Microsoft Sets Sights On Gamers With Low-End Surface Book

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I think we have totally different definitions of the term "gamer." Either that, or they should have put "low-end" in front of the word gamer in that headline. :D

This low-end, gamer-friendly Surface Book, which includes 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, costs $1,699 (£1,100 or AU$2,350). That's $200 more than the same model without the GeForce chip. This new version is set for release Monday, the official launch date for all Surface Book models, but is not available for preorder. All other models are showing at least four-week to seven-week waits before shipping, according to Microsoft's site.
 
Ha ha! Microsoft -- you so funny.

(This post was as devoid of content as Microsoft's "investment" in PC gaming.)
 
Apparently it's low end compared to their "top-end Surface Book with 1TB of storage for $3,199". To tell the truth, I'm intrigued. Using Steam, I have no problem just installing just a few games at a time.
 
It would have been better with 250GB though. Some games are pushing 50GB. It would be nice to have a game or two like that, and then a few smaller ones. However, the ones that are that size wouldn't play well on this hardware anyway, so I guess it really is moot.

Still, while I wouldn't buy it to play games, it's still a pretty cool device, and that price isn't THAT bad. I could play all my indie games on it, some older AAAs etc. Being someone who plays a lot of old favorites as much as I play new games, this would work ok.

I'm already well stocked on laptops though for various tasks, so adding another one isn't high on my priority list right now.
 
The most glaring thing in PC tech that has yet to be overcome is the outrageous and unacceptable price premium and performance degradation of having a portable device (i.e. laptop, tablet) instead of a desktop, particularly for gamers. The low-end gamer rip is spot-on, these devices can't play games that real gamers want to play.
 
Depending on which NVidia GPU they integrated, the system could definitely qualify as a low end gaming rig ... pretty much no one beyond a gamer is going to need a discreet GPU in a tablet
 
people still calling people who tap a screen as "gamers" and not "time wasters" ??
 
I don't know, I think there are plenty of worthwhile games that would play on something like this. Just not hardcore AAA games obviously. I'm not advocating half-assed gaming products, but I think statements that there is nothing worthwhile to play on something like this is a bit extreme.

Wasteland 2, Shadowrun, Divinity: Original Sin, etc. A lot of RPGs would play ok on it, and be an excellent diversion on a plane, in a hotel room, etc. Older action games would probably fly on this thing too. id Tech 4 and below, Unreal 3 and below, they'd all probably work just fine. Tech 4 plays fine on my HD4000 for the most part in one of my Latitudes.

I would hope nobody is under the delusion that you could play Fallout 4, Doom 4, etc. on it.
 
As much as I like the surface lineup I simply think there is not enough storage for the price. Then again alienware wanted almost $600 for a 512gb ssd. Good thing I was able to update it after I got the laptop for $275, I could install 2x m.2 and 1 x 2.5" drive.

They should have allowed more space on devices by now, and that goes for every company not just Microsoft. I think 256\512GB should be starting point for all laptops\Tablets or the option to upgrade later.
 
J3RK said:
I don't know, I think there are plenty of worthwhile games that would play on something like this.
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Microsoft has never called this a gaming device but yes it can play a lot of games decently, but it's not going to do 4k high detail, high frame gaming. Ironically, this will play more games than a Steam Box running Steam OS. Indeed a lot of those cross platform indie titles that are available for Steam OS/Linux will run perfectly on this thing.

EODetroit said:
The most glaring thing in PC tech that has yet to be overcome is the outrageous and unacceptable price premium and performance degradation of having a portable device (i.e. laptop, tablet) instead of a desktop, particularly for gamers. The low-end gamer rip is spot-on, these devices can't play games that real gamers want to play.
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Desktops simply don't have anywhere near the material and mechanical engineering requirements of portable devices. They don't have tight thermal and power requirements while trying to deliver maximum performance. And they don't have any concern for battery life. There is some extreme engineering in the Surface Book that's meant to inspire and give others ideas. Indeed something that could end up being very beneficial to laptop gamers in time, separating out CPU and GPU in the screen and base. Couldn't the same idea be used in conventional laptops to help with heat dissipation for higher performance devices?
 
$1,699 is not low-end, you can get a lot more gaming muscle for that kind of money.
 
Dudez, needs glowing programmable LEDs, super slim mechanical keyboard with detachable full travel keys, 144 fps minimum, 1ms screen, and not crash running GFE before we can call this a GAMER device.

Whew...
 
Considering this is a C-NET quote and not them quoting MS, I don't think you can really put this on MS.
 
I would like to see some benchmarks of the i5 vs the i7 with the Nvidia GPU. I plan on picking one up for college next year.
 
