Late last week, my Microsoft Surface Book was delivered. I’ve been testing it and enjoying the experience of having and using a Windows 10 machine ever since. My Surface Book features an Intel Core i5, 128 GB SSD, 8 GB RAM, as well as the dedicated NVIDIA GPU.
While the majority of my experience with the Surface Book has been incredibly positive so far, it didn’t start off that way. When the laptop was booted for the first time, it came to a login screen instead of the Windows setup screen, requiring a system reset right off the bat. After taking care of that irritation, I went through setup and we were good to go.
Many reviews I’ve seen have said that the Microsoft Surface Book is the best Windows laptop ever produced, and I couldn’t agree more. The build quality is outstanding. The magnesium casing looks and feels great. The keyboard is easy to type on and I got used to it relatively quickly. While some have complained that the backlighting can interfere with the ability to see the letters on the keyboard when it isn’t completely dark, I haven’t had any problems with that, partially because I rarely use backlighting on my keyboards. The trackpad is by far the best I have ever used on a Windows computer. It is even better than using a MacBook Pro’s trackpad in Windows via Boot Camp. While the trackpad’s clicks can seem a bit loud, it’s something that no longer bothers me.
One of my favorite features of the Surface Book is the ability to use it both as a laptop and a tablet. Undocking the screen (or as Microsoft calls it the clipboard) from the screen is easy and works fine 99% of the time. Even though it’s not a completely original idea, Microsoft nailed the 2-in-1 with the detachable screen and bottom half that contains the NVIDIA GPU and most of the device’s battery. The Surface Pen has worked well most of the time, but occasionally will give me a hard time when clicking on the button to open OneNote or Cortana. I’m assuming that there may just be some bugs still, but we’ll see if that experience improves over the coming weeks.
Windows 10 has been easy to use and incredibly snappy so far. While I’m slowly becoming a fan of the Windows 10 operating system, there are a few things from the Mac that I will continue to miss, including Tweetie, my favorite Twitter client that easily syncs across devices, as well as iMessage, the primary form of communication for me and many of my friends.
My experience with the Surface Book has been relatively positive so far and I look forward to continuing to use the 2-in-1 as my primary Windows machine. What are your thoughts on the Surface Book? If you own a Surface Book, do you have any tips or tricks?