Hands on with Microsoft’s New Surface Book and Surface Pro 4: Watch Out, Apple

We expected Microsoft to roll out a new tablet on Tuesday, and it did: The Surface Pro 4 tablet. What we didn’t expect was that Microsoft would also unveil its first-ever laptop, but it did that, too: The Surface Book, a laptop-tablet hybrid that’s aimed squarely at Apple’s MacBook Pro.

After the press event, I got a chance to spend some hands-on time with both of these new Windows 10 machines. Here’s what I thought.

 

Surface Book

As noted, while Microsoft’s Surface Book is billed as the company’s very first laptop, it’s actually more than that, because its 13.5-inch display can be detached from its keyboard base and used as a standalone tablet.

When used as a laptop, the Surface Book is a high-powered machine. It can be equipped with Intel’s latest 6th-generation Core i-series processors and up to 16 GB of RAM. There’s even a dedicated Nvidia graphics chip for those graphically intensive programs like video editing apps.

But here’s the twist: That graphics chip lives in the Surface Book’s keyboard base. That means that, when you disconnect the tablet from the Book’s keyboard, you cut some of its processing capabilities.

That makes sense, when you think about it: Chances are you aren’t going to be doing a lot of 3D graphics editing while lounging on your couch with a tablet. You can, however, still stream movies and play tablet games just fine.

In my brief hands-on time with the Surface Book, I found its screen to be every bit as beautiful as the wonderful panel found on Microsoft’s Surface Pro 3.

As a tablet, the Surface Book is ridiculously thin and light: It weighs just 1.6 pounds. When combined with its keyboard base, the whole package weighs in at 3.34 pounds, which is still lighter than Apple’s 13-inch MacBook Pro (which weighs 3.48 pounds).

As a laptop, the Surface Book is a bit thick (0.90 inches); the MacBook Pro is just 0.71 inches thick. The Surface Book’s greater girth is due largely to its unique hinge, which doesn’t allow the Book’s display to lie flat on its keyboard.

Speaking of the keyboard, it feels fantastic — solid and responsive. Ditto the Surface Book’s glass-coated touchpad.

We’ll have a chance to spend more time with the Surface Book when we get a review unit. But based on my time with it so far, I think it’s an incredibly promising laptop…err, tablet…um, hybrid…or whatever you want to call it.

Surface Pro 4

While Microsoft is positioning the Surface Book against Apple’s MacBook Pro, it says the new Surface Pro 4 is designed to take on the MacBook Air. The comparison seems apt.

In terms of performance, the Pro 4 can be equipped with either Intel’s Core M- or i-series processor and up to 16GB of RAM. That’s a big step up from last year’s Surface Pro 3; Microsoft says the new model is 30 percent faster than its predecessor.

With that kind of firepower under the hood, the Surface Pro 4 is indeed a better match for Apple’s lightweight Air. In fact, both the Pro 4 and the Air can be configured with virtually the same processor and RAM combination for the same price.

In terms of overall style and design, the Surface Pro 4 gets a relatively minor makeover from last year’s model. The Pro 4 gets a slightly larger 12.3-inch display and a thinner body. The biggest change, though, is the addition of a new Type Cover keyboard and Surface Pen stylus.

The Pro 4’s Type Cover keyboard — which is still an $140 accessory — features an improved layout with more widely spaced keys. Those keys are backlit and a heck of a lot more comfortable to type on than the previous Type Cover keyboard. Even the keyboard’s touchpad has been improved, with a new glass-covered surface.

Then there’s the new Surface Pen stylus . The stylus now has more than 1,024 levels of pressure sensitivity, for times that of the original Surface Pen.; it feels fantastic when you run it across the Surface’s screen. The top of the Surface Pen can also be used as a kind of digital eraser.

As with the Surface Book, we want to spend more time with the Surface Pro 4 before we make any final recommendations. But based on my first look, I think these slates should put Apple on notice.