Got my Surface Book - makes Macbooks look like dinosaurs...

[maxsix]

I received my Surface Book yesterday. I'm speechless. This thing is the future,
makes my Macs look obsolete. Not old, but prehistoric old. Incredible.

Photoshop runs like a charm. 16GB of RAM, Nvidia card, 512 SSD, i7. Everything is seamless.
Tablet mode - perfect.

But the device itself is the most amazing. Screen can be detached easily, flipped, reattached.
Pen is as smooth as any Wacom. When in tablet mode, you can use writing recognition
and it WORKS! Anything, web addresses, passwords anything works. Switch to a virtual keyboard
if you want to. When we saw how great writing recognition works, our jaws dropped.

This is my first exciting laptop in ages, more than 10 years for sure.

Feels like the future. My previous comparable experience - first iPhone.

So sad to see Apple being so far behind. Even Windows 10 make OS X look very old...

Congratulations!

Mine is confirmed to be delivered to my door this afternoon after 3 PM.

It's not to replace my much loved 2015 15" fully optioned MBPr, but as a companion device.

If's it's half as good as my Surface Pro 3, I will be delighted.

Seems that Microsoft is on the rebound, I'm very happy for them and for the industry

 

[maflynn]

If's it's half as good as my Surface Pro 3, I will be delighted.

I think overall its going to be better, because the display, CPU and GPU will be better but its going to be heavier. I'm tempted by it, but to be honest, I'm having an issue spending 2,000 for a laptop at this stage. I mean that for both Apple and the SurfaceBook.

If I'm keeping computers 3 to 5 years, why not get a 600 to 1,000 dollar computer which I won't expect to last beyond 3 to 5 years? That's sure beats spending 2k every few years.

 

[~~Hello~~]

I see the UK has been snubbed. So I won't be getting one. You wouldn't get that with Apple alienating their customers base.

 

[satchmo]

Some interesting things:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2997...t-your-new-surface-book-or-surface-pro-4.html

Looks like the main advantage the SurfaceBook has over the MacBook in terms of speed is the dedicated GPU. Hopefully Apple will find a way equip the next MBP 13" with one as well. But I'm not holding my breath.

While I'm still not sure about the hinge, it does speak to how the roles have reversed and how MS and others are pushing the envelope in design.

Apple is now playing corporate safe. I don't think we'll ever see boundary pushing designs like the G4 iMac from them ever again.

 

[maxsix]

I think overall its going to be better, because the display, CPU and GPU will be better but its going to be heavier. I'm tempted by it, but to be honest, I'm having an issue spending 2,000 for a laptop at this stage. I mean that for both Apple and the SurfaceBook.

If I'm keeping computers 3 to 5 years, why not get a 600 to 1,000 dollar computer which I won't expect to last beyond 3 to 5 years? That's sure beats spending 2k every few years.

You are quite right in your reasoning.

I however, am a self proclaimed "laptop/smartphone" addict... it's just so much fun

 

[fieldsphotos]

Looks like the main advantage the SurfaceBook has over the MacBook in terms of speed is the dedicated GPU. Hopefully Apple will find a way equip the next MBP 13" with one as well. But I'm not holding my breath.

While I'm still not sure about the hinge, it does speak to how the roles have reversed and how MS and others are pushing the envelope in design.

Apple is now playing corporate safe. I don't think we'll ever see boundary pushing designs like the G4 iMac from them ever again.

You used to be able to get a dGPU in a 13" MBP. I think Apple is getting away from dGPUs and I wouldn't be surprised if a refreshed 15" is no longer offered with one once it gets updated to Skylake.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

You used to be able to get a dGPU in a 13" MBP. I think Apple is getting away from dGPUs and I wouldn't be surprised if a refreshed 15" is no longer offered with one once it gets updated to Skylake.

You never could, the likes of the NVIDIA 320M was not really a dGPU it used system memory and was integrated into the chip set.

See here even NVIDIA describes it and it's predecessors as integrated.

http://appleinsider.com/articles/10...especially_for_apples_new_13_inch_macbook_pro

 

[satchmo]

You used to be able to get a dGPU in a 13" MBP. I think Apple is getting away from dGPUs and I wouldn't be surprised if a refreshed 15" is no longer offered with one once it gets updated to Skylake.

