Microsoft, in a surprise announcement, revealed the Surface Book 2; second generation of their 2-in-1 laptop. With the Surface Laptop announced recently and it being not the perfect setup for power users, this announcement was much awaited. And further to the pleasure of power users, Microsoft has also announced a 15-inch version of the laptop in addition to the 13-inch one.
Design
In terms of appearance, the Surface Book 2 looks identical to the original one with its silver magnesium case and muscle wire hinge. The bigger model simply looks exactly that; a slightly bigger version of the smaller one. Microsoft has slightly improved the keyboard but it largely looks the same. In terms of ports, it comes with one USB Type-C port, two USB 3.0 Type-A ports, a headphone jack and a microSD card reader.
Specifications and Features:
This the department where Microsoft has made most of the changes. In terms of CPU, it comes with two options: 7th generation Core i5-7300U and 8th generation Core i7-8650U. The Core i7 option is the real mobile power house with four cores, eight threads and turbo of up to 4.2 GHz. It is available in both 13-inch and 15-inch options. They are coupled with 8GB or 16GB of LPDDR3-1886 RAM. There is surprisingly no 32GB options; which was also absent from the latest MacBook Pro. For storage, you can go up to 1TB of SSD.
In terms of GPU, Microsoft is offering NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 in the smaller model and GTX 1060 in the bigger one. The 13-inch model can also be bought without dedicated graphics, in that case you will be using the Intel HD 620 integrated graphics.
The display on the 13.5-inch model is same as the last year; 3000×2000 pixels. The 15-inch one gets a resolution of 3240×2160 pixels which offers 45% more pixels than the latest MacBook Pro. Both the models come with 10 point multi-touch and PixelSense technology. They also support Surface Pen and Surface Dial.
Furthermore, it comes with 5MP front facing camera with Full HD capabilities and an 8MP auto focusing back camera. The front facing camera also comes with IR capabilities as the laptops support Microsoft Hello technology for unlocking.
| Microsoft Surface Book 2 | |
| Warranty Period | 1 Year Limited Hardware |
| Processor Family | 7th and 8th Generation Intel Core i5 and i7 |
| i5-7300U 2C/4T (2.6 GHz base, 3.5 GHz Turbo) i7-8650U 4C/8T (1.9 GHz base, 4.2 GHz Turbo) | |
| Maximum Memory | SODIMM 8GB/16GB Dual Channel LPDDR3-1866 |
| Network Connectivity | 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac Bluetooth 4.1 LE |
| Internal Storage | 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB SSD |
| Available Graphics | Integrated: Intel HD 620 or UHD 620 Discrete: NVIDIA GTX1050 (13.5″) or GTX 1060 (15″) |
| Expansion Slots | 1 x UHS-II SDXC Card Reader |
| Display | 13.5″, 3000 x 2000 resolution PixelSense Display 15″ 3240x 2160 resolution, PixelSense Display Both 10-point multi-touch G5 |
| Ports and Connectors | 2 x USB3.0 (5 Gbps) Type-A 1 x USB Type-C 3.5″ headphone jack 2 Surface Connect |
| Input Device | Backlit keyboard with function key control Optional Surface Pen Optional Surface Dial |
| Camera | 5MP front-facing camera with 1080p HD video 8MP front-facing camera with 1080p Full HD vido Dual Microphones Front-facing stereo speakers with Dolby Audio Premium |
| Power | Details not listed |
| Dimensions (W x D x H) | 13.5″ (i5) 12.3″ x 9.14″ x 0.51-0.90″ 13.5″ (i5) 12.3″ x 9.14″ x 0.59-0.90″ 15″ (i7) 13.5″ x 9.87″ x 0.59-0.90″ |
| Weight | 13.5″ Starting at 3.38 lbs including keyboard 15″ Starting at 4.2 lbs including keyboard |
Battery:
Microsoft is touting biggest improvements in this department with as high as 17 hours of battery on the Core i5 version. However, Microsoft’s method of measuring battery life is somewhat controversial. They only measure video playback time. So in real world usage, the Core i5 version should easily last around 12-13 hours. That is about the same amount of battery MacBooks offer.
Price:
Microsoft Surface Book 2 doesnt come cheap. The 13-inch model starts at $1500 whereas the $2500. You can make your own configuration but Microsoft is offering some pre-built configurations which are as below:
- 13.5-inch, Core i5, 256GB SSD, 8GB RAM, Intel HD 620 graphics: $1500
- 13.5-inch, Core i7, 256GB SSD, 8GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050: $2000
- 13.5-inch, Core i7, 512GB SSD, 16GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050: $2500
- 13.5-inch, Core i7, 1TB SSD, 16GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050: $3000
- 15-inch, Core i7, 256GB SSD, 8GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060: $2500
- 15-inch, Core i7, 512GB SSD, 16GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060: $2900
- 15-inch, Core i7, 1TB SSD, 16GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060: $3300
Microsoft will start taking pre-orders on 9th November in USA and deliveries start from 16th November.
