Microsoft Surface Book review

Update: Microsoft has revealed the future of the Windows 10 Insider Preview Program. Read on into "Recent developments" to find out more!

In its short tenure as a hardware maker, Microsoft has become the defacto trailblazer for Windows-running devices. It all started with the lofty promise that its Surface tablet could replace your laptop. We were skeptical about it three years ago, but after the Surface Pro 3, Microsoft nearly perfected the formula and showed veteran computer manufacturers how hybrids should be made.

• Buy Microsoft Surface Book (128GB) at Amazon for $1349.00

Now, Microsoft introduces the Surface Book as the "ultimate laptop." Like the Surface tablets before it, this laptop takes a unique spin on the notebook format that's been around for over 40 years. Between the 3:2 aspect ratio, 13.5-inch screen and its practically-trademarked "dynamic fulcrum" hinge, there isn't any machine on the planet like the Surface Book – and then, with the touch of a button and a gentle tug, it becomes a tablet.

It all sounds like an amazing idea on paper, and with the added "holy shit, Microsoft made a laptop" factor, the Surface Book sounds like a thoroughly amazing device. Let's see just how well Redmond made good on the hype.

Recent developments

After being deemed notorious for bugs by the press, Microsoft has finally resolved the mishmash of issues plaguing the Surface Book last year, bringing it that much closer to perfection.

In the Spring, Microsoft issued a handful of firmware updates for the Surface Book addressing frozen cameras, failure waking up from sleep mode, unresponsive touchscreens and more. While the "Sleep of Death" still remained, the problem was traced back to a Windows Hello defect in June promptly followed by yet another pair of updates.

What's more, even with the Windows 10 Anniversary Update on the way, Microsoft has confirmed the operating system will continue to see improvement by way of its Insider Preview Program.

If you haven't jumped on the Surface Book hype train already, it seems like now is a better time than ever to do just that. Let's see what you would have to look forward to, shall we?

Design

If a tear in the space-time continuum were to suddenly rip open, two things would fall out: the Terminator and then the Surface Book quickly tumbling to the Earth behind it. From the snake-like hinge, the flat design and even down to the washed-out silver color of this laptop, everything about it just seems like it came from the future.

Milled from two solid blocks of magnesium, the Surface Book feels sturdy and has a most minimalistic style unto its own.

From keyboard deck to the palm rests, the entire interior of this laptop is one flat surface of metal, save for the large space reserved for the glass touchpad. Similarly, the screen lid is made of one uninterrupted slate of magnesium, with its only extra flourishes being a mirror-finished Windows logo in the center and a rear-facing camera.

Along the chiseled sides, you'll find two flat edges that start from the top of the display and terminate at the tip of the palm rest. That's not the only seamless transition.

Unlike most other convertible devices, the screen and base sections share nearly the same thickness and weight. Without the foreknowledge that the display can actually detach, the Surface Book looks like one continuous device, thanks to the hinge.

Mind the gap

At the midpoint of the Surface Book, there's a piece of connective tissue that Microsoft calls the dynamic fulcrum hinge. On top of simply gluing the screen and keyboard base together, it's this key piece that makes the whole device work.

Rather than folding flatly, the hinge basically coils into itself, leaving a noticeable gap between the screen and keyboard when the unit is closed. When opened, this same part rolls out and actually extends the base of the laptop, which in turn helps extend the support base for the tablet portion of the Surface Book (called the Clipboard).

While a traditional notebook display might weigh half a pound at most, the top section of the Surface Book weighs 1.6-pounds, because it contains all the necessary parts to act as a standalone tablet. As such, the hinge has been reinforced and contains extra mechanisms, not unlike the Lenovo Yoga 900's watchband-style hinge to keep it in place.

Surface Book is solid as a rock, and you can even pick up it by the display and shake it about without worrying about the whole thing falling apart. On a flat surface, the screen is held steady in place and even stays put when you have it in your lap.

