Surface Book 2: Six Months Later

When the Surface Book 2 was announced late last year, I had high hopes that this was going to be among my favorite laptops, ever. All Microsoft had to do was take the original Book and address the few issues with the hardware and voila, a hero device for the category.

It’s a bit hard to believe but the device was released six months ago and since that time, I have taken the high-end 15in Surface Book 2 on the road to Vegas, NYC, Seattle, Chicago and a few other locations and after all that time with the hardware, here is my long term update.

Read the full update, here.

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Conversation 11 comments

  • siko

    22 May, 2018 - 6:14 pm

    <p>Great honest review. I had some hinge issues with the Surface Book gen 1, but they seem to have gone. Perhaps with Spring Update? </p><p>Windows Hello indeed works best when the Book is mostly in the same place. But otherwise, excellent!</p>

  • CaymanDreamin

    Premium Member
    22 May, 2018 - 6:40 pm

    <p>Great update, I'm very happy with mine. I've noticed the issue with the power button since updating to 1803. I found that plugging in the device works too. On the topic of the screen detaching, I've had an issue with it not wanting to detach lately as well, it makes me wonder if the two are related.</p>

  • jwpear

    Premium Member
    22 May, 2018 - 9:44 pm

    <p>Brad, any trade-off between the 13 and 15 inch SB2? </p><p><br></p><p>While I'd love the 15 inch, I just cannot justify the $2900 price tag. 13 inch with same config (i7, 16 GB RAM, 512 GB storage) brings it down by $400. Still pricey, but a little more palatable. I wish Microsoft would offer an i7, 16 GB RAM, 256 GB storage in the 13 inch. It's inexplicable why this isn't an option. 16 GB of RAM is key for me for future proofing as a dev machine. I could probably get by with 256 GB or storage if I used a drive attached to the dock.</p><p><br></p><p>$2000 is sweet spot for me, but seems impossible to hit that without a compromise on CPU, RAM, and storage. </p>

    • Brad Sams

      Premium Member
      23 May, 2018 - 9:29 am

      <blockquote><a href="#278113"><em>In reply to jwpear:</em></a></blockquote><p>The GPU is the biggest difference and a small performance hit since the 15in is i7 only,</p>

  • ChristopherCollins

    Premium Member
    22 May, 2018 - 10:51 pm

    <p>Thanks for this, Brad. I bought SB2 early on and I had a lot of issues. You're video gave me the guts to try it again. I'm in the market and was almost going to just go the MBP route so I'd have messages on there. That is a huge convenience, being able to make, respond, and quickly insert graphic grabs into a text or iMessage.</p><p><br></p><p>Hopefully this SB2 will change my mind. If not, I'll return it. I wanted to love it when I first got it, but I had numerous trackpad issues. Almost like it was putting it to sleep momentarily, while it was in use.</p>

  • dstrack

    Premium Member
    22 May, 2018 - 11:38 pm

    <p>Great update. I also have the high end SB2 and love it. The power button issue has been noticeable, thanks for noting it and now I know to hit the undock button first… silly but appreciate the info until it gets resolved. I love the machine. I definitely take the screen off often. Makes it amazingly versatile… and I love to throw it in the face of my MacBook Pro friends ;-)</p>

  • Maelstrom

    23 May, 2018 - 6:03 am

    <p>About USB-C charging port, I'd say this: keep the magnetic blade charging port, just make the internals Thunderbolt-compatible and USB-C compliant and also provide a USB-C-adapter for that port. In other words, keep the design, improve the functionality.</p><p>Why? Because a magnetic port is less risky for your device when, inadvertently, you bump into <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">the cable </span>compared to any other solution. And this is all the more relevant for Surface Pro for instance.</p>

  • Necron

    23 May, 2018 - 12:28 pm

    <p>I prefer macbook pro keyboard to one in SB2. Just easier and faster typing plus better overall feeling.</p>

  • ChristopherCollins

    Premium Member
    23 May, 2018 - 10:11 pm

    <p>Brad. Got my SB2. I still have the issue where Google Chrome (only Chrome) will stop responding to two finger scrolling via the touchpad. Sometimes it pauses and sometimes the entire tab will not respond to it. This is an old issue and used to be fixed by removing Kapersky (I don't have that) or turning off smooth scrolling in flags. Edge does not exhibit this behavior. </p><p><br></p><p>Do you use the touchpad enough to notice this? This is the reason I returned the first one, although now, I believe it is limited to Chrome. I'm trying to use Edge and so far, so good. I'd rather stay with Chrome, though. Just thought I'd ping you.</p>

  • crmguru

    Premium Member
    25 June, 2018 - 9:01 pm

    <p>I have an SB 2 i7 and can Recharge the computer from the USB C port. I think you need a good 'Fast Charger' type. I use my nice BelkIn that charges my Note 8, it is OK at charging the computer. I can also plug this phone into the pc and change the phone. So I literally just need one adapter and USB c cable on the road. </p>

  • zahrobsky

    Premium Member
    10 April, 2019 - 9:16 am

    <p>Any chance for a 18 month update? How is it still holding up? Still using it daily? etc.?</p>

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