Microsoft Surface Book and Surface 4 Options for my Next Laptop
Hey Jeff, thanks for the comment.
As you know, I haven’t been a hater in a long time. I am worried about rot & driver issues (especially if I want to play a couple of games), but I’ve used Windows for long periods of time and know I could be productive. Linux? No idea!
I took a quick look at both Surface Book and the pricing scared me off. Well, that and The Wirecutter didn’t list them at the top, and I was drowning in options without that as a guide.
More than anything else, the actual experience of shopping / looking for details on Windows machines was the most frustrating.
Surface Book
I took a look at Surface Books just now:
- The i5 13.5" with 256GB drive is $1699 (Microsoft Store)
- The i7 version is $2099 (Microsoft Store)
Of course, both are also the older 6th gen Intel chips. And, not to be discounted, they are full touchscreen + stylus tablets.
Surface 4
I am super intrigued by this. For me, it’s in the same class as the iPad Pro, but since it’s Windows everywhere, you do have a full professional desktop-class operating system.
In my article I didn’t go down the “can I use an iPad Pro with a keyboard case” route, but Surface is a real option for me I think.
- 12.3" touchscreen, Core i5 with 8GB memory and 256GB drive, $1299
- Core i7 $1599
Same link for both at Microsoft Store.
Considering Microsoft
I definitely would consider buying any of these. A MacBook Air 13" i7/256GB is $1349 and the MacBook Pro 13" TouchBar i5/256GB is $1799.
Neither are completely fair apples to apples comparisons, but they’re close. I am mentally applying a tax to the switch to Windows, so on price alone the MBAir or MBPro are price competitive.
The Surface 4 with the i5 would seem to be the closest for me in use case, (small) size, price, and performance. As a bonus, it really is a tablet.
Thanks for the prompt, now I have this option diagrammed out as well!