Microsoft Surface Book : more powerful, more enduring, and more expensive – 01net.com

No revolution on the side of the Surface Book : Microsoft retains its different versions of its famous mobile hybrid. But according to the head of the division Surface, Panos Panay, many users have requested a beefed-up version of its super portable.

Not only in the ability of pure calculation, but also in graphics power and autonomy. Queries which Microsoft claims to have answered to provide a device ” with no lag, where everything is done in real time “.

Big Core i7

If Microsoft has not given details as to the exact version of the processor, one thing is for sure : it is a big nasty Core i7. If Microsoft is “on time” next to processor and serious about the assertion that the device sends is 1.9 Tflops of computing power, it remains to know what is the processor embedded in the Surface Book ? One of the models muscled from 6^e generation released in 2016 (i7-6770HQ, i7-6780HQ or i7-6790HQ) ? An advanced version of the current Core i7-6600U (so the Core i7-6660U) ? Or, better, the mobile cpu generation 7 low consumption Kaby Lake currently available in the catalogue, the Intel Core i7-7500U ? It will have to wait for the release of the card technical official of the beast to have the heart net ! On A side note, Microsoft has not given details on the amount of onboard memory.

More graphics power

again, Microsoft has not spread on the type of graphics processor or the onboard memory, but the company from Redmond has claimed that this new version has two times more power than the previous version. This is not really a performance : the chip Nvidia Geforce 830M delivered once is not the lightning of war.

let’s Hope that Intel has been able to have access to chips of the generation Pascal, the new chips from Nvidia, which are both very powerful, but especially low-power thanks to their burning at the 14/16 nm. In the contrary case, it is likely that this is a card generation Maxwell (940M ?). Logically, the chosen model must limit its consumption of energy. Not for heat dissipation – even if a second fan has been added – but to stick with the promise.

16h battery !

According to the Microsoft teams, its new Surface Book would have not less than 16h of battery in the configuration in which the tablet is connected to the keyboard – which contains the Nvidia graphics card and power cells are warranted.

It is, of course, the maximum life span and in the best case. But even by removing 4 to 6 hours of autonomy, this Surface Book would be over 10 hours of intensive work. This would allow Microsoft to greatly exceed the Apple Macbook.

All of these improvements are no doubt salivating fans of the hybrid high-end of Microsoft, but they have a price : the Surface Book of new generation will be available for pre-order in the USA on 26/10 (delivery in November) for the paltry sum of 2399 $ . We’ll let you do the conversion to the euro, add VAT and… discuss with your banker.

at the hour when we write these lines, Microsoft did not release pricing or availability in Europe.