Hey guys, this is Austin.
This is the MacBook Pro,
and it is Apple's most expensive laptop.
Now this is actually computer that we've edited
all of our videos for the last year on.
However, starting at $2,400, it does not come cheap.
That's where Microsoft comes in with the new Surface Book 2.
Now full disclosure.
They actually did send this out for review.
However, as a laptop starting at $2,500,
I'm curious to see how it stacks up.
So I actually did a video on the original Surface Book
a couple of years ago and it was a very, very weird concept.
So the idea here is that you're getting a computer that
on the surface looks very much similar to something
like a MacBook, but you can actually detach the screen
and turn it into a tablet.
Pop this guy open, and the first thing we see
is the well, the Surface Book itself.
What really makes this unique is the hinge.
So as you can see, when you close the laptop,
it actually doesn't go completely flat,
and that's because, so if you press the button here
for a second, what you'll be able to do is
remove the actual tablet.
Put these two side by side, and at first glance,
they look pretty similar but there are a ton of differences.
So first of all, while they do have 15-inch displays each,
the port selection is very different.
Where the MacBook has four Thunderbolt 3 ports,
two on either side,
the Surface instead has a single USB C
paired with a Surface connector for charging and docking,
but importantly, it also two full-size USB A ports
and an SD-card reader.
When it comes to screens,
it is really hard to argue with either of these laptops,
but the Surface is slightly sharper,
with a resolution of 3240 by 2160
compared to 2880 by 1800 on the MacBook,
and the Surface has the added benefit
of being a touchscreen.
Where the Surface Book 2 really excels is in performance.
So inside, it has a Core i7-8650U, a GTX 1060,
16 gigs of RAM, and anywhere between 256 gigs
and one terabytes of SSD storage.
With a GTX 1060 inside,
this is going to be a very powerful laptop
when it comes to video editing and even gaming.
So to put things in context,
a 1060 is usually what you'd find
in fairly high-end gaming laptops,
but one of the advantages of the Surface Book
is that it's still fairly thin.
Microsoft has updated the Surface Book design
since the original, so one of the main things is
is that you can now open and close it
without having to put a hand on it to sort of steady it,
and the hinge feels good.
So in tablet mode, you do get the full PC experience.
So the main thing is you're pretty much losing
all the ports besides the headphone jack
but what's cool is you can actually just drop it
right back on, even backwards, and you can have yourself
a super cool, even weirder than usual looking computer.
It might be a bit low-key at this point,
but I really appreciate the addition of a USB C port.
So yeah, it might not be Thunderbolt,
but I've actually moved a lot of my accessories
to USB C at this point, and it is really nice
to be able to use a single cable to not only connect
to a monitor but to get power into the laptop.
Speaking of power, I love the idea that I can use
a single power adaptor for not only the laptop
but also my Pixel or even a MacBook.
I like the keyboard.
So the keys are on the stiff side,
but unlike on the MacBook, there's actual travel here.
Now I do think I slightly prefer the way
that the butterfly switches work on the MacBook Pro
but you're not going to be disappointed
with either of these.
Something interesting is that Microsoft slightly tapers
the middle of the keyboard and then it comes down
on the sides, and it's kind of hard to see this on video,
but when actually typing, what it means is
that your fingers are going to be slightly elevated,
which for me alleviates a lot of wrist strain.
The trackpad is decent.
So as you'd expect from a Microsoft device,
it is a Windows Precision touchpad
and that means that not only do you get
the additional three-fingered gestures
like swiping up to pull up your desktops,
but it also tracks really accurately.
As good as it might be though,
it can't match the MacBook Pro.
This trackpad is enormous.
I mean seriously, it's like the size of my hand.
Now yes, you can totally abide with the Surface,
but Apple has the best trackpads in the business.
As you'd expect from a device straight from Microsoft,
there's basically no bloat in Windows,
except there actually kind of is.
So in a lot of laptops, this included
have a few different preinstalled games
such as March of Empires, Candy Crush, and while that's fine
on a $300 laptop, when I'm paying over $3,000 for a laptop,
I don't want to have any bloatware at all.
And sure, it's easy enough to uninstall
but it just feels weird that they're trying to make
a few extra bucks on something that's this expensive.
Where the Surface Book 2 really shines is in performance.
So side by side with the MacBook, you can see that
for shorter periods and single-threaded tasks,
it does hold up pretty well,
but on the multi-threaded side,
you're going to lose some performance,
but the real star of the show here is that GPU.
With the GTX 1060 inside, well,
you should be using this for video editing.
I'm playing some Rocket League.
Now I actually will say that with this much power,
you can play a lot more demanding games than Rocket League,
but even at 2560 by 1600 with pretty much all the settings
cranked up, this looks really nice.
We're getting anywhere between like 60
and 70 frames per second,
and because this is Microsoft,
there's a little bit of Xbox inside the Surface,
as there is an Xbox One wireless radio built in.
Now what's interesting about having a GTX 1060
in a laptop that's so thin is that besides the battery,
the base of it is totally dedicated to cooling it.
So yes, it's a little bit loud,
but no worse than most gaming laptops,
and it's a lot thinner.
For 15-inch laptops, battery life actually isn't bad.
So the MacBook should go for around 10 hours,
where the Surface is rated for up to 17 hours.
Now that part of that is because it has two batteries,
one in the screen and one in the base,
but something to keep in mind with both of these guys
is that when you're actually doing heavier lifting
such as gaming and especially video editing,
expect that number to be a lot less.
The Surface has a pair of front-firing speakers
in the screen and it sounds good,
but the MacBook sounds phenomenal.
It has two giant speakers beside the actual keyboard
and this is hands-down the best-sounding laptop
I've ever tried.
When it comes to price,
both of these laptops are incredibly expensive.
So the Surface Book starts at $2,500,
but that's only with a 256 gig SSD.
Bump that up to 512, and you're at $2,900.
The MacBook is $100 cheaper
but I don't think that's going to change anyone's mind
at this price point.
If you can take advantage of the extra GPU horsepower
and especially the ability to use stuff
like the Surface pen,
the Surface dial for maybe something like graphics work,
then the Surface can make sense.
However, when it comes to the MacBook,
it's just a solid laptop all around.
It's thinner, it's lighter,
and while the touchbar might seem like a gimmick,
it really doesn't affect the actual laptop itself,
and stuff like Touch ID is actually really helpful to have.
The Surface does have a wider variety of ports,
but I've got to say over the last year,
having four Thunderbolt 3 ports on the MacBook
has come in handy quite a bit.
The Surface Book 2 might be the most incredibly
engineered laptop you can buy today.
Everything from the hinge, which while maybe not perfect,
is actually a really clever way of doing something like this
to cramming everything you need for a full 15-inch PC
into the thin screen, they've done an incredible job.
However, the MacBook kind of wins in its simplicity.
Both of these laptops are available
in a smaller 13-inch size, and in that comparison,
the GTX 1050 inside the smaller Surface book
is a major contender with the MacBook pro.
However, when you look at the 15-inch sizes,
the Surface Book is a hard sell.
So what do you guys think about the new Surface Book 2?
Let me know in the comments below
and I will catch you in the next one.