Introduced a little over two years ago, Microsoft's Surface Book was the hybrid laptop that I had long hoped the company would build. Like the Surface Pro, it worked as a true standalone tablet, but it had the all-important stiff hinge, making it suitable for use on your lap in a way that the Surface Pro's kickstand and Type Covers never really supported.
The Surface Book was not just a useful form factor; it was also something of a technological showcase. Other hybrid designs I've used, such as the ThinkPad Helix, had clunky mechanical linkages between the tablet portion and the base. The Surface Book boasted a clever software-controlled system. The fulcrum hinge design, which helped keep the device balanced when the screen was open, is elegant and visually striking.
And to top it all off, the Surface Book came with an optional discrete GPU, with the GPU housed not in the tablet part but in the base. While we've seen many systems with switchable graphics—using the low-power integrated GPU unless you're playing a game or similar and need the full power of the discrete chip—having the discrete GPU be in a separate component was an exciting twist.
| Specs at a glance: Microsoft Surface Book 2 15" | ||
|---|---|---|
| Base | Best (Reviewed) | |
| Screen | 3240×2160 15" (260 PPI), 10-point capacitive PixelSense touchscreen | |
| OS | Windows 10 Pro | |
| CPU | Intel 8th generation Core i7-8650U | |
| RAM | 16GB 1,866MHz LPDDR3 | |
| GPU | Intel UHD Graphics 620 + NVIDIA GTX 1060 with 6GB GDDR5 | |
| SSD | 256GB PCIe | 1TB PCIe |
| Networking | 802.11ac/a/b/g/n with 2x2 MIMO antennas, Bluetooth 4.1 | |
| Ports | 2 USB 3.1 generation 1 Type-A, 1 USB 3.1 generation 1 Type-C with Power Delivery, SD, 3.5mm headset | |
| Cameras | Rear: 8MP autofocus, 1080p video Front: 5MP, 1080p video, infrared facial recognition |
|
| Size | 13.5×9.87×0.57-0.90" (343×251×15-23mm) | |
| Weight | 4.2lb (1.91kg) | |
| Battery | 22Wh (tablet) + 62Wh (base) | |
| Warranty | 1 year | |
| Price | $2,499 | $3,299 |
| Sensors | Ambient light sensor, accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer | |
| Charger | 95W | |
| Other features | Supports Surface Pen, Surface Dial, TPM 2.0, Xbox Wireless | |
Surface Book was an early adopter of Intel's then-new Skylake chips. But a year after its launch, when most OEMs were refreshing their Skylake systems with Kaby Lake processors, Microsoft... didn't. Kaby Lake offered some nice improvements in clock speeds and power efficiency, but rather than bump the Surface Book line with the new chips, Microsoft instead introduced the Performance Base; the tablet portion was unchanged, but the Performance Base had a faster discrete GPU and an enormous battery. Even when the Surface Pro 4—released concurrently with the Surface Book—was replaced by the Kaby Lake 2017 Surface Pro, the Surface Book kept its Skylake chips.
Twice the cores, and an enormous GPU upgrade
While Microsoft may have skipped one cycle of processor updates, it hasn't abandoned the Surface Book, and it hasn't skipped the latest "eighth generation" Kaby Lake-R chips. These chips double the number of cores and threads (to four and eight respectively), and for the right applications they can provide a hefty boost to performance. The new Surface Book 2 also includes a substantial upgrade to the optional discrete GPU, from Nvidia's 900-series in the 2015 model to a 1000-series GPU.
Most significant of all, Microsoft is doubling down on Surface Book's laptop credentials with a new size. Surface Book 2 now has two screen options: as with the first generation, there's a 13.5 inch 3000×2000 display, but that is now joined by a 15-inch 3240×2160 screen. The 15-inch version is only available with an i7 processor and a discrete Nvidia GTX 1060 GPU with 6GB dedicated GDDR5 memory; the base 13.5-inch version comes with an i5 processor and no discrete GPU or an i7 processor and an Nvidia GTX 1050 discrete GPU with 2GB dedicated DDR5 memory.
