But the answer is obvious: At 3.34 pounds, the Surface Book and dock would make for one heavy tablet. Indeed, I've wondered at times why Microsoft didn't just rip Lenovo's "Yoga" design and go with a 360-degree hinge that allows the screen to flip back into tablet mode. Pressing the button to release the display still makes for a neat party trick, though lining up the docking guides when it's time to reattach it to the base can feel slightly clumsy. From there you can use it as a tablet, or reattach the display facing outward and then fold it back to use as a sort of tabletop surface. But it sure is pretty.Īs ever, there's a button on the function row, right next to the Delete key, that allows you to detach the screen from the keyboard base. Two generations in, I maintain that the chunky hinge doesn't offer much of a functional advantage over conventional hinges - in fact, it makes the machine look fatter when shut.
To its credit, the Surface Book was always a striking piece of machinery, with its solidly built magnesium case, backlit keyboard and snake-like "fulcrum" hinge. In this case, the exterior design is identical to the original, with none of the improvements visible to the naked eye. Like so many other second-generation devices, the refreshed Surface Book isn't so much a "new product" as a refinement of the original that came before it.