Microsoft Debuts Surface Book, a 13-Inch Laptop

The laptop is made entirely out of a single piece of magnesium, while its trackpad is made with precision glass that can support up to five-point multitouch.

Microsoft stunned the world on Tuesday by launching its first ever laptop, the Microsoft Surface Book.

With two new flavors of high end phones, Microsoft is providing options for Windows Phone fans as the phones have similar specs but with 5.2in and 5.7in displays. There’s also an Nvidia GeForce GPU with GDDR5 memory but that is located in the base and will need the display kept docked to tap into its power. The Surface Book solves this problem because it has been designed as a lap-friendly laptop and eschews the kickstand. In the keyboard lies a huge battery along with the dedicated GPU. If you want to use it as a tablet, you can fully remove the screen. To optimize the stylus and touch experience Microsoft says the Gorilla Glass on the Surface Pro 4 is the thinnest ever on a tablet, at 0.4mm, and the company has even developed a special G5 chipset to run the optical stack. Boasting virtually no sound and yet providing a tactile response it’s clear that the Surface team have gone all-out with the company’s first laptop.

Leading up to Microsoft’s Windows 10 Devices event which was held this morning, we heard rumors that a 14-inch Surface tablet would be among the devices unveiled. It is thinner and lighter, but now it has a new keyset, which is more reminiscent of a laptop keyset.

The company claims that the Surface Book is twice as fast as the MacBook Pro. However, expect it to rock a bigger display, a new keyboard as well as the fingerprint scanner element and Windows Hello.

Along with the Surface Pro 4, the Redmond giant also introduced all-new Surface Pen as well. Microsoft will begin taking pre-orders on October 7th.

The crowd did not expect this one and were shocked to see Panay detach the Surface Book’s screen off its keyboard.

The Surface Book is priced at US$1,499 (S$2,130) and will be available on October 26 in the United States.

Microsoft took a swipe at Apple’s MacBook Pro today with the introduction of the super sleek convertible Surface Book.

Microsoft Lumia 950 and Lumia 950XL goes on sale next month.