Microsoft announced a whole bunch of new products today – all from the devices team. We’ve got two new high-end Lumia phones, the 950 and 950XL. These phones have all the latest specifications, and peculiarly enough, they are water-cooled (I’m not joking). They obviously run Windows Phone 10, and support the Continuum feature, so you can hook them up to a monitor, keyboard, and mouse, and you’ll be greeted by something that looks a lot like a regular windows 10 desktop. Universal application swill automatically scale between the two different screen sizes. Pretty nifty.
Microsoft also unveiled two new Surface devices: the Surface Pro 4 – a thinner, faster, and all-around better version of the Surface Pro 3 – but also the long-awaited Surface laptop, dubbed the Surface Book. The Surface Book is crazy powerful, has a beautiful display and full, regular keyboard, a crazy hinge that really sets it apart, and just like any other Surface, the screen can some off – but this time, using something Microsoft calls “Muscle Wire”, electrified attachment points that keep the two parts firmly together – you can grab it by the screen and dangle it without any fear of the two parts disconnecting.
The keyboard half contains a discrete graphics chip and some batteries, while the rest of the computery parts are housed within the display. Microsoft makes some crazy claims about performance, but we’ll have to see some proper benchmarks first. In any case, it looks like the kind of laptop Microsoft wanted its partner to build – but we all know something like this is simply beyond the capabilities of the likes of Dell or HP.
That being said, the Surface Book ain’t cheap, and starts at $1500.
Looks nice and price isn’t that high for best model – $2,699.00. 128GB SSD shouldn’t even be an option – it’s way too small.
Must admit, based on the pictures and such this Surface Book looks pretty nice. First Surface I’d actually like to try out in real life.
…is if they can be used with Linux!
If the hardware is compatible (i.e. there are Linux device drivers available and UEFI isn’t an obstacle), which Linux would you install?
Off the top of my head I only know Ubuntu Unity that is able to use the touch screen in tablet mode.
Is there actually any other Linux version out there that will do justice to the hardware format?
You bring up a good point.
At this point in time I run Antergos which comes with Gnome 3.
(Somehow I can be really productive with it – with the keyboard shortcuts…)
My old laptop doesn’t have touch but I suspect that the Gnome guys had touch in their mind as well when they changed the user interface to what it is today.
Also HiDPI should not be a problem with Gnome 3.
I have never heard of Antergos, I see it is based on Arch.
Some further searching, it seems only Gnome3 and Unity have touch support, KDE has none. No idea if pen input requires any further changes.
Ubuntu was blasted 3 years ago for creating Unity, but it seems in hindsight it’s not a bad idea at all to update your GUI for touch.
Update: Maybe KDE does provide touch support, according to this link
http://www.techrepublic.com/article/kde-plasma-5-desktop-fast-but-n…
Edited 2015-10-07 16:16 UTC
Gnome 3 really works well with Touch, I also use Antergos on my UX501 Zenbook, it’s crazy fast, but I always wanted one that I could detach the keyboard on, that also had an nVidia chip in it somewhere for gaming. Unfortunately I gave up waiting and now I really would like the Surface Book, though it’d be the first piece of Microsoft Tech I’ve bought since the old MS Sidewinder Wheel that I have…
Gnome mostly fixed the one thing I thought was horrible for using it with a touch screen, and that is the virtual keyboard, though I’ll say it’s still not as decent as the Android keyboards out there, and they should have just snagged the MeeGo one (maliit) instead of Caribou. But it’s at least as functional as the Windows 10 one (which I think also sort of stinks).
… since it’s the Verge, I have to wonder where the article is claiming that the surface book is just an ad for Windows.
That Surface Book thing actually looks pretty damn nice. No kickstand… awesome! That gap when it closes though – for some reason it makes my brain itch. Don’t have a rationale explanation for that, it bothers me but I don’t know why
I’m pretty sure I would get over it though – not having to close all the way probably means the key travel is nice and long. I like my Macbook 12″ keyboard after some acclamation, but the key travel is almost non-existent – more would definitely be better.
The build quality should be stellar based on past Surface models. If that keyboard is as solid as it looks they have a winner on their hands.
I hope they make an ultra-portable model next. Shave an inch all around and drop the weight by a pound and they have a real Macbook/Macbook Air competitor right there! They could even leave out the discrete GPU to be honest, its an awesome feature for a 13″ but not really sensible for an ultra portable. It would definitely make the short list for my next machine if it existed.
