Microsoft launches Surface Book, the first notebook PC in its history – 01net

We did not expect such a One More Thing ! Microsoft has just announced the first laptop of its own, just like the Surface tablets were his first creations in this field. Broadly, it is a hybrid machine whose 13.5-inch screen separates from the keyboard part to turn into tablet or PC, envy.

The pre-orders are open in the US from tomorrow, with deliveries starting October 26. It was also at that time that the area would be available in stores Book, still across the Atlantic. Starting price: $ 1,500. A price which is justified in many ways by Windows progenitor.

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An extremely comfortable keyboard and screen hinge exclusive

Designed by Microsoft, the tablet and the keyboard base Book surface are made of one magnesium piece (unibody). The total weight is for slightly more than 1.5 kg and the beast dimensions are 31.23 x 23.21 x 1.3 cm.

The screen is touch-course (so bright) compatible with the Pen Area and its slab provides a definition of 3000 by 2000 pixels, or 267 pixels per inch.

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The keyboard keys are backlit and offer relatively short stroke for optimal typing comfort. Microsoft has not failed to recall its extensive know-how in keyboard design. The touchpad, meanwhile, with its glass surface to within five points of contact, would be “ a magic finger .”

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Also, the keyboard part has a hinge also specially designed for this machine. Dubbed Dynamic Fulcrum Hinge , it is somewhat reminiscent of that of the Lenovo Yoga Pro 3. However, the Book of the area does not allow the screen to rotate 360 ​​° around the keyboard.

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use the keyboard as a support for the tablet (the back is facing the keyboard keys), you press a button, take the tablet in hand, rotate and reintegrate into the pins. Because here there are not as magnets to hold the two elements integral, Microsoft also developed a proprietary system to maintain its visible machine on the photo above.

A powerful tablet, an ultraportable PC to play

Touted as the 13 inch notebook the most powerful in the world, twice a muscular 13-inch MacBook Pro include the Book is an interesting subject area a pure engineering standpoint. Indeed, the Book features a dedicated graphics processor in keyboard, an NVIDIA GeForce GTX whose reference is not yet known.

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C is behind the touchscreen that are housed the latest generation of Intel Core i7 (Skylake) and RAM (from 8 to 16 GB). All would be able to hold 12 hours in all, by combining the autonomy of the batteries of the tablet and keyboard. For storage, it is still in the slate as it happens, the available capacity could reach up to 1TB of SSD.

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Clearly, it is possible to use the 13-inch tablet for surfing, watching a movie, etc. and connect the keyboard to have the graphics power galore that should allow its possessor to play some games, or better, to use the power of NVIDIA 3D chip for video encoding for example.

Let us end with the connection of the device: two USB 3.0 sockets and an SD card slot are located on the left side of the keyboard. On the tablet, it seems that a video output jack and a miniDisplayPort are in the game.