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Both the Surface Pro 4 and the Surface Book stepped out from behind the NDA curtain yesterday, with reviews going live at a number of publications. We've rounded up the salient points and features of each organisation, equally well every bit data on how they performed and which is the amend choice (and nether what circumstances). For comparisons against Apple's hardware stack, see our Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book stat shoot-outs.

The Surface Pro 4 is the more straightforward update, so we'll start in that location. if you've seen Microsoft's previous Surface Pro 3, you're already familiar with the Surface Pro four as well. The screen is slightly larger (12.iii inches, up from 12) and the display resolution has stepped up to 2736×1834, upwards from 2160×1440. That'southward a crash-land to 267 PPI, up from 216 PPI. There are more SKUs available this time around, including Core i5 and Core i7 options, new biometric authentication capabilities, and quieter overall operation.

Reports on the Type Cover's track pad have been varied. Ars praises it as a huge improvement over the onetime version and The Verge thought information technology worked better, but was nonetheless inadequate compared to a existent keyboard. Gizmodo, still, notes: "Every time I place my fingers and curl, there is a pregnant lag that hampers that initial gesture. If your fingers remain on the trackpad, subsequent scrolling is fine, but if you lift your fingers and put them back down, that beginning scroll is always on a delay. Information technology makes the Surface feel sluggish." Peter Bright of Ars confirmed to usa that he never encountered these issues when using the system, and PCMag'due south review doesn't mention them either.

Surface Pro 4

Dorsum in…erm… blue.

The general consensus about the Surface Pro iv is that information technology's a refined, polished version of the Surface concept, with some of the same bones compromises inherent to the form factor. If you demand to really use the device on your lap while typing on the Type Cover, it's not that great. If that's non an issue, the Surface Pro 4 is the all-time iteration of the Surface concept yet. CPU and GPU operation are both upward, while battery life is heavily exam dependent. PCMag recorded the Surface Pro four every bit offering an additional 84 minutes of battery life. Ars recorded the Pro 4 equally down slightly in their WiFi examination simply upwards by 25 minutes in their WebGL benchmark.

Microsoft's Surface Book

The Surface Volume, unlike Surface Pro iv, is an entirely different fauna. Similar the Surface Pro 4, the new Surface Book uses metallic-oxide technology (probably Precipitous's IGZO) as a replacement for amorphous silicon used in other displays. This should better power consumption, though Microsoft also used a 3:ii display and goosed the resolution higher, up to 3000×2000. One of the Surface Book'south biggest selling points is the way you can detach the device and carry it effectually in what Microsoft calls Clipboard mode. While information technology's far from the first organization to offer this choice, the majority of 2-in-1s that allow a split screen / base of operations practice and so by turning the base into dumb keyboard with a USB port attached. Microsoft opted to include additional bombardment storage and a detached GPU from Nvidia in the base of operations of the Surface Volume (while detached, the organization relies on its integrated Intel graphics).

SurfaceBook3

Nvidia's Optimus technology is nil new, but this is the first time we've seen a laptop that swaps between GPUs based on whether or non it's plugged into the base. The base and tablet halves clamp together electronically, which ways the system won't allow you to detach the tablet if the bombardment is depression, or if an awarding is currently using the discrete GPU. Yanking the tablet out mid-game would crash any championship or app — so you'll demand to quit dGPU applications before you pull the tablet and its keyboard apart.

Surface-Book-Hinge

Ars once again notes that there are some bugs in this design: If you lot utilise the laptop in and then-chosen "tent" mode and the tablet battery dies, it'south impossible to detach the tablet and flip the screen back effectually the normal fashion until you've charged the bombardment again. Peter B as well encountered 1 scenario where the system insisted the tablet wasn't docked — fifty-fifty when it was. These kinds of corner cases seem rare, just MS will demand to resolve them, presumably via commuter updates.

Multiple reviewers praised the hinge, but noted that the organisation doesn't close all the way when y'all close the chapeau, since the hinge pattern (Microsoft calls it a Dynamic Fulcrum Hinge) rolls up at the dorsum of the laptop rather than closing in the traditional mode. This doesn't add much to the device'southward thickness, merely the swivel is an obvious weak indicate. If you're prone to abusing your equipment, the Surface Volume may not be a great purchase.

What about the GPU?

When the Surface Book was announced, Microsoft told reviewer's that the higher-terminate models would come with a Maxwell-class GPU with 1GB of GDDR5. Microsoft has been extremely guarded on what kind of scrap this is; Anandtech shows a GPU-Z screenshot that lists the flake as a 384-core model with 32 ROPS, 16 TMUs, and a 64-fleck memory interface. This most-closely matches Nvidia's GM108, but that chip has previously been reported as having 384 cores, 24 TMUs, and eight ROPs. Either before databases were incorrect about the part'south capabilities, or the chip had a bit more oomph nether the hood. The 64-chip retentiveness interface is backed past 1253MHz GDDR5, which will partly recoup for the limited bus width, merely the inclusion of just 1GB of RAM is rather odd for a 2015 laptop.

Surface 4 performance

Epitome by Anandtech

This laptop isn't going to drive Crysis four or any AAA titles at maximum resolution and graphics, merely the unnamed GeForce GPU shows its capabilities in games like DOTA ii. In 1920×1080 it'due south not far off the 60 FPS marker, while the other devices barely clear 30 FPS.

Overall, the Surface Book is winning more accolades than the Surface Pro four, which makes sense — this is Microsoft's first take on a full-fledged laptop design, and it'south the more than interesting of the two parts. Overall battery life is listed as excellent: PCMag recorded a xv-hour life for the tablet and base. That beats the Apple MacBook Pro, and battery life on Windows devices hasn't always been pinnacle-drawer when compared with their desktop counterparts. Ars's figures aren't that strong, but they prove the Core i7 and Cadre i5 versions of Surface Book at 753 and 749 minutes, compared to 793 minutes for the MacBook Pro. The Dell XPS 13, meanwhile, tested at but 593 minutes.

Battery life tests are always extremely workload-dependent, so we recommend taking the general determination that Surface Book's battery life is very, very proficient. The only downside is the price: The cheapest dGPU version is $1,699, which only nets you a Core i5, 128GB of storage, and 8GB of RAM. For $1,700, there are much, much ameliorate boutique gaming laptops on the market. Plainly this system is aimed at a unlike audition than your typical gaming laptop is, but it means that gaming customers will have to decide which they favor — all-time-in-class mobile performance, or the flexibility and high-resolution capabilities of a device like the Surface Book?

Surface Pro 4

The Surface Pro. In 70s burnt orange (no, nosotros don't know why)

The adept news, for Microsoft, is that the Surface Volume covers a pigsty that the Surface Pro and Surface lineup could never plug for every use-case. If you similar Microsoft'southward arroyo to hardware, but needed an actual robust keyboard and lap-top capability, Surface Volume tin fit that demand. Performance and capability are a match for what Apple tree offers, and while plenty of MacBook users won't be planning any switches, this is an splendid piece of hardware.