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Home » Devices » Surface Book 1 specs, features, and tips
Surface Book 1 specs, features, and tips
Microsoft Surface Book is the first laptop created by Microsoft, released on October 26, 2015. The Surface Book is an Ultimate laptop with a detachable screen and discrete NVIDIA graphics processor.
Up to 6th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-6600U (2-Core, up to 3.40Ghz w/Turbo Boost)
Up to NVIDIA® GeForce® GPU (1GB GDDR5)
Up to 1TB SSD
Up to 16GB (1866Mhz LPDDR3 RAM)
Up to 12 hours battery life (69Wh)
The most powerful Microsoft's Laptop
Surface Book is a high-performance laptop with exceptional power and unprecedented versatility as a laptop, powerful tablet, detachable touchscreen, and a portable studio.
Best-in-class screen
13.5-inch PixelSense™ display with 6 million pixels (3000x2000), 1700:1 contrast ratio, and 100% sRGB color gamut.
It supports 10-point multitouch and Surface Pen with 1,024 pressure sensitivity (magnet attached to the side of the screen).
More Features
Magnet charging connector, Full-size USB 3.0 port, Bluetooth 4.0, 5MP front and 8MP rear camera.
Windows Hello face authentication camera (front-facing)
5.0MP front-facing camera with 1080p HD video
8.0MP rear-facing autofocus camera with 1080p HD video
Audio
Dual microphones
Front-facing stereo speakers with Dolby® Audio™ Premium
Misc
Surface Book
Inking
Supports Surface Pen
1024 levels of pressure
Magnetic storage
Sensors
Ambient light sensor
Proximity sensor
Accelerometer
Gyroscope
Magnetometer
Security
HW TPM chip for enterprise security
Enterprise-grade protection with Windows Hello face sign-in
In the box
Surface Book
Surface Pen
Power supply
Quick Start Guide
Safety and warranty documents
Warranty
One-year limited hardware warranty
More
Supports Surface Dial
Supports off-screen interaction only.
Microsoft Surface Book is the most high-performance laptop with incredible power and versatility. From the 6th Generation Intel Core i5 and i7, up to 16GB, to optional discrete graphics for an unparalleled laptop experience.
It features a beautiful 13.5-inch PixelSense display individually calibrated for true-to-life color with high contrast and low glare. On top of that, it can be detached from the screen to use like a clipboard, or rotate and reattach the screen to use the full hardware accelerated graphics.
Detailed specs for NVIDIA GeForce GPU on Surface Book
Tips and tricks
Discover how to make the most of your Surface Book (1st Gen) with our carefully curated collection of tips and tricks. Our comprehensive guide will help you extend battery life, increase performance, improve productivity, and troubleshoot any problems that may occur.
Catch up on the latest information about the original Surface Book features and fixes introduced via driver and firmware updates from Microsoft. Here are the last five releases:
It’s better to know more about this device before you make a purchase decision, and here is our comprehensive Microsoft Surface Book frequently asked questions that should clear up all your queries. We will try to cover all Surface Book question segments, including display, battery, performance, software, and design.
8.0MP rear-facing autofocus camera with 1080p HD video
3Does Surface Book include pen?
Yes, Surface Book does come with a Surface Pen out of the box. It supports 1,024 levels of pressure and replaceable pen tips.
4Does the new Surface Book come with a keyboard?
Yes, the Surface Book is always sold with a keyboard bundled.
5When was the Surface Book released?
Microsoft Surface Book was:
Announced and preordered on October 7, 2015
Available on October 26, 2015.
6Can you upgrade the RAM on Surface Book?
No, you can’t upgrade your Surface Book RAM as it was soldered directly onto the motherboard.
7Is the Surface Book fanless?
No, All Surface Book comes with fans:
Surface Book has only one fan inside the tablet section.
Surface Book with dGPU has one fan in the base and another one in the tablet section.
8How long will Microsoft support the original Surface Book?
According to Surface lifecycle documentation, Microsoft Surface Book will reach the end of its driver and firmware updates on November 13, 2021. The company promises to support all Surface devices starting from its release date for at least four years.
After the end of servicing date, the original Surface Book devices will continue to receive Windows OS feature and security updates as long as it meets minimum hardware requirements for any future Windows OS. Currently, Windows 10 is the latest supported operating system for Surface Book.
1Can Microsoft Surface Book run Photoshop?