The only times the screen wobbles are when I'm poking at it with my finger or the Surface pen, but that really comes with trying to operate a touchscreen on any laptop.

And to address the concerns of the gap left in the middle of the system. Yes, there is a substantial open space in the middle of the system when it's closed. No, dust and other bits of nasty will not slip into the interior anymore than with a standard laptop, unless you're a particularly messy person. After a week of using the Surface Book religiously, I can run my finger against the inside edge of the hinge and not find a single speck of dust.

Another plus side of having a laptop that doesn't close completely flush is you'll never find any oily outlines of the keyboard imprinted on the screen. It's a design element that also eliminates the need to seat the keyboard into a recessed area. Instead, the keys on this laptop sit flush with the keyboard deck.

The keyboard itself offers a splendid 1.6mm of key travel that caps off with a satisfying thwack when you bottom out the keys. The trackpad is equally as enjoyable, with it's glass laminated finish. For the first time ever, I found myself interested in using the three-finger multi-gestures to rotate through windows and reveal the desktop.

While this is a tiny element of the Surface Book, few – if any – other Windows notebooks on the market today offer such a tight tracking experience.

Mobilizing the desktop

The Surface Book's other signature trick is the screen can pop off the base with just the tap of a button. Technically, Microsoft is coming late to the 2-in-1 laptop game with various devices being able to do the same, including Acer's Switch family, Toshiba's Click notebooks, some HP devices and the list goes on.

However, no one has made a system as seamless as the Surface Book.

Undocking and attaching the Clipboard is nearly as seamless as the Surface Book's design. After either pressing the eject button on the keyboard or the virtual button in the taskbar, the screen will blink off for a second and then notify you it's safe to detach the screen with one quick tug.

It's fast and simple, however, the timing takes a little getting used to. After you get the prompt to detach the screen, you have to wait for about half a second before you can actually lift the display off its base.

Another unique feature to this notebook is it's the first to integrate a discrete graphics processor, or GPU, into a hybrid system. Tucked underneath the keyboard is a customized Nvidia GeForce GPU that makes this laptop just a bit more capable with media production and gaming.

We've seen this sort of GPU docking technology before in machines like theMSI GS30 Shadow with GamingDock and Alienware's GPU Amplifier solution. Microsoft has improved upon dockable graphics, as the Surface Book just needs a short moment to disengage the extra parts, whereas both the Alienware and MSI solutions require the laptop to reboot completely.

It's a neat feature that allows me to quickly show a friend something cool or when I want to read a digital comic book without having to lug the whole laptop around. But it didn't really click with me until I realized how easily it lets me bring my entire PC to another place without having to disconnect my external monitor, keyboard, mouse, Xbox controller and all my other peripherals at home

It's the coolest mechanic since the saucer separation of the Enterprise-D. What's more, it leaves open a door to expandability. Because the Clipboard iscompatible with all Surface Book keyboard bases, not just the one it shipped with, Microsoft could theoretically come out with future upgrades could be done through new bases. (Or maybe even a desktop rig that interfaces with the display? We can dream.)

Gabe Carey also contributed to this review

Microsoft Surface Pro 4 review

There's no doubt about it, the Surface Pro 3 was wildly successful, even going as far as to inspire third parties to make their own 2-in-1s in a similar vein. It should come as no surprise then that when the next iteration rolled around, it delivered only slight refinements over its predecessor. And that isn't necessarily a bad thing.

The slimmer form factor and increased display size do wonders for the Surface Pro 4. Even the Type Cover has seen subtle changes. While it may not seem like much on the surface (ha), Microsoft Devices team lead Panos Panay and his crew have crafted with the Pro 4 a sort of love letter to their long-time supporters who've taken the time to issue feedback along the way.

• Buy Microsoft Surface Pro 4 (128GB) at Amazon for $849.00

The Surface Pro 4 is evidence that Microsoft is listening, and its response is stellar.

