Microsoft Bumps Surface Book with New High-End Versions

Microsoft Bumps Surface Book with New High-End Versions

For the second time since it announced Surface Book last fall, Microsoft has announced a new high-end model. And this one purportedly will satisfy the needs of gamers.

That’s been an issue for Surface Book: To date, the highest-end Surface Book has sported a dGPU with just 1 GB of VRAM, about half of what most modern games recommend as the minimum. And while Microsoft has always been very upfront that Surface Book was never meant for gaming, it’s inability to handle anything beyond the most basic titles has been frustrating for customers.

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A new set of Surface Book with Performance Base models add the extra oomph that gamers and other high-end users demand. Each features an Intel Core i7 “Skylake” processor, plus 8 to 16 GB of RAM, and a new dGPU with—you guessed it—2 GB of VRAM. (More specifically, an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 965M with 2GB of GDDR5 RAM.)

Here’s how the models break down:

Base. Intel Core i7, 8 GB of RAM, 256 GB SSD, dGPU – $2400.

Mid-level. Intel Core i7, 16 GB of RAM, 512 GB SSD, dGPU – $2800.

High-end. Intel Core i7, 16 GB of RAM, 1 TB SSD, dGPU – $3300.

The devices are mostly identical to the previous Surface Book models, both inside and out. But the Performance Base models offer a slightly revised keyboard design, updated thermals, and, Microsoft says, up to 16 hours (!) of battery life. The previous models, all of which are still available, are rated at 12 hours.

Surface Book with Performance Base will be available for pre-order starting tomorrow.

 

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Conversation 37 comments

  • 1001

    26 October, 2016 - 11:02 am
  • 4370

    Premium Member
    26 October, 2016 - 11:04 am

    <p>This will allow gaming at 1280p. Still strange that they went with 980m. Pascal 1060 has lower thermal requirements and is clearly more powerful….</p>

    • 442

      26 October, 2016 - 11:45 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#22613">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/digiguy">digiguy</a><a href="#22613">:</a></em></blockquote>
      <p>You’ve got the hardware here confused with the other Surface Studio AIO.&nbsp; This one is the 965m.&nbsp; Still no too bad, not bad at all for a laptop.</p>

      • 4370

        Premium Member
        26 October, 2016 - 12:35 pm

        <blockquote><em><a href="#22647">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/Narg">Narg</a><a href="#22647">:</a></em></blockquote>
        <p>Yes, sorry, I posted in the wrong article, still a 965m is a definte improvement over the preivous 940m</p>

  • 2330

    26 October, 2016 - 11:21 am

    <p>I sent you a screenshot via Twitter of Amazon having OLD REVISION on the base model surface book a few weeks ago and never heard back. I figured this was coming based upon that.</p>

  • 5818

    26 October, 2016 - 11:24 am

    <blockquote><em><a href="#22613">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/digiguy">digiguy</a><a href="#22613">: I completely agree.. I have no idea why they included the 980m.&nbsp; At this price there really should be a 1070 or 1080 assuming they can work within the thermal requirements.. but as you said, even a 1060 is preferable.&nbsp; it makes no sense why they used the older tech.&nbsp; </a></em></blockquote>
    <p>&nbsp;</p>

    • 5529

      26 October, 2016 - 12:44 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#22629">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/Mike_Peluso">Mike_Peluso</a><a href="#22629">:</a></em></blockquote>
      <p>It makes sense on a few fronts. We know they plan on new hardware in spring, and they needed something they could fill the gap they felt they missed, without a true redesign. Slapping a part that is from the same generation allows them to do that.&nbsp;</p>
      <p>Also, this also lets them continue to use the very well tested nvidia drivers, without the same risk that cost them with Intel’s Skylake.</p>
      <p>Not to mention, this could give them the oportunity to use the second gen of nvidia’s 16nm process, which may seem to be a safer choice to them.</p>

  • 180

    26 October, 2016 - 11:26 am

    <p>Weird they’re using the last generation of GPUs from NVidia, both for this device and the Studio. That’s a really questionable decision, they could have gotten so much more performance out of the new chips.</p>

    • 639

      Premium Member
      26 October, 2016 - 12:54 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#22631">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/Polycrastinator">Polycrastinator</a><a href="#22631">:</a></em></blockquote>
      <p>I think Skylake has adeMicrosoft a little gun shy on being early adopters for new hardware.</p>

  • 220

    26 October, 2016 - 11:27 am

    <p>You still can’t buy Surface Book in Sweden. I wonder why…</p>

    • 533

      26 October, 2016 - 12:44 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#22632">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/Robin">Robin</a><a href="#22632">:</a> Or in Norway. If it was available I would buy both a Book and Studio.</em></blockquote>
      <p>&nbsp;</p>

  • 5496

    26 October, 2016 - 11:27 am

    <p>Paul, didn’t you say they will be no new Surface Books?</p>
    <p>Now don’t you feel stupid for saying there won’t be one, when there is.</p>

  • 442

    26 October, 2016 - 11:43 am

    <p>965m with 2 GB of ram?&nbsp; Not too shabby finally.</p>

    • 5234

      26 October, 2016 - 3:10 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#22645">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/Narg">Narg</a><a href="#22645">:</a></em></blockquote>
      <p>Finally?! &nbsp;It should be a 1000-series in there by now!</p>

