The hinge also produces a slight mechanical sound when the individual parts touch. However, the weight of the tablet still takes its toll, because it bounces quite a lot when you make touch inputs. It can even hold the tablet in place at very small angles (see picture below). The most important part of a convertible is the hinge, which is surprisingly firm. We did not find any flaws in our particular test model. This is definitely a premium product, which is supported by the stability and build quality. The device is great to touch thanks to plenty of metal (magnesium alloy). The changes are mostly limited to the internals, including the so-called Fulcrum hinge. It is hard to spot a difference when the Surface Book 2 is sitting next to its predecessor. We also include the brand-new Eve V in the comparison charts. Both the Razer Blade as well as the Gigabyte Aero 14 are exceptions with 14-inch screens, but they are conventional laptops with a bigger focus on gaming capabilities. If you require more GPU performance in a convertible, you will usually have to end up with a 15-inch system. The Apple MacBook Pro 13 is certainly on the short list of potential buyers as well. Alternatives with less GPU power are Microsoft's own Surface Pro 4 or Surface Laptop. Similarly sized convertibles use the same processors, but are usually limited to integrated graphics solutions. Searching for other competitors is still a problem, especially in this price range. We will obviously check how the new version compares to the first Surface Book with the GTX 965M. Our test model is the SKU with the new Kaby Lake-R processor and the GTX 1050 GPU for 2249 Euros ($1999). Otherwise, the three SKUs differ only in terms of memory and storage, but the additional charges are substantial. The three more expensive SKUs use a combination of the new Core i7-8650U (Kaby Lake-Refresh) with four processor cores and the dedicated GeForce GTX 1050 with 2 GB GDDR5-VRAM inside the keyboard unit, which is actively cooled via fan.

It also lacks the discrete GPU inside the keyboard unit, so all the graphics are handled by the integrated processor GPU HD Graphics 620. The least expensive Surface Book 2 with the older Core i5-7300U (Kaby Lake) has two native processor cores and is easier to cool, so the tablet is a bit slimmer (2 mm/~0.08 in) and lighter (~100 grams/~3.5 oz). There are basically two different models.

Surface book 2