Microsoft Surface Book 2 available now – UK prices

The Microsoft Surface Book was released back in 2015. This laptop-tablet hybrid was impressive, as well as not cheap. Well, now the Surface Book 2 is here, and Microsoft reckons it has five times the graphics prowess of the 2015 original, with twice the grunt of the MacBook Pro. Now then.

I do use Windows-based machines a lot. My work portable is a Surface Pro and, when in the office, I used a Windows PC. At home I use a Windows PC that I built coming up for 3 years ago now.

This doesn’t mean that I am anti-Apple though. Far from it. However, I do lack the militant hero worship of all things Mac OS.

Surface Book 2 details

The Surface Book 2 is available in 13.5-inch and 15-inch flavours.

Microsoft claims the portable PC has 17 hours of battery stamina when docked (the detachable tablet element gets five hours of video playback). Although, I have seen a variety of battery draining reports flying around the interwebs.

The 13-inch model kicks things off at £1,499. For this, you get a machine loaded with a seventh generation dual-core i5-7300U processor backed with 8GB RAM. This can be upgraded to include an eighth generation quad-core i7-8650U, 16GB RAM and bigger SSD drives should you wish. The screen packs a 3,000 x 2,000 resolution, with 267 pixels per inch.

The 15-inch model costs a pocket-pounding £2,499 but you do get top-end specs. As well as that extra 1.5-inches of screen real estate and a resolution boost up to 3,240 x 2,160 you get an eighth generation 4.2GHz Intel quad-core i7-8650U mated with 16GB RAM. Furthermore, you are blessed with Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 graphics. This is the aforementioned five times more potent graphics grunt. Moreover, this convertible laptop has been seen running Gears of War 4 without breaking a sweat. Impressive.

Surface Book 2 design

I am quite glad that they’ve kept the odd design features of the original. I realise that the trademark hinge that leaves a gap between board and screen when closed is devisive. But, it also another thing that separates the Surface Book from every other laptop and convertible out there.

Naturally, you can still remove the keyboard portion from the tablet/screen part.
[youtube id=”4ck5RbTQj28″]
In the video above you can see the Surface Book 2 handling Windows Mixed Reality, gaming, editing and, of course, business tools.
 
Surface Book 2 with the 13-inch screen weighs 3.38lbs and the 15-inch version weighs in at 4.2lbs.
 
The PixelSense Display supports multi-touch, Surface Pen, and Surface Dial so there’s many ways to get stuff done.
 
Microsoft also makes a point that both models bring you a full array of ports; these include USB-A, USB-C, and full-size SD card reader. I am not sure who the dig is aimed at, but they do state that all this “… makes it easy to connect other devices, accessories and memory cards without the need for a bag full of dongles.” I wonder 😉
 

Price and availability

The Surface Book 2 starts at £1,499 with Intel Core i5 8GB, 256GB, higher spec models are available as listed below:

• 7th Gen Intel Core i5, 8GB, 256GB, dGPU – £1,499
• 8th Gen Intel Core i7 8GB, 256GB, dGPU – £1,999
• 8th Gen Intel Core i716GB, 512GB, dGPU – £2,499
• 8th Gen Intel Core i716GB, 1TB, dGPU – £2,999

All are available to purchase now from major retailers including Microsoft Store, CurrysPCWorld, John Lewis and Amazon.