I truly hope this is not the direction.
Also, I should add, while the SurfaceBook is faster with the dGPU, it's also $400 more than a similarly equipped 13" rMBP.
But competition is good and hopefully this will push Apple to perhaps 'think different' once again.

 

[whodatrr]

For me, the MS Sweet spot is the i7 SP4. It's pretty much on par with the non-dGPU Surface Book, while its integrated graphics are significantly better than the i5. This, along with hyper threading (I do tend to use it), make the i7 a viable option with this gen.

But mainly, I like the form factor of the SP vs SB. It's smaller and thinner, while having dramatically better battery life than the SB detached. I guess in that way I'm tablet first.

But alas, I already have the SP3, so I just ordered the keyboard this time around (great improvement). I'll probably be ordering the SP5, once that comes out.

Still waffling though. I just upgraded my main system to a new 5K iMac, which is my perfect workstation. I tried to go portable rMBP, but I like pushing too many pixels for that (usually three huge displays). I also have a 2015 MB with is surprisingly useful as a laptop. Though it doesn't have much horsepower, the screen is brilliant. I'm a lot more productive on it than I was on my MBA 13, because the resolution lets me work with more windows simultaneously.

But MS is headed in the right direction.

 

[marc55]

I received my Surface Book yesterday. I'm speechless. This thing is the future,
makes my Macs look obsolete. Not old, but prehistoric old. Incredible.

Photoshop runs like a charm. 16GB of RAM, Nvidia card, 512 SSD, i7. Everything is seamless.
Tablet mode - perfect.

But the device itself is the most amazing. Screen can be detached easily, flipped, reattached.
Pen is as smooth as any Wacom. When in tablet mode, you can use writing recognition
and it WORKS! Anything, web addresses, passwords anything works. Switch to a virtual keyboard
if you want to. When we saw how great writing recognition works, our jaws dropped.

This is my first exciting laptop in ages, more than 10 years for sure.

Feels like the future. My previous comparable experience - first iPhone.

So sad to see Apple being so far behind. Even Windows 10 make OS X look very old...

I can't believe you are even trying to compare a new computer to a 10 year old computer; of course it's going to be light years ahead!

 

[maflynn]

But MS is headed in the right direction.

Agreed, now we need to see what apple does to determine if they too are heading in the right direction, i.e., new MBPs

 

[Queen6]

You used to be able to get a dGPU in a 13" MBP. I think Apple is getting away from dGPUs and I wouldn't be surprised if a refreshed 15" is no longer offered with one once it gets updated to Skylake.

Apple have wanted to drop the dGPU for years, I even remember Steve Jobs commenting the same. Apple have a poor track record with the MBP & dGPU so I would not be surprised at all to see it deprecated from the line up, given that there is now only one system available with dGPU.

Q-6

 

[Queen6]

What changes did you make the host file, I'm curious as I use Chrome mostly, though I've dabbled with Edge

You can do the same in OS X with GasMask same idea just edit the Hosts file to block the garbage.

Q-6

 

[iBilal]

I'm sure it's gorgeous and a pleasure to use ..

I'd *LOVE* to get one .. but my issue is still the operating system .. I just can't use windows .. I'd be so lost ..

 

[maxsix]

I've been using mine for the last four hours. Setup was very smooth and so far it's pleasantly bug free.

The keyboard is just stellar. Spoiled by keyboards on my MBP's over the years I sure didn't expect how quiet, solid and fast this keyboard is.

I'm not comparing it to anything Apple because I just never compare. Instead I evaluate it based on what it is and what it was designed for. As much as I love Apple I can easily suggest this to those who are interested.

 

[Acronyc]

Photoshop runs like a charm. 16GB of RAM, Nvidia card, 512 SSD, i7. Everything is seamless.

Congrats and enjoy. It does look great and I'd like to try it but don't really need so many notebook computers. Maybe a few iterations down the road I'll give it a shot. Nice to hear good things about Windows 10, I didn't have such a great experience with it.

Just curious though, aren't the above-mentioned specs all basically available on the rMBP and wouldn't running apps like Photoshop be seamless as well? I have a 2012 15" rMBP and it has everything you mentioned except tablet mode.

BTW my Macbook Air next to this is like an ancient giant cell phone,
4 pounds and a giant antenna sticking out, you know what I mean. Really sad...

