Surface Book 3 in Profile
The Surface Book is no more
While we miss the engineered style of the Surface Book 3 Dynamic Fulcrum Hinge (and its name), the new Surface Laptop Studio is probably a better bet for users in the real world.
The Surface Book (and the new Surface Laptop Studio) compete with 360-degree 2-in-1 laptops including the Lenovo Yoga and HP x360s hybrids. Unlike those models, flipping the screen on the old Surface Book required detaching and reattaching the tablet display. This meant users had to interrupt the connections to their ports, keyboard and graphics card, all of which were housed in the Surface Book’s keyboard. This required some disruption to the user's workflow, as well as a bit of fumbling.
The Book's dynamic hinge...
The Surface Laptop Studio's hinge...
The new hinge should be less disruptive than the 360 alternatives, which need to be picked up from the desktop to flip the display. It's certainly less disruptive than removing and re-attaching the display.
We might be seeing a few more 2-in-1 hybrid laptops like this. We know of one or two already.
The Surface Laptop Studio can switch from laptop, to easel, to tablet without interrupting any applications or needing to unplug anything. From laptop mode, you can flick the top half of the screen back and pull it forward in to an easel position (with magnetic tethers to hold in place) or pull forward until fully flat for use as a tablet.
Surface Laptop Studio in Laptop, Easel and Tablet formats (from left to right)
The non-detachable screen means the display can no longer be removed for use as a lightweight standalone tablet. That said, using the older Surface Book's detachable screen as a tablet meant forgoing the NVIDIA graphics that were housed inside the keyboard. Otherwise, the screen needed to be detached, rotated, and reattached to the keyboard, making a bulkier tablet overall.
By comparison, switching between modes on the new Studio is a matter of push and pull. Full specs for the Surface Laptop Studio
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