As a maximum of Microsoft’s Surface-branded products, the Surface Book 2 is a component pill, part computer. The Surface Book 2 blends the 2 worlds more correctly than maximum, making for both an advanced slate tablet and one of the maximum succesful laptops in the marketplace.
Design
Note that two variations of the Surface Book 2 exist, a 15-inch version and this 13.Five-inch version. Both characteristic a two-piece design, the massive slate tablet, and a detachable keyboard attached to a robust docking machine. The slate is designed with an unusual 3:2 issue ratio, making for a far taller display screen than you’ll locate on maximum laptops (which normally have a widescreen 16: nine or sixteen:10 thing ratio). The design makes it appear a chunk like an antique-school tube television, and while that is terrible for the movie looking, it’s first-rate for productivity. The screen affixes (dealing with both ahead of or backward) to
The bottom thru an incredibly sophisticated electronic docking gadget. Rather than pulling it aside with the aid of brute force, a key on the keyboard to release a hard and fast of magnetic locks that maintain the LCD in location. The base’s hinge is also well worth noting, as it’s a submit-current piece of artwork that does away with traditional hinges in want of a streamlined design that lets in it to snake ahead and again like the caterpillar tread on a tank. The best peculiar part of the design is that, whilst closed, the LCD and keyboard no longer sit down flush with one another but come collectively in a slender wedge configuration as a substitute. This lamentably allows the gunk to get in the gadget while it’s jostling around on your bag.
Features
Microsoft has done full-size work in giving the Surface Book 2 a complete variety of functions regardless of how you select to apply it. Two cameras, front and back, permit you to teleconference or snap impromptu photographs. The backlit keyboard is snappy and responsive, and the massive touchpad tracks properly. For creative kinds, the Surface Pen ($one hundred, sold one at a time) is also supported, supplying you with a great deal finer-grained manipulation over your doodling and be aware-taking. With an excellent resolution of 3000 x 2000 pixels, the gleaming screen is great in the marketplace.
Specs
Microsoft despatched in one of the maximum configurations of the Surface Book 2, outfitting it with a 1.9GHz Core i7-8650U CPU (8th era) and 16GB of RAM. An Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 GPU offers sufficient strength, and the 512GB SSD gives masses of garage space, too. Port selection is reasonably strong – and notes that except for the headphone jack, all are observed at the keyboard/base, now not on the pill part of the system – including two enormous USB ports, one USB-C jack, and an SD card reader. At three.6 pounds of weight and 21mm of thickness (with the keyboard attached), it’s not an ultralight machine. However, it’s no longer a returned-breaker, both.
Performance
With one of these high-give configurations, I anticipated heavy-obligation overall performance against the field, and for the most part, the Surface Book 2 didn’t disappoint. Graphics benchmarks blew maximum competition (maximum of which don’t consist of a standalone photos processor) out of the water, more or less doubling the class common on a maximum of my video-centric tests. On widespread software tasks (which include web page rendering, commercial enterprise productiveness programs, and digital media introduction paintings), the system also beat the average of the sector by using 12 percent, although thinking about it had the quickest CPU of all of the laptops I tested in this class, I had hoped for a piece better. A choice of key benchmark rankings follows.
Battery
No, you’ll touch the Surface Book 2’s battery lifestyles, which clocked in at a complete thirteen hours of going for walks time based on a full-display screen video playback test. While all the laptops in this roundup completed extremely nicely on battery trying out, the Surface Book 2 earned the top prize, besting its closest competitor with the aid of a complete 3 hours.
Conclusion
Now the horrific news: At $2499 (though currently $2299 way to a brief $2 hundred sale), the Surface Pro 2 is effortlessly the most high-priced computer I received for consideration on this roundup. That said, its performance and battery existence make sure that it’s going to, in reality, work as a device that has to endure 4 years of daily use by using a university student, arguably making its top-class rate tag well worth it.