Recent developments

Despite creating a top-end tablet, not all has been sunny for Microsoft and its fans as of late. However, the firm has made long strides in turning the corner recently.

Following a rocky start to 2016 namely involving faulty power management, Microsoft released myriad patches (including one said to boost battery life) leading into the summer that mostly served as resolutions. The 'Sleep of Death' for instance caused many Surface Pro 4 units to power off entirely when put into sleep mode while other users encountered display orientation errors.

• Size 'em up: iPad Pro 9.7 vs Surface Pro 4

We can only hope that with the Anniversary Update imminent, which introduces touch-centric features like Windows Ink, major technical barriers like this can be avoided altogether. Fortunately, though, Microsoft has confirmed that Windows 10 will continue to improve even after this major overhaul.

In that case, July can't come soon enough, unless you plan on waiting until then to make the jump from Windows 7 or 8.1.

Finally, let's discuss Microsoft's winning hardware design already, shall we?

Design and display

Perhaps the most obvious way in which this year's Surface Pro model is iterative is its looks. The same all-magnesium, unibody casing is still here, though the "Surface" logo has been replaced in favor of Microsoft's new logo in chrome.

Microsoft managed to up the device's screen size by a few hairs, from the 2014 model's straight 12 inches to this year's 12.3 inches, without affecting its footprint at all. That is, unless you count the Redmond firm shaving over half a millimeter off of its thickness, from 9.1mm to 8.4mm this year – all while maintaining support for full-fat mobile processors.

How did they do it?

For one, Microsoft's product team decided it was time the capacitive Windows button said goodbye, especially with Windows 10 providing easy access to the Start menu, thus the extra room for that three tenths of an inch.

Secondly, the team managed to bring the display's optical stack – the series of sensors, diodes and pixels beneath the glass – even closer to the glass this time around, a key point of Microsoft's trademarked PixelSense screen technology. This helped the firm bring the slate's thickness down by half a millimeter.

The idea here is to bring the sensor elements of the touchscreen as close to your finger or Surface Pen as possible, and it works awfully well. The display is incredibly responsive to touch, and the further sensitivity it brings to the stylus experience is huge. In tandem with the new Surface Pen, the screen detects 1,024 levels of pressure, even during a single stroke.

Now, let's talk pixels. Even though it really didn't have to, Microsoft went and boosted the Surface Pro's resolution from 2,160 x 1,440 (216 ppi, or pixels per inch) in the old model to 2,736 x 1,824. That makes for a huge 267 ppi put forth by the Surface Pro 4, which blows its main rival, the MacBook Air (128 ppi for the 13-inch), out of the water and narrowly edges out Apple's new, 12.9-inchiPad Pro at 264 ppi.

But more importantly, the new screen proves to be far more luminous and more color accurate than the Surface Pro 3 display at all brightness levels, as you can clearly see. That's bound to be a key selling point for creative folks, namely artists and designers that have yet to leave the Wacom tablet and calibrated monitor combo behind.

For the rest of us, it simply means more realistic-looking movies and more vibrant photos and games. However, considering Microsoft kept to its rare 3:2 aspect ratio to best emulate the notepad experience for the stylus users, you'll see even thicker black bars sandwiching your favorite films in 16:9 – and even more so for those in 21:9, or widescreen format.

It's a fair concern for folks that watch plenty of movies and TV on a tablet. But fear not, workers, for you're the very reason Microsoft made this decision. The 3:2 aspect ratio is wider and shorter than 4:3, but taller and slightly more narrow than 16:9, the most common aspect ratio for TV and desktop (and laptop) screens today. The result is a middle ground between the two that is ideal for both photo and design or drafting work, wherein 3:2 is much more common, as well as getting computational work done, given the extra vertical space.

