Microsoft Surface Book i7 with Performance Base 2016 Review 

She teaches her grandkids this stuff and my grandma can't send email without help. So jealous.

it's all about that base.

For those comparing the price to macs.. Being expensive and being overpriced are not the same!!

Who else though the base had 2 SD card slots? That was until I realized the second one was a charging port.

Yet again a thorough and detailed review!!! Thank you, Lisa!!!

yay lisa got her hands on new surface. This is one reviewer i always look forward to her insights for every age group or students

Insanely expensive, yet Microsoft fans call out Apple for being expensive...

I really like all your reviews. You are pleasant and cover the important points.

Your sketches are really good Lisa !

..."I should be working" lol Luv ya Lisa...Happy New Year‼

Would you recommend this computer for architecture rendering and drawing? Or which would you recommend me? Excellent video.

great review as usual. Microsoft has a winner in their hands.

Wow finally found a Macbook Alternative

Lisa, would you recommend picking up the last generation surface book if it goes on sale? Or would that be a waste compared to the hardware upgrades in the current generation?

I not only "Liked" it, I "Loeurved" it. You're awesome. Keep up the excellent work.

Hi Lisa, Could you please do a smackdown between this and the new macbook pro 13'? I am confused about whether the battery life is really 14 hour? The tablet battery really lasts 3 hours if I really work on it? I am a software professional and would use it for programming. A comparison would be great help! Thank a lot!

Great review as usual. On the comparators 2-in-1, you rightly mentioned the Spectre; but I would also mention the P40 Yoga that you recently reviewed. it has Pen (I would argue better WACOM) and dedicated graphics. of course, the M500M Quadro now looks quite anemic but I think at US$600-1k discount under the Surface Book, it could be something to consider (and of course, the P40 is user serviceable versus the sealed Surface)

I'm going to be studying mechanical engineering in college and am unsure of which laptop to get. I would need to run SolidWorks on it as well as MatLab. I've heard good things about the older version of this with the i5 and am wondering which one you think would be better between the two? Or if I should go for a different laptop all together. Thank you!

@Lisa big fan of your videos. I have a question for you, do u believe I should expect and wait for a surface book 2 to come out any time soon? I have decided to buy surface book but skeptical what if they launch the new model in 2 to 3 months.

I'm to the point now where I can use MacOS or Windows with zero issues. Will opt for this over the Mac as my next daily driver because if I'm gonna carry something, I might as well be able to play all my games even if I have to turn the settings down. I don't think the extra minutes rendering video in a MacOS optimized environment will sway me.

Hey Lisa, I wanted to know is the Surface Book i5 with the dedicated graphics is still worth it. What about the Dell XPS 13 with the Kaby Lake? I really like the dell, but I don't know if I will like or hate it because I have heard that a lot of people have been having problems with their xps 13, do you think the new ones solve the issues and is a relatively bug free laptop? Or should I go with the Surface book?

Having the processor in the screen half and the GPU in the keyboard half is just such a great idea thermally. Most laptops with a 965M are much heavier 15 inch models. Even without the touchscreen or tablet parts, I hope others start doing this just for the higher allowable GPU TDP.

I love to see you do high end specs of surface book 2!

Always watch you videos, its about time I subscribe. Completely forgot you can do that.

Thanks for that. I do like your presentation and the depth of analysis you provide. Have you had the chance to go on the top end Lenovo 910. I'd like to see a smackdown of the 910 vs Surface Book if possible. I was also considering the X360 until I heard it does not have active pen support (unless it's possible to add it)? When are we going to see quad core hybrids with dedicated graphics? Could they not have given it a decent 10 series graphics card at this price or at least a better 9 series? I find the gap and hinge quite ugly too. When are we going to see quad core hybrids? I'm really not impressed paying £2250 for a duo core. Do you think we will see an update in March? I wish something like the XPS 15, Razer Blade or Alienware R3 was available as a hybrid as I just don't see myself being comfortable using the touch screen for long periods on a traditional laptop.

Hi Lisa, I'm a long time fan, one question: If I just wanted to learn photoshop, should I get the i7 8gb or i7 16gb?

Do the new macbook pro 15inch review please!!! Need to know whether to buy it or something else

Thanks, another really top review.

The driver not found issue has been fixed. The newest nvidia drivers are compatible with the Performance Base

Should I buy this or the xps 15. I plan on doing moderate to heavy use on premiere pro

Another great review!

Hi lisa, which display is good for media consumption, the new/last gen mac book pro, or this:

What a great review! I can't believe what I was just informed of. Except for the crude looking logo and hinge this laptop seems to be the perfect masterpiece! Only if the next SB comes out with improved dGPU and maybe 14'' screen as well as more battery life for the tablet(or the clipboard?), I'm definitely getting it for college. Well done Microsoft.