You’re in luck, they left out the discrete GPU just for you! It’s only on the very expensive Surface Book models starting at a whopping $1899! Not impressed with the Surface Book at all. The connector at the top looks like it’ll break too easy.
Edited 2015-10-07 02:49 UTC
I was talking about a hypothetical 11″ model…
Anyway, to be honest $1899 is not that bad to me… Sure, its certainly a lot of money, but I use computers professionally – its my livelihood. $1500 is about the floor as far as I am concerned. There are exactly zero good laptops below that price with proper screens and adequate ram and storage.
Another problem, looks like this is a generic GPU. The specs are not even available, looks kind of sketchy. What are they trying to hide?
Its an nvidia, that’s not generic.
But there are no specs.
Its a maxwell GPU:
http://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2015/10/06/surface-book-nvidia/
It has to be something in the neighborhood of a 930M (which would just suck balls and frankly pointless) up to a GTX 965M (which is really pushing it with a TDP of 60 watts since the Surface Book only has a 65W power supply). Its probably some form of the later tweaked for lower TDP (i.e. slower)
The stated 1GB of video ram might simply be wrong, refers to the integrated GPU, or Nvidia made some kind of frakenGPU with only 1GB of GDDR5 (which just seems kind of ridiculous to me).
Edited 2015-10-07 03:55 UTC
I’m a Windows user of many years but todays events made me yawn. MS is desperately making hardware because their PC parneters defected to making Chromebooks and Android devices. The whole Windows PC market is in a serious recession and these new Surface machines will do little to change that. Microsoft is just so 70’s in a bad way.
Well I’m mostly a Mac user, so Id like to think I’m a bit more outside looking in… Frankly I think Microsoft is desperately making hardware now because none of their OEMs actually know how to design a truly good laptop/ultrabook. Either they don’t know how or they refuse to invest the time and resources it takes to do it right. They were happy just aping (badly) whatever Apple did last year for the most part – exceptions are few and far in between.
I didn’t care for the Surface personally, mostly because of the kickstand. But it was obvious someone actually designed the thing – some real thought and planning went into it. It wasn’t a filler product meant to soak up manufacturing capacity… MS seems to be demonstrating a commitment to this product line, refining it carefully with each generation but retaining the core essence of the product.
That is how you steal some of Apple’s oh-so-sweet profit margins – design and execution… Most PC OEMs simply don’t get that and never have, they just want to mindless churn out rehashes of last year’s models and wait with baited breath for a new release of Windows to spike their sales volumes.
PC OEMs are the reason why the PC market went into recession in the first place. Once the CPU races slowed down there wasn’t a reason to buy a new computer anymore. No one was selling actual distinct, well engineered products – they were blindly churning out cheap upgrade paths for faster CPUs and/or new versions of Windows.
That works when a product category is still relatively young (like Chromebooks and Android Tablets), so many OEMs turned to those to soak up some of their idle manufacturing capacity. But it won’t work for long there either… Eventually ARM will run out of steam and upgrade cycles will start stretching out again (which has already started happening).
What then?
Edited 2015-10-07 05:44 UTC
Why do you need another Macbook clone from Microsoft when Apple already makes them and they even run Windows? This is one thing I don’t get about certain people: there are like hundreds of Macbook clones already, some more identical to original Macs than others, but people never seem to get enough of that… I feel like I’m a dying breed when the most perfect laptops for me, to this day, are those legendary ThinkPads from IBM (not Lenovo, never lenovo). If I could only get an x41 or at least x200/x300/x301 with the latest CPU and LED screen tech. today, I would be willing to pay twice the price of Macbook Air for it.
Edited 2015-10-07 05:46 UTC
I don’t want a Macbook clone – they all suck. This isn’t a Macbook clone, that is kind of the whole point. How do you call a convertible tablet with a touch screen and pen input a Macbook clone??? I would just prefer a smaller model is all – I might actually buy one of those if they existed next round…
Well, it looks like a Mac 1:1, it has a Mac keyboard (the one keyboard I can’t stand), but I guess 80% of all new laptops look like Macs nowadays…
I would argue that any laptop with a short throw keyboard design and a touchpad either looks like a Mac or it totally sucks, I don’t think it is intentional design copying…
The key size, spacing, and basic layout on a Macbook is a good as you can make it for that type of keyboard. About the only deviation you ever see is the arrow key arrangement. The XPS 13 keyboard, the Samsung and Asus keyboards, even the Lenova keyboards, they all pretty much ape the Macbook keyboard now (some better than others).
