“Microsoft today introduced the Surface Book 2,” Joe Rossignol reports for MacRumors. “[It] is equipped with Intel’s latest eighth-generation Core processors, up to NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 graphics, up to 16GB of RAM, and up to 17 hours of battery life based on video playback.”
“Microsoft says those tech specs make the Surface Book 2 up to five times more powerful than the original Surface Book, and twice as powerful as the latest MacBook Pro, but it didn’t specify which configurations,” Rossignol reports. “The new Surface Book 2 is available with a 13.5-inch or 15-inch display that can be detached from the keyboard and used as a tablet. The display can also be folded or reattached in Studio Mode or View Mode.”
MacDailyNews Take: “Twice as powerful” likely meaning the Surface Book 2 with the highest-end Intel processor available for $2999 vs. the entry level MacBook Pro.
“Microsoft added that the Surface Book 2 has 45 percent more pixels than the latest MacBook Pro. The 15-inch model has a resolution of 3240×2160 pixels, good for 267 PPI, while the 15-inch MacBook Pro is 2880×1800 and 220 PPI,” Rossignol reports. “Surface Book 2 starts at $1,499 for the 13.5-inch model with a Core i5 processor, Intel HD Graphics 620, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of SSD storage. More powerful 13.5-inch configurations are available for up to $2,999. ”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Another wildly overpriced stab in the dark from Microsoft, a jack of all trades and master of none, with a crap, soul-sapping OS to boot.
SEE ALSO:
Leaked Microsoft memo reveals failure-prone Surface Book suffers from high return rates – August 14, 2017
Consumer Reports: Apple makes the most reliable devices; steer clear of Microsoft’s unreliable Surface products – August 10, 2017
Consumer Reports: Don’t buy Microsoft Surface products – August 10, 2017
Consumer Reports: Apple’s Macs the most reliable by wide margin – May 26, 2017
Beleaguered Microsoft’s Surface Pro and Surface Book exhibiting nasty freezing problems – March 7, 2016
Apple Macintosh continues to dominate in personal computer customer satisfaction – September 23, 2014
Apple Macintosh continues to dominate in personal computer customer satisfaction – September 17, 2013
Apple sweeps PCWorld Satisfaction Surveys for desktops, notebooks, smartphones, and tablets – December 7, 2011
Apple Mac tops American Customer Satisfaction Index customer satisfaction for 8th consecutive year – September 20, 2011
American Customer Satisfaction Index: Apple Mac dominates for seventh straight year – September 21, 2010
ACSI: Apple Mac again leads Windows PCs by wide margin in consumer satisfaction – August 18, 2009
Study: Apple beats Dell and HP in customer satisfaction – June 26, 2009
J.D. Power: Apple iPhone ranks highest in smartphone customer satisfaction – April 30, 2009
Survey: Apple Mac users report highest level of satisfaction by far – February 19, 2009
ChangeWave: Apple Mac holds its corporate share; clearly leads in corp customer satisfaction – December 31, 2008
ChangeWave: Apple iPhone’s ‘very satisfied’ rating more than double that of RIM’s BlackBerry Storm – December 22, 2008
J.D. Power: Apple iPhone ranks highest in business wireless smartphone customer satisfaction – November 06, 2008
ACSI: Customer satisfaction rockets for Apple’s Mac; rest of Windows PC industry drops again – August 19, 2008
ChangeWave: Mac OS X Leopard satisfaction far outpaces Vista; Apple Mac strong despite PC slowdown – March 26, 2008
ChangeWave: Apple iPhone maintains big lead in customer satisfaction; top choice among likely buyers – February 07, 2008
ChangeWave survey shows big Apple Mac sales, very high Mac OS X Leopard, very low Vista satisfaction – January 17, 2008
ChangeWave: Apple’s iPhone races to huge lead in customer satisfaction – October 18, 2007
Apple Mac desktops, notebooks top PC Magazine’s Annual Reader Satisfaction survey – again – September 18, 2007
Survey: Apple iPhone nabs unprecedented 92% satisfaction rating (plus likes and dislikes) – August 16, 2007
Study: Apple iPhone owners ‘off the charts’ satisfied with device – July 13, 2007
Microsoft’s customer satisfaction drops following Windows Vista launch – May 17, 2007
Apple’s secret ingredient? A large group of very satisfied customers – April 10, 2007
Apple Mac desktops, notebooks top PC Magazine’s Annual Reader Satisfaction survey – again – August 22, 2006
Apple Computer tops PC satisfaction study – August 15, 2006
Apple Mac desktops, portables top PC Magazine’s 2005 Reader Satisfaction survey – August 24, 2005
Apple continues to lead in customer satisfaction, Dell loses more ground – August 16, 2005
Apple Macintosh leads in personal computer customer satisfaction – August 24, 2004
Apple Macs top PC Magazine’s ‘17th Annual Reader Satisfaction Survey’ – August 10, 2004
I call BS!
