
Microsoft launches Surface Book 3 with new Nvidia GPU options - naves
https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/6/21247907/microsoft-surface-book-3-specs-price-release-date
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johnchristopher
> It’s disappointing to not see any design tweaks

Why ? So that manufacturers feel they have to change something, anything, to
satisfy spec-only reviewers ? And then we end up with an apple keyboard fiasco
?

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andylei
design tweaks like more than 1 usb-c port

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johnchristopher
While it's a good point I wouldn't call it a design tweak but an hardware
improvement ^^.

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yardie
For this price and the target market why are they not including TB3 and more
ports? They are committed to keeping their users on their poorly designed dock
connector when they are is a much better industry standard connector out
there.

~~~
akadruid1
I love my SB1 although it's far from perfect. The dock connector does grow on
you. Unlike USB-C, when someone trips over your cable the dock connector pulls
free. The design of the SB1 means you can charge the tablet or keyboard
independently with the same connector. And the $300 dock, while expensive, is
better than any USB-C dock I've seen at providing a clutter-free desk with
single attachment.

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valine
“Run Linux on Windows”

Really fascinating seeing this in an official Microsoft ad.

~~~
julesallen
Anybody got any day-to-day practical stories of how this Linux layer generally
is? I have the top tier Pixelbook bought on the promise of integrated Linux on
secure hardware.

In reality it's crap, no FUSE, some GUI programs simply don't run, upgrades
can trash your install, sporadic development attention from Google, and my
2015 MBP is an order of magnitude faster (wish I'd sprung for the 16Gb version
though).

The new MBP without a touchbar would be a great replacement but the Book 3 has
caught my attention. Love to hear stories from Mac->Windows refugees.

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fuzzy2
Hm, depends on what you need. WSL1 translates syscalls to NT, it's not a real
Linux kernel, so probably no FUSE. Performance is good in general, but it's
still NTFS underneath. I use it for SSH and FileZilla, with Debian. No
breakage so far, even going from Debian 9 to 10.

WSL2 is basically a Linux VM on Hyper-V with some glue involved. It should be
possible to make FUSE work there. I haven't really tried WSL2 yet.

You'll have to bring your own X server. I use VcXsrv.

~~~
colejohnson66
So WSL1 was like a reverse Wine?

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fuzzy2
Yes, I think that’s a valid way to put it. “is”, though. Because WSL2 is so
different, WSL1 will stay, for the time being. You can use both side-by-side.

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zitterbewegung
The most striking issue is that Thunderbolt 3 isn't available for this
refresh. Even stranger is that the 15' doesn't have Wifi6 either (because it
uses a AMD CPU)?

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binarycrusader
Both the 13” and 15” have WiFi6:

 _Wi-Fi 6: 802.11ax compatible

Bluetooth Wireless 5.0 technology

Xbox Wireless built-in (15” only)4_

[https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/surface-
book-3/8xbw9g3z71f...](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/surface-
book-3/8xbw9g3z71f1)

Where do you see otherwise? You’re talking about the Surface Book 3 right?
Which is also Intel only currently.

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sylens
I always look at the Surface Book and want it to be my next laptop, but I feel
like it is a jack of all trades that doesn't really excel in any one area -
and therefore, I have a hard time justifying it over other machines.

Most powerful Surface ever? Sure, but the Macbook Pro 16" can give me double
the cores at a similar pricepoint.

Gaming-class GPU? Yeah, but if I wanted a gaming laptop I'd probably want
something with an RTX card in it. And if I didn't care about form factor, I'd
build a desktop.

Detachable tablet? Interesting idea, but this feels highly impractical with
the 15" version, which is the model I would get for maximum performance.

I think if I was a college student, this would be a fantastic device. A little
bit of everything and the ability to type notes in OneNote or handwrite them
when necessary. But as my daily driver for productivity, I think there are
better options at a similar price point.

~~~
filoleg
I used the original Surface Book (13in) as a college student for a year, and I
think you are spot-on.

For me, as a student, it was a beautiful device. For that academic year, my
notes were more impeccable and organized than I could have ever imagined my
notes to be. OneNote is a pleasure to work with. Writing on Surface Book feels
great. Downloading lecture pdfs/powerpoints and highlighting/annotating stuff
on top of them was very useful. The machine ran fast enough for me to actually
write code and use it as a normal machine too, with no limitations. As a daily
driver, it was great.

