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It's a review on an Apple blog site... Why on earth would they have any reservations about pointing out flaws with Microsoft products?

By the fact that the topic isn't covered at all for a professional level laptop? Seems like a rather large omission.
 
I can’t really get used to Surface Book no matter how much I tried it. I always go get a mouse to use it and that defeats the portability aspect.
Thank you Mr consumer advice specialist, your experience does not reflect mine.

This may seem strange but after careful consideration I bought the best machine for me. Now I would like to repeat that with a 15-inch screen and a lot more Oomph..

I have a desktop machine - mostly just a gaming rig though.
I have an iPad Pro that rarely gets used. I have tried to like the Apple Pencil but I can't stand how it feels on the screen.
I have my awesome MacBook Air that is trashed all to hell but remains my most loved machine.

So with all of that I still decided to get a Surface Book because it provides all of that in one package and give me (in my opinion) the BEST of each. I can sell all of the above - apart from the MacBook Air and buy this one machine..

The Surface Book has a place in the market. For people that do need a computing device that can do a little bit of everything (desktop, laptop, tablet), while not being the most powerful, the most portable, the most ergonomic. But that’s it.

Oh come on now.. Not the most portable? powerful, erganomic...

It's incredibly powerful for a laptop, with a pretty awesome GPU and incredibly portable..
 
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If the Surface Book ran MacOS I'd be there in a heartbeat.
But it doesn't, so I won't, so there you have it.
Good review though!
well actually it can .
https://www.reddit.com/r/Surface/comments/7dptp6/surface_book_2_running_mac_os_x/
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I think Surface sucks, but if Apple is keeping its slow pace on Macs, Surface will overtake MacBook and leave it far behind within 3 years.
youtube video.....
 
Finally got to play around with one and while the hardware feels nice, I find I still prefer my iPad for what it is - a giant iPhone, rather than a tablet running desktop software.

And having to press a button to eject the display? It’s ultimately still all these small details which differentiates Apple from Microsoft. Apple would find a way for me to be able to just yank the screen away as and when I wish without having to think about it.

You mean like with the Surface Pro?

Bottom line is Apple wants you to carry around 3 devices (laptop, tablet, phone), for what I can do with 2 (2in1, large phone). I have use of a pen everywhere, instead of just in 1 of the 3 environments.

Glad we have choices.
 
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Oh my God, such drama.

MacBooks are perfectly fine specimens of the laptop species, which is perfectly evolved to occupy its technological niche. It's mature technology, really, you can't expect exponential improvements like in the waning PC heyday.

We can have slightly longer battery life, slightly faster processors (but hey look at Intel and the hoops they're jumping through to deliver 7 nm technology). Bit more RAM? Sign me up, yes, but what do you people exactly expect?
The fabled iPad-laptop crossover? It ain't gonna happen, and for good reason.

Things to consider:

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/201...require-more-frequent-more-expensive-repairs/
 
I would absolutely consider the hardware, but I wouldn't willingly use any of my own money on a Windows machine, until Windows doesn't:

  • Look like a complete mess with Windows 7, 8, first gen & Fluent UWP apps all mixed up together. This is the OS where Notepad still looks the same as it did in Windows 95
  • Keep on trying to upsell you various apps in the Start Menu & Office 365 practically everywhere
  • Keep on trying to get you to use Edge every second 'Are you sure you don't want to use Microsoft Edge?'
  • Uploads nearly everything that you when logged into your Microsoft account without letting on that it's doing that
 
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For the Creative Pros using the MBP is the Surface really the competition? The creative department I worked in last year it seemed like the HP 17" was the preferred laptop. I borrowed one for a meeting and honestly can't see buying a laptop with less screen real estate ever again. It actually was a usable computer where as before I would just wait until I got back to the work stations with large monitors.
 
Thank you Mr consumer advice specialist, your experience does not reflect mine.

This may seem strange but after careful consideration I bought the best machine for me. Now I would like to repeat that with a 15-inch screen and a lot more Oomph..

I have a desktop machine - mostly just a gaming rig though.
I have an iPad Pro that rarely gets used. I have tried to like the Apple Pencil but I can't stand how it feels on the screen.
I have my awesome MacBook Air that is trashed all to hell but remains my most loved machine.