Microsoft deviated with the previous Surface keyboards, and that was one of the biggest complaints from their users – that is why it looks like a Mac now, cause they fixed it.
Anyway, full travel keyboards on laptops are becoming unicorns… I liked the old IBM keyboards too, but it just makes the machine too bulky for modern designs. Its either a short throw design our you have to put the battery behind the spine…
Edited 2015-10-07 07:06 UTC
I will take ThinkPad x41 (or at least x200/x300) form factor over MacBook Air or any other modern ultraportable any day. I just can’t understand why in the world those few millimeters matter to some people. It’s not like your laptop doubles in size or weight, it’s just few millimeters that you can’t even notice unless you put laptops side by side. It’s a strange psychological obsession with thinness. Personally, the thinness of MacBook Air or other ultraportables feel uncomfortable to me, it’s just too freaking thin, it’s inconvenient to hold or carry.
Could this in any way be related to obesity problems in modern world?
Edited 2015-10-07 07:41 UTC
I notice a great deal. Day and night really. Even if they made an 11″ Surface Book, it would probably be more bulky than I am comfortable with – it would have to be nearly twice as thick as my Macbook is. But the tradeoff for having a convertible might convince me to live with it.
Its all about tradeoffs…
And I get the impression, that exactly the opposite is true: most people’s tastes today are completely identical — they’re all obsessed with millimeters and are willing to sacrifice everything to shave off even more of those millimeters off their devices. If tastes varied, we would see more than one kind of ultraportables in the market.
As for the rest of your message, I kinda agree with that. Or, at least, see your point.
Edited 2015-10-07 10:58 UTC
I’m inclined to just say you’re wrong. I feel like people should lug around the first compaq portables before they complain about millimeters being an issue. Everything today is awesome, yet we still bitch like its the great depression dust bowl combined with the medieval black plague.
I actually did lug around a compaq portable.
Once. Only once. I earned the right to complain
Seriously though, it’s not like I chose a 12″ laptop because I love looking at the little screen and typing on the tiny keyboard… Its because its small – its a compromise.
I get that isn’t everyone’s cup of tea and all that, but it absolutely matters to me – especially since I spend 95% of my time with it on a desktop plugged into an external monitor with a BT keyboard and mouse. If I didn’t actually need to us it occasionally away from my desk I would prefer it fit in my pocket
Yes. You have to be completely blind to say the that the Surface Book is a “1:1 copy” of the MAcBook. Or, you have to be a massive troll.
http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/BN-KQ421_Surfac_G_2015100…
You are obviously trolling me here… Or we are somehow looking at completely different photos. Even this photo you provided shows obvious similarities between 2 designs, even when looking from the side.
Or, more likely reason: there are no more new laptops left that would not try to mimic MacBooks, and you now assume that that’s the only way a laptop can look like. Same as the story with iPhone vs Galaxy.
Edited 2015-10-07 11:05 UTC
I can buy the argument that the keyboard itself (in isolation) is very similar in overall look and design. But this picture? I wasn’t even thinking about the Air previously, because it is absolutely nothing like the Surface Book – in any way. How you see similarities in those two designs boggles my mind…
A Macbook Pro? Ok, at least they share the same flattened boxy profile and sharp edges – the hinge and the screen of course are completely different, but ignoring that the bases share somewhat similar lines.
But the Air? I can’t see any way they could be more different. Everything is different.
We are going to have to agree to disagree…
Once again, the story with iPhone repeats here — Apple sets the tone and just few years later everyone can’t even imagine a smartphone (laptop) can look anything else but that. It is a very interesting phenomenon. I could put together a compilation of 6-10 various laptops from 2000-2010 on one line, then put Surface Book and Apple MacBook side-by-side on the bottom line, and I assure you, that would blow your mind wide open, as then design similarities between the two would become especially obvious. But, I have better things to do with my time than educate youngsters about real laptop designs that were not yet copycats of Apple.
