Microsoft Surface Book i7: Cinderella

Microsoft Surface Book i7: Сinderella

Microsoft Surface Book i7: Microsoft’s Cinderella

In the October 26th event, the Surfact Book i7 was transformed almost like Cinderella, the night of the ball. It had a brilliant debut with Surface Studio- and no one paid any attention to the fact that it is a hybrid. That’s a pity, for Surface Book 2 is a dazzling tablet-laptop combo, which has the ability to cast a long shadow on the new MacBook. Microsoft is even confident enough to launch their trade-in and new advertisement slogan, “You can’t do that on a Mac”.

Looking at the computer, it’s interesting to see what it includes: Microsoft stayed with the 6th generation of Intel processors – Skylake, but opted for the top i7 configuration. This is even reflected in the Surface Book name. Much like Сinderella, the Surface Book has no name of its own, but simply the brand name with the addition of i7 at the end.

The Surface Book i7, was designed for high performance graphic tasks in mind, specifically for engineers, designers and artists. The touchscreen therefore, is the primary input option for the Surface Book i7. The hybrid supports not only what they call a Surface Pen, but also Surface Dial – the new Microsoft manipulator. (Thanks to the Microsoft proprietary technology PixelSenseTM). The hybrid is capable of running SOLIDWORKS 3D CAD, AutoCAD Revit, and Adobe Premiere Pro.

It is claimed that the Surface Book i7 comes with 16 hours of battery life; however, since this measurement is based on video playback, it’s unclear how long an engineer can actually work with it.

Microsoft promises 1080p gaming support as well, and even included wireless gaming controls support, but here we should wait for first feedback from actual gamers, since the static graphics like in AutoCAD are very different from the hi-res dynamic scenes in modern games. It may require a bit more than just the mobile class video card that is provided.

All this hardware is housed within the detachable keyboard, now branded Performance Base. Unfortunately, Microsoft doesn’t plan to upgrade or sell the crucial, hybrid part independently from the display.

Surface Book i7’s flexibility remains the same. Flexible dynamic hinge labeled Fulcrum, and two options for display lock-on: notebook style and flipped 180 degrees. The hybrid can even be folded the way a paper notebook is for quick sketching. Thus, Surface Book i7 can be used as a tablet with the Performance Base still attached, losing nothing of the hybrid power and performance.

The only disadvantage of the new gadget is the price. It starts well over $2,000 and the top configuration is over $3,000. Microsoft offers a discount for students and editorial employees, but it’s still a lot of money to shell out.