Microsoft offers new $2700 USD Surface Laptop configuration

[Drak3]

1 hour ago, abazigal said:

Does this feel contradictory though? Microsoft spends all that R&D on what appears to be great hardware that it doesn't expect to sell a ton of? Sounds like flushing good money down the toilet if you ask me. 

The costs of R&D on this is going to be small. It's a slight spec bump.

[jagdtigger]

Just now, Bouzoo said:

Ever seen an Ultrabook Netbook without an ULV CPU? Or a laptop with QM or HQ that has battery life that comes even close to models with ULVs? This is not aimed at performance.

Fixed it for you. BTW even if that is true its still brutally overpriced...

[Bouzoo]

1 minute ago, jagdtigger said:

Fixed it for you. BTW even if that is true its still brutally overpriced...

With 13.5'' screen this is certainly no Netbook. Asus Eee PC, Acer Aspire One and similar were netbooks. This is bigger, by a lot. And no arguing this is brutally overpriced. 

[Doobeedoo]

Seriously, laptops without dGPU should be 500-1000$ so for what it is it's way too much. One I've heard they'd release Surface Laptop I expected solid iGPU at least as option though. 

[jagdtigger]

6 hours ago, Bouzoo said:

With 13.5'' screen this is certainly no Netbook. Asus Eee PC, Acer Aspire One and similar were netbooks. This is bigger, by a lot. And no arguing this is brutally overpriced. 

I have a little bit of a problem calling these weaklings ultrabook...

[Commodus]

I think the Surface Laptop is a fine machine... but with a $2,700 config, you should really be questioning whether or not this is the right system for you.

 

Really, if you're determined to spend that much on a Microsoft portable, go for a Surface Book.  It'll handle considerably more and last a lot longer, and it's not so much bulkier that you'll regret it in most cases.  Odds are that you probably don't need to max out a Surface Laptop if you really, really want its added portability.

[79wjd]

7 hours ago, Doobeedoo said:

Seriously, laptops without dGPU should be 500-1000$....

I disagree. I don't want a dGPU, but I do want a high quality construction -- aluminum body, I do want an top tier trackpad and an enjoyable keyboard, I do want a >=QHD Display, I do want a fast NVME SSD (although I don't need more than 250gb), I do want 16gb of RAM, I do want excellent battery life, and I do want a thin/light laptop. All of that will generally come out to around $1300-$1500. 

[spwath]

I have a 7th gen i7, 16gb ram, 4k touch screen, ultrabook, 1tb ssd laptop I got for $899.....

[Doobeedoo]

1 hour ago, djdwosk97 said:

I disagree. I don't want a dGPU, but I do want a high quality construction -- aluminum body, I do want an top tier trackpad and an enjoyable keyboard, I do want a >=QHD Display, I do want a fast NVME SSD (although I don't need more than 250gb), I do want 16gb of RAM, I do want excellent battery life, and I do want a thin/light laptop. All of that will generally come out to around $1300-$1500. 

That would all definitely be expected for the price. Though, even if one doesn't necessarily need dGPU it's still pricey for performance it is in the end. I mean there are some thicker options out there with dGPU which are better value. Having like OLED HDR 4K display and 1TB NVMe SSD in magnesium light body for $1000+ sure. Though still would expect dGPU at least as an option for something being with name laptop in Surface lineup of products. Even if it's a bit thicker form factor, and I've seen even thinner laptops with integrated graphics so.

[AlTech]

5 hours ago, anthonyjc2010 said:

Add a dGPU and a full 4-lane Thunderbolt 3 port, than we'll talk about Microsoft taking my money.

Not sure if trolling. This isn't meant to be a high performance laptop. That's what SurfaceBook is for. Asking for a dGPU in this laptop is like asking Toyota to make a Prius with components from a Ferrari.

