Microsoft enters the laptop market with the amazing Surface Book

Microsoft revealed two new Surface devices on Tuesday. First up is the Surface Pro 4, a Skylake-based tablet that will go on sale October 26th with pricing starting at $899. This device features a 12.3" screen with a 2736 x 1824 pixels resolution, it has a Core i7 dual-core processor and features up to 16GB DDR4 memory and up to 1TB SSD storage capacity.



More excitingly perhaps is the Windows 10 based Surface Book, Microsoft's entry in the laptop market. It seems a move that may alienate the software giant's partners and Microsoft is immediately shooting pretty high by targeting Apple's MacBook Pro.

The Surface Book has a slender magnesium casing and comes with a new type of hinge, it allows you to detach the keyboard from the screen to turn the device into a thin, light tablet, while also offering a very secure connection so you can use it exactly like a regular laptop without having to fear about the two halves accidentally detaching when you grab the device by the screen. The laptop measures 22.8mm at its thickest point, and when used as a tablet, the device has a thickness of just 7.7mm.

The touchscreen of the Surface Book has a 13.5" diameter and offers a 3000 x 2000 pixels resolution, which translates into a pixel density of 267ppi. Processing power is provided by one of Intel's Core i5 or i7 "Skylake" CPUs, and graphics power is delivered either by Intel HD Graphics 520 or a discrete graphics solution from NVIDIA. The Surface Book offers 8GB or 16GB RAM, from 128GB to 1TB of SSD storage capacity, 802.11ac WiFi plus Bluetooth, two USB 3.0 ports, Surface Pen support and front and rear facing cameras.

Microsoft says its Surface Book provides up to 12 hours of video playback and promises the device is 50 percent faster than Apple's MacBook Pro. Pricing starts at $1,499 for the cheapest configuration and climbs to $2,699 for the top-of-the-line model. A 1TB model will be added at a later point and will be even more expensive.