Microsoft Surface Book?

[Shadow5679]

Hello All,

 

I am looking to purchase a new laptop during the Black Friday sales/deals, and I had my sights set on the Microsoft Surface Book.

I was wondering which configuration I should get, the:

• i5, 128GB Storage (SSD), NO dGPU, 8GB RAM
• i5, 256GB Storage (SSD), dGPU, 8GB RAM

I won't be doing much gaming on it, just maybe light games occasionally (CS:GO, [Overwatch?] etc.)

No need for great image/video editing power.

My main questions between these configurations are:

1. Does adding the dGPU decrease the battery life of the laptop? If so, how significantly?
2. Does adding the dGPU increase performance enough that the 700 AUD price increase is justified?
3. What is the battery life like in general, doing tasks such as word processing, web searching, and programming? (Mainly, will it last me through a full day of school (8.30am - 3:20pm))?

It also has the added Black Friday deal of a free XBox One + Fallout 4 + Tomb Raider

 

Thanks for your help!

[Electronics Wizardy]

1 minute ago, Shadow5679 said:

Does adding the dGPU decrease the battery life of the laptop? If so, how significantly?

No, unless your are using it. The gpu only turn on when needed.

 

1 minute ago, Shadow5679 said:

Does adding the dGPU increase performance enough that the 700 AUD price increase is justified?

From the tasks that your doing, id use the non dgpu model. You can add the gpu later if you want.

 

2 minutes ago, Shadow5679 said:

What is the battery life like in general, doing tasks such as word processing, web searching, and programming? (Mainly, will it last me through a full day of school (8.30am - 3:20pm))?

You should get about 10 hours web browsing, so it will last you a day.

[Shadow5679]

1 minute ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

No, unless your are using it. The gpu only turn on when needed.

 

From the tasks that your doing, id use the non dgpu model. You can add the gpu later if you want.

 

You should get about 10 hours web browsing, so it will last you a day.

Thanks for your reply.

Just a quick question regarding your second point - How can I add the GPU later? I'm pretty sure that isn't possible with surface laptops, and most laptops in general. I could be wrong though.

[Shadow5679]

1 minute ago, wrathoftheturkey said:

Yes, pretty significantly. A few hours probably. 

 

Depends on what you're doing with it, but considering the 965m is meh, not really

 

Well, in that case yeah the 965m should do you a fair bit of good

Thanks for the reply.

As far as I'm aware, the surface book without the performance base comes with a weaker, unnamed GPU, somewhat equivalent to the 940m, but not exactly, so would that change the answer?

[Electronics Wizardy]

2 minutes ago, Shadow5679 said:

How can I add the GPU later?

The gpu is in the keyboard base. You can get a different keyboard base later on.

[Shadow5679]

1 minute ago, wrathoftheturkey said:

Uh, no. Pretty sure it doesn't have a dGPU, which means it uses intel's integrated graphics, which aren't too great. 

That is an option, which is 700 AUD cheaper, but you can get a configuration which includes a GPU similar to a 940m.

[AlTech]

7 minutes ago, Shadow5679 said:

Thanks for your reply.

Just a quick question regarding your second point - How can I add the GPU later? I'm pretty sure that isn't possible with surface laptops, and most laptops in general. I could be wrong though.

You can't add it later,

 

3 minutes ago, Shadow5679 said:

That is an option, which is 700 AUD cheaper, but you can get a configuration which includes a GPU similar to a 940m.

If you can afford the Custom Nvidia dGPU then I would go for that model.

[Shadow5679]

1 minute ago, AluminiumTech said:

You can't add it later,

 

If you can afford the Custom Nvidia dGPU then I would go for that model.

Thanks for the reply.

 

Would the (fairly) significant difference in benchmarks such as Firestrike that I've seen around the web between the non-dGPU and dGPU models be reflected in games in the same ratio, or would it not provide as much of an improvement in real-world scenarios?

 

Thanks again

[AlTech]

4 minutes ago, Shadow5679 said:

Thanks for the reply.

 

Would the (fairly) significant difference in benchmarks such as Firestrike that I've seen around the web between the non-dGPU and dGPU models be reflected in games in the same ratio, or would it not provide as much of an improvement in real-world scenarios?

 

Thanks again

If you're playing any kind of game which is remotely demanding, you'll love to have that dGPU.

 

Performance wise, there would be a noticeable difference,  It's still not gonna be super amazing like  a traditional gaming laptop, but it can game. Just don't expect to play Crysis 3 at 3000x2000 resolution.  1080p is achievable on the majority of games but you're gonna want to turn the settings down to get 60fps.