UPDATE: It had to be returned. The unit keeps freezing randomly. Even with all of the available updates. I think I have a lemon. There was another unit available that they swapped me for. I will let you all know if it also is messed up
. This is an i7/8GB/256GB unit.
Got mine this morning. Long story, but I pre-ordered, but then was called out of town and wouldn't be able to get it on the 26th. I called my Microsoft store, and they said they'd keep it until the 30th (today!). Very nice service, I even was given the mobile number of the Assistant Store Manager, whom I texted when I was out of town to verify they'd keep the machine. Thankfully, they kept it. I got a 10% educational discount (getting a Master's degree), and so was very happy. Had to run to work though, so didn't get a chance to open it up at the store.
Brought it to work - and not a happy camper. The OS was in a lock screen(?) even though I had never set it up. The video drivers were in some odd state because it clearly wasn't HW accelerated (choppy everything). Couldn't see my Wifi, and had no accounts on the machine. It looked totally hosed. I couldn't tilt the screen back either, it was locked at an almost upright stage.
I powered down the machine (long press till power is totally gone), and then I rebooted. Voila! It went into the setup screen. Phew! Made sure that the first thing I did was to run Windows update after it restored my settings from my Microsoft Account.
Now, installing all of my software on the machine, sync'ing OneDrive, etc. If I were a more panicky end-user I think this machine would have had to go back to the store due to the odd initial state of the machine. I am not sure why it was in that state, but it is very concerning that this is the experience some new users are going to be greeted with.
So far the machine is running like a champ ... installing oodles of software
. Hopefully it continues to run well. I have a Thinkpad W541 mobile workstation (Quadro Graphics, true Quad Core i7). I don't need the power of that machine 90% of the time, and it is heavy and has terrible battery life (coaxing 6 hours out of it is barely possible). I upgraded to that machine when my Surface Pro 3 was no longer able to do some of the development I was working on. But I missed my Surface. So when the SurfaceBook was announced, I had to give this thing a shot. So far I am liking the keyboard (but will miss the numpad on the Thinkpad, and the Trackpoint stick).
Will have more impressions as I break this thing in.

Got mine this morning. Long story, but I pre-ordered, but then was called out of town and wouldn't be able to get it on the 26th. I called my Microsoft store, and they said they'd keep it until the 30th (today!). Very nice service, I even was given the mobile number of the Assistant Store Manager, whom I texted when I was out of town to verify they'd keep the machine. Thankfully, they kept it. I got a 10% educational discount (getting a Master's degree), and so was very happy. Had to run to work though, so didn't get a chance to open it up at the store.
Brought it to work - and not a happy camper. The OS was in a lock screen(?) even though I had never set it up. The video drivers were in some odd state because it clearly wasn't HW accelerated (choppy everything). Couldn't see my Wifi, and had no accounts on the machine. It looked totally hosed. I couldn't tilt the screen back either, it was locked at an almost upright stage.
I powered down the machine (long press till power is totally gone), and then I rebooted. Voila! It went into the setup screen. Phew! Made sure that the first thing I did was to run Windows update after it restored my settings from my Microsoft Account.
Now, installing all of my software on the machine, sync'ing OneDrive, etc. If I were a more panicky end-user I think this machine would have had to go back to the store due to the odd initial state of the machine. I am not sure why it was in that state, but it is very concerning that this is the experience some new users are going to be greeted with.
So far the machine is running like a champ ... installing oodles of software

Will have more impressions as I break this thing in.
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