Microsoft’s ‘Shock and Awe’ Campaign Delivers Tantalizing Surface Book 2-in-1 With 13.5-inch Display And NVIDIA Graphics
Apple may be the king of “One More Thing,” but Microsoft revealed today that it too can bring its own flavor of Shock and Awe to a captive audience. Leading up to Microsoft’s Windows 10 Devices event which was held this morning, we heard rumors that a 14-inch Surface tablet would be among the devices unveiled. Many dismissed the reports, but Microsoft delivered in spades today.
So we present to you the Surface Book, which features a large 13.5-inch display with 267 pixels per inch (3,000 x 2,000). And would you just look at the display hinge — Microsoft calls it a Dynamic Fulcrum Hinge and we’ve never seen anything quite like it on a laptop. And instead of transforming into a tight wedge shape when the display is closed (and viewed from the side), the the device takes on a sort of an odd “U” shape.
But more importantly, the Surface Book features what Microsoft’s Panos Panay calls the “perfect” keyboard, which is probably a not so subtle reminder that while the Type Cover on the Surface Pro 4 (and its Surface Pro 3 predecessor) is adequate, it’s not exactly something that you would want to use all the time. The keyboard has a backlit display and the keys offer 1.6mm of travel. Below the keyboard, you’ll find a glass trackpad which supports five points of touch.
When it comes to performance, Microsoft is using the latest sixth generation Intel Core i5 and i7 processors along with a discrete NVIDIA GeForce GPU with GDDR5 memory. Like the Surface Pro 4, it can also be equipped with up to 16GB of RAM and up to a 1TB SSD.
And this is where Panay blew our minds. At the start of his segment on the Surface Book, Panay played a teaser clip of the Surface Book showing its from many different angles, highlighting all of its features. Once he wrapped up his initial look at the Surface Book, he played the video again and told the audience to look more closely this time around. Panay this time played a longer version of the original clip which shows that the display actually detaches from the keyboard base.
That’s right, the Surface Book is actually a convertible, and a great looking one at that. Not only do you have the full-blown laptop-class performance and NVIDIA graphics when docked with the keyboard, but you also have a fully functional 13.5-inch Surface Pro tablet complete with a Surface Pen.
Well done, Microsoft. Well done. The Surface Book is available for preorder today starting at $1,499 and will ship on October 26th.
