Microsoft announces their first ever laptop – Surface Book

Microsoft also announced, it first laptop, the Surface Book. It is more like a 2 in 1 as the screen is detachable from the keyboard and can be used as a standalone tablet. The company claims it to be twice as fast as the Macbook Pro.

Microsoft Surface Book features 13.5-inch PixelSense display with resolution of 3000 x 2000 pixels and 267ppi pixel density. It has Corning Gorilla Glass Protection 4 which is just 0.4mm thick. The Surface Book comes with a choice of sixth-gen Intel Core i5 or Core i7 processors with Intel HD Graphics 520 (Core i5). Users can opt for a dedicated GeForce GPU with GDDR5 video memory (Both Core i5 and Core i7).

Surface Book comes with a choice of 8GB or 16GB RAM and a choice of 128GB, 256GB, 512GB Solid State Drive (SSD). For connectivity there is WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac and Bluetooth 4.0 support. There is a 8-megapixel camera at the rear and the front facing 5-megapixel camera supports Windows Hello face authentication using the camera. It also includes two full-size USB 3.0, full-size SD card reader, Surface Connect, Headset jack and Mini DisplayPort. It offers battery life of 12 hours on a single charge.

The company says that Surface Book has best-in-class key stroke and backlit keys. The trackpad has five-finger multi-touch support while the display has 10-finger multi-touch supports. The Surface Book weighs 1.52kg, including the keyboard which can be detached from the Dynamic Fulcrum Hinge. It is just 7.7mm thick and with the keyboard it is 22.8mm thick.

Microsoft is touting the use of Surface Book's display as a tablet showing off Clipboard functionality. The Surface Book is also compatible with the Surface Pen and Surface docking station as well.

The Surface Book prices start at $1499 for the base model (Core i5, 8GB RAM, 128GB, no SSD) and goes up to $2700 for the expensive model which includes a Core i7 processor, 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD. The pre-orders are now live and shipping starts on October 26.