Microsoft Surface Book 2 13" and 14" quad cores imminent

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It's such a shame that MS didn't include Thunderbolt 3 for the USB-C port on the 15". Seems such a missed opportunity.
Sure, eGPU isn't for everyone, but it would make the SB2 15 almost perfect for me.
Lightweight, great battery, great screen, decent GPU for portable gaming, thunderbolt 3 egpu for docked desk gaming.
 
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Which one did you go for?

I'm looking at picking up the 15" SB2 as it'll replace my MacBook/iPad-Astropad.
Surface book 2
15in
512ssd
1060
I7 8650u

Decided in going to buy a couple of surface docks. One to basically one connector to make it my htpc whenever I need it
One to place in the study room for serious work to replace my desktop (keeping the monitors)
 
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It's such a shame that MS didn't include Thunderbolt 3 for the USB-C port on the 15". Seems such a missed opportunity.
Sure, eGPU isn't for everyone, but it would make the SB2 15 almost perfect for me.
Lightweight, great battery, great screen, decent GPU for portable gaming, thunderbolt 3 egpu for docked desk gaming.

That's my only issue with it, all my storage is a mix of Thunderbolt 3/USB-C other then that the 1060 seems to perform fine for general gaming on the go so can't really see much need for an eGPU.

Surface book 2
15in
512ssd
1060
I7 8650u

Decided in going to buy a couple of surface docks. One to basically one connector to make it my htpc whenever I need it
One to place in the study room for serious work to replace my desktop (keeping the monitors)

That's the exact spec I'll be going for, when it arrives are you able to test the gaming battery drain issue that's been reported, it's not a massive issue for me but would be nice to know if it's been fixed.
 
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That's my only issue with it, all my storage is a mix of Thunderbolt 3/USB-C other then that the 1060 seems to perform fine for general gaming on the go so can't really see much need for an eGPU.

I keep hoping for the ultimate desktop replacement.

I've got a i5 2500K with a GTX 970 and a 1440p 144hz G-Sync display in the office upstairs. I'd love to remove the desktop and keep the screen with a laptop+dock/egpu solution, but there just doesn't see to be the right laptop for me at the moment.

There's always something missing.

Last December (2016) I bought the Alienware 15 R3 (i7 with GTX 1070) with the hopes of ditching the desktop and being a bit more portable.
The Alienware is far too heavy and very uncomfortable to use as a laptop for more than an hour. Spec wise, it's possibly overkill for my needs (I mainly play WoW).

If the SB2 could support eGPU, it would be perfect. The GTX 1060 would be perfect for portable 1080p gaming, then the eGPU would beef up things to power the 1440p G-Sync display.
 
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Caporegime
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I keep hoping for the ultimate desktop replacement.

I've got a i5 2500K with a GTX 970 and a 1440p 144hz G-Sync display in the office upstairs. I'd love to remove the desktop and keep the screen with a laptop+dock/egpu solution, but there just doesn't see to be the right laptop for me at the moment.

There's always something missing.

Last December (2016) I bought the Alienware 15 R3 (i7 with GTX 1070) with the hopes of ditching the desktop and being a bit more portable.
The Alienware is far too heavy, and possibly overkill for my needs (I mainly play WoW).

If the SB2 could support eGPU, it would be perfect. The GTX 1060 would be perfect for portable 1080p gaming, then the eGPU would beef up things to power the 1440p G-Sync display.

Yeah I agree it's not 100pc perfect. Egpu additional to what is available would be perfect. My desktop has stopped powering on and my htpc is struggling (i3 2120, 7850) so I thought I'd go for surface book. without the 1060 option I wouldn't have.

my desktop (4770k, 280x crossfire) is just not getting used even when it was working, mainly I think because I have to be in the room to do anything. With this I can be at work and do my personal projects at lunch etc.
 
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That's my only issue with it, all my storage is a mix of Thunderbolt 3/USB-C other then that the 1060 seems to perform fine for general gaming on the go so can't really see much need for an eGPU.



That's the exact spec I'll be going for, when it arrives are you able to test the gaming battery drain issue that's been reported, it's not a massive issue for me but would be nice to know if it's been fixed.

The 1tb is obscenely expensive for literally 500gb more space. Better to put a 256gb Sd card in permanently at a fraction of the cost
 
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The 1tb is obscenely expensive for literally 500gb more space. Better to put a 256gb Sd card in permanently at a fraction of the cost

I had the SB1 with 256gb and found that more than adequate. I ended up getting one of these to put a MicroSD card in for a little extra boost while keeping it flush with the chassis.
4580-jpg.7414
 
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The 1tb is obscenely expensive for literally 500gb more space. Better to put a 256gb Sd card in permanently at a fraction of the cost

Now the UK pricing is out I can't believe how much difference there in in storage costs, somehow they've managed to make apple storage upgrades look cheap.....
 
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I had the SB1 with 256gb and found that more than adequate. I ended up getting one of these to put a MicroSD card in for a little extra boost while keeping it flush with the chassis.

How fast do you find the micro SD card with the adaptor, wondering if I can save some money on the storage side?
 
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How fast do you find the micro SD card with the adaptor, wondering if I can save some money on the storage side?

I've got a 256gb Sd card but not micro sd. Not sure. I'd pprobably use it for photography storage.
Would be interesting to know!
 
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Very happy with this laptop. I like using it reversed mainly so the keyboard acts as a stand.

Feels very odd using it in tablet form. It's 15in of screen and is very light.

I managed rocket league on highest settings at max resolution but it sounded like a jet engine, wasn't too hot.

Changing it down to a resolution step and it was quite quiet. That res isn't needed on a 15 screen anyway.

Still getting used to Windows 10.
Sometimes it feels too much like a laptop to work well as a tablet.

Not really given it a good run though yet
 
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I currently have a Surface Pro 2017 (m3/ 4 GB) Absolutely love the portability and battery life on this (as well as the screen) Though I am struggling with illustrator and photoshop, I'm looking to upgrade to the i5 with 8GB of ram, but I'm also looking at the Surface Books.

Has anyone here gone from a Surface to a surface book?
 
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How fast do you find the micro SD card with the adaptor, wondering if I can save some money on the storage side?

Micro SD performance can vary a lot - at the top end you have similar performance to the kind of eMMC storage used as the main storage in your average Atom Windows tablet (around 70-100MB/s) but sometimes adaptors and/or even the internal controller can limit performance to 19MB/s :( (I'm gonna assume the surface has a better controller internally than that).

I've a 256GB Micro SD card in my GPD Pocket which lacks a built in SD card slot but has a spare USB connection but the smallest USB reader I could find that sits almost flush with the socket is one of those that the controller won't exceed 19MB/s so looking around for something else.

Also they aren't really designed for heavy use - looked after they hold up OK physically and write lifespan but hammer them and the available capacity will start dropping after only a few months.
 
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