Microsoft Surface Book 2: Company to Hold a Spring Event Without New Laptop Announcement?
Recently, there have been speculations that Microsoft will be holding a hardware launch spring event. However, the announcement of the Surface Book 2 might not be a part of it.
Microsoft usually organizes a hardware launch event for spring. However, according to a report by Mary Jo Foley over at ZDNet, the announcement of a Surface Book 2 is unlikely to happen. Foley claims, "I've heard from a couple of contacts that Surface Book 2 is not going to be announced here."
Despite that rather unexciting news, Foley's sources also claimed that there will still be a hardware launch event set in spring for Microsoft.
However, on a different report from Digitimes earlier this month, Microsoft is rumored to have ordered the manufacturing of the rumored new Surface Books. According to the media outlet, the currently under production Surface Book will have a screen that measures 13.5 inches and a bodywork made up of magnesium-aluminum-alloy. Added to that, it is believed to undergo a major revamp and will sport a clamshell design.
Once it hits the market, the new Surface Book is expected to be priced remarkably lower than the currently available ones, with a price tag of somewhere around $1,000 compared to the existing 2-in-1 laptop model's cost that ranges from $1,499 to $3,199. Digitimes' sources claim that the remarkably lower price was caused by a "limited demand" that the product line experienced.
However, reports also note that when it comes to speculations on upcoming technology products, Digitimes does not have the flawless track record in terms of accuracy so it is best to take these pieces of information with a pinch of salt.
Microsoft released the first line of Surface Books back in 2015. The following year, the Redmond, Washington company did not announce a refresh though they did update the existing model in 2016 by adding the latest Intel Kaby Lake chips, thus upgrading the graphics and battery power.
Along with the Surface Book 2, the technology world has also been eager to see the Surface Pro 5 which, according to the same report by Foley, is uncertain if it will be presented in the said spring hardware event.