Microsoft Surface Book 2 i7-8650u, 13.5", 16GB, 512GB SSD, GTX-1050 2G + Pen + Bonus $50 Visa Card: $2889.37 @ Mediaform eBay

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foonman on 17/06/2018 - 12:52 ebay.com.au (890 clicks)
Last edited 17/06/2018 - 13:54 by 1 other user

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Original 20% Off Selected Stores on eBay Deal Post

Nice price if you're after this particular configuration, especially with pen and $50 visa card.

Harvey Norman have it for $2994 as part of their 20% off sale https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/383637 JB Hifi and The Good Guys both have 15% off and I was going to see if they would beat the HN price, but jumped on this instead.

Also grabbed the Surface Dock from the same seller https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Microsoft-Surface-Docking-Statio… for $204.26

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• 

  Mooncakes on 17/06/2018 - 13:11

  -1

  NO IMAGE AVAILABLE

• 

  Ninja9 on 17/06/2018 - 13:18

  +1

  So damn expensive and no thunderbolt port :(

  • 

    Merlict on 17/06/2018 - 13:26

    +2

    Apparently this is due to the included GPU dock using up the available PCIE lanes.

    • 

      c0balt on 17/06/2018 - 14:23

      +1

      It's interesting to note that these U series 8th gen CPUs have 4 fewer PCI lanes than the older 7300/7700HQ processors.
      https://ark.intel.com/products/124968/Intel-Core-i7-8650U-Pr…

      So anyone wanting a dGPU with Thunderbolt will need to either spring for the H series such as the 8750H or go for the older 7300/7700HQ CPUs.
      https://ark.intel.com/products/134906/Intel-Core-i7-8750H-Pr…

      The 8750H sells for less than the 8650U yet on paper should be more than twice as powerful (can actually maintain decent boost while the U series throttle very quickly to base, has 2 extra cores and nearly double the max TDP). Seeing as it's a mobile CPU it's friendly to varying voltages, so I'm not seeing the reason why an OEM would pick a U series over an H series when they could just cap the TDP in a locked BIOS. It would be cheaper for them and their customers get a better CPU while using the same power?

    • 

      Ninja9 on 17/06/2018 - 19:29

      They could have implement a thunderbolt port instead of the surface connect. I feel like they did it deliberately, so next year when they include thunderbolt there is a compelling reason to upgrade. People still buy them this year because it is one of a kind device as no one else other than Ms can build the surface product.

      • 

        asa79 on 17/06/2018 - 22:21

        No one else builds laptops?

      • 

        Dingo on 17/06/2018 - 22:59

        +1

        No way would that be preferable for most people though. The surface connect is excellent. The magnet is very useful in docking situations and I personally wouldn't give that up for a thunderbolt USB (which I'd have zero use for).

        You have to remember that Surface Books are not targeting hardcore gamers (though they are reasonably good games machines). They are targeting MacBook pro buyers and enticing students, graphic designers, artists, corporate, etc. Nobody in those groups is thinking of ever upgrading the video card in the surface pro.

        In my case, my customer was able to use it as a desktop upgrade (with the dock), as a laptop for work use and as a tablet for uni. It replaced 3 machines and did it in style.

      • 

        c0balt on 18/06/2018 - 11:20

        I don't think so as it only has 12 PCI lanes which would be taken up by 1)GPU x8 and 2) PCI-e storage x4. That's why there are laptops that have the 7300/7700HQ and thunderbolt as they have an extra 4 lanes for it (16 lanes), this CPU (12 lanes) woudn't have any lanes left.

        I don't know the config of the lanes or if there is a PCH connection though. That's possible too. But between a 1050 & PCI-E storage - that's 12 full lanes.

  • 

    futaris on 18/06/2018 - 11:36

    https://eve-tech.com/pages/eve-v

    7th Gen i5 or i7 though.

• 

  richmond12 on 17/06/2018 - 13:26

  Dont you need to be a student or teacher for this deal?

  • 

    jasswolf on 17/06/2018 - 13:31

    Doesn't say anything about that on the eBay listing.

  • 

    foonman on 17/06/2018 - 13:38

    +1

    Not for this one. They have another listing with edu pricing: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Microsoft-Edu-Surface-Book-2-I7-…

    • 

      ExtremeDavo on 17/06/2018 - 21:38

      No pen or gift card, so basically same price. Pen is $139 + 50 gift card.

  • 

    PTS on 17/06/2018 - 15:27

    +2

    So for the student/ education models, I sent a receipt for school fees, this was enough proof. You don't have to be a student or teacher, just "buying for" one.

• 

  jasswolf on 17/06/2018 - 15:53

  +2

  Waiting for the 8th gen Intel refresh for this. i5-8350U in a Surface Pro will probably be the buy of 2018 from an Intel perspective.

• 

  2getted on 17/06/2018 - 21:45

  I can't decide between this (due to the dedicated GPU) or the Lenovo Yoga X1 (only integrated graphics but includes HDR WQHD 14" screen, 2x Thunderbolt 3 ports, HDMI (full size), Ethernet (native - needs dongle), internal stylus storage, and micro SD reader).
  With the current Lenovo 15% off sale the Yoga X1 actually works out to be slightly cheaper but the dedicated GPU and better battery life of the Surface Book is swaying my decision.
  I'm interested to see if anyone has any experience using both models and what your impressions are.

  • 

    Dingo on 17/06/2018 - 23:08

    +3

    I haven't used the Yoga, but considered it when I decided for the Surface Book 2.