Absolutely yes. Microsoft Surface Book equipped with the latest 6th Gen Intel® Core™ processors combined with Intel® HD Graphics and optional high-performance discrete GPU is perfectly powerful to handle all tasks available on Photoshop.
2Can the Surface Book run games?
Yes, you can play many game titles at medium settings.
3Can you code or program on Surface Book?
For writing code, Microsoft Surface Book is more than powerful enough to handle most code editors such as VS Code, Atom, or Notepad++. Combined with its great tactile keys, it’s the perfect mobile development machine you want to have. It’s also capable of compiling complex codes on Visual Studio or Android Studio as well.
4Is Surface Book 64-bit?
Yes, Microsoft Surface Book uses the 6th Gen Intel® Core™ processors which supports 64-bit instruction and it does come with a 64-bit version of Windows 10.
5Is Surface Book good for drawing?
Yes, drawing is really smooth on most apps such as Adobe Photoshop, Windows Ink, Sketchable, Bamboo Ink, OneNote, and more. It supports the latest Surface Pen with 4,096 levels of pressure and tilts support.
6Will Surface Book run Office?
Yes, the Surface Book comes with a Microsoft Office 365 30-day trial. Office apps will run smoothly on Microsoft Surface Book.
7Will Surface Dock work with Surface Book?
Yes, the Microsoft Surface Book works smoothly with Surface Dock via the Surface Connect port.
1How long does the Surface Book last?
Microsoft Surface Book lasts 12 hours of battery life of local video playback tested by Microsoft.
2What is the battery capacity of the Microsoft Surface Book?
Microsoft Surface Book has a battery capacity of 69 Wh (9,187 mAh, 7.5V). For more information check:
You can charge your Surface Book by using the OEM charger that comes with your Surface Book – Plug the charger into the power source and plug the Surface Connect connector to the charging port on the right side of the Surface Book. It’s a magnet and reversible connector and it’s an official and recommended charging method by Microsoft.
4Can I charge my Surface Book base alone?
Yes, you can charge your Surface Book’s base section alone either with or without the tablet section attached.
5Can I charge my Surface Book’s tablet section alone?
Yes, you can charge your Surface Book’s tablet section alone by connecting the Surface Connect charging connector to the Surface Connect port available under the Surface Book’s tablet section.
6Can I charge the Surface Book via USB?
No, the USB port on the Surface Book is used for data transfer only.
1Does Surface Book run Windows 10?
Yes, it does. Surface Book shipped with a full version of Windows 10 Pro.
2Can you download apps on Surface Book?
Yes, you can. You can download safe and Microsoft-verified apps and games from the Microsoft Store. Since it’s a full version of Windows 10, you can also download and install any apps from any source you’d like to.
3Does Surface Book run full Windows?
Yes, the Surface Book comes with full Windows 10 Pro.
4How do I reset my Surface Book?
To reset your Surface Book, plug in your Surface Book so you don’t run out of power during the refresh.
Open Settings > Update & Security.
Select Recovery.
Under “Reset this PC“, select Get Started.
Choose either Keep my files or Remove everything.
If you choose to Remove everything, you can choose to clean only the drive where Windows is installed and all drives.
Next, you will have the option to just remove my files and remove files and clean the drive. The option to clean the drive is more secure but takes much longer. For example, if you are recycling your Surface, you should clean the drive. If you are keeping your Surface, you just need to remove your files.
Select Reset.
Surface Book will restart and the Surface logo will appear during the reset process (this can take several minutes).
5Is Microsoft Office free on Surface Book?
No, the 13.5-inch Surface Book comes with a free Office 365 30-day trial, and you need to purchase a subscription to continue using the full Office suite when the trial period ends.
6Does Surface Book need antivirus?
In most cases, you don’t need a third-party antivirus. Windows 10 on Surface Book has a built-in Windows Defender for virus and threat protection out of the box. It’s free and receives definition updates regularly via Windows Update.
Evan Forrest is the Editor-in-Chief of SurfaceTip, where he researches and writes articles about Surface-related news, tips, and reviews. He has been using Surface devices since the first release of the original Surface Pro and currently uses a Surface Laptop 3 as his full-time daily driver machine. Additionally, he owns multiple Surface devices, including Surface RT, Surface 3, Surface Go/Go 2, Surface Pro 3, Surface Book/Book 2, and many Surface accessories to aid him in his research and article writing.
NVIDIA GeForce GPU
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