You can call whatever you want, anyone suffering with Macs knows that Apple hasn’t been keeping up since Cook arrived.
Why is it BS that all new hardware can run circles around Apple’s old thermally constrained wares with last generation CPUs and even more quaint consumer grade GPUs?
No one cares, Windows sucks, I’ll never go back to that piece of crap OS.
Another Microsoft claim full of brown Zune! 😂
Please sir, watch your language. 😱
One word: Windows.
A second: Ugh.
MacOS is the only reason left to buy Mac hardware. But let’s face it, Windows has progressed steadily in the Nadella era while macOS has been one step forward, two steps back. And Mac hardware is an embarrassment.
Maybe fanboys should pay attention to the competition rather rhan accepting Apple’s disgusting complacency.
At the price Apple charges, there is zero excuse to be behind Microsoft in anything. An honest objective analysis will show that Apple is not the clear leader in all things. Somebody needs to light a fire under Shillers fat can-but-won’t innovate ass.
Well, if you go just by specs, the 15 inch is definitely more powerful than any version of the 15 inch MacBook Pro… The Geoforce 1060 kills it. Plus it has tablet mode. One OS for both tablet and laptop.
SURFACE BOOK 2 SPECS
SURFACE BOOK 2, 15 INCH
15-inch display, 3240 x 2160, 260 PPI
Eighth-gen Intel Quad-Core i7-8650U, 4.2GHz “max turbo”
16GB RAM
256GB, 512GB, or 1TB SSD
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060, 6GB graphic memory
13.5 x 9.87 x 0.9 inches
4.2 pounds, 1.8-pound tablet mode
Heck even the 13 inch blows away the MacBook Pro 15 in specs alone.
SURFACE BOOK 2, 13 INCH
13.5-inch display, 3000 x 2000, 267 PPI
Base model: seventh-gen dual-core i5-7300U with 8GB RAM
Upgrade options:
Eighth-gen Intel Quad-Core i7-8650U, 4.2GHz “max turbo”
16GB RAM
256GB, 512GB, or 1TB SSD
[[[[Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050, 2GB graphic memory (not available on base i5 model)]]]
12.3 x 9.14 x 0.9 inches
3.62 pounds (Base model is 3.38 pounds), 1.59-pound tablet mode
For all you people complaining about ports, Microsoft listened.,..
SURFACE BOOK 2 SHARED SPECS
Claimed 17 hours battery, five hours for tablet (video watching)
Bluetooth 4.1
2 USB-A, 1 USB-C, Surface connect, SD card slot, headphone jack
5MP camera (front), 8MP rear
Supports Windows Hello login
Dolby Atmos support for headphones
Backlit keyboard, 1.55mm travel
So which one are you getting?
I’ve already got a Razer Blade Pro. 😉
Is that made by Schick or Gillette? 😕
It’s windows. That is the problem. It rots. I deal with it every day. Just can get past that. I have PCs that are more expensive and out-spec my 27inch (2017) iMac. They don’t perform like they should and will be replaced after 3 years. I get at least 5 years out of our Macs.
You can always do a fresh reinstall of the OS and restore from backup. In Windows, you need to do this every so often.
The last Windows PC I had was a Toshiba Satellite 10+ years ago. I had to reinstall that Windows (P)OS 9 freakin times within the 3 years of its pathetic life! Typical PC (Piece of Crap)
Got a MacBook Pro after that and still using it!
“One OS for both tablet and laptop.”
One-size-fits-all actually fits none.
Shame about that soul sapping OS it comes bundled with.
I have looked at a few rather unquestioning stories on this and though it stinks of bs I cannot work out where the major flaws in the comparison are, the specs on paper certainly look impressive in parts. I was hoping the story here would be more illuminating. Until properly tested I guess we won’t know but unless they have invented the equivalent to cold fusion the claims seem unbelievable offering newer silicon yes but no great advance, more cores in some, more power, better graphics (certainly on the 13inch) with longer battery life even if more expensive in the process. Just seems too good to be true, even when Apple’s engineers seem to have been taking an excessive amount of me time in recent years. Perhaps most confusing is the claim that they are 5 times more powerful than the old model and 2 times more powerful than the present MBP, yet they were claiming the old model was more powerful than the equivalent MBP before if I remember right, certainly NOT that they were massively less so as those figures seem to imply. Yup some things simply don’t on the face of it add up so hopefully some one dome time can put this into perspective.
I believe the primary performance difference will be in heavy graphics work. The GeForce is going to kick ass next to the Radeon.
I was afraid of that. But seeing will be believing…
“…In terms of overall gaming performance, the graphical capabilities of the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 EVGA SC GAMING 6GB are significantly better than the AMD Radeon RX 560 4GB. … The GTX 1060 has a 432 MHz higher core clock speed and 32 more Render Output Units than the RX 560..”
It’s expensive. I don’t buy expensive stuff from MS. I buy moderately prices stuff from Apple.
