Search the Community

Hi everybody, I'm starting my master degree this month, and I need a new laptop ASAP, and I'd like your advice. I'm torn between 2 devices: the Microsoft Surface Book and the Dell XPS 13. I love the Surface Book for its build quality, the detachable screen with the stylus, the better front-facing camera (I skype with my family in Portugal) and the optional discreet GPU. I love the Dell XPS 13 because it's smaller and lighter, gives you more power for a smaller price (if you exclude the surface's GPU), its battery life is even better, and it's a lot more repair-friendly. Basically, my heart leans towards the surface, but my wallet leans towards the dell. I'm someone who likes to draw, so I guess that's why the surface is so seductive. The bigger screen seems awesome for productivity too. But I'm also having my salary halved come November, and I'm in one of the most expensive countries in Europe (Switzerland), so money is an issue. Here, you can get an XPS 13 with a Core i5-6200U for 1299 chf, and a Surface Book with a i5-6300U for 1899 chf, the only meaningful differences being the GPU and higher-resolution display on the surface. I'll need to work with statistics software (STATA), so having a good CPU is handy. On the other hand, for drawing graphs and creating presentations, a GPU might come in handy, but I'm not sure by how much. I fear that if I choose the surface, I won't use its GPU to its full potential. And I'm not sure if the other differences make the price difference worth it. What are your thoughts on these 2? If you've used either (or both!) before, what would you recommend?

I saw that this picture of the surface book on microsoft store surface page depicts it as being black I wonder if this is legit and if it'll ever be available to buy. also I wonder how the whole thing would look like.

I know I'm late to the party on this, but I got my Surface Book a couple months ago, just before the new one was announced. Yes, I knew it was coming, but these things happen, and I got a pretty serious deal on this thing. As I said, I've had mine for a couple months now, which I believe to be the same trim level Linus reviewed (i7/16GB/512GB/dGPU). I bought it because I'm in college, and I really wanted one device that could meet the arbitrary whims of different professors' technology policies (I shit ye not, this semester alone I had one class where anything goes, so I used it as a laptop; one class where tech was verboten, so it had to stay in my bag; and two where tablets were ok, but not laptops). So this just looked like it would do a better job of being all things to all classes (well, 3/4 isn't bad). So I've spent a fair amount of time with it as both a laptop, and as a tablet, and here are my thoughts: I fucking love this thing. Not only is it epic in either mode, but the performance well exceeds my expectations on a regular basis. Battery: Forgot to charge it after I got home and didn't realize it til the next day when running off to class? No problem. Its standby battery life is absurd given its specs. My Chromebook, which used to live in my bag for note-taking purposes, is now gathering dust. Gaming? I installed Hearthstone simply because I imagined playing on a touchscreen this big would kick ass (and it does) but then, while I had Battle.net there, anyway, I thought "lol, let's see what WoW looks like at 3FPS".....but it doesn't run at 3FPS. No, running at the settings optimized by GeForce Experience (which, also, "holy shit, what?" runs on this thing) it pulls a consistent ~40FPS, with highs in the 60s when not running dungeons, raids, or world boss encounters with several dozen other players. I recently bought the latest Razer Naga for my gaming rig, as my old one was over 4 years old, but after this fun discovery, the old one now lives in my bag. I can easily play WoW on the go, without anything I'd consider a "compromise," unless you'd count not having my 30-inch 4K with me everywhere I go. I guess this 13.5" 3000x2000 will just have to suffice (#firstworldproblems). My fiancee now has the ROG laptop I used to carry, and I don't miss it. Pen? I really wasn't sure how much of a pain in the ass the pen would be, but like Linus says, it sticks to that edge like glue. As memory serves, for all the times I've pulled it out of my bag, the pen has only stayed behind twice. In two months. And as for actually using it....I really don't have anything to compare it to. I've owned a Wacom before, but never a Cintiq, so writing/drawing directly on-screen is new for me. I can't believe how well it works, especially with no calibration options to be found. The only issues I've had with it involve occasional stupidity about the eraser-clicks (once for OneNote, twice for screenshots) not working properly after waking from sleep. Cycling Bluetooth off and back on usually fixes this, and it's a minor annoyance, as the pen doesn't fail to write/draw or erase when this happens. Converting: Switching between laptop and tablet modes is one of those things you just have to remember you can do, and then I found I got used to it very quickly. Unless something is using the dGPU, holding that second button from the right on the top row and listening for the click became something I could do without looking. When using it as a "tablet," I most often detach the screen, turn it around, and fold it down like in the image below, because the slight angle is actually convenient, and because it allows it to use that battery, and the dGPU. I'm no artist, but I've dicked around in Photoshop CC, and I'm impressed. I wish like hell I'd had this back when I was editing photos for a living. (Yay, Logic proofs....) I'm sure the new one performs even better, with even better battery life, but I just have to say....the old one's no slouch. If anyone has any questions I didn't answer in this, I'd be more than happy to answer. Additional terrible "glamour" shots, as requested by dizmo: And one I'm not embarrassed of: