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Introducing Surface Book 2

blogs.windows.com

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Re: Introducing Surface Book 2

#291

Post by kn0where »

xenihn wrote: post #221
ksk wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just to give a counter point - every single device we use at work (biotech R&D) requires windows. All of our equipment (plate readers, flocytometry, purification systems, PCR, fermentors, congutators,etc etc) runs on windows-only software. And these are all several hundred million dollar verticals. Personally, I haven't run into a single piece of equipment that works with MacOS. Except maybe one of our bioreactors, w…

As far as I know, you can somewhat easily run Windows on Mac hardware. The opposite isn't true.

Microsoft does an excellent job making Windows run on just about any x86[_64] device (excluding ancient hardware). Windows runs perfectly on a Mac, whether in a VM or via dual boot.

Re: Introducing Surface Book 2

#292

Post by dawnerd »

xenihn wrote: post #221
ksk wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just to give a counter point - every single device we use at work (biotech R&D) requires windows. All of our equipment (plate readers, flocytometry, purification systems, PCR, fermentors, congutators,etc etc) runs on windows-only software. And these are all several hundred million dollar verticals. Personally, I haven't run into a single piece of equipment that works with MacOS. Except maybe one of our bioreactors, w…

As far as I know, you can somewhat easily run Windows on Mac hardware. The opposite isn't true.

> The opposite isn't true.

Sure you can. I've gotten macos installed in a vm and even ran a hackintosh for a while which was remarkably easy these days.

Re: Introducing Surface Book 2

#293

Post by demonshreder »

binthere wrote: post #268
ksec wrote: 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.

- Microsoft: Gaming has been a first class citizen at Microsoft for a while and I'm not sure if we can say the same about Apple. They just put tons of money into it because they have this competitive advantage. It's not only the games they bought/publish (Minecraft, Age of Empires, Flight Simulator, etc), but the platform itself (Xbox, DirectX, etc). Windows 10 also has a "Gaming Mode" as part of the OS for performan…

> Microsoft: Gaming has been a first class citizen at Microsoft for a while and I'm not sure if we can say the same about Apple.

This is changing fast if not changed already. Xbox One, DX12 lock in on Universal Windows Platform and finally,

> Windows 10 also has a "Gaming Mode" as part of the OS for performance improvement which some games might have it turned on automatically.

https://www.vg247.com/2016/10/14/dota-2-windows-10-anniversa...

Valve was skeptical about Microsoft turning Windows into a walled garden when they announced DX12 only for Windows Store exclusive games, that is when they started pushing their efforts into SteamOS, moreover a stable runtime (based on Ubuntu LTS) for Linux games, which has helped _a lot_ for linux gaming.

Re: Introducing Surface Book 2

#294

Post by jozzz »

noir_lord wrote: post #218
jozzz wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this for software development (assuming yes since we're on HN)? I'm currently in the process of making this choice. Looking at Lenovo T470p/Dell XPS 13/15. If I'm doing linux development is it worth even thinking about the surface laptop?

Tried the XPS15, keyboard was terrible. Went with T470P i7-7700HQ with 2560x1440 screen, literally haven't switch home desktop on since I got it. Works great with fedora as well (except touchpad driver issue that's in the works) everything works great out the box.

That's pretty much the exact T470p config I was thinking of getting.

I will probably rarely use the keyboard/trackpad except when travelling (not often) as most days I plan to use an usb mechanical keyboard+mouse. So all I'm really bothered about is whether I get better value for money in terms of CPU and screen with the XPS compared with a thinkpad. Of course the XPS is prettier as well ;)

I've read the XPS screen is amazing whilst the thinkpad one is not so hot, do you have an opinion on this?

Re: Introducing Surface Book 2

#295

Post by jrs95 »

iamalchemist wrote: post #282
jrs95 wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google's PixelBook could be a good option if you don't have any need for Windows. It will run Linux easily via crouton.

Pixelbook does not have a fan. Will that be okay? IDEs suck up a lot of resources and tend to heat up a lot. I was thinking about Pixelbook till someone raise this up. what's your opinion?

I would imagine the passive cooling ought to work well enough given the hardware they've put in it.

Re: Introducing Surface Book 2

#296

Post by plttn »

olympus wrote: post #269

Looking at the specs, (linked in another comment), it appears that the USB-C port doesn't support Thunderbolt 3. Seriously, Microsoft, you can't charge this much for a laptop without TB3. I know that TB started as an Apple standard, but you're not killing this port like you did with Firewire. Your case of NIMBY has cost you my sale. I'll wait and get the next premium Lenovo/HP/ASUS/etc Ultrabook with 8th gen i7 AND T…

Not enough PCIe lanes in Surface Connect. Since the CPU is in the clipboard, but the USB-C port is in the keyboard, there would have to be available PCIe lanes on the Surface Connect port, but it's taken up by the GPU lanes.

Re: Introducing Surface Book 2

#297

Post by QML »

itodd wrote: post #77
Jaqua wrote: 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 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…

Juypter? Can I ask what do you do for a living? Data-science related?

Re: Introducing Surface Book 2

#298

Post by jmkni »

jozzz wrote: post #186
TYPE_FASTER wrote: post #117

Having recently used a XPS 13, original Surface Book, Surface laptop, Surface Pro, and Lenovo T560, the Surface laptop is the clear winner for me. Definitely worth a look if you're looking for good Windows hardware, and don't need the discrete graphics capability of the Surface Book.

Is this for software development (assuming yes since we're on HN)? I'm currently in the process of making this choice. Looking at Lenovo T470p/Dell XPS 13/15. If I'm doing linux development is it worth even thinking about the surface laptop?

I’ve had an XPS 15 for about a year and I love it.

Not least because it supports 2 4K monitors (60fps over USB-C, 30FPS over HDMI), but is also a solid laptop in its own right.

Also, the model I have has 32GB of RAM.

The only downside is the battery life, I get about 2 hours.

Re: Introducing Surface Book 2

#299

Post by jozzz »

elbrian wrote: post #238
jozzz wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this for software development (assuming yes since we're on HN)? I'm currently in the process of making this choice. Looking at Lenovo T470p/Dell XPS 13/15. If I'm doing linux development is it worth even thinking about the surface laptop?

I run an XPS 13 with Ubuntu 16.04 and do software development for a living (so I use the laptop for 10+ hours a day). Let me know if you have any specific questions and I'll be happy to answer... but long story-short, this is the best laptop I've ever touched or owned.

Thanks. I put marginally more info here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15493070

But essentially, if I'm mainly interested in performance and the screen it sounds like an XPS might be a better choice than a thinkpad? Do you have a 4k screen?

Re: Introducing Surface Book 2

#300

Post by bluedino »

masklinn wrote: post #76
skywhopper wrote: post #66

This is a good example of how Microsoft often does marketing poorly. The text reads like a script for an in-person product launch. On the page it doesn't even make sense "When you think about Microsoft and you hear our mission – to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more – it’s powerful." What? And then after all of that, you click through to the store and there's no pricing informat…

Yeah it's really frustrating. * this page is an ad copy with very little of interest * the store page ( https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/store/d/surface-book-2/8MCPZ... ) has no date, no price and only hints at specs (you can pick a model but have no idea that e.g. the 13.5" i5 is iGP and the i7 is dGPU) * https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/surface/devices/surface-book... has the actual stuff you want, with a detailed sp…

"Experience 4 times more power than before and up to 17 hours of battery life. Blazing graphics now come in two sizes: "

Who wrote that line, a Rackspace support bot?

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