Surface Pro 4 and 'SurfaceBook' announced - rMBP redesign couldn't come soon enough....

[Samuelsan2001]

But there is because that's what Apple is doing to market the tablet. By the way the SP model is not a keyboard less laptop, you can buy a keyboard and infact I'd say its all but required (from a SP3 owner)

It is a keyboard less laptop, you can buy some keyboard attachement as with any tablet but all the computers internals battery etc are in the screen and it'll work perfectly well without one, if one is practically required then just buy a laptop and avoid the tablet form factor compromises.

What are apple doing to the tablet market?? Apart from creating it in the first place and then dominating it for 6 years that is.

Even the iPad pro is a companion device not a stand alone "computer".

I haven't got anything against the surface, apart from windows which I hate, it's just a different type of device at a different price point running vastly different software from apples tablet offerings and is therefore not comparable.

But it is apple choosing NOT to offer a 13" with dGPU - for the sole purpose of forcing folks to go for a higher margin machine.

And spare me the "they can't do it" - just like the richest company on the planet can't work with two different motherboards, to offer a quad Mac mini, right? They choose to force folks to go with a MBP, iMac, or Mac Pro for quad core.

$$$ - customer experience/desires be damned.

This is nonsense, no one puts a dGPU in a 13 inch laptop and they pretty much never have, the new surface book will be just about the first, indicating that the technology has finally reached the point where it is a viable option. Even then they have used dual-core processors.

Apple provide a selection of computers with all use cases in mind, if what they offer doesn't suit buy something else, they are not FORCING you to do anything. They are selling products that they believe cover all the computing usages and they make decisions on each product based on the most likely usage for such a machine and then optimise it accordingly, again if this is not what suits YOUR specific usage buy something else.

I just don't get this idea that people have to buy apple and then they get upset when apple don't make exactly what they want you wouldn't have this reaction buying a car or a BBQ or anything else you'd just buy off of a vendor that does make what you want. They are just electronic products there are literally 1000's to choose from buy what suits you.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

Gonna try one more time. Windows 10 runs BETTER than El Capitan on my rMBP late 2013.

Better??? How??? You mean you prefer it, you mean it opens apps a millisecond faster here or there or that the UI is slightly smoother, you mean it runs games better. Whereas OSX is smaller, uses less battery, has better inbuilt applications. It's all swings and roundabouts it is so close between all the top products (including the price) these days that the only way to split them is preference and that is personal and pointless arguing.

 

[TechGod]

Better??? How??? You mean you prefer it, you mean it opens apps a millisecond faster here or there or that the UI is slightly smoother, you mean it runs games better. Whereas OSX is smaller, uses less battery, has better inbuilt applications. It's all swings and roundabouts it is so close between all the top products (including the price) these days that the only way to split them is preference and that is personal and pointless arguing.

Oh My God.

 

[jmgregory1]

because more expensive = better all the time, right?

XPS line is highly praised in the reviews, i doubt the quality is bad and from what i'm reading they even fixed the trackpad. I still want to see more reviews though.

Just read one review of the 13" XPS and it's praised for being better than past models, but it's not exactly the fastest or offers the best battery, and the comparison was to a MBA from 2014, so not exactly apples to apples (yet the MBA was better in several criteria).

 

[venom600]

This is nonsense, no one puts a dGPU in a 13 inch laptop and they pretty much never have, the new surface book will be just about the first, indicating that the technology has finally reached the point where it is a viable option.

What are you talking about? Sony did for the better part of a decade with a quad core processor. I owned one. At the time I know there were others that I considered as well, including an 11" Alienware.

 

[cbautis2]

What are you talking about? Sony did for the better part of a decade with a quad core processor. I owned one. At the time I know there were others that I considered as well, including an 11" Alienware.

He's referring to Ultrabook level thinness. Those 960M and 970M dGPUs in Alienware and Clevo laptops are in a 3/4 to an inch chassis. Also, there are ultrabooks with dGPUs, but they are only equipped up to 930M to be able to cool it down in such a thin chassis. At least the 930M is quicker than the iris pro 5200 in gaming performance while being cheaper to boot.

Don't forget Razer Blade. That company can easily put a 960M on a thin 13" screen chassis if there's a market for it.

