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Introducing Surface Book 2

blogs.windows.com

121–130 of 520 posts

Re: Introducing Surface Book 2

#121
post #100
post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That seems to depend on the task. The highest end CPU available, even the 15", is the i7-8650U which is a 1.9Ghz @ 15W part. This is also how they pull off 17hr battery life, they are putting an ultrabook processor in a 15" laptop. Current 15" MBP can be had with a i7-7920HQ, 3.1Ghz @ 45W which I would expect to be quite a bit faster for multi-core workloads.

Which they run at 20W

i7-8650U is rated at 2.1Ghz @ 25W in it's TDP up config, so running it at 20W may get you 2.0Ghz instead of 1.9Ghz. But this doesn't tell the entire story either. Modern processors are constantly adjusting their frequencies across all cores to hit their power targets. e.g. if the thermal management can't sustain 20W in perpetuity in may actually run slower than it's rated speed. Unfortunately this isn't something that is easy to determine from most benchmarking tools. Things like geekbench will only tell you the system could maintain certain performance for the length of the test, which is usually only a couple minutes, you may find that doing longer running work will cause throttling.

If you really want to know how it'll perform under heavy workloads, you probably want to hit it with prime95 or blender for 30+ minutes and monitor core frequencies to see where it ends up running at.

Re: Introducing Surface Book 2

#122
post #113
post #21

Looks like a proper MacBook Pro replacement HW wise, but the OS is not one I would use for work.. =/ So attached to OSX for the past 6 years and cannot see me using a windows OS for work , but at home only for gaming. The new MacBook Pro has many flaws. Not sure how this compares in real use for it?

I was a Linux diehard for years but I'm very happy with my Surface Book. With "Ubuntu on Windows" you can run the usual unix command line tools; if anything it's more comfortable than OSX since you get up-to-date GNU versions rather than older GNU tools.

I am also most comfortable with my OpenSUSE but Windows 10 is great and I have OpenSUSE Bash for Windows installed. It really is nice and it is case sensitive! Why is Mac OS OPTIONAL case sensitivity?

Re: Introducing Surface Book 2

#123
post #4

Is anyone excited?

I'm super excited. I've really loved my Surface Book (probably the first piece of hardware I've felt that way about), but 512GB was too small, a proper gaming graphics card with VR support will make it so much better, and USB-C is good (though no eGPU support is a disappointment).

Re: Introducing Surface Book 2

#124
post #83
post #21

Looks like a proper MacBook Pro replacement HW wise, but the OS is not one I would use for work.. =/ So attached to OSX for the past 6 years and cannot see me using a windows OS for work , but at home only for gaming. The new MacBook Pro has many flaws. Not sure how this compares in real use for it?

Gaming, the world has changed and this generation of Apple users has way more Gamers then what they had before. Why do they continue to ignore Gamers on the Mac Platform.

One HUGE Issue Hardware. While the build quality is awesome the muscle power of most Macs graphically is just abysmal. Also the lack of a native Right Click!

There are plenty of Mac OS games and people don't play them.

Re: Introducing Surface Book 2

#125
post #25

A bit of headline fail there: "Introducing Surface Book 2, the most powerful Surface Book ever" Out of the two of them so far?

Thank you Apple for introducing this meaningless phrase to humanity's discourse.

They talk the Apple talk, but can they walk the Apple walk? ;)

Re: Introducing Surface Book 2

#126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same here. I can live without touch or stylus, just want a performance laptop with good screen (3:2 ratio) and keyboard.

Thinkpad?

Exactly! if only have have 3:2 screens!!! or better yet, a 4:3 screen!

Currently I'm buying a old X61s and going to convert it to X62: https://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-X62-Laptop-Review.21159...

Re: Introducing Surface Book 2

#127
post #90

I bought a SB last year and returned it after a couple of days since it was full of problems with the GPU and pen[1]. The machine was beautiful and both the keyboard and trackpad felt amazing, but even if my unit was defective the pen and tablet experience were poor compared to something like an iPad Pro. Also the display was really sharp in terms of resolution but suffered from an insane amount of ghosting while scr…

> the pen and tablet experience were poor compared to something like an iPad Pro

Of course it would be. How would it be different if it is a Windows Machine and not a mobile device?

Re: Introducing Surface Book 2

#128
post #97
post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gaming, the world has changed and this generation of Apple users has way more Gamers then what they had before. Why do they continue to ignore Gamers on the Mac Platform.

They are working on it, but in typical apple fashion they will not capitulate to existing standards.

Are you referring to any concrete facts/leaks/rumors when you say they are working on it? I can hardly see any movements from Apple in that direction.

Re: Introducing Surface Book 2

#129
post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recently left my macbook with the TSA after a frantic sprint through security. I was stuck with a windows 7 PC for the week. Armed with Putty and a browser, I only missed the touchpad of my macbook. I do most of my work in Jupyter and in vim. It's rather liberating to realize you are not tied to one ecosystem. My point is I thought I would never be productive without my mac but that simply wasn't true. I suppose I…

> I recently left my macbook with the TSA after a frantic sprint through security. I was stuck with a windows 7 PC for the week. Care to elaborate more on what really happened?

Sounds like he forgot it after taking it out to be x-rayed,

Re: Introducing Surface Book 2

#130
post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's right. But the i7 15-inch line starts from 2500 USD. I think lots of developers won't be able to afford at that price point.

i7 13.5" starts at 1,999. Still pretty crazy that prices are turning the opposite direction lately.

If the quality is there, I welcome it. I'd love to spend over 2000 on an X series ThinkPad that doesn't burn my skin and has a real screen (3:2 or better).
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