Just open Google image search and find these laptops from circa 2000-2010, then look at Surface Pro and Apple MacBook once again:
Dell Latitude, Dell XPS, Dell Inspiron, Toshiba Satellite, Fujitsu Lifebook, IBM ThinkPad x60…
Surface Book is an obvious clone of MacBook design. It’s just a very good example of how blind people can become as a result of very clever marketing.
Sorry. Just don’t see it.
Anyway, to each his own. If you are looking for something with a more circa 2000 design sesibilities but with modern guts Sager still makes some solid machines:
http://www.sagernotebook.com/home.php
Edited 2015-10-09 04:50 UTC
“obvious similarities” does not mean the same thing to me as 1 to 1 copy.
Moby Dick has some “obvious similarities” to Harry Potter, but I wouldn’t say its a 1 to 1 copy.
OK, I agree, it is not 1:1 copy in all possible regards. It does have it’s differences here and there. What I am trying to say, is that earlier, every single laptop manufacturer had a very distinguishable design that you could never ever mistake for anything else. There is no way in the world you would mistake old Dell Latitudes for, say ThinkPad, or Toshiba, or even XPS line from same Dell. Now, if you look to Surface Book and same size MacBook from 10-20 meters away, they look the same.
Honestly, for me, who has seen many different old laptops, these two look the same even from up close. It’s just I’m spoiled by diversity — a thing we used to have some time ago in personal computing world.
I’m not sure what laptops and time frames you are thinking of, I would be hard pressed to identify a notebook from 10-20 meters at several points in the industry’s time. The only ones i think I would have a chance at would be the clamshell macbooks and everything else. No way I could tell a xps from a hp or toshiba or sony or gateway or acer from that distance.
They used to be called clones for a reason other than their internal cpu arch.
I have to agree with Thom on this one. There may be some superficial resemblance to a MacBook Pro but there are quite a number of unique functional elements which are really very cool.
Indeed, I would argue that this device from Microsoft has raised the game like nothing since the aluminum MacBook’s.
Edited 2015-10-07 19:08 UTC
The real interesting part is the water cooled phones, and the surfacebook has a removable Nvidia powered gpu inside the detachable keyboard. This are major common sense things that make me say “Thank You”.
If i had the money..
How many times has a phone ran hot? Its common now, ever since the htc EVO and the HTC evo3d that had a major heat problem. You figured water cooling was common sense By now. My g3 can run so hot it restarts with 5.1, it wasnt a big issue with the in 4.2. Why is it that android and device manufacturers do things like thermal throttle and limit screen brigtness. Wouldnt it make sense to add some kind of passive cooling. Also the desktop experience from the lumnia 950xl is what i have been waiting for ever since using webtop on motorola phones!! Motorola magically removed webtop with future updates and no way to downgrade with the burned bootloader fuses. My guess is that google didnt like it competing with chromeos. But thats just my crazy conspiracy. I hope microsoft sets a standard and we continue to push the envelope with the mobile space. As crazy as it sounds, I would love for a phone (cooled or not) to run at full speed not throttled down because of thermal issues.
The surfacebook has a hot swappable nvidia gpu!! You dont have to turn off the computer for the integrated graphics to kick in. Some people will say that it is a 1gb graphics buffer, and they have a point. Then again, didnt dx11 make changes to where graphics dont need big buffers anymore? that’s a genuine question.
Microsoft deserves some credit for the work they are doing in the hardware front. They have the best looking and most promising 3d/hologram hardware. Google glass is a joke, and oculus is not really meant for anything but gaming. Then again google cardboard is very practical, but how practical is it to strap a phone to your head.
I am by no means a Microsoft junkie, but I am so ready to leave my purposely crippled and broken android.
The first thing that hit my mind when I saw Surface Book: “It’s a Mac! Why is Microsoft making a Mac?”
Because they want it to be a Macbook killer.
The product that makes Apple stop making MacBooks.
The Surface Pro-4 was being touted as the iPad killer on the Radio this morning.
Haha, good luck.
OMG apple release an iPad with detachable keyboard that runs OSX!! Amazing! They invented magnetic keyboard clips and the extra thickness makes it easier to use on your lap!
#applebiastrolling
thom, with the new surfaces(?), pixels, spectres, and iPad Pros, wouldn’t it be time for a new episode of your podcast?