Microsoft Surface Book versus Skylake ThinkPads

Just noticed the new Microsoft Surface Book with a 3:2 aspect ratio— http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en-us/devices/surface-book. Anyone getting one of these instead of waiting for Lenovo to design a notebook people actually want?

 

Difficult to make this a "versus" fight, when the Skylake ThinkPads are still 3 months away from launch.

 

Amazing screen! Even bigger than X301 or Macbook. Do Want!

 

Unless Lenovo switches to 3:2 as their standard aspect ratio, the Surface Book has my vote.

 

You know all too well that that won´t happen. So why even bother with the thought then?

Lenovo may be using 3:2, where it is appropriate (Miix 700). But for now, 16:9 is here to stay as the standard, and you know that too.

 

This is the problem—there is a reason Apple uses 16:10 and tends to design great hardware. Only if Lenovo copied this and not the keyboard!

 

I won't be getting any ThinkPad with 16:9. 16:10 is a borderline case, so it would depend on other factors as well. If Lenovo comes to their senses in 10 years or so then great; I'll consider newer ThinkPads again. If they never standardize 3:2 (or anything similar for that matter) then I'll be forced to switch to whoever does offer 3:2. My T61 won't last forever after all.

 

Thats your freedom to do. However, I think you will have trouble to find a mainstream OEM that offers 3:2 as standard/mainstream in most of their notebook lines. And no, the Surface Book is not a "mainstream" device, nor is Microsoft a normal OEM.

3:2 still has to proof that it really does better than 16:9 in the broader Notebook market. As of now, the big three (Dell, HP, Lenovo) are staying with 16:9 for their Notebook lines, even the premium ones (see new Dell XPS models). Most people seem to be happy with high-res 16:9 displays, and I doubt they will be much happier with 3:2, considering it is worse for Multitasking and watching movies.

Hybrid Tablet/Convertible devices are a different case.

 

I totally think there will be some cross shopping between the two. The surface book may be better designed in some ways but still may not be the best in others. Microsoft has been pretty good about cooling and learned from the first 3 surface tablets, but still I think that there is going to be major cooling issues on the SB. Only time will tell but with the lenovo I don't see this as an issue. The GPU in the surface book may not be as good as the 940m that will be in the Yoga and it will have only 1gb of ram where as the yoga will be at least 2gb of ram. (SB has ddr4 vs 3 in the yoga though). Lastly there is the price. The yoga will start at a considerable amount less and as with lenovo, they always have sales so you know the price will drop quite a bit from the original asking price.

 

I replaced my X301 with a Surface 3, as the X7 Atom significantly outperformed the SU9300 in the X301. http://forum.notebookreview.com/thr...01-owners-thread.681991/page-62#post-10012957 Love the 3:2 display. The 2 in 1 designs will re-usher in the 16:10, 3:2 and 4:3 aspect ratio displays. Notebooks may stick with 16:9 but I tend to doubt it. I think they will follow suit, as I suspect that the 2 in 1s will become the better selling devices in the long run. The Surface Book is an amazing device, I just don't know if I need a lot of what it is selling nor do I need the price tag.

 

Too expensive right now.