

Still, 1.64kg isn’t all that bad for a laptop this flexible and powerful. The MacBook Pro 13in is 15mm thick and weighs 1.37kg. The Surface Book 2 does look unusual but there’s a price to pay for its unique appearance: it’s a substantial 23mm thick at the hinge when closed and the Core i7 version with the extra discrete graphics chip (the one Microsoft sent for this review) weighs 1.64kg. The slightly rubbery strips on the laptop’s underside still don’t grip smooth surfaces particularly well and slide around too easily and the whole thing feels a little bulky and heavy compared to the best 13in ultraportables I’ve used.

That segmented “fulcrum” hinge is still there and it’s still a little bit wobbly when you open the lid. Which is a surprise, because although there are many things I loved about the Surface Book, there were some that I didn’t. Microsoft Surface Book 2 review: Design and key features A quick inspection of the 13.5in Surface Book 2’s external surfaces reveals a USB Type-C port has replaced the Book’s mini-DisplayPort socket on the right edge of the keyboard base but that in every other respect it’s the same old laptop. So what’s new, exactly? Ironically, it’s the new 15in version that’s most interesting and that’s the version haven’t got our hands on yet, although it’s now available in the UK.Īnd for the 13.5in model on review here it doesn’t look like Microsoft has gone to town. Now that the Surface Laptop is here, you might have forgiven Microsoft for conveniently shelving its ambitious detachable and focusing solely on a device with more mass market appeal, but not a bit of it: the Surface Book is back for another bite of the do-everything laptop cherry and it’s just as mad and expensive as before. It was Microsoft’s first attempt at building a proper laptop and it was good if a tad expensive. Original review continues: The Surface Book was an odd fish in a sea of 2-in-1 Surface wannabes.
