This also makes us less comfortable carrying the device in a backpack or bag without a proper cover as small items can easily fall in between.Īside from the hinge, the chassis itself is made almost entirely of matte magnesium alloy. The notebook cannot close completely and leaves an overt gap that makes the device look thicker than it actually is. It's not perfect, however, as the display can still rock back-and-forth just slightly and the maximum angle is only up to ~130 degrees. 2-in-1s like the Surface Book are notorious for having weak, top-heavy, or rocking hinges due to the heavy display portion, but we can now say with certainty that the Surface Book offers one of the most stable solutions that we hope to see mimicked from other manufacturers. Its unique property is the taut fulcrum hinge, which is somewhat similar to Lenovo's Watchband hinge for the Yoga 3 Pro and is Microsoft's answer to creating a stronger connection between the detachable base and display. The design may be minimalist, but its defined edges and rectangular look are unmistakably Surface and contrast very well to Apple's current crop of MacBooks. We'll be taking a full look in this review to see if the Surface Book is really any better than current detachables or even your average Ultrabook. Our test model is the $1900 SKU with the custom Nvidia Maxwell GPU. Going all out on the notebook will net you a 1 TB SSD, Core i7-6600U CPU, and discrete Nvidia graphics for $3200. Nvidia graphics is optional and will cost another $400 on top of the base $1500 configuration.

SKUs are available with either a Core i5 or i7 Skylake processor with integrated Intel HD 520 graphics.

Unlike its Surface Pro siblings, the Surface Book comes standard with the dock as the two are interdependent. This is your high-powered Surface Pro that's a step closer to being a full-fledged notebook than a simple tablet with a keyboard dock. We've heard of notebooks replacing the common desktop, but what about tablets replacing the common notebook? We're still a long ways off, but Microsoft is intent on creating alternative notebooks with its Surface series and the latest Surface Book is no exception.

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