What do you love/hate about the Surface Book 2 so far?

[Al Sacco]

So I've had my 15-inch Surface Book 2 for more than a week now, and I've been working on it, along with two monitors connected via Surface Dock, every day. Overall, I'm very pleased with the purchase. I love the keyboard and trackpad when working away from my desk, battery life has been great, and performance has been buttery-smooth. The only things that I don't love about it (though I also wouldn't say I hate them) are the size and weight. I traveled with it last weekend, and it felt a like big flat rock in my bag. I'm coming from the Surface Pro, so part of that is just my perspective, I know. But I also use a MacBook Pro 15-inch on occasion (gasp!), and though the SB2 is only about 0.2 pounds heavier, it's significantly thicker. I'm not really complaining, and I know the form factor necessitates the larger size to an extent, but that's really the only complaint I have so far.

Do you have a new Surface Book 2? What do you love/like or hate/dislike about it?

 

[Garcessist]

I just got my SB2 15inch after returning the SB2 13.5 inch. I love my 15 inch I just wish they had done everything on the 15 inch in the 13.5 inch. IE CPU cooling in the tablet portion and the GTX1060.

 

[petvas72]

I have my 13,5" SB2 since last week and I am loving it. Compared to my Surface Book first generation, this is a better product. It feels sturdier, more stable and even faster. It is a joy to use it. I hope it will not have any reliability issues like the Surface Book of the first generation.
Battery life seems good, better than the 1st gen, but I still cannot really judge. Definitely an improvement overall and I am loving my Surface Book 2.

 

[podsnap]

I absolutely love the hardware and I know it's divisive but the hinge is so cool and I think it makes the design iconic.

Haven't done any really long test yet but the battery life for me seems disappointing. When using Sketchable with just the screen the battery percentage ticks down at an alarming rate (I'd estimate about 2 hours of drawing time).

Also, while most of the time I don't notice, the coil whine is irritating when you do hear it.

Oh, the weight and balance of the screen on it's own is astonishingly good.

 

[petvas72]

My Surface Book does not display a battery life estimate. Is this happening to others too?

 

[podsnap]

Yeah, mine doesn't show battery life estimate either but I'm pretty sure that's by design. Battery life estimates were never accurate (they never could be).

 

[DCW1000]

The thing I like best about the 15 inch Book 2 is that is basically a Studio Lite.

I haven't yet found anything I don't like about it.

I've had it about three weeks now.

 

[Joe920]

I just got my SB2 15inch after returning the SB2 13.5 inch. I love my 15 inch I just wish they had done everything on the 15 inch in the 13.5 inch. IE CPU cooling in the tablet portion and the GTX1060.

Exactly. I don't have a SB2 (hope I'm allowed to post here!), but I have played with both the 13.5" and 15" in the store, and while I'm in love with the 15" screen, I much prefer the lower weight of the 13.5". This makes for a difficult choice: get a compact system with a GTX 1050, or get a behemoth with a GTX 1060.. Result: I haven't bought either of them yet! Awesome devices though.

 

[IdleMind]

I have the 15" SB2 and so far I'm really enjoying it. No complaints. I did notice a slight issue with the mouse a few times where the mouse pointer appeared to drift after I stopped scrolling.

 

[kodos78]

I have a 13.5" 1TB right now, and have a 15" 1TB on its way. I was torn between which one to get, so I'm going to try both and return the one that I dislike more.

So far I really love the 13.5" model. It is snappy, does everything I need really well and is pretty portable. I have an ultrabook (Surface Laptop) that I take when I need to write documents -- but for heavy duty coding and productivity stuff, the SB2 is far better.

I like that I can read with the tablet detached. I love browsing the web in tablet mode. I also like the clipboard functionality when I am doing teaching with the kids (we homeschool our children) or have to sketch out a quick presentation.

Love that I don't hear fans. I don't use the GPU for much (not a gamer) other than video encoding so I have yet to hear the GPU do anything.

I have had coil whine with this unit though. Dislike. It isn't too bad though and sounds like an old style platter drive churning away. Not "whiny" and high pitched.

So far, been great!

 

[TabletWriter]

I was hoping that with the second generation they'd do two things: Add a kickstand and make a SP keyboard available as an option. That way, when travelling you could leave the heavy base at home and clip on a Alcantara keyboard and basically have two computers in one. I know, that would add another $200 to the price, but I think it would be a hit.

 

[garak0410]

I'm am really considering selling my Gen 1 SB but trying to decide if I want the 15" with 256GB and better GPU or the 13.5 with 512GB and lessor GPU. With "placeholders" back on OneDrive, I might be able to live without the extra storage.

