Hacker News Reader

Comment by Tloewald | Hacker News Reader

It's not really exceptionally portable either. It weighs nearly twice as much as a Macbook.

The 12-inch Macbook you're referring to has a Core M-5Y31 processor, with a normal clock rate of 1.1GHz and up to 2.4GHz turbo (but it won't stay at 2.4GHz long.) It also has no discrete GPU, and the integrated GPU is also significantly slower to maintain thermal and power limits. The highest end Macbook has a slightly higher clock (1.2GHz, 2.6GHz turbo).

The Surface Book competes with the Macbook Pro, and the Core i5-6300U in the base model it has a normal clock rate of 2.4GHz, equal to the turbo of the base model Macbook. The thermal power limit is about three times as much, and the integrated GPU is newer, supports 4K displays, and has a higher clock rate than the turbo of the Macbook.

In no way is the Surface Book trying to compete with the Macbook.

Don't forget the touch screen and pen computing for those who care.

One thing I'm not happy with though is the push for higher resolution screens at the expense of battery life. At a lower resolution, would the clipboard last 5-7 hours?

Would the Sp4 last more than 10 hours?

Or am I a minority who cares more about battery life than screen resolution?

IIRC, they were able to increase the pixel density because of the screen they are using, which uses less power than the SP3, so it would probably be about equal.

It also weighs more than an iPhone, but that's not what it's competing against. One is a "pro" geared laptop with a discrete GPU, the other runs on a 4.5W Core M. Of course it's lighter! Microsoft has positioned the Surface Book against the Macbook _Pro_ pretty explicitly.

EDIT: For the relevant size comparison:

  Surface Book       3.34 lbs
  Macbook Pro (13")  3.48 lbs

I'd say MS did a great job in the weight department. Especially considering that their screen is bigger (0.44" taller, 0.04" narrower) and has 1.5x the pixel count (6 million vs 4.1 million).

The macbook is absurdly light. The Surface book weighs a little bit less than the 13 in macbook pro. The surface book competes with the macbook pro 13 more directly in terms of performance and price.

It weighs 3.34 pounds (inc. Keyboard), a Macbook Pro 13-inch weighs 3.48 pounds. So, no, not twice as much at all. Quite comparable in fact.

I think the poster you're replying to meant the new MacBook (12-inch), which only weighs 2.03 pounds:

http://www.apple.com/macbook/specs/

So the Surface Book is 65% heavier, not quite twice as heavy but starting to get into that ballpark.

Oh, so in a discussion specifically about the Macbook Pro Vs. Surface Pro, they randomly decided to drop the Macbook into the discussion which is smaller, and less powerful, just to show, what? That things exist which weigh less in general? They could have used an iPad for that example. Would have been less confusing/misleading.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com