 

[W123a]

Asus has a few ultrabooks with discrete graphics too. 940 and 950m I think?

 

[venom600]

He's referring to Ultrabook level thinness. Those 960M and 970M dGPUs in Alienware and Clevo laptops are in a 3/4 to an inch chassis. Also, there are ultrabooks with dGPUs, but they are only equipped up to 930M to be able to cool it down in such a thin chassis. At least the 930M is quicker than the iris pro 5200 in gaming performance while being cheaper to boot.

Don't forget Razer Blade. That company can easily put a 960M on a thin 13" screen chassis if there's a market for it.

So am I... he said a dGPU on a 13" wasn't possible until now. I'm saying i owned a Vaio 4 years ago that was less than an inch thick, less than 4lbs, and included a bluray burner, dGPU, and quad core processor. Apple simply chooses not to make a machine like that.

 

[mtneer]

I agree, Apple needs to come back to the party. They seem to have their head stuck with the fashion brigade these days. I use a Mac at home and Windows 10 at work and at least in my opinion, the days of Windows offering a crappier experience than OS X are done.

 

[ponchik]

I wads planning to buy a mac fir the 1st time with tbe new and hopefully redesigned macbook pro for the last two months

However if this microsoft device skips throttling issues i am very tempted to get this instead and pass on tne note pro to my gf

However i am still not sure about the:
Lower tdp + dgpu vs higher tpd + iris ( wont get anything above 13")

Though iam guessing tbe first is more conveniant and overall faster exp thus ia am considering the surfacebook over macbook pro (given surface doesnot exp thermal tbrottling which i highly suspect)

 

[TechGod]

I wads planning to buy a mac fir the 1st time with tbe new and hopefully redesigned macbook pro for the last two months

However if this microsoft device skips throttling issues i am very tempted to get this instead and pass on tne note pro to my gf

However i am still not sure about the:
Lower tdp + dgpu vs higher tpd + iris ( wont get anything above 13")

Though iam guessing tbe first is more conveniant and overall faster exp thus ia am considering the surfacebook over macbook pro (given surface doesnot exp thermal tbrottling which i highly suspect)

Little drawback here....the dGPU model is starting at 1799 whereas the iris is in all models.

 

[Rigby]

I played a bit with the Surface Book at the Microsoft store today. Some impressions:

- The screen detachment mechanism is cool. You press a key on the keyboard, it clicks gently, and you can easily pull off the display. Re-attaching it is also very easy; it's self-guided via magnets and just clicks into place.
- There was no opportunity to do any benchmarks, and I'm not sure if the demo unit had the discrete GPU, but I didn't notice any significant lag while using the detached display portion.
- The gap on the hinge-side makes the device feel thicker when closed than I would like. It will probably not slip into a bag as easily as a MBP, Air, or a slim ultrabook.
- Drawing with the pen in OneNote or Powerpoint works really well. Somehow it doesn't feel like moving a tip on glas, since there is more friction. Feels very natural. Almost no lag. Palm recognition works well. The "eraser" on the back works very well to. This is without question the best stylus I have used so far on a tablet/computer.
- While the construction feels solid, it somehow doesn't look as premium as, say, a Macbook Pro. Some black accents (perhaps the keys?) would probably help.

 

[ponchik]

Little drawback here....the dGPU model is starting at 1799 whereas the iris is in all models.

well that model is in my price range and hence no problem. more interested performance wise

 

[TechGod]

well that model is in my price range and hence no problem. more interested performance wise

I was saying that in case it was a concern.

 

[Aluminum213]

The design change will just be thinner and lighter, USB-C ports and loss of other ports

Those expecting some major redesign are in for a big disappointment

 

[cbautis2]

The design change will just be thinner and lighter, USB-C ports and loss of other ports

Those expecting some major redesign are in for a big disappointment

The design is impeccable already that it doesn't need a chassis redesign other than the stuff you mentioned.

 

[MauerFan07]

The design change will just be thinner and lighter, USB-C ports and loss of other ports

Those expecting some major redesign are in for a big disappointment

Which ports do you think they'd get rid of? I'm thinking of upgrading to a rMBP, but am wondering if I should just wait until March or so. I'd be upgrading from a 2012 15" cMBP. I don't need the machine now, but I'd like something lighter since I carry my laptop around campus.