I was really hoping it had the Kaby lake and 1060 in it, for the price I expect newer hardware but that's just me.

Awesome! Keep up the good work.

Has the SSD been upgraded from the older surface book? What was that read/write speed chart @ 6:13?

Lisa,I see that your model has 312mb write speed. However I saw in another channel it was 1200mb.He was using i7,16GB,1TB model. Do you think the write speed of the ssd used in surface book performance base depends on the size of it? ssd write speed is a deciding factor for me if I want to spend big bucks :) thanks in advance

Hello lisa, can you please do a review on the new hp stream?

Lisa have to watch the whole Video before I write in comment's sometimes I like what I see right from the beginning. I have to say very impressed not are you very smart a pleasure to watch your Video's I get a surprise because you know what you are saying and you take awesome pic's,but then you surprise me with another Talent like being a Artist very nice and very impressed Love your Video's Deb.P.S.Now I know why you love the Note's waiting for the 8 😉

Still wondering if this can compare with my 2014 MacBook Pro

Hi Lisa, if i'm primarily wanting to get the surface book to use with Office suite of apps (excel and ppt heavy) and to use the surface pen to take notes, would last year's i5 model be enough or would you recommend getting an i7 version of surface book?

I love Lisa's reviews! I have a 2012 Macbook Pro 15 but I am not sure the Surfacebook could replace it. I video edit does anyone think this would be a good alternative? The dual core vs the quad core in my 15 does concern me.

Hi, can you do a compare with the Porsche Design Book One? cheers!

I did think about the surface book a year ago. After much delay I did get a thinkpad p50 - quite a brick compared to the surface. But when you're edging towards performance plus all the ports to support it, something closer to a workstation suits me better than putting portability first. Plus this new Book is priced well into hi-end workstation territory. And the style/compactness goals are why the new macbook pros lose - Apple should at least have created its own type of 'performance base' that maybe slotted into a usbc/tbolt port. Anyway, surface book 4 or 5 when intel come out with quad core or better 'ultrabook' class cpus plus a lot more than 16GB ram might be attractive to me. Excellent review, as ever!

I would like to buy the surface book, however I can't decide which edition (i5 with/without D-GPU or i7) Can somebody tell me a bit about the differences in battery life between the three editions? Obviously the i5 model without the gpu wins this, but how big is the difference?

would this be worth the purchase now? or will it be out of date?

mam can u suggest some laptops which can perform CAD rendering . Basically very good engineering laptops which can perform software rendering.

Very good review. Everything about the Microsoft Surface Book impressed me such as the pen and ports, SD Card slot. Much more versatile and user friendly than the Macbook Pro. Apple have lost me on that one.

I want to buy a tablet-laptop hybrid. But I cant make up my mind between surface pro 4 (256 GB, i5, 8GB) and surface book (128 GB, i5, 8GB). Both are under $1300. I don't want to shell out a premium amount of $2000 as I won't be doing video editing or gaming on it. Mainly typing document and reading pdf and some other office work. I just feel like the 128 GB on the Book is very tight, but if I get a 256 GB pro 4, will I be sacrificing performance and laptop like productivity?

would like one of these

what would have been great is if you could combine the surface pro and book together, as in purchase the performance base for surface pro. so you can have the best of both worlds.

Wonder if power base would work for original screen?

You said that this laptop had only the 6th gen core, but would it actually make huge difference in programs like photoshop?

When do the review MBP with touch bar come in?

Hi Lisa, sorry for cross posting! But can you please do a smackdown of msb with hp spectre 15"? Thank you in advance!

Can we use autodesk maya on surface book performance base, if yes can you make a video ??

I was hoping they'd just turn it into a regular laptop. That hinge gets me

Does the surface dial integrate well with Autodesk software?

Awesome review! Thanks! Just ordered the dell xps 15, not sure if im having second thoughts. The surface book is beautiful.

Worth buying i7 with performance base brand new in 2020?

Are they coming out with a 15 inch quad core surface book

The nvidia drivers install and work just fine with my last year surface book. Guess it will just be a matter of time until the standard drivers also work for the performance base.

could you review the dell inspiron 17 7650

What is the best workstation laptop with quadro?

I had a skylake cpu running windows a week after skylake came out. Granted it wasn't a surface book, but it was a windows 10 pc with a skylake cpu, but it never gave me any problems

I'm really worried about that hinge and the tablet attachment in the long run...

Man, this has always been what i've wanted. A laptop that can game and has pen support to draw on the screen. Got tired of drawing off to the side lololol. Just wanted to ask if you will be reviewing the Asus Transfomer 3 pro? It's pretty much a surface copycat lol but it does have a thunderbolt 3 port for that external GPU that Asus has and that seems very tempting to be able to upgrade the gpu down the line. It would be great to know how the pen(i believe it's an N-trig like the surface) and if the processor would throttle back under load.