NickJames said:
I would like to see some benchmarks of the i5 vs the i7 with the Nvidia GPU. I plan on picking one up for college next year.
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There are going to be plenty of game benchmarks coming out for this thing, probably a lot more than actual gamins laptops. Still thinking about games I want to try. MGS V Phantom will be the first I try. And of course Crysis.;)
 
Dear Microsoft,

People who "Only" play garbage on Facebook aren't gamers.

Signed,

Every actual gamer ever.
 
1gb ddr5 gpu adds 200$ cost... yeahhhh i seriously doubt that it would be worth the price of admission.
 
To some extent, it makes sense. Many people are saying the limiting factor is not the CPU but the GPU. If that's true, then a "low-end" Surface Book with a relatively beefy GPU should serve the purpose of gaming.

That said, I am not a notebook gamer, so I couldn't imagine gaming with a 'Book. Further, I think touch is suited for a certain type of games but is terrible for another. I like my mechanical keyboard and wired mouse for gaming. At that point, why Surface Book (or Surface anything)? Also, if a big part of the appeal of a Surface Book is portability and weight, why would you want to carry a controller around with you. Under those conditions, you have touch, camera, and the included keyboard and mouse.

It's funny that Microsoft would push the Surface Book in this way. Would this not take away from the Xbox One? Just connect the Surface Book to your large screen (a la Windows 10). Is it just another price level? Is this Microsoft's answer to portable gaming? Windows Phone + Surface Book against the PlayStation Vita or Nintendo 3DS? I said this elsewhere, but is this Microsoft's Nintendo NX?
 
ccman said:
It's funny that Microsoft would push the Surface Book in this way.
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Microsoft isn't pushing the Surface Book this way. No one bought a Surface Book for high end gaming purposes. No one I've spoken to in this forum, other forums and face to face. Personally I bought it is because it's the finest example of a hybrid laptop I've ever seen, at least on paper. And from what I've read in reviews until I get mine is that this assessment is correct.
 
heatlesssun said:
Microsoft isn't pushing the Surface Book this way. No one bought a Surface Book for high end gaming purposes. No one I've spoken to in this forum, other forums and face to face. Personally I bought it is because it's the finest example of a hybrid laptop I've ever seen, at least on paper. And from what I've read in reviews until I get mine is that this assessment is correct.
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I am exclusively referring to the article, "Microsoft Sets Sights On Gamers With Low-End Surface Book." That is where the "if" is coming from - if this article is true. I was hoping to engage in a discussion on the premise that "Microsoft has tweaked its Surface Book lineup just before next week's launch by adding a low-end model designed to lure gamers with better graphics."

Are you then saying this "Front Page News" item is full of crap and you are unwilling to think along those lines?
 
rezerekted said:
$1,699 to play Peggle on a small screen? Nope.
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And like no one bought a Surface Book for that purpose. And I do mean literally no one. I get called a Microsoft shill a lot around here and I think it's hilarious. Because I'd have never written a click bait article like this one nor told anyone to but a Surface Book as a gaming laptop. But the fact is that it contains a more powerful GPU according to Steam's hardware survey than the #1 GPU used for Steam gaming which is the Intel HD 4000. The sucker has some gaming capability because well, it does and will run more games on Steam that a Steam Box running Steam OS. Yet it is in no way shape or form a gaming PC.
 
ccman said:
I am exclusively referring to the article, "Microsoft Sets Sights On Gamers With Low-End Surface Book." That is where the "if" is coming from - if this article is true. I was hoping to engage in a discussion on the premise that "Microsoft has tweaked its Surface Book lineup just before next week's launch by adding a low-end model designed to lure gamers with better graphics."

Are you then saying this "Front Page News" item is full of crap and you are unwilling to think along those lines?
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What? I saw the Microsoft launch earlier this month on the 6th and put down nearly $2900 on a Surface Book almost the minute was available to preorder. Microsoft in no way shape or form called this a gaming device in that event though they did mention that it COULD play desktop PC games. But it's not a gaming PC but it will probably handle PC games than 90% of the laptops that millions use every day to play PC games.

Again, gaming isn't the point of this device, the point is its hybrid nature. If one bought a Surface Book for its gaming abilities and not its hybrid capabilities they bought the wrong device.

For once in a while people should listen to shills. At least ones that state facts and spend their own time and money on the things that people make up nonsense about.
 
As has already been mentioned, it's not Microsoft claiming it's a gaming machine, it's the woman from CNET. Microsoft just added a discrete GPU as requested by people. The GPU, from the article she got it off of, was unnamed, but expected to be a Geforce 940M equivalent.
 
Nytegard said:
As has already been mentioned, it's not Microsoft claiming it's a gaming machine, it's the woman from CNET. Microsoft just added a discrete GPU as requested by people. The GPU, from the article she got it off of, was unnamed, but expected to be a Geforce 940M equivalent.
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You're right.

