See also these threads:
Posted on 10/06/2015 1:59:59 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Microsoft on Tuesday unveiled its first laptop: the Microsoft Surface Book, a 13-inch touch-screen device that also comes apart to become a tablet.
"This is the ultimate laptop," Microsoft's Panos Panay said.
It has two processors and a dedicated graphics-card system. Microsoft says the laptop is twice as fast as a Macbook Pro.
Pricing starts at $1,499, and the laptop will be available on October 26.
As with many devices in the Surface line, the Surface Book can detach from its keyboard to become a tablet. The keyboard can then dock on the back of the tablet to keep it all together. It also uses the Surface Pen stylus that comes with Surface tablets.
It's designed to add more power than the Surface Pro 4, also announced Tuesday. It's for gamers and any enterprise worker who needs more graphical horsepower under the hood. In fact, the Xbox team contributed its graphical expertise, Panay said.
Panay showed off how smoothly Windows 10 games like "Gears of War" and "Gigantic" ran on the Surface Book, even while using video-editing software to record game footage.
Interestingly, the graphics card lies in the keyboard unit, which means you will lose some horsepower while it's unplugged — at a likely gain to battery life.
Plus, it has a super-quiet, backlit keyboard, Microsoft promises, with a great typing experience. It also sports a promised 12-hour battery life.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
See also these threads:
>> Interestingly, the graphics card lies in the keyboard unit, which means you will lose some horsepower while it’s unplugged — at a likely gain to battery life.
The other article I just read on this says that the tablet unit will *lose* battery life, as well as horsepower. The power-hungry processor is in the keyboard unit... but so, apparently, is a much larger capacity battery.
Probably not any faster than my new Ace Chromebook 15.
Also, for $1499, I could buy 5 Chrome Books, give 4 to schools and have enough left over to take my wife out for a good dinner.
That’s a 3 year old Mac you are showing there...
Not too fair.
Yeah, this is a great move. A discreet Nvidia GPU for added HP during gaming or graphic design and then extended battery life while running on integrated Intel graphics. It’s the same setup that many high end laptops incorporate right now, but this is the first one done in a tablet crossover.
The chromebook you have runs a Celeron cpu, and the new SP4 will have an i5/i7 Skylake with a secondary GPU for graphics power... That’s an exponential difference in power.
Not very compelling. First of all it is Microsoft. How many generations if the xbox before it didn’t burn up and die? And their phones seem clunky and awkward.
They should stick to OSs and let other computer manufacturers develop the hardware.
Crashes twice as fast, then?
I love my Surface Pro 3.
Exactly! Lol
I love my Dell Inspiron 15. Does everything I ask of it and doesn’t complain. Even play WoW on it without a blip of system degradation.
>>>They should stick to OSs and let other computer manufacturers develop the hardware.
It’s interesting to me that MS is getting into the laptop hardware business. This is not their business model. I’m wondering how this will progress as they compete with other hardware vendors that are also their VARs...
As a consumer...
Someone said that the Pro4 would cost $1500.
Mac has the market beat at $1500. I am not exactly a Mac person but $1500 is a top end laptop. Maybe there will lower end versions. BTW, I think that Macs are overpriced.
I'd consider Dell or HP first over Microsoft. They have both been in the business for decades.
From what I can tell, MS laptop is in the same price range as MacBook.
This will be an interesting competition; cost was one of the major product differences between PC and Mac. Now, IMHO, it will be performance, GUI competing in the same price space.
MS does have another advantage though: compatible apps.
And that all that I will use. Especially their ergonomic keyboards. Typing on one of these right now. To go back to a standard in-line keyboard is very uncomfortable for me now. I hate them.
It was probably some exec's idea for making more money for the company and diversifying. It is usually a halfhearted attempt, too which guarantees it to failure.
Also, Microsoft would be competing with companies who have been in the business for decades, with established supply chains, and broad product families, and established customers.
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