I used the original Surface Book for a year or so. That unit was purchased before the 1TB drive was shipping. so it had So it had 512GB of internal storage. Using that machine was a struggle. I always seemed to be out of storage space. Since the internal storage can't be upgraded without cutting a big hole in the metal case, I was stuck with it. Other than the tiny storage capacity, I really loved the Surface Book. My only other complaint was the small screen with super high resolution. I'm an older guy, so the tiny text on that screen was a bit difficult for me to read.
Then I saw the Surface Book 2. It has a 15" screen option that is still very high resolution. The CPU is faster and more energy efficient. The rated battery life is better. It has a USB C port added to the dual USB 3.0 ports. Plus, it is available with 16GB of RAM and a 1TB drive. It covered my minimum requirements, but only barely. Still, I loved my current Surface Book, so I ordered the maxed out version of the Surface Book 2.
After using it for a while now, I am really glad I bought it. I no longer see the low storage warnings constantly. My CAD software runs really well. The text is readable on this 15 inch display. It is noticably faster in every way. This laptop is a big improvement over the first version I was using in every way.
Unfortunately, it still isn't perfect. My primary gripe is the fact that you can't upgrade the hard drive storage or RAM. I have two 2TB SSD drives and 64GB of RAM on my desktop. This machine is maxed out at 1TB and 16GB of RAM. Sure, it works well enough for now, but I guarantee I will be bumping into those limitations fairly soon. If I could, I would knock off half a star for the non-upgradeable storage and RAM. Other than that, I love the machine. It's a pleasure to use.
| Standing screen display size | 13.5 Inches |
|---|---|
| Screen Resolution | 3000 x 2000 pixels |
| Max Screen Resolution | 3000x2000 Pixels |
| Processor | 4.2 GHz core_i7_8650u |
| RAM | 8 GB LPDDR3 |
| Memory Speed | 1866 MHz |
| Hard Drive | 256 GB SSD |
| Graphics Coprocessor | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 |
| Chipset Brand | NVIDIA |
| Card Description | Dedicated |
| Graphics Card Ram Size | 2 GB |
| Wireless Type | 802.11abg |
| Number of USB 2.0 Ports | 1 |
| Number of USB 3.0 Ports | 2 |
| Average Battery Life (in hours) | 13.5 Hours |
