Microsoft offers Apple users $650 off to trade a MacBook for a Surface Brian Heater @bheater / 2 years The new Surface Book got lost in the shuffle this week.
My 2013 MacBook Pro and the 13.5-inch Surface Book 2 with the Surface Pen magnetically attached to the left side of the screen. Edoardo Maggio/Business Insider • I have used a MacBook Pro as my main computing machine for the past five years, but I switched to Microsoft's new Surface Book 2 for a week.
• The hardware is fantastic — but you need some time to adjust and appreciate it. • The complexity is tied to the Windows 10 operating system, which is more flexible and intricate than macOS.
• To get you to fully appreciate the Surface Book and Windows 10, Microsoft indirectly asks you to switch to its suite of software and services, and my strong ties to Google's ecosystem made that nearly impossible. I have been using a MacBook Pro as my main computing machine for the past five years, and I have grown to love it. From the fantastic hardware to the sleekness of macOS, Apple's offering has mostly kept me happy, despite a few shortcomings. More recently, I have also become a big fan of what Microsoft has been doing with its hardware — and I jumped at the opportunity to try one of its new Surface Book 2 devices. I have used a family Surface Pro 4 extensively and even got to spend some time with, so I've had my fair share of experience with Windows 10 (in addition to years of using Windows XP, 7, and 8).
With the Surface Book 2, however, I decided to take a different approach. I fully switched to it for a week, using it as my primary laptop as if I had purchased it to replace my MacBook. This inevitably left me with some strong impressions — and a big, partly unexpected realisation: I am more tied to Google's suite of software and services than I ever thought. Here's what I learned. The hardware is spectacular This is the first thing that's obvious the moment you remove the plastic wrap. The cold feeling of the magnesium casing, its softly brushed texture, and the sturdiness of the device hit you right away. It's the kind of thing you would expect from Apple rather than Microsoft.
Magnesium is also surprisingly refreshing to the touch, as opposed to the MacBook's aluminum. It's colder and feels more genuine, as if the alloy hasn't gone through dozens of machines. It's a subtle, distinctive detail that shows Microsoft cares and wants its devices to stand out in an expanding sea of homogeneous products from all sorts of manufacturers. The Surface Book 2 is unlike anything else. It opens as a laptop but has a detachable screen that can turn into a tablet — you can flip it around, reattach it to the keyboard, and fold it all the way down if you want.
If you do reattach the top portion backward, you can keep it flat, perhaps for activities such as drawing, or at a 45-degree angle, which can be very comfortable if you plan to watch videos. If you flip Surface Book's screen, reattach it, and lay it flat, you can use it as a tablet, perhaps with the Surface Pen. Caroline Cakebread/Business Insider Any way you look at it, the 13.5-inch, 3000x2000 display is insanely gorgeous. It's sharp and detailed, with colors that pop while not being overly saturated and a slightly warmer tone than my MacBook's, making it a tad more pleasing to the eye.