New Windows 10 Devices From Microsoft • Hacker News Board

Re: New Windows 10 Devices From Microsoft

#61

Post by HNcow » Tue, Oct 06, 2015, 4:04 PM UTC

cwyers wrote: post #14

JustSomeNobody wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Arguably, the vendors needed it.

Yeah, the high-end Windows laptops these days are all mostly Apple knock-offs. No wonder everyone who's serious wants the real thing instead. So Microsoft made a hero laptop that isn't a MacBook knock-off. Now the Windows OEMs will start knocking it off instead.

Not even good Apple knock-offs. The build quaility on machines like things like the ASUS Zenbook is no where near Apple, and business machines are always think/bulky. This thing is amazing.

Re: New Windows 10 Devices From Microsoft

#62

Post by codeulike » Tue, Oct 06, 2015, 4:04 PM UTC

Osmium wrote: post #36

nullrouted wrote: post #3

I think the Surface Book is finally something that can give the MacBook Pro line a run for its money, this should be interesting.

Absolutely. Lovely to see some innovation from Microsoft that's made it out of labs (the hinge alone looks fantastic). I'd be concerned about duplication of components between the screen and the keyboard though? I can't quite figure out from their website, but it looks like the keyboard part has the dedicated graphics and battery, and the rest (and more battery) is in the screen? I completely understand why Apple doe…

Yes, would be interesting to know how much battery is in the screen and how long it lasts when its detatched. Perhaps not that long? Maybe thats why they call the screen a clipboard.

Re: New Windows 10 Devices From Microsoft

#63

Post by creshal » Tue, Oct 06, 2015, 4:04 PM UTC

aleem wrote: post #54

I have been skeptical after a lot of Microsoft misses but the Surface Book Pro might just put Microsoft on the high road. Splitting up the hardware breaks new ground. If I understood it correctly, the GPU is in the keyboard which you can attach to get more power. In detached mode the screen itself has an i7 processor that's plenty powerful. So they managed to let you hot-plug the GPU while the OS is running?

> So they managed to let you hot-plug the GPU while the OS is running?

Is that news? I think I've seen similar setup with ExpressCard-based PCIe adapters for desktop graphics cards for a few years now. Thunderbolt also has had hotplug PCIe connections from the beginning. (Less elegant, of course, but the same engineering challenge.)

Re: New Windows 10 Devices From Microsoft

#64

Post by jeeva » Tue, Oct 06, 2015, 4:04 PM UTC

[deleted] wrote: post #23

JustSomeNobody wrote: post #2

I wonder if I can get it to run Linux. That would make a pretty nice machine, if so. Edit: I'm not hating on Windows. I just don't prefer it.

[deleted]

SP3 works fine with Ubuntu[1], and even OSX¹.

¹: to a given definition of fine.

[1]:http://blog.davidelner.com/dual-booting-ubuntu-14-10-on-the-...

Re: New Windows 10 Devices From Microsoft

#65

Post by Joeri » Tue, Oct 06, 2015, 4:05 PM UTC

codeulike wrote: post #40

pizza234 wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hybrids have a very different audience compared to regular laptops (ultrabooks), as they're structurally very different (that is, they are a compromise by definition), so I wouldn't compare them directly. Don't get me wrong, I have one instead of a regular laptop, but I can see how people used to the latter would feel uncomfortable with them, unless they have a strong motivation to move to the hybrid form factor.

I'm not sure you could call the Surface Book a hybrid form factor. It just looks like a laptop until you lop the screen off.

Typically the tradeoff is balance. I'm curious to see how well it balances on a lap.

Re: New Windows 10 Devices From Microsoft

#66

Post by Artistry121 » Tue, Oct 06, 2015, 4:05 PM UTC

josu wrote: post #53

bhauer wrote: post #28

Surface Book promo video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVfOe5mFbAE Worth watching.

1:30 [1] Why? Everything was so elegant until that. [1] https://youtu.be/XVfOe5mFbAE?t=90

My thought exactly. I'm not sure if it's the color or the text or both.

Re: New Windows 10 Devices From Microsoft

#67

Post by 51Cards » Tue, Oct 06, 2015, 4:06 PM UTC

Not sure many would agree but I would have liked to see a kickstand on the back of the Surface Book screen. I can see a desire to stand it up without needing the full keyboard. Other than that I think that may be my next device purchase.

Re: New Windows 10 Devices From Microsoft

#68

Post by Splines » Tue, Oct 06, 2015, 4:07 PM UTC

cwyers wrote: post #57

aleem wrote: post #54

I have been skeptical after a lot of Microsoft misses but the Surface Book Pro might just put Microsoft on the high road. Splitting up the hardware breaks new ground. If I understood it correctly, the GPU is in the keyboard which you can attach to get more power. In detached mode the screen itself has an i7 processor that's plenty powerful. So they managed to let you hot-plug the GPU while the OS is running?

> So they managed to let you hot-plug the GPU while the OS is running? Yes. And I think they said that with DirectX 12 it'll split the load between GPUs when both are connected.

I'm curious how this works in practice? I have a laptop with AMD integrated + dedicated graphics, and AMD's implementation with dual-graphics resulted in herky-jerky framerates (it seemed to alternate between the GPUs, so frames rendered with the integrated one took slightly longer than the dedicated one). I ended up telling the driver not to do that and just use the dedicated GPU (and splitting the work didn't really result in observable improvements anyway).

Re: New Windows 10 Devices From Microsoft

#69

Post by codeulike » Tue, Oct 06, 2015, 4:07 PM UTC

Joeri wrote: post #65

codeulike wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure you could call the Surface Book a hybrid form factor. It just looks like a laptop until you lop the screen off.

Typically the tradeoff is balance. I'm curious to see how well it balances on a lap.

True, yeah. It seems theres a lot of batteries under the keyboard so it might be ok.

Re: New Windows 10 Devices From Microsoft

#70

Post by rplnt » Tue, Oct 06, 2015, 4:07 PM UTC

JustSomeNobody wrote: post #51

s3nnyy wrote: post #31

In closed state, the surface book has a giant gap between screen and keyboard ( https://goo.gl/n5B7Te ). I think, it can easily happen that things in your backpack slip between screen and keyboard and damage the screen. That is why the old Thinkpads used to have a "click" mechanism.

Neoprene sleeves are pretty inexpensive and would afford a little more protection.

It's an inconvenience though.