Can you edit 4k native videos of my premiere, in real time?

What is the name of the drawing program you were using Lisa?

I just got a maxed out surface performance base laptop and I love it! Upgraded from my 2012 MacBook Pro 13 inch. I was so disappointed with the latest apple offerings. Yes, this is 2x the amount of a new 13 inch, but it offers so many more USEFUL features *ahem* (no touchbar) and is a wonderful tablet as well. Who knows, maybe windows or google will win me over with a smartphone better than my iPhone soon enough. Step it up apple.

i ordred the 15in macbook pro touchbar rumor is nov 16th apple is getting them in stores best buy said thats there relase date

I know this is definitely not a right place, but...May you give me some advice whether I should choose SP3 i5 or SP4 m3 as my new convertible?

Do a review for the razer blade GTX 1060!!!

The only thing I want to know is that if this i7 version's screen is curved. Because I had an old version and its screen is curved.

Lisa, when are you gonna do a smackdown between the new spectre x360 and the new xps 13?

Hi, is the new performance base i7 QUAD CORE OR Dual core please?

This is the holy grail of tablets ... This is what every PC gamer have been waiting for ... I have to have it.

Surfacebook or Lenovo Yoga X1?

Make a review for Lenovo Yoga 910 please ..

Alot of people are complaining about a dual core processor and while I am a bit upset with Microsoft for not including a version with a quad core CPU, the price of this thing is justified because of who its geared for and its usage case. This thing is geared towards college students, most of which wont be doing any major programming; which is the only real reason why you need a computer with a quad core processor to begin with. This thing is mainly to be used in a classroom, and for its price the versatility that it comes with is pretty remarkable. I have one, and I have no need for any physical notebooks or textbooks for the most part. I have a tablet that I can take with me into the lab whenever I'm conducting an experiment and do my homework on, and for the type of programming that I'm doing in school. I have a way of scanning any paper documents and can annotate any of the readings that I need to have class and take pictures of my experiments. I can even do art on this thing, and edit 1080p videos. This thing has unparalleled versatility. It does absolutely fine. Lol, those of you complaining that its a dual core CPU need to realize this thing wasn't made for you. The price is high because of who it is aimed towards. With this new performance base, now those engineering students who have to use CAD can a better experience. I'm pretty damn satisfied with my purchase, but then again I'm a college student. If you are not a student, artist, or video editor and are a programmer who regularly works in C++ or C (which many of you are hinting that you are but I doubt you do) or compiles a bunch of simulations, then this computer isn't for you.

Can u please give me the link to buy this laptop

Just a quick question: Is my old clipboard compatible with the new performance base?

Can you please review the Asus transformer 3 pro.

Still don't understand why a gamer would want this. That's like wanting a MacBook for gaming, it just wasn't built for it so why bother?

Great review! My pockets aren't that deep so it's between the hp spectre or surface pro 4.

Ahh can't decide if I want to jump on this now or wait for the Surface Book 2 D: I really wish that this had USB type-c or Thunderbolt 3.

Why dose nobody make a daily workflow preview? Why gaming on this thing? The clipboard seems to have no use? The pencil und touch are still not good working?

I'm a 3ds max user would this run smoothly and have long battery life, since 3ds max is a heavy program?

Is this Surface Book overkill for professional editorial design in magazines and books using InDesign and Lightroom?

Can you please install a CGI+CAD workflow related software and see how they run? it'll really help many of us in the design world. For example you could install 3dsMax and Photoshop, and say AutoCAD and see how they all run when open together with complex models and large photos. If it can run those things smoothly together, with some complex 3d model in 3dsMax, then Microsoft just got itself 1000s of new costumers, if no, well, it's just a in-between thing for now.

Why is the write speed so slow? only 3xx?

Does anyone know if the sleep/ wake issues on the surface book have been fixed? If they have I'd buy one in a heartbeat...

I'm surprised you haven't done any reviews on gigabytes laptops. I Just brought the p57w v6. It has the new 10 series and in my opinion for the gear inside was the best i could get for my money. Yes the build quality is average, but i get a 2year warranty and to be honest how long are people holding on to laptops now these days. Could not see myself justifying $700 NZD more for a similar spec msi

Should I get a high end surface pro 4 or this? And when you take out the display and put it back facing the other direction, does it use the battery and GPU of the base?

they should sell the base separate from the tablet too, i already have the surface book and would like to upgrade the GPU.

i thought i was a quad core. It is way too expensive for a dual core and 8gb of ram. i mean apple is expensive but this is ridiculous

It looks like the screen is more reflective than the mac, doesn'it it?

I guess they aren't using kaby lake to avoid bugs from new architectures

Those drawing skills though... omg.

do you think this is still a good laptop in 2020