| Specs at a glance: Microsoft Surface Book 2 13.5" | ||
|---|---|---|
| Base | Best | |
| Screen | 3000×2000 13.5" (267 PPI), 10-point capacitive PixelSense touchscreen | |
| OS | Windows 10 Pro | |
| CPU | Intel 7th generation Core i7-7300U | Intel 8th generation Core i7-8650U |
| RAM | 8GB 1,866MHz LPDDR3 | 16GB 1,866MHz LPDDR3 |
| GPU | Intel UHD Graphics 620 | Intel UHD Graphics 620 + NVIDIA GTX 1050 with 2GB GDDR5 |
| SSD | 256GB PCIe | 1TB PCIe |
| Networking | 802.11ac/a/b/g/n with 2x2 MIMO antennas, Bluetooth 4.1 | |
| Ports | 2 USB 3.1 generation 1 Type-A, 1 USB 3.1 generation 1 Type-C with Power Delivery, SD, 3.5mm headset | |
| Cameras | Rear: 8MP autofocus, 1080p video Front: 5MP, 1080p video, infrared facial recognition |
|
| Size | 12.3×9.14×0.51-0.90" (312×232×13-23mm) | 12.3×9.14×0.59-0.90" (312×232×13-23mm) |
| Weight | 3.38lb (1.53kg) | 3.62lb (1.64kg) |
| Battery | Unknown | |
| Warranty | 1 year | |
| Price | $1,499 | $2,999 |
| Sensors | Ambient light sensor, accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer | |
| Charger | 39W | 95W |
| Other features | Supports Surface Pen, Surface Dial, TPM 2.0 | |
In almost every way, the new Surface Books look and act identical to the first-generation systems—they're just larger, in the 15-inch guise. But they retain the same hybrid identity: the screen portion contains its own battery and all the core components and can be detached to operate as a standalone tablet. The base includes the battery, the discrete GPU, and the keyboard. The new, larger screen has required some (internal) re-engineering of the Surface Book's hinge and latching mechanism to make them a little stiffer and stronger, but they look virtually identical. The hinge still unrolls to ensure the system remains balanced, and the latching mechanism is still a software-controlled electrically actuated thing.
The review system Microsoft supplied is a top-spec 15-inch model that packs an i7-8550U processor, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD, and a GeForce GTX 1060 GPU with 6GB dedicated GDDR5 memory. It's... it's a little extraordinary. Because of the greater portability they confer, especially in cramped situations like sitting in the back of a plane, I tend to prefer laptops around the 13-inch size. A 15-inch system feels big, but as 15-inch laptops go, the Surface Book 2 is a pretty sleek example of the type. It's a small amount heavier than the 15-inch MacBook Pro and a little thicker at the hinge end. But overall, this is a very respectable device, size-wise.
A vast expanse of tablet
Still, tearing that screen off and using it as a tablet feels very strange. Fifteen inches is truly an enormous screen for a tablet; this is a monster tablet. Yet every time I pick it up, it surprises me. The tablet weighs 0.8kg/1.8lb, and, for something with such a large screen, that feels very light. It's thin, at about 8mm/0.3inches, but yet it packs in an i7 processor, RAM, storage, and a battery. The touch screen is up to Microsoft's usual high standards; it's sensitive, its parallax error is minute (with each iteration of Surface, Microsoft has made the entire screen and touch sensor assembly thinner to ensure that the pen tip is closer to the actual pixels, and Surface Book 2 continues this pattern), and it seems to respond well to touch and pen.
I'm no artist, and I'm not much of a tablet user. While I love the hybrid form factor, I love it for the same reason that I love the 360-degree hinge; I like to make the system an inverted V for watching movies and similar activities when flying, and I like to wrap the screen around all the way (to turn the thing into a chunky tablet) for watching movies in bed. As such, I don't have any particularly strong feelings about this 15-inch tablet. It's an engineering marvel, without a doubt. But is it useful? For me, no. I would flip the screen around, but I can't imagine ever using it detached from the base.
When introducing the Surface Book 2, Microsoft spoke extensively about the appeal the flexible machine had for creative, artistic users, and, in particular, users for whom the pen is not merely an optional extra but a core part of the value proposition. For them, the 15-inch tablet represents a member of a continuum; it's one of a family of tablets: 12.3 inches in the Surface Pro, 13.5 and 15 inches in the Surface Book 2, and 28 inches for the Surface Studio. Those all support the same pens, and they all support Microsoft's Surface Dial accessory. If you want that larger workspace that the 15-inch tablet offers, then the Surface Book 2 is likely to appeal.
Otherwise, the Surface Book 2 is really very similar to its predecessor. That's good in lots of ways but disappointing in others. The good? This is a high-quality, well-built machine. The tablet, whether 13.5-inch or 15-inch, is remarkably thin considering everything that goes into it. The screen is bright and beautiful, and its Windows Hello facial recognition is a quick and convenient way of logging into Windows. The keyboard action is crisp and solid; the keyboard backlight can render the keys unreadable in some situations (thanks to white illumination and gray keycaps); and the key layout is reasonable, albeit lacking in dedicated page navigation keys. The 15-inch model gives no advantage here; although it in principle offers more space for the keyboard, and hence more keys, it is identical to the 13.5-inch version. Similarly, the touchpad is large, smooth, and precise. It's a Precision Touchpad, so it supports the range of Windows 10 multitouch gestures, and it will offer more as Microsoft adds new gestures to the operating system.
As such, the core laptop experience is nailed by the Surface Book 2. The fancy hinge does somewhat limit how far the screen can be tilted back; even regular, non-360-degree hinges usually offer a bit more freedom in the screen angle than the Surface Book 2. From my (more extensive) usage of the first-generation system, this is occasionally an annoyance, particularly when trying to show other people things on my screen, but it's not something I run into daily. But overall, you can use the Surface Book 2 as if it were just a regular touchscreen laptop without ever having to think about the detachable screen. That's a good thing; the detachable screen isn't making the Surface Book 2 any less of a laptop.
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