So with all of that I still decided to get a Surface Book because it provides all of that in one package and give me (in my opinion) the BEST of each. I can sell all of the above - apart from the MacBook Air and buy this one machine..



Oh come on now.. Not the most portable? powerful, erganomic...

It's incredibly powerful for a laptop, with a pretty awesome GPU and incredibly portable..


I just tried one out and it is surprisingly great experience. When you disconnect the top display it feels lighter than your phone but is a 15in screen and has more power than MacBook pros. The GPU has what, 4x the score of a 2015 mbp? It can handle VR too
 
Not a bad review, but obviously biased. As someone who owns both a HP Spectre x360 and MacBook Pro and has used a Surface Book 2 quite a bit I can say that the SB2 trackpad is only a little inferior to the Mac. Yes, I still prefer the Mac's pad, but with a touchscreen you use the trackpad much less. The author mentions continuity and handoff, etc as being features that will be missed on the SB2, but the Spring Creator's update adds something comparable that works with Android phones and tablets.

I hated Windows for years, but frankly, Windows 10 is really nice on a computer with a touchscreen and pen. It really shows the shortcoming of the MBP touch bar and the shortsightedness of Apple without Steve Jobs. Luckily, I can have both computers. I have hundreds of form templates on the Mac that I use (I actually prefer Pages and Numbers to Word and Excel) and I do my photo editing on the HP. However, I do enjoy marking up documents with my pen on the HP as well as being able to sign them. But converting them from Pages to Word is a big pain.
 
A comparison to the new Thinkpad X1 Carbon would make a lot more sense:
- similar footprint
- business/lightweight machines
- amazing screen
- thinkpads rocks the mobile keyboard for years now
- thinkpad actually has an i7 (quadcore) option in a 14inch slim-bezel design.

We will see what WWDC brings this year, it better be good (better)...

That would be nice! I actually use an X1 because I prefer Windows on my PC/Laptop. On mobile I love iOS.
 
I would absolutely consider the hardware, but I wouldn't willingly use any of my own money on a Windows machine, until Windows doesn't:

  • Look like a complete mess with Windows 7, 8, first gen & Fluent UWP apps all mixed up together. This is the OS where Notepad still looks the same as it did in Windows 95
  • Keep on trying to upsell you various apps in the Start Menu & Office 365 practically everywhere
  • Keep on trying to get you to use Edge every second 'Are you sure you don't want to use Microsoft Edge?'
  • Uploads nearly everything that you when logged into your Microsoft account without letting on that it's doing that


As if Apple hasn't done similar tactics. I would say Apple is WAY worst in this regard.

Purposely gimping storage so you buy iCloud storage on iOS devices and to a lesser extent - marking up the price for flash storage on their laptops. Adding two year old gpus and calling it "pro"

Purposely making it difficult to replace batteries.

Not updating their desktop computers.
The existence of the Air, MacBook, and the lower end MacBook Pro at the same time. Just, why?

If you're going to talk about Notepad - Quicktime can't even play common file types. Why is DVD player still a standalone app in macOS? Does anyone even use this?

Apple loves to alter the UI. For better or worst and now with SIP, good luck trying to get the old way back.

macOS since Lion has been plagued with a laggy UI. You may not experience this but many have on various configurations of hardware and software.

Does handoff even reliably work for people yet?


There are many issues with each company. The examples you've listed can be easily changed by any technical person with regedit. Some of the issues I've listed cannot. I admit there is bias and I personally like both companies but still feel your argument is not that great as I think Apple is worst at what you're trying to say.
 
My wife works in I.T. for a community college where they bought a number of Surface Books for faculty use. As I understand it, many of them have been returned to the I.T. department by people who were frustrated with them and no longer wanted to use them.

I think the hinge was part of the problem, as there were some complaints about the connection between the screen and the rest of the laptop having some issues over time.

That said? I *think* I read someplace that the Surface Book 2 had a revised hinge from the original Surface Book, so I don't know if this is a legitimate problem anymore?

