The Surface Book 2 13 manages to go really fast and yet last forever on a charge.

Excellent design and build quality; Awesome display; Incredible battery life; Decent entry-level gaming performance; Great keyboard and touchpad

Coil whine is excessive and obtrusive; Expensive compared to traditional convertibles; No Thunderbolt 3 support

Microsoft promises a lot with the new Surface Book 2. The 13.5-inch convertible is a really good device in some respects, but we are sometimes wondering why the manufacturer ignores known issues or waives modern standards. Let us begin with the good things.

high-quality case; very good screen without PWM; high performance; despite passive cooling; very long battery runtime; comfortable input devices; decent camera; often silent

very loud GPU fan (depending on the power setting; power adapter not always sufficient; no Thunderbolt 3; Surface Pen not included anymore; considerable throttling (especially CPU) on battery; display bounces during touch inputs; no LTE connectivity; basically impossible to maintain; long charging...

Given that, unless you're an Apple loyalist or simply need macOS software for work, it's hard to argue against a touch-enabled, gaming-ready system with fantastic battery life that can also become a tablet at the press of a button.

Premium alloy construction; Elegant convertible design; Sharp high-resolution touch display in new larger size; Discrete Nvidia GTX 1060 graphics; Very long battery life; Multiple configuration options; Xbox wireless controller receiver is integrated

16GB RAM maximum; Surface Pen is an additional purchase; Adding SSD storage is pricey; Some finicky issues required troubleshooting in our tests

Microsoft adds to its "ultimate laptop," the Surface Book 2, by increasing the performance, battery life, and display size.

Top-notch; all-day battery life; Excellent performance; particularly in graphics; Stellar display; complete with additional visual modes

Premium notebook; premium price; Underpowered Dock makes multi-monitor support problematic; USB-C without Thunderbolt is a mistake

There's a lot going on with the new Surface Book 2. It's not just a laptop, it's a laptop with the latest 8th-gen Intel Core-series CPUs . You can detach the screen and cart it around as a standalone tablet, or connect it to the keyboard base for extra battery life and graphics power.

The new Surface Book 2 adds a long list of worthy upgrades, from new CPUs and gamer-ready graphics cards to a bigger 15-inch version; Battery life and performance are both excellent

The two-in-one design still feels awkward at times, and for some users, the detachable screen may be superfluous; The most interesting new components are only available in very expensive configurations

I always wanted Microsoft to build a laptop, and it finally went ahead and built one without any tricks earlier this year. The Surface Laptop has no gimmicks, no kickstand, and no detachable screen. It's simply the best laptop you can buy right now.

Great keyboard and trackpad; Powerful machine with Nvidia graphics; Xbox Wireless support

Display still wobbles when you touch it; Battery can drain under heavy GPU load; No Thunderbolt 3 support

After a somewhat shaky start (excuse the pun), Microsoft's Surface Book has found its stride. The new and improved Book 2 retains all that was good about the original - including beautiful design, a versatile Clipboard and an excellent keyboard and trackpad - while introducing a handful of...

Beautiful design; Clipboard works a treat; Excellent keyboard and trackpad; Gorgeous 3:2 PixelSense display; Chart-topping battery life; Fanless base specification; Good range of accessories

Doesn't support Thunderbolt 3; Surface Pen not included

Microsoft just announced a few brand new products: a pair of powerful new Surface Book 2 devices featuring and graphics, and a Surface Precision Mouse designed to be the perfect companion to the devices.

Despite these slight niggles, there's no denying the Microsoft Surface Book 2 has unique appeal. It's a laptop that can be a tablet, a graphics pad and notepad, a workstation, portable workhorse and games console all in one compact package, and there's nothing else around that can match its power...

The Surface Book 2 is still one of the most unique device designs out there. The detachable display docks to a solid keyboard base, which offers a powerful GPU and plenty of battery. The extra capabilities add to a laptop that can be used in a lot of scenarios.