Microsoft Surface Book 2 Review: A Powerful Laptop For Creating

Microsoft’s first Surface Book laptop launched two years ago. Since then, Microsoft has been surprised in the numerous ways people have used it to enrich society, from gaming to developing new software. Microsoft’s Surface Book 2 promises to help nurture the next wave of innovators, allowing people and organizations access to more tools than ever before.

MICROSOFT SURFACE BOOK 2 PREVIEW

Two varieties of the Surface Book 2 will be available, 13 inches and 15 inches. The 13-inch iteration is composed of a Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050, also bearing 2GB of graphics memory. Its bigger brother will instead offer a GTX 1060 with 6GB of graphics memory. The 15-inch model will unsurprisingly be a notch heavier, weighing 4.2 pounds with its keyboard to the 13-inch’s 3.38. You’ll be able to fine-tune either option to suit your needs, although their respective starting prices are $1,499 and $2,499. Pre-orders for both iterations of the Microsoft Surface Book 2 will begin on November 9, with shipping slated to begin on November 16.

Microsoft’s latest laptop is the most powerful member in its family, enabling it to handle a wide variety of tasks, from programing to VR to Microsoft Word. Moreover, it was built with gaming in mind, too. In fact, it will compare admirably to Microsoft’s Xbox One, with the 15-inch even offering built-in compatibility with Xbox One controllers and headsets.

Regarding its port lineup, USB-C, USB-A and an SD card reader will be present. (Disappointingly, however, the former port will not be of the Thunderbolt variety.) One appreciated enhancement made in this Surface Book is the 360-degree hinges, which swiftly allow you to shift your device into its tablet mode or its studio mode. Microsoft is also positioning the Surface Book 2 as a beneficiary of the upcoming Windows 10 Fall Creators Update.

Microsoft’s hoping to capture some of the market Apple’s known for, owing to how Microsoft is directly referencing how the Surface Book 2 hosts superior battery life to the latest MacBook Pro. (However, Microsoft’s testing was limited purely to video playback whereas Apple’s testing encompasses multiple functions.) Additionally, Microsoft’s Panos Panay noted that their 15-inch laptop “delivers almost seven million dazzling pixels – 45% more than the MacBook Pro.”