    • 5501

      Premium Member
      27 October, 2016 - 11:09 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#22645">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/Narg">Narg</a><a href="#22645">:</a></em></blockquote>
      <p>It does sound like an improvement, but, mmm, I don’t know … it that good for a laptop?&nbsp; I have a GTX 970 with 4 GB on my desktop, and I can’t imagine using anything less than that anymore, but then again I game at 2560 x 1440.</p>

  • 427

    26 October, 2016 - 11:48 am

    <p>To me still not the ultimate laptop.&nbsp; Like Paul has said a few times what people want is an ultrabook.&nbsp; This is still not that. Hopefully next time they’ll actually make an ultrabook.</p>

  • 5496

    26 October, 2016 - 1:03 pm

    <p>They should sell the keyboard alone. So people can just switch it out for a better GPU.</p>

  • 3012

    26 October, 2016 - 2:40 pm

    <p>I would have like to see it bumped to 32gb of ram</p>

  • 5234

    26 October, 2016 - 3:11 pm

    <p>"Microsoft has always been very upfront that Surface Book was never meant for gaming"</p>
    <p>&nbsp;</p>
    <p>No: they have Xbox for that.</p>

  • 1353

    26 October, 2016 - 3:22 pm

    <p>The thing that annoys me about this is the price in countries outside the US. I’m in New Zealand, and I just got the email from the Microsoft Store for these new Surfaces. The base model above is $2400 USD, but the price from the Microsoft store here is $4399. At the current exchange rate, $2400 USD is only $3355 NZD, which means a markup of $1044 NZD, or 31%. There is no conceivable reason why this markup should be so high.</p>

    • 4964

      27 October, 2016 - 3:40 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#22780">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/ulrichr">ulrichr</a><a href="#22780">:</a></em></blockquote>
      <p>does us price include sales tax?</p>

  • 4801

    Premium Member
    26 October, 2016 - 3:24 pm

    <p>Just a question that may be on minds of others.</p>
    <p>&nbsp;</p>
    <p>For users like myself who purchased i7 GPU Surface Books that had issues for many months like underpowered GPU, do you think Microsoft would consider allowing trade in without penalty.</p>
    <p>&nbsp;</p>
    <p>In my case, 2 4K ASUS monitors will&nbsp;only do 30hz when docked, I had had this complaint to Microsoft since day 1 of Surface Book.</p>
    <p>&nbsp;</p>
    <p>Anyone else kinda thinking MS should step up?</p>
    <p>&nbsp;</p>
    <p>Does new GPU resolve 60 hz&nbsp;issue?</p>

    • 180

      27 October, 2016 - 7:39 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#22781">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/djncanada">djncanada</a><a href="#22781">:</a></em></blockquote>
      <p>Microsoft should allow you to replace the base separately. I don’t think they will, though.</p>

  • 2013

    Premium Member
    26 October, 2016 - 9:20 pm

    <p>Still Skylake? I thought they’d take the oportunity to update the chipset to Kaby Lake at least.</p>
    <p>&nbsp;</p>

  • 5530

    26 October, 2016 - 10:40 pm

    <p>Very impressed that they managed to put a GTX 965M in that form factor. I think that is pretty much the fastest GPU i’ve ever seen in a chassis that thin. The problem is that&nbsp;Nvidia’s new pascal GPUs are a true generational leap, and people don’t want to miss out on it.&nbsp;The&nbsp;Razer Blade got 20% more performance despite moving down from the GTX970M to the GTX1060.&nbsp;The performance gap is just&nbsp;so large.&nbsp;Bummer that they didn’t manage to put a pascal GPU in there, but i’m sure they’ll get around to it eventually when they figure it out.</p>

  • 3216

    27 October, 2016 - 7:36 am

    <p>I can’t help but wonder if they are falling into the trap Apple created for itself in releasing new hardware so often.&nbsp; I have an Surface Pro 3 that’s less than 18 months old and the Surface Book is about 12 months and they are both already ancient compared to what’s on the market now.&nbsp; People are going to delay upgrading because they know that if they just waited 60-90 days something newer would be released.</p>
    <p>The other big problem is pricing.&nbsp; Newer stuff is jumping in price far higher than is justified by the market and the older stuff isn’t dropping enough.&nbsp; The Surface Pro 3 is still for sale and the price is roughtly the same as it was in the Spring of 2015.</p>

  • 169

    Premium Member
    27 October, 2016 - 8:50 am

    <p>Are the Surface book bases swappable??&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Could this be an upgrade for somebody?&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; (I’ve got an i7 SB, but am not interested in this)</p>

    • 2330

      27 October, 2016 - 12:13 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#22936">In reply to </a><a href="../../../users/tbtalbot">tbtalbot</a><a href="#22936">:</a></em></blockquote>
      <p>That’s what I’m wondering too. I just got burnt by being exactly one day out of exchange/return when they announced it D’oh. I would love to just buy the dGPU base and just swap to the newer one and keep the same guts in the top (and I don’t see any issues preventing that).</p>

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