Surface Pen and Type Cover

To best make use of that extra space, Microsoft has given its Surface Pen and Type Cover accessories some serious upgrades. In addition to the aforementioned 1,024 levels of pressure sensitivity, the new-and-included Surface Pen is redesigned to feel more like a pencil. The stylus now has one flat side, as if a Number 2 pencil had all but two of its angles rounded off.

The reason for this is two fold. For one, this stylus is even more comfortable to hold than the last as a result – your index finger rests just above the main function button on the flat end. Secondly, this surface (no pun intended) is coated with thin, powerful strip magnets that allow it to cling onto the tablet's left side. The age of stylus loops is over.

The Pen also sports a new, and actually functional, eraser button up top that not only does what it says on the tin, but offers up three unique use cases. In addition to opening OneNote with a single press, the button now takes a screenshot and then opens OneNote with a double press. Finally, a long press summons Cortana to answer to your every whim.

Microsoft seems to have expertly weighted the Surface Pen to make it feel not much heavier than your average clickable pen, despite all of the tech inside. Plus, now that Microsoft offers additional pen tips right out of the box only sweetens the pot.

Coupled with Microsoft's PixelSense display, the duo makes for the best stylus experience I've had on a tablet yet for as little as I'm wont to use it. Now, I'm no artist or designer, but between the superb palm detection and the accuracy and nuance of the Pen tracking, the Surface Pro 4 looks to have Microsoft's best shot at luring in that crowd yet.

Sorry, artsy folk, but these improvements almost pale in comparison with the Redmond firm's new-and-still-not-included Type Cover. This time around, Microsoft managed to greatly widen the spacing between the keys for a chiclet-style approach. What this does is make keeping track of which keys your fingers are on by feel much easier, and it allows for each key to be individually backlit.

The new Type Cover is also slightly thicker and far more rigid than before, allowing for deeper key travel and punchier feedback – not to mention a sturdier, quieter surface to type on – that brings it so much closer to the true laptop keyboard. Panay's team also managed to widen the touchpad and coat it in glass rather than plastic.

These two huge improvements make a world of difference in answering the question of whether Microsoft's tablet can replace your laptop. The Surface Pro 3's keyboard cover was excruciatingly close to honestly providing a laptop-level typing experience. Now, the new Type Cover has all but closed that gap.

Microsoft upgraded the Surface Pro 4's Type Cover with biometric functionality. The Surface Pro 4 Type Cover with Fingerprint ID has gone on sale in the US and Australia at a cost of £135 (around $192 or AUS$258). The new keyboard cover, which is only available in black, uses Windows Hello to login to the Surface with a fingertip press. The scanner can also authorise app purchases from the Windows Store, and because the keyboard is backwards compatible, it can be used with the Surface Pro 3 too.

Kane Fulton and Gabe Carey have also contributed to this review

Samsung Galaxy TabPro S review

Samsung has played in the tablet space for a long time and even longer in the world of Windows laptops. Now, with the Galaxy TabPro S, the South Korean electronics giant has introduced a Surface Pro 4 rival that also aims to take down the iPad Pro with the full-fat power of Windows 10.

The 12-inch slate is insanely thin and features an extremely vibrant, Super AMOLED display that beats the pants off of almost every Windows device before it. That said, with only an Intel Core m series processor and limited memory, it lags behind some of the best Windows tablets on the market, like the HP Spectre x360

Design

There's no overstating how incredibly thin this tablet it is. Measuring just 0.25 inches (0.63cm) thick, the TabPro S is thinner than Surface Pro 4 by a substantial margin, and by a smaller measure, the iPad Pro.

• Buy Samsung TabPro S (32GB) at Amazon for $409.89

It would be easy to mistake the TabPro S for an Android tablet, as it's almost as thin as the Samsung Galaxy Tab S2. It bares more than a striking resemblance, too, with a similar shape and minimalistic design down to the small camera hump on the back.

Of course, the major difference is the TabPro S is running with a headier CPU and Windows 10 where you might have expected Android to be.

