Microsoft Surface Laptop vs Surface Book Specs: New Microsoft Offering Worth the Wait?
Microsoft recently unveiled the Surface Laptop, in which it debuted its all-new Windows 10 S operating system and it did not take long before comparisons between the new device and the Microsoft Surface Book were made.
While the two belong to completely different price segments and product lines, the comparison is warranted seeing that the Microsoft Surface Laptop preceded the long-rumored arrival of the second-generation Surface Book.
Users are under the impression that the former will be the provisional choice while waiting for the latter. From the looks of it, the Microsoft Surface Laptop is the Redmond giant's take on the Chromebook and was designed to be a lower-tier computing offering.
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The Microsoft Surface Laptop was built with the student in mind. One of the key features that the company takes pride in is its portability.
Sporting a clamshell design that gives it that traditional notebook look, the Microsoft Surface Laptop weighs 1.25 kilogram, a pound lighter than the Microsoft Surface Book. Of course, the slimmed down build comes with a price.
The Surface Book is only heavier because it doubles as a tablet with its detachable screen. As PC Advisor explains, choosing the Microsoft Surface Laptop over the Surface Book simply means choosing compact design over versatility and power.
More on the appearance, the Microsoft Surface Book dons the company's signature magnesium design while the Microsoft Surface Laptop traded this for Aluminum.
Both, however, have 13.5-inch touch PixelSense displays with 3:2 ratios and Surface Pen support. The Microsoft Surface Book has a better resolution at 3,000 x 2,000 and 267 pixel density.
The Microsoft Surface Laptop's display has 2,256 x 1,504 and 201 ppi. Unlike its rival, it does not come with the Surface Pen out of the box.
The Microsoft Surface Book has a richer set of ports compared with the Microsoft Surface Laptop, which only comes with one of USB 3.0, MiniDisplay and headphone jack. The former has an SD card reader and has an extra USB 3.0 port.
With regard to the hardware, the Microsoft Surface Book is powered by the last-generation Skylake processors while the Microsoft Surface Laptop gets Kaby Lake, the latest of what Intel has to offer.
PC Advisor says that both should offer decent battery life. On their testing, the Microsoft Surface Book lasted 16.5 hours while the Surface Laptop is touted to keep the lights on two hours shorter. For its makings, it is considered acceptable.
The base model for the Microsoft Surface Book has an Intel Core i5 chip, 8 GB of random-access memory (RAM) and 128 GB of storage priced at $1,499.
The higher-end version houses an Intel i7 processor, 1 TB storage, 16 GB RAM, and the Nvidia GeForce GTX 965M graphics processing unit (GPU) in a $3,199 package.
Priced at $999, the Microsoft Surface Laptop's entry-level model offers an Intel Core i5 chip, 4 GB of RAM and 128 GB storage.
The premium version, priced at $2,199, has the Intel Core i7 processor, 8 GB of RAM, 512 GB SSD and the Intel HD 640 GPU. The former will be shipped this June while the latter will be available by August.
