Microsoft Surface Book 2 (Intel Core i7, 16GB RAM, 512GB) - 13.5in (Renewed)

I decided on the 13.5 Surface Book 2 with built in NVidia card for several reasons. I needed something that I could take hand-written notes on for work, and I also wanted something that I could do some light gaming on from the couch.As for handwriting, this really is a great tool when paired with the Surface Pen. I am able to rapidly take handwritten notes and share across devices, insert pdfs to quickly fill out or take notes on, and the fact that it separates into a separate tablet means that if I need more mobility, or want to do a little drawing, I have that option as well. Compared to my girlfriend's new iPad, I think that it is on par, or juuuust a tiny smidge short of the precision level, but as a cursive writer, I wanted something ultra precise and this device certainly is.It also does a great job running the types of games I like in my leisure time. The tall aspect ratio means I get more screen than with my old 13.5 inch Asus Zenbook. It has not issue running RTS and TBS games like Total War, Panzer IV, or Civ VI. Even more graphics heavy games like Tropico 6 run very smoothly at the 3000x2000 resolution. HOWEVER, I had to tinker with the battery settings quite a bit to get good life when doing heavy gaming. I basically had to set the battery settings, even when plugged in, to "best battery life" (as opposed to "best performance"), and you also want to make sure that the game is running on the NVidia graphics card, and not the on-board intel. One thing that is both a benefit and a hindrance to this device, is that there are two graphics "cards" in the NVidia version I purchased: the NVidia card and battery in the screen half, and the Intel parts and battery in the keyboard half. The computer defaults to running down the battery in the screen first, which means that when I am gaming I am getting 2-2.5 hours battery life before the screen batter falls below 5% and it crashes the game. This isn't a HUGE deal, as I dont get as many opportunities to play that long without interruption, but I thought it might be helpful to some others considering this device. I can say that it charges very fast, and even a short break of 30 minutes can get me to at least a third, almost half battery.I only have two other complaints about this device: first, the power cord seems really flimsy to me. It connects on the RH side with a magnet, and can connect both ways, but it falls out ALOT when I am sitting with this in my lap. More annoying than anything, except the cord is having a tendency to kink at the connection, and it has gotten VERY hot once or twice. Not sure if this is a regular product issue, or if this is because I purchased a refurbished item. Speaking of refurbished, my volume button is a little wonky - the volume up side rests lower than the volume down side. Again, not sure if this is a regular product issue or a refurbished issue, but I am guessing the latter because the aesthetics of it drives me crazy. Buuuuut, not a big enough complaint to raise a stink over, just my OCD going off.I definitely am loving this device. The handwriting part alone has eliminated a hundred legal pads and sticky notes in my office, and syncing OneNote to my phone means that I have my notes anywhere I go. Would entirely recommend.

I use this for work and I love the laptop, it has the performance to do my work without issue. It is a beautiful laptop and it is innovative and changing the way that I work and think about my work computer with the tablet option. I moved from a Macbook Air to this laptop without issue and am super happy that I did. I highly recommend the Surface Book 2, worlds ahead of what Mac laptops have to offer these days which has become stale and dated in comparison. I am agnostic of OS and brand so, my only focus is the best tool for my job and the Surface Book 2 today is the BEST tool for my job. A few additional notes.-- Get the Surface Dock, it is something I always wanted from Apple and they never delivered, one plug for power, display and peripherals absolutely must have.-- The Surface Pen is a must have for tablet mode.-- Highly recommend the Surface keyboard and mouse as well.