On Tuesday, Microsoft hosted an event filled with new hardware and updates from the new Surface Pro to new Limited Edition Xbox models. One of these new products completely contradicts with what Microsoft has previously said about the laptop, the Surface Book. Last year, with the launch of the larger and more versatile Surface Pro 3, Microsoft pitched it as “the laptop to replace your laptop.” This year, Microsoft did launch the updated and slightly larger Surface Pro 4 but also the Surface Book laptop.

A laptop, designed by Microsoft

Now personally this seems so intriguing, I have written a lengthy post on my opinion on Windows 10 and the comeback of Microsoft, but I mostly use everything Apple and every version of Windows has just annoyed me, this is the other end of the spectrum with Windows 10, but more on that in my post. The Surface Book is the first laptop designed by Microsoft in house and boy does it give the MacBook Pro a run for it’s money and Microsoft compared the two on stage.

It features the latest 6th generation Intel Core processors, 16GB DDR5 RAM and a 12-hour battery. The screen is a 13.5-inch display running at 267ppi.

The actual design of the Surface Book kind of makes the base unit a upgraded version of the usual covers for the Surface Pro 4, but it actually houses NVIDIA graphics and extra ports. So you can take the screen off the keyboard and then it becomes a tablet, like the regular surface, but if you want extra power, better keyboard, more ports and the trackpad – you can dock it in the keyboard. One gripe that people had with the Surface is that it cant stand up on your laptop very well, but the Surface Book seems to be capable of doing that.

Pricing and availability

The Surface Book will be available for purchase on October 26th and pre-orders started yesterday. For 128GB SSD, 8GB RAM, Intel Core i5 and Intel HD Graphics it comes in at $1,499. For 512GB SSD, 16GB RAM, Intel Core i7 and NVIDIA GPU it comes in at $2,699.