At its New York live event last month, Microsoft announced a new Surface Book. While this was not a Surface Book 2, it did give the original model a significant spec bump. With its killer looks intact, Microsoft ensured the device will remain a standard bearer in the Ultrabook market. However, any dreams of an easily upgradable laptop have been killed by the company.
Pre-order shipments are now being sent out for the new Surface Book. Microsoft opened the doors to customers as soon as the device had been announced. Now that shipments have started, the company has commenced the normal order process. This means the two versions of the hybrid are available without any shipping delays.
If you are interested in picking one up, you can do so now at the Microsoft Store.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1OsmndtIrY
While that is good news, there is also some bad news regarding the new Surface Book. Thurrott reports that Microsoft has confirmed it will not sell the performance base separately. The Performance Base is essentially the keyboard deck of the device, which houses all of the computing power.
This presented a unique opportunity. As the Surface Book is a detachable device, the screen could essentially work on any Performance Base. This would make the device configurable in a way, allowing users to keep the screen but upgrade the Performance Base.
However, Microsoft has told Thurrott that Performance Base units will not be sold separately. We agree that this is a missed opportunity, but do understand Microsoft's reasoning. The company believes the cost of the base would make it too prohibitive merely as an upgrade option.
New Surface Book
The updated Surface Book comes with 2x more graphics capability than any rival model currently available. This means the performance is doubled and trebled compared to the best MacBook Pro 13. As well as an updated processor, Microsoft put more batteries in the device for 16 hours of battery life. Microsoft says it is the best performing laptop on the market.