[79wjd]

12 hours ago, Doobeedoo said:

That would all definitely be expected for the price. Though, even if one doesn't necessarily need dGPU it's still pricey for performance it is in the end. I mean there are some thicker options out there with dGPU which are better value. Having like OLED HDR 4K display and 1TB NVMe SSD in magnesium light body for $1000+ sure. Though still would expect dGPU at least as an option for something being with name laptop in Surface lineup of products. Even if it's a bit thicker form factor, and I've seen even thinner laptops with integrated graphics so.

I don't want a thicker option and I don't want a dGPU. And literally all ultrabooks that meet my requirements end up in the $1300-$1500 range. Switch to a 1tb SSD and you can add $400 minimum. So no, $500-$1000 is completely unrealistic.

[Doobeedoo]

Just now, djdwosk97 said:

I don't want a thicker option and I don't want a dGPU. And literally all ultrabooks that meet my requirements end up in the $1300-$1500 range. Switch to a 1tb SSD and you can add like $400 minimum. So no, $500-$1000 is completely unrealistic.

No I meant something for 500-1000$ for like dual core and iGPU 256GB SSD but there are such devices with way more though.

[79wjd]

Just now, Doobeedoo said:

No I meant something for 500-1000$ for like dual core and iGPU 256GB SSD but there are such devices with way more though.

And they're all lacking in several important ways and are in no way comparable.

[Doobeedoo]

1 minute ago, djdwosk97 said:

And they're all lacking in several important ways.

Yeah well, even with certain improvement you wrote before, still kinda wouldn't justify the premium price. Maybe for like really great display. Still kinda not good value.

[79wjd]

3 minutes ago, Doobeedoo said:

Yeah well, even with certain improvement you wrote before, still kinda wouldn't justify the premium price. Maybe for like really great display. Still kinda not good value.

If you only care about value then you're not buying an Ultrabook. Period. Ultrabooks put a high priority on build/design, weight, battery life, and thinness. If those things don't matter to you, then an Ultrabook is the wrong class of product.

 

It's like comparing the price to performance of a desktop to a laptop. They're entirely different categories with entirely different goals and priorities.

[Doobeedoo]

Just now, djdwosk97 said:

If you only care about value then you're not buying an Ultrabook. Period. Ultrabooks put a high priority on build/design, weight, battery life, and thinness. If those things don't matter to you, then an Ultrabook is the wrong class of product.

It's not that I only care about value. But you can't say that they're not very expensive for what they are even though such device matters to you. Build/design, weight/thinness can't really add such extra cost to something like a laptop. Mainly it goes natural due to efficient components without dgpu as well, and better battery life just comes along with.
I get you like a really thin package in the end.

[Brooksie359]

On 10/7/2017 at 3:51 AM, Bouzoo said:

Not sure if you ever used MBP 13 (even Air) or XPS 13, but even though though are thinner than most laptops, their build quality is more than good and they give a proper, solid feel when used. 

Yeah I prefer Windows. Never liked the apple my way or the highway philosophy.

[michaelocarroll007]

On 10/6/2017 at 5:27 PM, djdwosk97 said:

An XPS 15 is also 2" bigger on the diagonal, which ultimately leads to more internal room. Also, a dGPU isn't always a good thing -- I personally don't want a dGPU in my laptop.

I Agree it makes sense for many laptops to not have dGPUs the cheaper ones make total sense. Though at the Almost 3,000 dollar mark its got to have one. The surface laptop is a very nice computer id reccomend it for anyone looking for a high quaility decently light laptop  But only at the 8gb 256ssd and i5 Price of 1299 ( Which to be picky i think should be the base option) 4gb of non upgradable ram is BS

 

The XPS 15 is two inches making it larger overall but also your forgetting that the xps screen is not 16:9 and doesnt have the same bezel sizes.  Though it does add to its interal spacing. its about .5" deeper and 2" wider.  Im also saying to put in a less powerfull GPU then the XPS15

[bcredeur97]

just not worth it....

