Recently purchased a SB - First impressions!

[adesonic]

Hi all!

So I have had my SB i7, 8Gb RAM, 256GB SSD for the past fortnight and thought I would post my impressions.

As soon as I had unboxed it and set it up, it proceeded to download a large update including firmware updates which all told talk about an hour, I then manually grabbed the Anniversary edition update which took another hour!!

The machine has been running pretty much perfectly, I particularly like:

-The screen - awesome
-The keyboard (best I have ever used on a laptop)
-Speed and responsiveness
-Fast boot times
-Fast to open programs and files - even big stuff like audio processing and editing software and video editing software.
-Stylus - I have actually started trying to draw stuff - it is so much fun!!
- My battery lasts all day and I do not have any of the sleep/run hot/deplete battery problems that others have reported (guess the updates fixed that)

Only minor glitch I have seen is that sometimes after waking from sleep, the mouse pointer disappears and I have to do a quick reboot, this has only happened twice.

In general VERY happy with my purchase!!!

 

[Cane Prevost]

I'm thinking about switching from a MacBook air to that exact configuration. It's funny about expectations though. A missing cursor happening several times requiring reboot in the first few days is more trouble than I've had with my MacBook air in years. I'm hoping the bugs will be worth what I'll gain in other areas.

 

[zerospace-net]

The bugs have decreased, definitely, with time (I've had my Surface Book since its launch last year -- I pre-ordered it from a local MS store). MS still has a nasty habit, though, of introducing (or re-introducing) problems with Windows updates and then taking a month + to fix them with firmware updates. It's almost as though the two cycles are out of sync, and I'm not sure how much they're testing these things, either -- you'd think with the sheer number of insiders with Surface hardware that they'd catch most of it, but I can say that from about May-ish up til the anniversary update, things were going pretty well with my Surface Book (i5/8GB/256/dGPU). Then I got the anniversary update and the firmware updates that went with it. And I started having some issues again (keyboard, mostly). *sigh* I'm hoping today's firmware & drivers fix my current issues. It would be about on schedule.

If you can deal with these sorts of scenarios, you'll probably enjoy owning a Surface Book at this point. MS has indeed worked out most of the major bugs (enough that my husband keeps eyeing up the refurb units MS is selling directly), so the overall experience is usually very good -- except when they create a new issue like what I've had lately. Just be forewarned that it may or may not be all sunshine & bunnies & rainbows all of the time!

 

[Cane Prevost]

Well, I owned a Windows phone so at least I know what I'd be getting into.

 

[Mikegriffin84]

A faster way to get your mouse button is to hit the clipboard detach button but you don't need to actually remove the clipboard. Just let it click and then if you don't remove it it reconnects on it's own and the mouse pointer comes back. To take this tip even further use the on screen taskbar detach icon instead of the keyboard button and this is almost instant.

 

[adesonic]

The mouse cursor issue seems to have gone away since the most recent firmware update. I would have no hesitation whatsoever in recommending the Surface book!!

 

[zerospace-net]

It's looking like my keyboard issues have vanished with the new firmware, but I'll wait at least until a full week passes before I say that with certainty. Again, though, be forewarned -- just because they fixed stuff right now doesn't mean they won't break something else in a future update! ;-)

 

[Mark Guim]

How's your experience so far editing videos on it?

 

[Cane Prevost]

There were 2 surface books at best buy. One of them lost the cursor when I detached and reattached it. Couldn't get it back. The other one worked just fine.

 

[peter leung 10586]

no need to reboot. disconnecting the clipboard from the keyboard and then re-connecting them would solve the problem.

 

[orlbuckeye]

What type of mouse? Bluetooth or USB adapter?

 

[Cane Prevost]

I did this numerous times with the unit at Best Buy with no luck at all. Tried disconnecting and reconnecting a few times. Didn't work. Likely the machines at Best Buy are not updated to latest firmware and OS versions though.

 

[adesonic]

Audio and video editing are on a par with my desktop for the sort of stuff I do - btw missing cursor has completely gone away since last firmware update

 

[adesonic]

UPDATE - one month in!

Had my SB for a month now and am absolutely loving it, no more little niggles, everything works perfectly. I got myself a 200Gb microSD card and an adaptor designed for the SB (Bosvison aluminium MicroSD adaptor from Amazon), which gives me plenty of storage for my audio files. My SB is definitely my best tech purchase this year!