So the big performance gains are from the new 8th Gen Core CPU and nVidia GPUs. Now with 4 cores and 8 threads there is a significant performance gain of around 40%.
So these are certainly nice devices and reflective of MS continuing to push the new personal computing paradigm they introduced with the Surface line.
But you pay a dear premium for it. The entry level 13.5" that is still running a i5-7200U with HD620 graphics, 8GB of RAM and 256GB SSD is $1,499. The top of the line 15" with 16GB of RAM, 1TB SSD and GTX 1060 graphics is an eye popping $3,299. And even at that large number - you don't get a Pen or Dial.
And even things like Office are extra. MS needs to include an Office365 Personal license at least and should throw in the Pen and Dial as well.
I have not tested one - so I am not going to say it's a good or bad device. it certainly carries premium specs and the high end 15" is every bit a gaming laptop.
Compared to a Macbook Pro - 15" with 512GB SSD, 16Gb RAM, a Radeon 560 GPU and 2880 x 1800 display @ $2,799, a similarly equipped 15" Surface Book 2 is just $100 more @ $2,899 but brings the 8th Gen CPU and higher end NVidia CPU along with a larger battery and higher resolution. So it is a valid competitor.
With that said - it is a niche device that allows MS to say - yes we can compete directly against the MacBook Pro. At that price point both machines are not high volume and in the Windows space, HP just announced the z Book 2 which is similar in overall design with slightly lower specs but a $1,799 price point.
To me the question is this. Would you pay nearly $3,300 for a premium 15" Windows 10 laptop ?
Just as a sanity check - you can go out today and buy a new Dell Inspiron 15" 7573 2-in-1 with i7-8550U CPU, nVidia 940Mx GPU, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB PCI NVMe SSD and 1920 x 1080 Display w/ Touch and Pen support display with Windows Hello for $1,049.
Now sure the Inspiron does not have the high end graphics of the Surface Book 2 or MacBook Pro - but it will support all the of key features of Windows 10 at less than 1/3 the price. And if you bump the RAM and Disk to match - you're still going to be under $1,400..
This is the challenge that MS faces with Surface Book. From a functionality standpoint you can do the same things for a lot less. And versus Apple which has always been considered a premium brand - MS hardware isn't - they're trying but the perception is just not the same.
And so while the Surface Book 2 is certainly from a technical standpoint a premium device - like its peers in the Surface line is simply not going to sell in enough volume to worry Apple or any other OEM.
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