- [Narrator] I haven't had
any epiphanies concerning
the new Surface Books since
Part One of this review.
In fact, I probably could have
reached a valid conclusion
after the first two days.
But, I'm glad I went on
to use it for another week
because it let me get past the
star-struck, honeymoon phase
and get down to what it really
means to use the Surface Book
as a daily driver, for me at least.
This is the Surface Book
with Performance Base
and this is Part Two of
the Mr. Mobile review.
(upbeat electronic music)
(moves to pulsating electronic music)
A confession, the biggest
reason I'd buy one of these
is terribly superficial.
I want something special.
The Surface Book with its
crazy dynamic fulcrum hinge
and detachable clipboard
more than qualifies.
Also, don't forget the included pen.
I rarely had occasion to
use it, but when I did,
I loved it.
Drawing with a fingertip
just feels so caveman
when you can have a tool this precise,
and while I don't have Photoshop
or another graphic
design program installed
on this machine, I didn't
have to for the basic stuff.
There's a whole array of note
taking and sketching tools
built into the Surface
Book, and you can access it,
literally, at the click of a button.
I even found the Edge
browser's inking tool useful,
once or twice.
In other news, the screen wobbles a bit
whenever you tap it in laptop mode,
but I have yet to use a
notebook that doesn't do this.
Front-facing cameras aren't
usually something I focus on,
either, but I got to say, the
Surface Book's is really good.
And I love that the clipboard
is completely self-contained,
that if I don't need the dedicated GPU
or extra power of the Performance Base,
I can pop off the top
and use it as a tablet.
But one of the things I came to realize,
as the newness wore off,
was that I seldom wanted
to use it that way because
it's a huge tablet.
It also brings some
compromises besides bulk.
The speakers are loud but prone to rattle
at higher volumes.
I wish Microsoft had snuck a
bigger speaker into the base
so you could really blast
some jams while docked
without having to use the
weirdly placed headphone jack.
Speaking of weird, I still
haven't really gotten used to
the big gap between sections
when this thing is closed.
And, yes, on the very first day I had it,
I found some silica or salt or something
trapped between screen and trackpad.
So, keep your laptop bag vacuumed
if you're gonna buy this.
I didn't run many
benchmarks on this machine
to test performance mostly
because I knew my friends
at Windows Central would.
I'll link you to their
review in the description.
Plus, as much as I enjoy
a good computer game,
notebooks aren't ideal for playing them.
Professional titles, like Adobe
Premiere, are another story.
For the limited cutting I
did, I found it ran just fine,
and I have at least one
colleague who still uses
the first-generation Surface Book
as a portable editing
machine, and she loves it.
And the new Performance
Base, with its added graphics
and battery, makes this
version even better.
About that battery, it's
great when you're not actively
trying to kill it as I was in Part One.
I wasn't able to hit the
16 hours Microsoft claims,
but that's because I
didn't test it in a lab.
What I did was take the
Book to a local café
where power outlets are a rare find
and try to walk the line
between getting work done
and saving power, that
meant medium-brightness,
no key back lighting,
and running just a few programs at a time.
After three and a half hopping
between OneNote, Twitter, Slack,
and a average of four open
tabs in the Edge browser,
I was down to 62%.
So, for a lot of working professionals,
I could easily see the
Surface Book lasting
an eight-hour workday off the charger.
So, what about those
first-generation buyers
I said I was gonna check in with.
Well, I expected a hale of complaints,
because for a while in 2015,
the Surface Book was dogged
by problems.
I'm still concerned about
how well the connectors
between clipboard and dock will age,
because, to my eye, the
new Surface Book is using
exactly the same docking hardware.
But despite my wariness,
the response I got
from owners on Twitter was adulation,
bordering on fawn-ic.
Many Surface Book owners
really love their devices.
And you know what, I totally get it.
Even though there are less
expensive conventional laptops
out there with similar hardware,
the Surface Book is
absolutely the machine I'd buy
if I used Windows 10 every day.
But, I learned how to edit
video on Final Cut Pro,
and, as a result, I've been
a Mac-OS guy for years.
While I'm still so frustrated with Apple
for its decision to neuter
its new MacBook Pro ports,
I'm not quite angry
enough to give up the flow
of Final Cut for the more
powerful, but more complex,
Adobe Premiere.
Ecosystem lock in is
real, but that's on me.
If you're a little more flexible,
looking for a jump from the
MacBook Pro to something new,
or you're a life-long Windows user looking
for a great two-in-one, you've found it.
Just keep in mind there's a lot
of newer generation hardware
coming in 2017, including rumors
of a proper Surface Book 2.
So, if it's future-proofing
you're looking for, hold off.
But, if you're gonna buy
it, you better do it now.
If you're about to leave
a comment telling me
what I forgot to mention, odds are it's
in the first half of this review
at Mr. Mobile's channel on YouTube.
Subscribe, if you enjoyed this video.
Most importantly, though,
thanks for watching,
and stay mobile, my friends.