[79wjd]

1 hour ago, michaelocarroll007 said:

Though at the Almost 3,000 dollar mark its got to have one.

I disagree with that. $1300 for 256+8gb. +$100 for 16gb, +$400 for 1tb, +$150 for i7 with iris graphics would be about $2000. So at $2700 it is overpriced, but $2300ish would still be a reasonable price (considering that higher end configurations almost always carry a disproportionate price premium) and I still wouldnt want a dGPU. 

[michaelocarroll007]

28 minutes ago, djdwosk97 said:

I disagree with that. $1300 for 256+8gb. +$100 for 16gb, +$400 for 1tb, +$150 for i7 with iris graphics would be about $2000. So at $2700 it is overpriced, but $2300ish would still be a reasonable price (considering that higher end configurations almost always carry a disproportionate price premium) and I still wouldnt want a dGPU. 

 

Except the $100 for the extra 8gb, $400 for extra 750gb and $150 for the i7  That is similar or higher then it costs for us to buy it from a store that is marked up already microsoft pays way less then we would. so they should have a pretty healthy profit in there. the other $700 is just getting thrown out the window. I would like to see them Justify the $700 is what im saying overall i personally see the GPU as being the obvious option to add for that price 

 

Also Note they do charge $300 for the i7  and $600 for 256gb of sdd and 8gb of ram. (16gb 500gb ssd combo) The upgrades are insanely priced.  

 

 

Dell just launched a XPS 13 a competing laptop with a 4 core processor i7-8550U compared to the dual in the Surface.  1TB and 16GB of ram  and can be bought for 2,100 right now off there site. 

[79wjd]

34 minutes ago, michaelocarroll007 said:

 

Except the $100 for the extra 8gb, $400 for extra 750gb and $150 for the i7  That is similar or higher then it costs for us to buy it from a store that is marked up already microsoft pays way less then we would. so they should have a pretty healthy profit in there. the other $700 is just getting thrown out the window. I would like to see them Justify the $700 is what im saying overall i personally see the GPU as being the obvious option to add for that price 

 

Also Note they do charge $300 for the i7  and $600 for 256gb of sdd and 8gb of ram. (16gb 500gb ssd combo) The upgrades are insanely priced.  

 

 

Dell just launched a XPS 13 a competing laptop with a 4 core processor i7-8550U compared to the dual in the Surface.  1TB and 16GB of ram  and can be bought for 2,100 right now off there site. 

So your problem is that laptop manufacturers overcharge for upgrades. Great, that's not limited to just the surface lineup and is in fact prevalent throughout the industry. And the XPS is $2300 with a 10% off promotion. So right in line with what I was saying. Also it's worth noting that an 8550u costs less than the 7660u (albeit an irreverent $6 less) in the surface. Tthis happens all the time between generations where large improvements are made -- one company switches to new hardware sooner and it's up with a better product.

 

I never said the surface was a great price to performance option, my point has been that you don't need a dGPU in an expensive laptop. In fact, I would never recommend anything in the surface product stack unless you plan to heavily use the pen (which seems cumbersome at best on a vertical laptop screen, nonetheless, that is still a big pro for some people).

[maartendc]

On 10/5/2017 at 2:56 PM, Kobathor said:

Most people only need a laptop. If I didn't play games, I would surely only use a laptop. The only thing that sucks about only having a laptop is the tiny screen. It sometimes feels like my 24inch monitor is small, I can barely imagine using my laptop's 15.6inch display for everything.

Yeah but you can easily dock a laptop onto a bigger screen and dedicated mouse and keyboard.

 

I feel the same way: if it wasnt for gaming, I wouldnt have a desktop. Laptops are so powerful nowadays, if you pair it with a good monitor you are good to go. Unless you do really demanding workflows where the CPU is stressed 100% of the time like rendering or exporting video. In that case, the cooling performance of  a desktop is superior.