- [Narrator] I haven't had any epiphanies concerning
the new Surface Books since Part One of this review.
In fact, I probably could have reached a valid conclusion
after the first two days.
But, I'm glad I went on to use it for another week
because it let me get past the star-struck, honeymoon phase
and get down to what it really means to use the Surface Book
as a daily driver, for me at least.
This is the Surface Book with Performance Base
and this is Part Two of the Mr. Mobile review.
(upbeat electronic music)
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A confession, the biggest reason I'd buy one of these
is terribly superficial.
I want something special.
The Surface Book with its crazy dynamic fulcrum hinge
and detachable clipboard more than qualifies.
Also, don't forget the included pen.
I rarely had occasion to use it, but when I did,
I loved it.
Drawing with a fingertip just feels so caveman
when you can have a tool this precise,
and while I don't have Photoshop
or another graphic design program installed
on this machine, I didn't have to for the basic stuff.
There's a whole array of note taking and sketching tools
built into the Surface Book, and you can access it,
literally, at the click of a button.
I even found the Edge browser's inking tool useful,
once or twice.
In other news, the screen wobbles a bit
whenever you tap it in laptop mode,
but I have yet to use a notebook that doesn't do this.
Front-facing cameras aren't usually something I focus on,
either, but I got to say, the Surface Book's is really good.
And I love that the clipboard is completely self-contained,
that if I don't need the dedicated GPU
or extra power of the Performance Base,
I can pop off the top and use it as a tablet.
But one of the things I came to realize,
as the newness wore off, was that I seldom wanted
to use it that way because it's a huge tablet.
It also brings some compromises besides bulk.
The speakers are loud but prone to rattle
at higher volumes.
I wish Microsoft had snuck a bigger speaker into the base
so you could really blast some jams while docked
without having to use the weirdly placed headphone jack.
Speaking of weird, I still haven't really gotten used to
the big gap between sections when this thing is closed.
And, yes, on the very first day I had it,
I found some silica or salt or something
trapped between screen and trackpad.
So, keep your laptop bag vacuumed if you're gonna buy this.
I didn't run many benchmarks on this machine
to test performance mostly because I knew my friends
at Windows Central would.
I'll link you to their review in the description.
Plus, as much as I enjoy a good computer game,
notebooks aren't ideal for playing them.
Professional titles, like Adobe Premiere, are another story.
For the limited cutting I did, I found it ran just fine,
and I have at least one colleague who still uses
the first-generation Surface Book
as a portable editing machine, and she loves it.
And the new Performance Base, with its added graphics
and battery, makes this version even better.
About that battery, it's great when you're not actively
trying to kill it as I was in Part One.
I wasn't able to hit the 16 hours Microsoft claims,
but that's because I didn't test it in a lab.
What I did was take the Book to a local café
where power outlets are a rare find
and try to walk the line between getting work done
and saving power, that meant medium-brightness,
no key back lighting,
and running just a few programs at a time.
After three and a half hopping
between OneNote, Twitter, Slack,
and a average of four open tabs in the Edge browser,
I was down to 62%.
So, for a lot of working professionals,
I could easily see the Surface Book lasting
an eight-hour workday off the charger.
So, what about those first-generation buyers
I said I was gonna check in with.
Well, I expected a hale of complaints,
because for a while in 2015, the Surface Book was dogged
by problems.
I'm still concerned about how well the connectors
between clipboard and dock will age,
because, to my eye, the new Surface Book is using
exactly the same docking hardware.
But despite my wariness, the response I got
from owners on Twitter was adulation,
bordering on fawn-ic.
Many Surface Book owners really love their devices.
And you know what, I totally get it.
Even though there are less expensive conventional laptops
out there with similar hardware,
the Surface Book is absolutely the machine I'd buy
if I used Windows 10 every day.
But, I learned how to edit video on Final Cut Pro,
and, as a result, I've been a Mac-OS guy for years.
While I'm still so frustrated with Apple
for its decision to neuter its new MacBook Pro ports,
I'm not quite angry enough to give up the flow
of Final Cut for the more powerful, but more complex,
Adobe Premiere.
Ecosystem lock in is real, but that's on me.
If you're a little more flexible,
looking for a jump from the MacBook Pro to something new,
or you're a life-long Windows user looking
for a great two-in-one, you've found it.
Just keep in mind there's a lot of newer generation hardware
coming in 2017, including rumors of a proper Surface Book 2.
So, if it's future-proofing you're looking for, hold off.
But, if you're gonna buy it, you better do it now.
If you're about to leave a comment telling me
what I forgot to mention, odds are it's
in the first half of this review
at Mr. Mobile's channel on YouTube.
Subscribe, if you enjoyed this video.
Most importantly, though, thanks for watching,
and stay mobile, my friends.