This Windows tablet also, sadly, is not built with the same magnesium unibody design as the Tab S2. Instead, the TabPro S features a magnesium frame and plastic back. Materials aside, the 12-inch slate feels sturdy and light enough to hold upright for hours on end.

The bezels are a little large by today's standards, especially with those on the side being nearly an inch thick. However, it's forgivable, since these little areas help to actually hold the tablet without triggering the touchscreen..

Weak bonds

While the TabPro S is an impressively thin and beautifully constructed Windows tablet, the included keyboard base is too flimsy to keep this 12-inch tablet standing.

Like most tablet covers, this folding keyboard folio sticks onto the Samsung's tablet using magnets built into both the case's sides as well as a magnetic anchor above the keyboard.

On one end, a pliable, segmented panel covers the back portion of the tablet and kicks out to extend the base. The bottom of the tablet, meanwhile, clips into a tilting, magnetic strip above the keyboard to hold it either a 115- or 155-degree standing position.

Tilting the screen between these two angles is annoying, as you need to gingerly separate the tablet from parts of the magnetic case while preventing the whole thing from coming apart. No matter how careful you are, you'll quickly realize the thin back cover isn't strong enough to hold the tablet in place.

The rear cover often slips out of alignment easily, causing the tablet to tumble onto its back, and on more than one occasion I had to catch it before crashing onto the floor. You can also forget about using the keyboard while lying back, as the tablet easily peels forward and falls flat on its face.

While these magnets are strong enough to support 10-inch Android tablets, with a larger 12-inch device that's not necessarily the case. Specifically with the TabPro S, it's more like cradling a baby who can't keep its head up.

The ultimate downfall of this case is you simply can't just flip the keyboard behind the screen to use it as a Windows tablet. Doing so will cause the device to fall asleep, thanks to a magnet built into the lowest panel segment covering the back of the tablet.

While you can flick the device back on, the NFC tag built into the left side of the keyboard rubs against the back of the slate. This ends up introducing another problem of triggering a constant stream of connection requests.

It seems like a mistake in design, and it means you'll have to completely detach and toss the keyboard base aside whenever you want to use the TabPro S as a tablet.

A tablet-class keyboard in a 2-in-1 world

The keyboard itself feels surprisingly spacious both in the size of the individual keys and how they span towards the edges of the device. That said, it's missing a few more media shortcuts than I would like, the keyboard follows a traditional layout, making it easy for anyone to pick up.

Ultimately though, the keyboard feels behind the times, as it lays completely flat on whatever surface you put it on. Many 2-in-1 devices have since adopted attachable keyboards that sit at a slight incline for a more comfortable typing position. It doesn't help that the keyboard looks like the spitting image of the OG Surface Pro Type Cover.

The plastic trackpad is surprisingly decent, offering precise mouse movements and scrolling, though, I wish it were just a tiny bit bigger. You'll also have to be wary of oily prints rubbing onto the keys and permanent imprints of your wrists appearing on the rubber palm rests.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S review

Update: Android 5.0 Lollipop has been making waves with the 'Material Design' UI overhaul. When will Lollipop make its way to the Samsung Galaxy Tab S? Find out here.

If you're on the fence between the Apple iPad Air and the Samsung Galaxy Tab S, we've built an in depth feature comparing every little detail just for you. Check that out right here.

• Buy Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 (16GB) at Amazon for $296.50

Plus with price drops and new competitors we've updated our review to reflect the changes in the market.

The Galaxy Tab S 8.4 and 10.5 are Samsung's latest flagship slates, built to show off the very best of the company's hardware and software prowess.

They're designed as upgrades to the Tab Pros we saw earlier this year, with some spec bumps, a slightly evolved look and, of course, different screen sizes, just in case you were foolishly expecting Samsung to follow any kind of pattern as far as display dimensions are concerned.

