Surface Book 2 Review - The Most Powerful 2 in 1 Laptop!

Dave2D review of the new Microsoft Surface Book 2. The best laptop and tablet 2-in-1 of 2017!

Microsoft’s new Surface Book 2 laptop/tablet is a great looking hybrid device with the perfect hardware for power hungry consumer. The surface book 2 can be purchased with an i7 Intel Core processor, GTX 1050 or GTX 1060, 267 PPI PixelSense Display, 17 hour battery life and up to 16GB of RAM. The flexibility of the laptop and tablet mode can come in handy for many situations and can be the perfect solution for students looking for a lightweight, strong 2 in 1. The lack of a thunderbolt 3 port does limit it's ability to connect to external GPU's and multiple 4k displays.

Music Credits:
Fili - Closure

If you want to support the channel, consider a Dave2D membership by clicking the “Join” button above!

Purchases made from store links may give me some money.
(It doesn’t cost you extra, so please buy everything)

[DaveD]

Really solid device from Microsoft this year. A bit on the pricey side but an excellent option for the right user. Thanks for watching!
p.s - One of the graphs has a mislabeled CPU. It should be a i7-8650U

[dannywinget]

Something makes me want this. Regardless of its price to performance ratio.

[viv]

How I interpret Microsoft's products:
- Surface Laptop: great ultra book suited for education or professional

- Surface Pro: powerful tablet suited for education, artists, or outgoers/travelers

- Surface Book: unique hybrid meant for the most hardcore professionals/artists (who travel a lot or are really outgoers)

- Surface Studio: a touchscreen desktop/board for hardcore artists/professionals (ex. Engineers, photo editors, etc)

That's my understanding of Microsoft's target markets.Agree or disagree?

[bimalad]

After two years, nearly done with my uni now i'm buying this laptop

[minx]

Keyboard - *Excellent*
Track Pad - *Excellent*
Performance - *Good*
Gaming - *Pretty Good*
Speakers - *Pretty Good*
Battery Life - *Good*
Web Cam - *Great*
Mic Quality - *Pretty Good*
Thermals - *Good*
Fan Noise under Max Load - *A Little Loud*
Port Selection - *Decent*
*(2 USB 3.0’s, SD card slot & a USB-C)*

Disadvantages -
• *Price*
• *The Lack of a Thunderbolt 3 support*
• *The AC Adaptor they Included -*
*it’s a proprietary connector*

*📌SUMMARY📌*
*Microsoft is the only company making something like this. If you buy it, make sure you’re making full use of it’s purpose, if you’re not making use of the tablet or the detach ability and all that, then there are cheaper, more affordable devices that would be a better fit.*

[dangoruiz]

IDK man, at that price I'd rather get an Alienware 13 with a 1060 ($1500) and an iPad Pro 10.5 with Apple Pencil ($750) and spend the remaining $250 on garlic bread.

[yongkysiaw]

Holy crap that's the best webcam i've seen ever in a windows laptop. It's so clear and the mic sounds really good and clear

[JoelinLBK]

IMO this is a true “pro” laptop. I edit videos professionally and do a lot of shoots. This would be light, slim, easy to use. It’s expensive, but for what I do it’s worth it.

Plus, compared to the MacBook Pro, you get a premiere friendly gpu, better cpu, battery, screen and a touch screen. Plus it separates if you just want the tablet.

Again - expensive (obviously) but as someone who’s does 300-500 wedding edits a year, I can see a benefit to owning this.

[curtbernardo]

I love how minimalistic this video is while I am watching. No panning, no zooming, no stupid effects. Just plain jane straight up talking about the device. Thumbs up, Dave!

[Erhlk]

Hi Dave,

The reason they didn't include a Thunderbolt 3 port is because the "u" series processors only have 12 PCIe lanes, with only a single 4-lane channel (which is used by the dGPU). You see the Razer Blade, etc. using a dGPU+Thunderbolt 3 because the HQ series processors have 16 lanes, with 2 4-lane channels.

It's unfortunate, but there's really nothing they could have done if they still wanted to include a dGPU. I think they made the right choice.

[lolwut]

Such quality reviews. That intro is beautiful, man.

[mando]

Guys, you need to understand that Microsoft with this laptop is aiming for artist consumers, especially those who would benefit from its touch and drawing capability. I wouldn't buy this product myself, but I know friends in illustration major that extremely benefiting from that. I'd say Surface Book 2 is not just going against Mac, but also Wacom products. Wacom doesn't have many competitors, but Microsoft is their strongest competitors with their Surface lineup. For now, Wacom in precision is higher than Surface products, but I'd keep in mind that I wouldn't need a Wacom tablet with my laptop if I have Surface Book 2.

I really like Dave's reviews, but what would be missing from this review is the touch and drawing capabilities of the Surface Book 2.

[CloakedC]

I'm impressed with that webcam and mic.

[pimisi]

Something that's this beautifully crafted and could serve as both a tablet and a laptop at will and like you mentioned "it is super hard to engineer something like this with processors in both the top and bottom units". You feel $2K is too much for it? And $2K is not too much for a MacBook that does't do what this does? And $1K+ is not too much for an iPhone X that doesn't really have much innovation in it? Really?

[WPAcademyPK]

I really liked this device, but as dave said i am also concerned about price tag. I mean it's a huge.

[wiouxev]

Dave! The price is fully justifiable. It's in the same tier as MacBooks and destroys them in graphic performance. And offers more utility.

The TB comments are fair. But if they were going to cut corners anywhere I'm ok with it being TB as it already has a great GPU.

Right now this is by far the closest device to an ultraportable, long battery life Ultrabook that can play games. I think it deserves more credit and hype than it's getting.

[acadia]

it's now a lower price! you can now get a surface pen, a carrying bag, and the full bundle for 2k with a student discount! :D

[tipoomaster]

I don't think TB3 is Microsofts fault, but rather the number of PCI-E lanes the U series processors have. With the 1060 and a PCI-E SSD they probably used all the lanes. The rMBP 15 uses the 45W processors, and 13" has no GPU, which is why it can have TB3.

[KTMcaptain]

Funny that you say it’s priced 15% high.

On sale for 15% off right now at $1700

[terrytigner]

Another great review, Dave. For those of us that use the pen a lot there’s nothing else like it. I wouldn’t even consider buying anything besides the Surface Book 2. I got mine on the 16th: the 15 inch with 1 TB, and I love this thing. And the 3:2 aspect ratio is a delight and is more productive in daily work than any other screen ratio for me. By the way I understand the reason that the USB-C does not include thunderbolt 3 is because there were not enough system channels left available once the communication between the keyboard & the screen is fully implemented. It wasn’t a marketing decision. MS really nailed it with this machine!