Apple will continue to go with AMD’s open source. So, it appears there will be no NVidia cards for Macs. It’s a darn shame but we have no choice but to live with Apple’s decisions. It’s a pity Apple can’t go with the most powerful graphics cards.
Again, just the Microsoft Surface Book 2 even being favorably compared with the MacBook Pro is something I find disappointing. Theoretically speaking, Apple should have a product based on its cash and resources that should practically destroy the Surface Book 2 in all areas.
Oh, well. Apple probably isn’t concerned about trading blows with Microsoft. That’s what happens when a company’s CEO is passive and meek. Never give rivals a chance to get a foothold or handhold. They’ll just keep taking more and more from ya.
So will Microsoft be holding a funeral for the MacBook Pro?
Give Cook a few more years to mismanage the Mac into irrelevance and MDN will be hosting the funeral.
On the other hand, that would allow MDN to rebrand to follow their true calling.
Most of y’all boys got it right, so I’ll just sit in the Amen corner and pat my foot.
Bottom line… if you sat that puppy next to the comparable MacBook Pro and they both ran macOS, it would be no contest. You’d buy the Microsoft computer.
But they don’t. It’s more than fanboyism. Windows is too much of a POS.
I do not want Windows
i will repeat that:
I do not want Windows
that said I’m disappointed that Apple didn’t create a true high end laptop. For whatever reason, perhaps to save manufacturing costs they lumped the idea of a high end Macbook Air and the old Macbook Pro to make a hybrid which is the current MBP, a sort of ‘Lux’ Executive Laptop. For executive types it’s great but not so for certain types of hard core pro users.
The true truck MBP with many ports, expansion capability, 32 GB RAM minimum and a workhorse GPU is missing.
I understand Apple’s idea of getting the ‘sweet spot’ of a market but Apple’s fan base is so large now (1 billion plus iOS devices etc) surely there’s space for niche devices? With the fan base so large the niche spaces must be larger than the main market in the old days.
—–
btw: I have an older MBP and a 12.9 iPad Pro and two Mac Pros in my house.
I have to agree. Apple needs to flex its size and resources a bit and commit itself to maintaining best-of-class workstations and laptops for the smaller group who really need them (or have money to burn and just like to own the fastest stuff to run Facebook).
I don’t care if Apple makes a profit on those market niches. They fill an important purpose and also serve as a badge of pride that Apple makes the best hardware, as well as software. I remember when the MacBook Pro was touted as the fastest *Windows* laptop back around 2008 or so. That really caused some consternation among the Wintel crowd. Going further back, Apple used to tout the processing power advantages of the G5, G4, and Ge back to the PPC transition in the mid-1990s. The PPC-based PowerMac was the “supercomputer” of desktops.
Apple needs to regain that edge, even if if costs quite a bit to do it.
yes.
Surface machines will break easily and will be hard to fix.
An MBP will be rock solid and will last for years.
I have a 2012 rMBP that is going strong. Finally had the battery replaced after 4 years of solid use. Now it is running my media server. Will last for another 4 years.
Can anyone match that for a surface or windows laptop?
You are blind. You have a 2012 Mac that was designed before Apple decided that all Macs needed to be thin glued disposable devices that the user could not repair or upgrade.
Just look how the 2016+ MacBook is a flimsy toy compared to the solid models that came before. Style before substance and value at the new Apple.
At Last! Thank god for the surface Pro!
Yeh; I know its gonna be piece of crap but maybe now Apple can bring the MacBook Pro up to current processor specs so I can upgrade my late 2013 fully ramped 15″ MacBook Pro.
really I want those six core beauties intel are going to release but I feel like Apple are more preoccupied with other things than the Mac Pro and a real mackBook Pro.
If it wasn’t for competition I think Apple would slowly ring out the older processors for longer.
here’s hoping the new MacBook Pro will give me even more power so I can keep pushing the envelope in my own work.
Unhinged POS
I wonder where all the whining will be about Microsoft not caring about its customers because the machine only has 16GB of ram…. I await with baited breath from the paid for tech media…
bated breath, unless you are fishing…
Come on. Apple underdelivered with its latest laptops and no pointing fingers on your part is going to justify it.
Apple called its flagship laptop a Pro. Once it was a cut above consumer devices. But Apple lost the plot and Ive was allowed to pull another dumbass diet onto Macs. Other laptop workstations before the 2016 MBP offered double the RAM that Apple did. Those are Pro machines. Apple across the board offers only overpriced consumer performance Macs. None of them are even close to the cutting edge that Pros use in any industry. Apple is more concerned with emoji than performance.
Microsoft is calling their newest laptop a convertible, not a Pro. Microsoft has never offered pro level hardware. They leave the heavy lifting to HP and Dell.
See the difference?
You know the old saying… No matter how much you polish a turd it’s still a turd. Windows is an old crusty turd that Microsoft continues to vigilantly try and polish ever since Bill Gates created it by ripping off the original Mac OS. The Surface Book 2 is just a souped up toilet to flush that turd.