alexwhite19800
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Surface Book vs Surface Pro
I was looking at purchasing a new laptop, which I essentially use for MS Office editing and web browsing, and heading in the direction of an HP Spectre 360, but then saw the Surface range.
Does anyone have any experience/thoughts on these?
SOme questions.
i. Can I use both for MS Office editing (providing I buy a keyboard for the Pro, not sure I could do hours of MS Word on a touch keyboard)
ii. If the Surface Pro 4 is supposed to be a "laptop replacement" in MS's eyes, why would I spend almost double on a Surface Book?
iii. Are there any advantages of either over an HP Spectre 360?
iv. DO both run the same version of Windows 10?
v. Can I plug both into a monitor via VGA cable?
Does anyone have any experience/thoughts on these?
SOme questions.
i. Can I use both for MS Office editing (providing I buy a keyboard for the Pro, not sure I could do hours of MS Word on a touch keyboard)
ii. If the Surface Pro 4 is supposed to be a "laptop replacement" in MS's eyes, why would I spend almost double on a Surface Book?
iii. Are there any advantages of either over an HP Spectre 360?
iv. DO both run the same version of Windows 10?
v. Can I plug both into a monitor via VGA cable?
The "Book" has a slightly higher display resolution, although I doubt the difference is noticeable. Besides that it has 1 more USB ports and the SD card adapter is full sized. The sound should also sound better, and the keyboard is included by default.
They both have a display port, so you can connect external displays that way. But the internal display has a way better resolution than most normal external displays have, so connecting an external display will usually not make too much sense, unless you really have a really good external display with 4K resolution or similar. The Pro has been around for some time, while the book is a new product line.
Windows RT has been discontinued quite some time ago so you can ignore that earlier comment.
The HP only has a Full HD resolution display, no Card reader, and as far as I can see you can't remove the keyboard like you can with the m$ products.
They both have a display port, so you can connect external displays that way. But the internal display has a way better resolution than most normal external displays have, so connecting an external display will usually not make too much sense, unless you really have a really good external display with 4K resolution or similar. The Pro has been around for some time, while the book is a new product line.
Windows RT has been discontinued quite some time ago so you can ignore that earlier comment.
The HP only has a Full HD resolution display, no Card reader, and as far as I can see you can't remove the keyboard like you can with the m$ products.
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The Surface Pro 4 is a truly amazing little system -- especially with an i7. The extra cost for the Surface Book really doesn't gain you anything except a slightly larger display (13.5 vs 12.3" => a 20% larger surface area); and a "real" keyboard instead of the one used on the Surface Pro.
If they were the same price -- or even just $100 or so different -- I'd clearly pick the Surface Book; but I'm certainly not inclined at all to replace my Surface.
The HP Spectre's are VERY nice units, however ... so it's really a question of whether you want the higher pixel density of the Surface units. They DO have a much higher resolution display; but at the size of the displays on these units it's not going to make a lot of difference ... a 1920 x 1080 HD display on a 13" display is already VERY good => quadrupling that resolution is technically nice; but won't make much difference in what you can actually see.
If they were the same price -- or even just $100 or so different -- I'd clearly pick the Surface Book; but I'm certainly not inclined at all to replace my Surface.
The HP Spectre's are VERY nice units, however ... so it's really a question of whether you want the higher pixel density of the Surface units. They DO have a much higher resolution display; but at the size of the displays on these units it's not going to make a lot of difference ... a 1920 x 1080 HD display on a 13" display is already VERY good => quadrupling that resolution is technically nice; but won't make much difference in what you can actually see.
Thanks
Rob H