Revise my statement to, cnet moron. You aren't a gamer, don't know what a gamer is nor do you know what a gaming machine is.. so fuck off.
 
heatlesssun said:
What? I saw the Microsoft launch earlier this month on the 6th and put down nearly $2900 on a Surface Book almost the minute was available to preorder. Microsoft in no way shape or form called this a gaming device in that event though they did mention that it COULD play desktop PC games. But it's not a gaming PC but it will probably handle PC games than 90% of the laptops that millions use every day to play PC games.

Again, gaming isn't the point of this device, the point is its hybrid nature. If one bought a Surface Book for its gaming abilities and not its hybrid capabilities they bought the wrong device.

For once in a while people should listen to shills. At least ones that state facts and spend their own time and money on the things that people make up nonsense about.
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What would you call Microsoft's upcoming "Gears of War" game? Microsoft Surface leader Panos Panay played the Gears of War game on stage when announcing and demoing the Surface Book. Maybe you didn't see or comprehend that this happened (Business Insider). It was so true that "Microsoft in no way shape or form called this a gaming device" that they were actually gaming on stage with it! And you're argument that it is "in no way shape or form ... a gaming device" is so convincing when you state in the same breath that it is more capable than most devices used on Steam for gaming. I'll even add to your argument here and say that it is probably more powerful than the prevailing game consoles as well.

Maybe it confused you that I drew comparisons to the Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation Vita. I own neither of those devices, but I have played games on a portable device - my iPhone. This includes Final Fantasy I - IV. In this way, I could draw a comparison between the iPhone and the Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation Vita. The iPhone is still primarily a smartphone though. Gaming is not the point of the desktop PC, but people still build gaming PCs. Gaming isn't the point of the laptop, but OEMs like ASUS sell gaming laptops. Gaming isn't the point of the tablet, but nVidia sells the nVidia Shield. Maybe you cannot perceive that the PC is a general purpose device.

Also, you say your not a shill but end your post with "people should listen to the shills," who coincidentally make the same points you do?
 
So close to perfect :(

I wish they would have made the keyboard base thicker and squeezed in just a bit more GPU power. Like a 3GB 960m

That I would pay 3 grand for.

I'm waiting for my SP4 to show up. Looks like I'll wait for a sale on the 2015 Razer Blade
 
ccman said:
It was so true that "Microsoft in no way shape or form called this a gaming device" that they were actually gaming on stage with it!
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The Surface Book has a GPU that's more powerful than the #1 GPU used by gamers according to the Steam Hardware Survey. I'm very familiar with Tablet PCs and probably the biggest advocate of them on this particular forum.

I said what I said about shills as a joke. As ardent of an advocate as I am of Tablet PCs, as much as I couldn't wait to own a Surface Book, I've never, ever, in no way shape or form, as much as I've been called as shill, said that a hybrid device is for everyone. NEVER. Let me repeat, NEVER. I've NEVER said that such a device is for gaming. If you'd listened to Microsoft's event on the 6th in its entirety, they said specifically that the SB was a not gaming laptop.

But again it is more powerful than many laptops people use to play games on. The Surface Book can run more games that a Steam OS powered Steam Box. Of the games that Steam OS runs, a Surface Book would handle most of them well.
 
VIC-20 said:
So close to perfect :(

I wish they would have made the keyboard base thicker and squeezed in just a bit more GPU power. Like a 3GB 960m

That I would pay 3 grand for.
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The biggest complaints about the Surface Book are its price and its bulk as a unit. I can see where you're coming from but more bulk and cost on this unit just wouldn't work.

VIC-20 said:
I'm waiting for my SP4 to show up. Looks like I'll wait for a sale on the 2015 Razer Blade
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Congrats and enjoy!
 
heatlesssun said:
they said specifically that the SB was a not gaming laptop.
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There is a saying - actions speak louder than words.

You said "in no way shape or form". I would say demonstrating the Surface Book playing Gears of War qualifies as a way, a shape, and a form. I would consider a new Gears of War game as a high end game. The Surface Book is a device that was demonstrated by the head of the division responsible for the device playing that game. And you failed to address my claim that the Surface Book is more capable than the Xbox One, the Sony PlayStation 4, and the Nintendo Wii U.

It's disingenuous of you to keep claiming it's not a "gaming device" yet to keep comparing it to "gaming devices" on Steam, created by Valve to run "gaming devices", or designed to specifications laid out by Valve as "gaming devices." I guess you're following Microsoft's lead in that respect.
 
ccman said:
There is a saying - actions speak louder than words.

You said "in no way shape or form". I would say demonstrating the Surface Book playing Gears of War qualifies as a way, a shape, and a form. I would consider a new Gears of War game as a high end game. The Surface Book is a device that was demonstrated by the head of the division responsible for the device playing that game. And you failed to address my claim that the Surface Book is more capable than the Xbox One, the Sony PlayStation 4, and the Nintendo Wii U.

