Microsoft has unveiled a new Surface device that is being dubbed a ‘portable powerhouse’.
The Surface Book 2 offers five times the graphic processing power of the original Surface Book, twice the processing power of the MacBook Pro and 17 hours of battery life.
It has 8th Gen Intel Core i7 processors, as well as NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 and 1060 graphics options – meaning it can run games at 1080p and 60 frames per second. This also means it will handle data-intensive programs such as Adobe, Autodesk, and Dessault with ease.
As ever with the Surface range, this new device can be used as a laptop or tablet, thanks to the detachable keyboard peripheral.
Unveiling the device, Corporate Vice-President of Microsoft Devices Panos Panay claimed that Surface Book 2 removed the barrier between desktop and the laptop devices, by giving mobile professionals “the power of a desktop, the versatility of a tablet, and the freedom of a light and thin laptop.”
He added: “Whether you’re a developer, a digital artist, a designer, or an accountant, you can bring your ideas to life anywhere, because Surface Book 2 is a portable powerhouse. We made no compromises building the most powerful Surface laptop ever.”
A 13-inch version is available to purchase right now, with a 15-inch variation set for release in the new year. This larger model is said to offer some 7 million pixels – 45% more than the MacBook Pro.
Seemingly the only feature in which the Surface loses out to its Apple competitor is weight, with the 13-inch Macbook coming in 160 grams lighter than its direct Microsoft competitor. There’s an 80-gram difference between the 15-inch models. However, even Apple news outlet 9to5Mac acknowledged that such a small difference would be largely imperceptible.
It’s a “powerful portable studio” Panos concluded, “for those who want a single device that can follow you from concept to sketch to creation.”