Apart from the screen sizes there's very little difference between the Tab S models, so this review combines the two tablets into one. I'll talk primarily about the 8.4-inch model and include additional observations about the 10.5-inch version where necessary.

It's a brutal battle down at the budget end of the tablet market — one that Apple refuses to get involved in — but here we're very much at the premium end of the scale. The Galaxy Tab S devices have been built to go toe-to-toe with Apple's slates, a brave and perhaps foolhardy undertaking.

First impressions are good, though: these devices feel like they're made by a company that has perfected its art. Both models have a 2560 x 1600 pixel WQXGA Super AMOLED screen, which works out at 287 pixels-per-inch on the larger model and 360ppi on the smaller one.

The internals are identical, comprising 3GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, an 8MP rear camera and 2.1MP front-facing camera. The Samsung Exynos 5 Octa CPU inside these tablets combines 1.9 and 1.3GHz quad-core processors with the faster taking over from the slower when required at the expense of some battery life.

Those are some eye-popping specs, and still better than the iPad Air 2 which now packs 2GB rather than 1, or the 2013 Nexus 7 which offers a resolution of just 323ppi on its 7-inch screen. There's much more to a device than raw specs of course, but on paper at least Samsung has produced a true champion.

The pricing of these slates matches Apple's iPad line - and even the new models. The Wi-Fi Tab S 8.4-inch will set you back £319 (US$399.99, AU$479.00) the same as the 16GB Wi-Fi iPad mini 3 and the Wi-Fi Tab S 10.5-inch comes in at £399 (US$499.99, AU$599.00) the same as the 16GB Wi-Fi iPad Air 2.

Though if you shop around you can find each of Samsung's slates somewhat cheaper now, with prices more akin to the original iPad Air and iPad mini 2, which now start at £319 / $399 / AU$499 and £239 / $299 / AU$369 respectively.

3G/4G versions of the tablets that can access mobile networks with a SIM card are also available, as are 32GB models.

Aside from the iPads, the Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact and the Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet, the Galaxy Tab S doesn't have much competition. You could put it up against the likes of the Nexus 9, but really with most other Android tablets going for less powerful innards and lower prices, Samsung has the premium end largely to itself. Has it produced an iPad rival that Android users can be proud of?

Key features

Samsung has never been one to shy away from packing in as many bells and whistles as it can, and the Tab S is no exception. Like the Galaxy S5, the tablet boasts a fingerprint scanner that you may or may not prefer to a PIN code.

It recognised my print every time, but because you need to swipe the home button rather than just put your finger on it, the process can be fiddly - especially the larger tablet, which meant some precise holding to make the function work.

Multi-faceted

There's a multi window feature for multi-tasking which works as advertised, letting you chat while browsing the web or control your music while poring over Google Maps and so on.

It's of more use on the larger tablet and at this stage multi-tasking on a tablet feels kind of superfluous — once you get a keyboard up on screen as well everything starts to get really cluttered.

Tablets are built for single-tasking and there doesn't seem to be any real need to try and turn them into fully fledged computers, but if you think you're going to find the feature useful then by all means power it up.

The way that Samsung has implemented it works fairly well and managing open windows and apps is straightforward. However, only the main native apps and a few extras such as Facebook and Evernote support it, so you can't go multi-tasking crazy.

Phone and tablet together

Another Samsung extra is SideSync, enabling you to link a phone with your tablet — you can then send and receive voice calls, transfer data, send texts and more.

Unfortunately, it only works with a few Samsung phones (the S5, the S4 and theGalaxy Note 3) which limits its appeal. Like Multi Window, it feels like a niche feature created just to show off rather than to meet any particular need, but to some it will be a great innovation.

There are 30 different gifts bundled with the Tab S, covering subscriptions to sites like the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal to an in-flight Wi-Fi deal with Gogo and a free game or two.

None of them are particularly life-changing but they might sweeten the deal if you're sitting on the fence about picking up one of these tablets.