Personally, I was using a Surface Pro in the office as my main computer. Eventually, I reassigned it to someone else and I now use a plain Surface laptop instead. (IMO, Microsoft made this rather confusing because many people don't realize they make 3 distinct laptop models with Surface in the name.) I actually like the Surface laptop the best of the 3 because it's the only one that's designed like a traditional laptop -- with the battery life and overall dimensions about the same as a Macbook Air 13".


That hinge on the Surface Book always makes me extremely concerned. Otherwise, it looks nice and while I won't be switching from my MacBook Pro to this, I can see some use for it (like native Windows development).
 
The choice between Apple's MacBook Pro and Microsoft's Surface Book 2, to me is like asking, "do you want to die by electrocution or by hanging?".
 
I would absolutely consider the hardware, but I wouldn't willingly use any of my own money on a Windows machine, until Windows doesn't:

  • Look like a complete mess with Windows 7, 8, first gen & Fluent UWP apps all mixed up together. This is the OS where Notepad still looks the same as it did in Windows 95
  • Keep on trying to upsell you various apps in the Start Menu & Office 365 practically everywhere
  • Keep on trying to get you to use Edge every second 'Are you sure you don't want to use Microsoft Edge?'
  • Uploads nearly everything that you when logged into your Microsoft account without letting on that it's doing that

I have experienced almost none of this. Well I guess if aesthetics are important to you, not much we can do about that. I certainly don't choose one OS over the other because it's pretty.

As far as Edge is concerned have not heard a peep out of the OS about switching. Maybe once or twice a while back when I first did the install of Windows 10. Nothing since I declined. I use Chrome or Firefox. No issues.

As far as upselling is concerned, again have not seen any of that. If being logged into all of your Microsoft accounts is troubling, how do you deal with iCloud accessing all of your accounts so you can remain in the "eco-system"?
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The choice between Apple's MacBook Pro and Microsoft's Surface Book 2, to me is like asking, "do you want to die by electrocution or by hanging?".

Sounds pretty dramatic. Did Windows traumatize you somehow? I love Apple, live in an all Apple world, but C'mon. I wonder how many of you have actually used a current version of Windows 10 on a current machine and customized it to your liking. Works great for me. I have not switched from Apple or anything, but all this "good vs evil" stuff seems a bit old.
 
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This article blatantly omits a price/performance comparison. So which device gives you more value in term of productivity? Then we can talk…
 
Not a bad review, but obviously biased. As someone who owns both a HP Spectre x360 and MacBook Pro and has used a Surface Book 2 quite a bit I can say that the SB2 trackpad is only a little inferior to the Mac. Yes, I still prefer the Mac's pad, but with a touchscreen you use the trackpad much less. The author mentions continuity and handoff, etc as being features that will be missed on the SB2, but the Spring Creator's update adds something comparable that works with Android phones and tablets.

I hated Windows for years, but frankly, Windows 10 is really nice on a computer with a touchscreen and pen. It really shows the shortcoming of the MBP touch bar and the shortsightedness of Apple without Steve Jobs. Luckily, I can have both computers. I have hundreds of form templates on the Mac that I use (I actually prefer Pages and Numbers to Word and Excel) and I do my photo editing on the HP. However, I do enjoy marking up documents with my pen on the HP as well as being able to sign them. But converting them from Pages to Word is a big pain.

Very rational response. I am not advocating everyone switch to Windows but a lot of these closed minded comments so far really limit one's ability to use technology to ones advantage. This Apple or death mentality seems a bit short sighted. As a person who loves technology, I could not imagine not wanting to try new technology and keeping an open mind.
 
Partially agree .... although if we're talking about batteries, Microsoft doesn't make their laptops any easier to replace batteries in than Apple does. If anything, they copy-catted Apple's recent designs with everything all sealed up. Try servicing a Surface Pro 4 or new Surface Pro tablet!

I'd also say any complaints about a "laggy UI" are really no more valid for Apple than Microsoft. Windows 10's UI has HORRIBLE lag when it decides to start doing a Windows update in the background. And depending on what else it's doing, the START menu can be very sluggish to pop up when clicked on.

