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Microsoft offers cheaper Surface laptops with lower specs
Microsoft wants to make it easier to buy into the Surface family. The company has begun offering a lower specced Laptop running Windows 10 S -- Microsoft's take on Chrome OS -- and an Intel Core m3 processor in the US. It'll set you back $799 versus the standard model's $999 asking price, and is only available in the platinum colorway, as spotted by Windows Central. As for storage and memory, you'll get 128GB and 4GB, respectively. If you're thinking that sounds an awful lot like the $799 Surface Pro tablet, you aren't wrong. But, that won't get you a keyboard cover, which The Verge points out is a $130 add-on.
Microsoft's 15-inch Surface Book 2 comes to 17 new countries
Microsoft first launched the Surface Book 2 in November, but so far, both the 13- and 15-inch variants have only been available in the US. That's about to change, however, as the 15-inch model is now on pre-order in Australia, Canada, France, German, the UK and other European nations where, until now, only the 13-inch model was sold. On top of that, starting in February, Microsoft will release both Surface Book 2 models in places where it has yet to go on sale, including China, India, Italy, Qatar and other parts of Asia and the Middle East.
Surface Book 2 can’t stay charged during gaming sessions
The Surface Book 2 is aimed at graphic pros, but with a stout NVIDIA 1060 GPU, it's a tempting gaming machine, too. As we observed during our review, gaming drains the battery pretty fast, though. Worse, The Verge noticed that the power supply can't actually charge the battery fast enough to prevent it from draining in some cases. A Microsoft spokesman has confirmed to The Verge that "in some intense, prolonged gaming scenarios with Power Mode Slider set to 'best performance' the battery may discharge while connected to the power supply."
Surface Book 2 review: Microsoft gets closer to the 'ultimate laptop'
Microsoft's Surface Book 2 is an even stronger MacBook Pro competitor than before. Mostly, that's because there's finally a 15-inch model for people who need a bit more screen real estate. But the company has fixed most of the issues we had with last year's 13-inch model, as well. That's particularly true when it comes to the Surface Book 2's unique hinge, which lets you remove and flip around the display. It's the ideal follow up -- one that does everything its predecessor did well without any compromises. It's another strong entry for Microsoft, in a year where it already launched the excellent Surface Laptop and Surface Pro.
The Surface Book 2's secret weapon is ceramic, says Panos Panay
With the Surface Book, Microsoft delivered yet another way to rethink traditional computers. It resembled a laptop more than the earlier Surface devices, which were basically tablets with keyboard covers. But it also packed in one new trick: a large screen that you could easily remove at the touch of a button and use as a tablet. At the heart of that feature was a unique hinge that looked unlike anything else on the market. It had one big problem, though: It wasn't very stable.
Surface Book 2 hands-on: The sequel we’ve been waiting for
It turns out the Surface Laptop isn't Microsoft's only proper notebook this year. The Surface Book 2 was just announced, and at first glance, it seems to fix all of the issues we had with the original model (as well as last year's refresh). It has a stronger hinge, so there's no more screen wobbling as you're typing, and it's more powerful than before. Microsoft also added a 15-inch model, making the Surface Book 2 even more of a direct competitor to the MacBook Pro line. Based on my short hands-on time with both new laptops, it's clear that Microsoft is once again delivering some stiff competition against Apple's premium notebooks.
Microsoft's Surface Book 2 includes a brawnier 15-inch version
Microsoft's Surface Book has grown long in the tooth, to put it mildly: the base model hasn't been touched since 2015, and even the Performance Base version was really just a higher trim level instead of a true follow-up. At last, though, there's a proper sequel. Microsoft has unveiled the Surface Book 2, and this is much more of what fans of the detachable laptop-plus-tablet concept were looking for. It's more powerful, with quad-core 8th-generation Intel Core processors across most of the line and GeForce 10-series graphics on all Core i7 variants. However, the real star of the show is the addition of a second model: there's now a 15-inch version for those who are more interested in an expansive display than portability.
