Microsoft Surface Book and Surface Pro 4 Review: New Hope for Windows Hardware
Microsoft's first-ever laptop makes you wonder why the company didn't make one years ago — I want to tell you about a very exciting, cutting-edge piece of technology. It's a computer with a screen and a keyboard that fits in your lap.
Context & Ripple Effects
Days after Panos Panay and Ralf Groene walked through the Surface Book's design evolution, the Wall Street Journal delivers the verdict on Microsoft's first-ever laptop alongside its sibling tablet, the Surface Pro 4. The same-day Ars Technica verdict that the Surface Book 'really does replace your laptop' frames this as the moment reviewers stop treating Microsoft's hardware as an experiment.
What makes that matter: the related coverage traces a straight line from this debut through the Surface Book i7 refresh and the Surface Book 2 to the 2.76 lbs Surface Laptop explicitly aimed at the MacBook Air — a sustained annual cadence of premium Windows machines, not a one-off halo product.
First-order effects
- Microsoft becomes a first-party laptop maker overnight, putting its design team in direct competition with the Windows OEMs whose machines run on its software — while buyers finally get a flagship Windows portable that reviewers rank against Apple's on keyboard, trackpad, and screen rather than price alone.
Second-order effects
- Premium pricing becomes the template: Ars Technica notes the Surface Book 'can get very expensive,' a pattern every follow-up review repeats (the i7 model heavier yet pricier, the Surface Pro limited on ports but still costly), pushing OEM partners to chase build quality rather than undercut each other at the bottom.
Third-order effects
- If the cadence holds, Surface functions less as a volume business than as a reference design that resets what consumers expect Windows hardware to look like — culminating in form-factor expansion like the Alcantara-covered Surface Laptop aimed squarely at Apple's audience.
The trend: Microsoft is converting Surface from a risky tablet bet into a durable premium PC franchise, reviewed year after year against Apple rather than against other Windows makers.