Microsoft Surface Book review: Surface Book 2 is here, but what’s new?

Surface Book review: Performance and Windows 10

In our application benchmarks that emulate real-world use, the top-end model managed an overall score of 43. This was a little disappointing considering the slightly slower rated 2.6GHz Intel Core i7-6500U used in Dell’s XPS 13 managed a score of 46. 

The slower performance can likely be attributed to having all of the components crammed into the display, meaning thermal constraints play a role. It’s an admirable feat that Microsoft has managed to pack everything save for the GPU into the screen, but it’s a shame it comes at the cost of performance. 

The Surface Book is also reasonably loud when running under load. I even noticed the fans whirring away during lighter tasks, too, and its high-pitched whine is noticeable in a quiet room. That said, there’s no denying that Windows 10 feels right at home on the Surface Book, as transitioning between desktop and tablet modes is very smart and navigating feels swift and responsive.

This is helped in no small part by its 512GB Samsung NVMe PCIe SSD, which has sequential read speeds 1,238,2MB/s and write speeds of 555.9MB/s, which are both suitably quick. However, as with the Dell XPS 15, you need to turn off Windows 10’s write-cache buffer flushing to uncap the write speed, however, as write speeds are less than half when it’s turned on. 

Microsoft and Nvidia are remaining schtum about exactly what the dedicated graphics card is, aside from that it’s a custom GPU, but many reports claim that it’s based around an Nvidia GeForce 940M, albeit with a faster 1GB of GDDR5 memory rather than GDDR3. In testing, the card outperforms other laptops we’ve seen with  the 940M as we’ve seen in other laptops such as the Acer Aspire V3-574G, and that model had 2GB of GDDR3.

However, while it’s an impressive feat of engineering to stick a discrete graphics card into the keyboard base, you’ll still need to temper your expectations. I only managed to eke out acceptable gaming performance by toning down our usual gaming benchmarks. With a resolution of 1,920×1,080 resolution, 4x anti-aliasing and Ultra graphics, the Surface Book only managed 21fps in Dirt Showdown, and I had to drop the graphics quality to Medium and turn off anti-aliasing completely to get a playable 61fps. That’s still a significant improvement over the 940M’s 47fps we’ve seen before, though.

Unsurprisingly, Metro Last Light: Redux was an insurmountable challenge at our usual settings, but dropping it to 1,920×1,080, Medium quality, 4x AF, no tessellation and no super-sample aliasing produced a just-playable 33.1fps. With this in mind, gaming is possible on the Surface Book, but just keep in mind you’ll need to sacrifice graphics quality in order to do so.

Really, the discrete graphics is better suited to tasks such as video and photo editing applications that can take advantage of GPU hardware acceleration. Media professionals then will love the additional power. Attach the Clipboard in reverse and fold it down and you have a powerful stylus-supported tablet that can take advantage of the GPU.

Surface Book review: Battery Life

The keyboard base not only contains an optional discrete graphics card, but it also contains a second battery across all configurations. Microsoft rates the battery life as around 12 hours in laptop mode and 3 hours in Clipboard. However, our video playback test with the screen set to 170cd/m2 saw just 9 hours 38 minutes in laptop mode and 2 hours 39 minutes in Clipboard.

As a laptop, you’ll still get through a working day away from the mains, eking out more stamina from more general light use, but you won’t want to use it as a standard tablet, even if you do manage to eke out something closer to three hours under light use. This isn’t that surprising when nearly all of the components into the screen, though.

Surface Book review: Connections and Cameras

The Clipboard component of the Surface Book is barren when it comes to connections. There’s just a 3.5mm headphone jack, power and volume buttons and a magnetic point for the Surface Pen. The rest of its connections are on the keyboard base. 

Here you’ll find two USB3 ports and an SD card reader on one side, and a mini DisplayPort on the other. Charging is handled through its proprietary magnetic SurfaceConnect charging port, just like on the Surface Pro 4, and the magnetic port is also reversible, which is handy depending on how your desk is laid out.

The charger’s power brick isn’t obscenely large, either, but isn’t as svelte and easily transportable as other 13in laptops. There is, at least, a useful extra USB port built into the brick that can be used for charging your other devices, saving you from carrying a separate charger for your smartphone, for example, or using up one of the few USB ports on the Surface Book.

It feels strange that an Intel Thunderbolt 3 or, at least, standard USB Type-C port isn’t included. The former would have allowed you to take advantage of faster external storage and both would have allowed docking and power options. Instead, Microsoft has its own dedicated Surface Dock, which connects to the Surface Book via the magnetic charging port. This adds two more mini DisplayPorts, four USB3 ports and Gigabit Ethernet. 

The front of the Surface Book’s Clipboard has a 5 megapixel Windows Hello-compatible webcam. This means you can use facial recognition for signing into Windows without a password. Too few laptops have supported this in my experience, even though we’re now months after Windows 10 launched. It works well on the Surface Book, adding in a layer of convenience. On the back is a 8 megapixel autofocusing camera. Both cameras are surprisingly good performers. Video conferencing from the front works great even under low light, and the rear camera can still produce sharp images under dim lighting with respectable colours. 

Surface Book review: Conclusion

There’s no doubt that the Microsoft Surface Book is a stunning piece of engineering. As Microsoft’s inaugural laptop that doubles as a tablet, it’s a device the company can be proud of. In terms of design, it’s by far my favourite Windows laptop, and it marries a lot of the Surface Pro 4’s best features with more practical design choices taken from Apple’s MacBooks and Google’s Chromebook Pixel. The touchpad in particular is the best I’ve used on a Windows laptop.

The only sticking point is that eye-watering price, as you’re essentially paying a very high premium for its tablet capability and fancy design. Buy a similarly-specced, but admittedly more traditional laptop like the Dell XPS 13, and you’ll save a significant amount of money.

If you are considering a Surface Book, though, then it’s certainly worth stretching to at least the minimum specification with a dedicated GPU, as this is something the XPS 13 is decidedly lacking, so you’ll get a lot more for your money if you opt for one of the slightly higher specifications. That said, it’s arguably a device that’s better suited to digital creatives than your average user, as its high-end specs are a bit of a waste if all you’re going to use it for is day-to-day computing tasks. 

In my eyes, either the Dell XPS 13 or XPS 15 are better buys at this kind of price range, but if you have the budget and the wanton need for such a lavishly luxurious device, the Surface Book certainly won’t disappoint.