Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) presented its first laptop: the Surface Book. It is a 2 in 1 laptop as the screen is a tablet that can function separately. The price will start at $1,499, with 128GB, Intel Core i5, 8GB of RAM memory, and with the possibility to be upgraded. Microsoft announced it will be available October 26.
Microsoft executives said the Surface Book is intended for users who want “the perfect typing experience” of a laptop as well as a bigger touch-screen, according to Time. The laptop uses a unique dual graphics system —one for the laptop and one for the screen-tablet alone— and it’s supposed to change between the two modes without being an issue.
The screen is 13.5 inch and some may consider it is a little large for using it as a tablet, although it is high-resolution with a 3,000 x 2,000 pixel display. It comes with a two-battery system that offers a 12-hour continued use. The tablet has 4 hours, as the deck uses 8 hours.
Microsoft doesn’t intend to sell the Surface Book as a convertible, but they believe it can work both ways. They called the screen-tablet a “clipboard.” “This clipboard is for writing, it’s for learning, it’s for reading. Do you want to be more productive than that? Then click into the base and go for it,” said Panos Panay, the creator of the Surface, according to Mashable.
Some may be surprised of how thin and light it is —as the whole device is just 8.45mm thick and weighs under 0.8kg. The hinge that keeps the system closed made by Microsoft is called “dynamic fulcrum hinge”. This feature will let you hold the screen at any angle that it’s comfortable, and keep it balanced and well-docked at any situation.
“We had this idea of a hinge that rolls out like a carpet and as you open the laptop, you make the footprint [of the bottom] bigger in order to make this whole product more stable. So if the center of gravity walks outside the footprint, things tip over and if you make the footprint longer, it’s more stable,” said the designer.
Another feature is the Surface pencil, that comes with an eraser. Panos Panay used this as a joke to Apple on the presentation, “It’s kind of funny, there’s a pencil out there without an eraser.”
The Surface Book will come with Windows 10, the latest software of the company, working at its best to function with the two GPU systems on the Surface.“It’s never been done before. This product is the first ever where the GPU is in the base and then a second GPU is in the top,” Panay said, remarking the power balance that the laptop has.
Microsoft expects that the Surface represent a real competitor to Apple, by making a powerful, well-designed and productive laptop.
“The idea is, we’re here to reinvent and inspire the category, we’re here to make a business,” stated Panay.
Source: Mashable