But all the cons you listed were true as well. My current daily driver is a
newer MBP, but I still eye Surface line all the time, hoping that one day it
will get to the point where I would want to pick it up again as my daily
driver.

~~~
sylens
I think it will take a hardware redesign at this point, which I hope comes
with USB4 that allows them to break dock compatibility as well.

The 15 inch version doesn't need to detach. Just let it flip around like a
ThinkPad X1 Yoga, therefore allowing you to put all of the compute stuff in
the base as well. Go for 8 cores and give me the best mobile video card on the
market and I'll buy one so fast.

~~~
filoleg
Great point about flipping around vs. detaching.

During my year with a surface book, at no point I just detached the tablet and
used it on its own. When I wanted a "tablet" mode, I would usually disconnect
the tablet, turn it around, attach it, and then close. Which essentially flips
it around and puts in the same position as X1 Yoga.

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lux
The Quatro RTX 3000 Max-Q should make these a nice and slim VR-capable laptop
option! Nice change from the heavy bricks we've had to carry around until now.

~~~
robotnikman
Are the Quatro cards suitable for gaming? I've always been under the
impression they tuned or modified more for use in CAD and similar applications

~~~
auxym
My understanding, at least in the past, is that it's the same hardware with
different drivers. The drivers "guarantee" accurate rendering at cost of a bit
of performance (maybe). At one point there were even hacks that allowed you to
install the Quadro (it's quadro btw) drivers on gaming cards.

The extra cost is mainly from getting the cards/drivers certified by every
CAD/CAE software vendor as compatible, and possibly just extracting extra
value from a market perceived as less cost-sensitive (ie, they are probably
paying 10k/year at least just in CAE software licenses).

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pinacarlos90
The lack of thunderbolt 3 on the SB3 makes Dell XPS 13 a better thin&light
option

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rkagerer
The Surface 3 comes with a real NVidia GPU like the GeForce GTX 1650 or 1660
Ti. That's what got my attention (being able to run SolidWorks on a thin and
lightweight machine has some appeal for traveling).

Unless I'm mistaken, Dell's XPS 13 just has CPU integrated graphics (Intel
Iris). So I wouldn't consider it better, unless I limited myself to a desk,
tethered to an external GPU.

I do wish the Surface had other, beefier components available (eg. larger
SSD).

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romwell
_Sigh_ is a traditional laptop smaller than an A4 sheet too much to wish for?

I just want a Surface Go with a decently-sized SSD that _I can hold by the
keyboard_ , and there just doesn't seem to be a machine like that.

(Or a Surface Book that is just a bit smaller)

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tw04
No Ryzen 4 is a major letdown.

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colejohnson66
Probably contracts with Intel that haven’t expired.

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tw04
Then how did they manage to stick a Ryzen 3 in the Surface Laptop?

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claytongulick
FWIW, I own both the SB1 and SB2, and it's been, hands down, the best hardware
I've ever used (and I've been through a lot, including multiple generations of
macs).

Typing this on my SB2, which weighs next to nothing, is capable of good
gaming, has acceptable battery life, and allows me to detach the monitor and
use the pen while in client meetings and marking up docs.

Best all-around machine ever.

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pedalpete
I think the Surface Book design is getting a bit long in the tooth. I don't
think it was ever a winner for style, and the hinge and gap are not only
strange, but also make it feel like a thick machine for such a premium laptop.

I normally love Microsoft hardware design, but the Surface Book is the one
device that stands out as needing a change.

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lynguist
Isn’t the 15W CPU strongly limiting compared to the 28/W45W CPU in Apple’s
lineup?

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lazyjeff
Finally a laptop with a good (1080p) front-facing camera.

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HugoDaniel
will it run linux (directly and not inside windows) ?

(microsoft <3 linux right ?)

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Wohlf
I've used Manjaro and Ubuntu on my Surface Book 1.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/SurfaceLinux/](https://www.reddit.com/r/SurfaceLinux/)

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Der_Einzige
The bezels on this (and macbooks) are still SO HUGE.

Guess I'm gonna keep recommending that my friends buy XPS's until they figure
out that big bezels are ugly.