 

[ndawghoodstar]

I have the 15” 512.
I love it.
But I HATE that tilt support doesn’t work. It just doesn’t and I can’t figure it out.
Huge upgrade though from the original surface rt

 

[petvas72]

I'm am really considering selling my Gen 1 SB but trying to decide if I want the 15" with 256GB and better GPU or the 13.5 with 512GB and lessor GPU. With "placeholders" back on OneDrive, I might be able to live without the extra storage.

In Germany we don't have the 15" option, but I would go with more storage and RAM.I have the 512GB model and some times I feel I should have gotten the 1TB model.

 

[Ferenc Toth]

I was hoping that with the second generation they'd do two things: Add a kickstand and make a SP keyboard available as an option. That way, when travelling you could leave the heavy base at home and clip on a Alcantara keyboard and basically have two computers in one. I know, that would add another $200 to the price, but I think it would be a hit.

I was hoping for at least a hint of a move towards a some kind of modular system where you could use the tablet as standalone, and add a performance base, or just typecover, as you see fit for your self. Take the performance base with you when you need more battery and power, and the typecover when you want to travel light.

 

[garak0410]

In Germany we don't have the 15" option, but I would go with more storage and RAM.I have the 512GB model and some times I feel I should have gotten the 1TB model.

True...I believe the 2GB of memory on the GeForce 1050 may be enough for me as I don't game on the go often but it is nice to have.

 

[mweflen]

I've had the 15" for about two weeks now. I got it from the Amazon Vine program to review. It's definitely the best laptop I've ever owned. It's really amped up my creativity and I draw for hours daily with it. It's powerful enough for AAA gaming. (which I don't really do due to storage)

That's not to say it's perfect, though.

-I don't like how the GPU spins up on certain web browsing tasks. For some reason, when downloading files in Opera, the GPU is activated and the fans spin pretty loudly. This is unusual because the fans generally are silent and do a great job of cooling.

-I find the Surface Pen difficult not to grip tightly, which ends up straining my hand after drawing for a few hours. I'm ordering some jelly pencil holders to try and ameliorate this.

-I think 256gb of storage for $2500 is insane. It should have shipped with 512gb minimum.

-It doesn't have a control key on the right side of the keyboard. It also inverts the function keys with the shortcuts - I generally use F2 quite a bit to rename files, and now I have to press Fn-F2. Speaking of the function keys, it doesn't have a dedicated key for turning off the display.

 

[anon(601415)]

My biggest complaint at the moment is in regards to the Surface Dock. The whole thing is just not stable. The external monitor flickers during boot and it briefly goes off when connecting or disconnecting USB peripherals (and I've tried 3 different DisplayPort cables). Sometimes the monitor just goes off for about 3 seconds randomly for no reason. However, I suspect this is more about the Surface Dock than it is the SB2.

My #2 complaint is picking up the SB2 when closed to put it in or take it out of my laptop bag. I'm afraid to squeeze it too tight and it's slippery. I feel like it needs some kind of grippy pads or something attached to it or something. Maybe I'm just too paranoid about squeezing it, but I always tend to baby my tech equipment, especially when it is expensive and I expect it to last for several years.

 

[Joel DSO]

-It doesn't have a control key on the right side of the keyboard. It also inverts the function keys with the shortcuts - I generally use F2 quite a bit to rename files, and now I have to press Fn-F2. Speaking of the function keys, it doesn't have a dedicated key for turning off the display.

just a quick tip, for surface devices there is a shortcut to change how the function keys work: pressing Fn and Caps lock changes the primary function between F keys and function keys.

 

[ZipZapRap]

So I've had my 15-inch Surface Book 2 for more than a week now, and I've been working on it, along with two monitors connected via Surface Dock, every day. Overall, I'm very pleased with the purchase. I love the keyboard and trackpad when working away from my desk, battery life has been great, and performance has been buttery-smooth. The only things that I don't love about it (though I also wouldn't say I hate them) are the size and weight. I traveled with it last weekend, and it felt a like big flat rock in my bag. I'm coming from the Surface Pro, so part of that is just my perspective, I know. But I also use a MacBook Pro 15-inch on occasion (gasp!), and though the SB2 is only about 0.2 pounds heavier, it's significantly thicker. I'm not really complaining, and I know the form factor necessitates the larger size to an extent, but that's really the only complaint I have so far.

Do you have a new Surface Book 2? What do you love/like or hate/dislike about it?

I wish we had the 15" here in Australia. I ended up getting the 13" instead. A brilliant device and I'm actually happy there's no fan in the tablet, that's a bonus over the 15"

I love this thing, and I'm yet to find something I dislike about it.