The 11" MacBook Air is getting very dated and an update is needed soon. However, a comparison between a Surface Book and an 11" MacBook Air hardly seems fair.

Anyway, have fun!

 

[Rhinoevans]

I found his post cringeworthy. It was like a kid who's got a new toy for Christmas and suddenly last years toys are forgotten about. Any modern notebook will look great compared to his old 11" MBA, that machine is so long in the tooth it's not even funny.

Not really!

 

[Rhinoevans]

Looks like the main advantage the SurfaceBook has over the MacBook in terms of speed is the dedicated GPU. Hopefully Apple will find a way equip the next MBP 13" with one as well. But I'm not holding my breath.

While I'm still not sure about the hinge, it does speak to how the roles have reversed and how MS and others are pushing the envelope in design.

Apple is now playing corporate safe. I don't think we'll ever see boundary pushing designs like the G4 iMac from them ever again.

As much as I would like a dedicated GPU on my 13 MBP, I would pass because of the heat and fan noise!

 

[M5RahuL]

Congrats on the buy! Windows 10 is shaping up very nicely!

I'm waiting for the new 15" Dell XPS system to be released so I can compare the two [ esp the keyboard and trackpad ] before deciding.

 

[Queen6]

Agreed, now we need to see what apple does to determine if they too are heading in the right direction, i.e., new MBPs

Same here, I hope so. Personally I am coming under increased pressure to move to a Windows platform (software related), admittedly I can run Windows on Apple`s hardware, equally same as Apple Microsoft`s own hardware is likely to deliver a better user experience. If Apple fails to impress then the Surface Pro 4 & Surface Book are he obvious candidates.

Q-6

 

[snowboarder]

So after a few days, this thing is still a piece of beauty
A few problems are related to the support of the super high resolution screen, it's 3000x2000 pixels
and some Photoshop plugins I use don't support it yet... Text is mini-tiny, hard to work with it.
I've been promised updates are coming, also Windows supposed to offer a universal solution finally.

Other than that, all works really well. Highly recommend an application called TabletPC mouse,
let you create a floating menu with any keyboard shortcuts etc you can pre-program, I use it
in Photoshop and it helps a lot in tablet mode. Basically I can do everything without a keyboard.

Still getting used to Windows, they kind of have 3 different layers of "look", not as consistent as OS X.
But many old users love it that way, so I guess it's just getting used to it...

 

[leman]

Looks like the main advantage the SurfaceBook has over the MacBook in terms of speed is the dedicated GPU. Hopefully Apple will find a way equip the next MBP 13" with one as well. But I'm not holding my breath.

To include a dGPU, Microsoft has to use a heavily down clocked custom configuration of an Nvidia chip. Apple don't need to add a dGPU to compete — the Intel iGPUs that they are going to use in their 13" line will basically be just as fast.

You used to be able to get a dGPU in a 13" MBP. I think Apple is getting away from dGPUs and I wouldn't be surprised if a refreshed 15" is no longer offered with one once it gets updated to Skylake.

There was never ever a dGPU option with any 13" MBP. And Apple is moving to integrated because the integrated are just as good performance-wise. They will completely drop the dGPU once the dGPU becomes obsolete — which will most likely happen within a decade or so.

 

[maflynn]

To include a dGPU, Microsoft has to use a heavily down clocked custom configuration of an Nvidia chip. Apple don't need to add a dGPU to compete — the Intel iGPUs that they are going to use in their 13" line will basically be just as fast.

So far from what I've read, benchmarks are not backing up your statement. The SB is faster then the 13" MBP.

 

[AFEPPL]

I found his post cringeworthy. It was like a kid who's got a new toy for Christmas and suddenly last years toys are forgotten about. Any modern notebook will look great compared to his old 11" MBA, that machine is so long in the tooth it's not even funny.

So true, i don't get the cult like following of the MBA its not a machine i would ever contemplate buying.

 

[maflynn]

I even remember Steve Jobs commenting the same. Apple have a poor track record with the MBP & dGPU

Add in their track record with dGPUs failing lately and I agree whole heartedly. I think apple is moving away from the dGPU

You can do the same in OS X with GasMask same idea just edit the Hosts file to block the garbage.

Nice, I'll take a look at that thanks for the link