I agree though, that anyone complaining about Windows Notepad is just trying to find things to nit-pick about. Fact is, Microsoft included "WordPad" more prominently in Windows for a long time now as the more full-featured and modern document editor they expected people to use. Notepad has been kept BECAUSE it's so basic. It tends to be used by more advanced users who are trying to edit configuration files for applications and the like. It's handy for cases where you don't want to accidentally insert any control codes in the file for things like bold print, or underlines.


As if Apple hasn't done similar tactics. I would say Apple is WAY worst in this regard.

Purposely gimping storage so you buy iCloud storage on iOS devices and to a lesser extent - marking up the price for flash storage on their laptops. Adding two year old gpus and calling it "pro"

Purposely making it difficult to replace batteries.

Not updating their desktop computers.
The existence of the Air, MacBook, and the lower end MacBook Pro at the same time. Just, why?

If you're going to talk about Notepad - Quicktime can't even play common file types. Why is DVD player still a standalone app in macOS? Does anyone even use this?

Apple loves to alter the UI. For better or worst and now with SIP, good luck trying to get the old way back.

macOS since Lion has been plagued with a laggy UI. You may not experience this but many have on various configurations of hardware and software.

Does handoff even reliably work for people yet?


There are many issues with each company. The examples you've listed can be easily changed by any technical person with regedit. Some of the issues I've listed cannot. I admit there is bias and I personally like both companies but still feel your argument is not that great as I think Apple is worst at what you're trying to say.
 
Sounds pretty dramatic. Did Windows traumatize you somehow? I love Apple, live in an all Apple world, but C'mon. I wonder how many of you have actually used a current version of Windows 10 on a current machine and customized it to your liking. Works great for me. I have not switched from Apple or anything, but all this "good vs evil" stuff seems a bit old.
LOL It doesn't sound like you "got" what I was saying. My comment was critical of BOTH the Macbook Pro and Surface Book 2. I don't know why you seem to have overlooked that.

I am speaking from firsthand experience. My opinions have been formed from my extensive experience with Windows 10 on current hardware. It would be foolish for me to draw a different conclusion.

But it is nice to hear that you are pleased with Windows 10. Rock on with it... no one is trying to convince you to think otherwise.
 
I am more concerned about the crappy Keyboard on the MBP.

That hinge on the Surface Book always makes me extremely concerned. Otherwise, it looks nice and while I won't be switching from my MacBook Pro to this, I can see some use for it (like native Windows development).
 
Sings: "It's all 'bout the Mac... about the mac... No trouble..." It's MacOSX all the way, baby! I love all my Apple products, from the iPad Pro, AppleWatch 3, iPhone X, MacBook Pro 15", AppleTV, and iPod, they allll work together. Everything seems seamless. The AppOS eco-system is great. If I really wanted a touch screen, tablet convertable Apple, then go to this company https://store.modbook.com. They're almost done coming out with their ultimate 2017 version.
 
A surprisingly balanced review from Macrumors.
You call that BALANCED?!?

Little phrases like "Microsoft's Surface Book 2 has a wealth of ports that are missing from the MacBook Pro, which only offers 4 USB-C ports... [emphasis mine]" are QUITE telling, plus the mention of possible "reliability issues" with the MBP's keyboard, WITHOUT mentioning the Surface Book 2's DOZENS of "Reliability Issues" regarding the Display, Touch, Power Supply, its inability while working hard to maintain battery charge WHILE PLUGGED-IN TO AC POWER and issues with its OS is disingenuous at best!

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...-serious/7c895437-a99b-4690-a9a8-ac7f3615b665

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...e-book-2/49e93370-1abf-48ae-9e3c-bd2c98324c4b

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...g-issues/d3f8f212-856b-4609-90cf-1f3e1b393e3a

https://www.gottabemobile.com/surface-book-2-problems-fixes/

https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/surface-book-2-as-only-pc/

https://www.theverge.com/2017/11/21/16685986/microsoft-surface-book-2-power-problem

https://www.reddit.com/r/Surface/comments/7kt4tg/giant_list_of_issues_with_surface_book_2_15inch/

http://www.itpro.co.uk/laptops/30389/microsoft-surface-book-2-review-undone-by-its-own-ambition

Yeah. Gotta LOVE that Surface Book...

NOT!

Shame on you, MR, for NOT doing your Due Diligence...
 
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