It's disingenuous of you to keep claiming it's not a "gaming device" yet to keep comparing it to "gaming devices" on Steam, created by Valve to run "gaming devices", or designed to specifications laid out by Valve as "gaming devices." I guess you're following Microsoft's lead in that respect.
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It's like you're saying a rolex is a divers watch because it's water resistant up to 200 meters. You know how asinine this sounds?
 
NickJames said:
It's like you're saying a rolex is a divers watch because it's water resistant up to 200 meters. You know how asinine this sounds?
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I would never say such a thing. I know very little about a Rolex and very little about divers watches. And according to you, very little about laptops and gaming.
 
ccman said:
And you failed to address my claim that the Surface Book is more capable than the Xbox One, the Sony PlayStation 4, and the Nintendo Wii U.
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Who made this claim?

ccman said:
It's disingenuous of you to keep claiming it's not a "gaming device" yet to keep comparing it to "gaming devices" on Steam, created by Valve to run "gaming devices", or designed to specifications laid out by Valve as "gaming devices." I guess you're following Microsoft's lead in that respect.
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Several people on this forum including myself bought a Surface Book and I don't think any of us did so believing the Surface Book is a gaming laptop. It is however better at gaming than most laptops in general, it can play a lot of games, more than a Steam Box running Steam OS which is a gaming device. But that still doesn't make the Surface Book a gaming laptop. Not sure what the big deal is here.
 
heatlesssun said:
Who made this claim?



Several people on this forum including myself bought a Surface Book and I don't think any of us did so believing the Surface Book is a gaming laptop. It is however better at gaming than most laptops in general, it can play a lot of games, more than a Steam Box running Steam OS which is a gaming device. But that still doesn't make the Surface Book a gaming laptop. Not sure what the big deal is here.
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I will try to break this down into terms you can understand. I am making the claim that an Intel Core i7 6600U 2.6 GHz - 3.4 GHz (Turbo Boost) is better than an AMD Jaguar 1.75 GHz, even considering the Jaguar is 8 core and the 6600U is dual core, 4 thread. I am making the claim that the second generation nVidia Maxwell discrete GPU is better than the AMD GCN 1.0 GPU. I'm sure the Microsoft Surface Book will be benchmarked, and this can be tested, but it just seems logical to me that hardware that wasn't cutting edge when it came out in 2013 would be bested by the latest technology.

Second, I readily admit that the category or "type" of the Microsoft Surface is not "gaming tablet" but "2-in-1". However, you surely must realize that a computer is a general purpose device. If I purchased a Microsoft Surface Book as my "gaming laptop", never used the stylus/pen/touch, and only gamed on it, I could certainly call it my gaming laptop. Imagine I owned a Surface Book for 4 years before it died and only ever gamed on it. Someone who buys an ASUS ROG G752 laptop but only ever uses it for work never to game, is not incorrect if he calls the laptop his work laptop.
 
ccman said:
Second, I readily admit that the category or "type" of the Microsoft Surface is not "gaming tablet" but "2-in-1". However, you surely must realize that a computer is a general purpose device. If I purchased a Microsoft Surface Book as my "gaming laptop", never used the stylus/pen/touch, and only gamed on it, I could certainly call it my gaming laptop. Imagine I owned a Surface Book for 4 years before it died and only ever gamed on it. Someone who buys an ASUS ROG G752 laptop but only ever uses it for work never to game, is not incorrect if he calls the laptop his work laptop.
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Virtually no one is going to buy a Surface Book as a desktop gaming laptop. It's not for that purpose and Microsoft isn't marketing the Surface Book as such a device. If someone who's going to spend $1700 for a Surface Book thinking it is a top line gaming machine then they simply haven't done any research. But yes, it has enough power to play a lot of games but certainly not at high detail and native resolution. It's just this simple, there's nothing else to it.
 
ccman said:
I will try to break this down into terms you can understand. I am making the claim that an Intel Core i7 6600U 2.6 GHz - 3.4 GHz (Turbo Boost) is better than an AMD Jaguar 1.75 GHz, even considering the Jaguar is 8 core and the 6600U is dual core, 4 thread. I am making the claim that the second generation nVidia Maxwell discrete GPU is better than the AMD GCN 1.0 GPU. I'm sure the Microsoft Surface Book will be benchmarked, and this can be tested, but it just seems logical to me that hardware that wasn't cutting edge when it came out in 2013 would be bested by the latest technology.
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Those bits might be better on paper (and I haven't looked them up, so maybe they aren't), but between the thermal/power issues inherent to a laptop and the fact that PS4/XB1 games will be specifically tuned for that hardware, I'd be very surprised if the Surface Book was a more powerful gaming machine than the consoles.

That said I think it may be a better gaming machine, but that's probably just because I'm a PC gamer who likes to shit on console gamers.
 
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