    Sure, the Thunderbolt 3 ports of the yoga will let you unleash all your inner technerdistry. When you have your (portable?) external video cards plugged in we'll all like to sit around it and sing Kumbaya as we admire the 3dMark frames per second.

    Yet the large number of real life use capabilities of the Surface Book make it a far superior choice in my book. FAR superior! Great screen, amazing battery life, excellent hinge (love to reverse the screen) and tablet capabilities which work amazingly well with the touch interface. Don't underestimate the Microsoft pen, which with a double click takes a screenshot that you can scribble over (single click and click and hold do other things and you can of course customise it all).
    I haven't liked a PC this much in quite a while…
    Forgot to mention the superior aspect ratio!

    • 

      2getted on 17/06/2018 - 23:42

      Thanks, this is the type of info I was looking for.
      One problem that I've read about for the Surface Book is that when under intense usage the fan is noisy and that even when plug in the battery will discharge. I've also read that charging the Surface Book can take a few hours. Have you experienced any of these issues or are these issues just over zealous reviewers?

      • 

        Dingo on 18/06/2018 - 00:01

        +2

        I haven't had it under intense load (such as playing a 3D game like tomb raider or gears of war), but in normal use I couldn't hear anything at all. As for the battery, again that could only be possible under extreme load. Even then (from memory) I've only read about the issue of the battery discharging when charging from the USB-C port and under serious load. I'm not sure that it holds true if plugged into the actual surface charger. In practice for me, the battery was just never an issue… It's one of the strengths of the Surface Book 2.

        One thing to note is that in tablet mode the battery is only about 3 hours, instead of the 12 you get when using the base. I found it to be an awesome tablet mind you, at least equal of the iPad Pro (approx $1500), but the surface puts it to shame really because it is running the full Windows 10 experience together with an awesome touch interface, especially when using the pen.

      • 

        Dingo on 18/06/2018 - 00:12

        +1

        Oh, another thing…

        Hardly Normal are selling the version with 8Gb of RAM and 256Gb of storage for $2394 at the moment (no pen or visa deal obviously).
        https://www.harveynorman.com.au/microsoft-surface-book-2-13-…

        Shame you couldn't get in on the ozbargain from a little while ago, which was $2164 for the i7-8Gb-256Gb version.

        The extra space is nice, but can realistically be solved with USB or even a cheap SD card. The extra RAM is only necessary if you plan to do high end stuff, like complex video editing, CAD, etc. Makes zero difference to games and most other things most people want to do funnily enough…

      • 

        Danthemanz on 18/06/2018 - 01:57

        Size/weight is also a factor, the yoga should be much more portable.
        I know I would never detatch the book and it seems very bulky to me for a feature I'd use once every 3 months at best after the initial cool factor.

      • 

        2getted on 19/06/2018 - 12:04

        @Dingo: Again, thanks for your comments. I had a look at a Surface Book and yes the build design with the detachable tablet is a great feature but the weight of the complete device and the way both devices are sealed instead of using screws means that you can't access the internals if you ever need to. It's also strange that there are no USB ports on the tablet.
        With the extra battery time and the way the dedicated GPU is integrated (great feature BTW) I would have bought one but I decided to check in with Lenovo before their flash sale ended to see what price I could get for a similar model. With Windows 10 Pro, 16G, 512G, WQHD the normal price is $3,284.01 and then $2,884.01 after the sale, but after talking with a rep I was offered it for $2,598.37 so I went ahead with the purchase.
        While the price is a contributing factor, the way the Yoga X1 is put together is my main reason for getting one.

      • 

        Dingo on 19/06/2018 - 13:34

        +1

        @2getted:

        Cool, I'm sure you'll enjoy it as it is a great laptop. These types of devices are very personal and what suits one won't suit another. For example I'd prefer the 3x2 screen of the surface, but it is equally valid to prefer the yoga one. It's really horses for courses ;)

      • 

        Dingo on 19/06/2018 - 13:34

        @2getted:

        Cool, I'm sure you'll enjoy it as it is a great laptop. These types of devices are very personal and what suits one won't suit another. For example I'd prefer the 3x2 screen of the surface, but it is equally valid to prefer the yoga one. It's really horses for courses ;)

• 

  misterpotatomato on 18/06/2018 - 07:59

  +1

  I had one of these and I took it back.

  The top row of pixels on the screen flickered all the time which was really annoying. Google surface book top row flicker, it's quite common.

  When on charge in performance mode it also had incredible coil whine. You can also Google this issue.

  Some times it would also just refuse to come out of standby, forcing a hard shutdown.

  The fact that Microsoft hasn't refreshed the dock in years is also annoying (no USBC on the dock, etc).

  I bought a MacBook Pro for my wife recently and I find I use that, and it's just a better quality device. I'm a developer, and having jetbrains rider on it and coding for asp net core is way more responsive than a surface book with visual studio. Just my anecdotal experience.

  I know it's not an apples to apples comparison, but when you are paying as much as you are for a MacBook Pro or a surface book, you want it to be perfect. The surface wasn't close to perfect which was disappointing.

  • 

    gavincato on 18/06/2018 - 12:42

    +1

    honestly sounds like yours was a lemon.

    Maybe we are lucky but we have 2 x sb2's here, both are perfect.

    I also had a sb1 perf base and also perfect.

    Great machines. I wouldn't touch a current gen mbp - keyboard is atrocious. SB keyboard is great.

• 

  [Deactivated] on 18/06/2018 - 09:31

  +4

  $2.8K bargain LOL

• 

  idonotknowwhy on 18/06/2018 - 12:48

  Only 16gb of RAM in 2020?