Some systems with older 7th-gen Intel CPUs can be as fast or faster, including the current 15-inch MacBook Pro, but that's because those use higher-end HQ versions of those processors, rather than the lower-voltage U-series CPU used here.Įven though the Surface Book 2 comes just after the first wave of Windows Mixed Reality headsets, it lacks an HDMI port, so you'll need a USB-C-to-HDMI adaptor to connect one. When pushing games, the internal fans tended to crank up audibly.Īway from games, in our performance and video rendering tests, the 8th-gen Intel Core i7-8560U continued the impressive gains we've seen from the first wave of PCs with Intel's latest chips. The display itself has a native resolution of 3,240x2,160, but in many games you'll have to turn down the detail levels for better performance, although that's true of most 4K gaming laptops as well. In actual hands-on use, I was able to play new and recent premium games, including Divinity: Original Sin 2 and Wolfenstein: The New Colossus, very smoothly with high detail settings at resolutions close to 1,920x1,080 (the 3:2 aspect ratio means you'll have to adjust your game resolution slightly to perfectly fit the screen).

With the same GPU, but the difference wasn't major. It didn't play games at framerates as high as many dedicated gaming In our benchmark testing, the Nvidia GeForce 1060 GPU inside performed well.

It's not being marketed as one, but this is be the first Surface device that can be taken seriously as a I call this recurring stylus test art, 'The Indistinct Man.' Sarah Tew/CNET Getting in the game

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