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5 great reasons why you should buy Microsoft Surface Book

If you are the sort of person who can't see the forest for the trees then Microsoft's new Surface Book is not for you. This much is clear after reading Brian Fagioli's article on why you shouldn't get the device. My colleague pays so much attention to certain details that he fails to see how Surface Book can be a great option for plenty of shoppers in the premium segment -- because those are the folks Microsoft is targeting, not the average Joe who takes issue with the $1,499 starting price.

Yes, Surface Book is a costly affair. But, it is also a unique proposition in today's market, which offers plenty of value for the money, something that cannot be said about most of its apparent rivals. So, without further ado, if you can afford Surface Book, here are five great reasons why you should get it.

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Lumia sales are in the toilet, Surface revenue is down

Microsoft has just released its Q1 FY2016 (Q3 CY2015) earnings report, posting revenue of $20.4 billion, operating income of $5.8 billion, net income of $4.6 billion and earnings per share of $0.57 (all GAAP figures). The software giant's numbers beat analysts' expectations, which has added around 10 percent to its stock price in after-hours trading. Here are the highlights of the software giant's quarter.

Microsoft has divided its earnings in three categories, namely Productivity and Business Processes, Intelligent Cloud, and More Personal Computing. The good news comes from Intelligent Cloud, where revenue is up by eight percent, while the bad news is in More Personal Computing, where the poor performance of Lumia and Surface devices lead to a 17 percent decrease in revenue, year-over-year.

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5 reasons not to buy Microsoft's Surface Book

There is no denying that the Surface Book is a great computer. There is no denying that a Ferrari is a great car either. Just because something is wonderful doesn't mean it can't have flaws, and it also doesn't mean it is necessarily worth the cost.

While I spent some time with the Surface Book laptop in a controlled press environment, I've yet to try one in the real world. With that said, there are too many compromises with Microsoft's flagship to make me actually want one. In fact, here are five specific reasons why you should not buy it.

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Microsoft's cheapest Surface Book is joined by a new dGPU model

The Surface Book range just keeps on growing. After the initial launch, Microsoft added a 1TB model and today another makes its way to the Microsoft Store. Bringing the number of options up to seven, there is now a 128GB dGPU available.

This means that Microsoft now has a discrete GPU Surface Book in all four capacities: 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB. Apart from the addition of the dGPU, the specs are the same as the entry-level Surface Book, and $200 has been added to the price.

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Microsoft steps up efforts to get Surface into businesses

Microsoft is keen to get its Surface tablets in the hands of business users. This is one of the reasons why it increased the number of Surface sales partners back in July. And in September it launched the Surface Enterprise Initiative allowing Dell and HP to resell the product.

Now following the launch of Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book earlier this month, the company is making renewed efforts to crack the business market with new service offerings.

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Microsoft is worryingly cagey about Surface Book benchmarks

The new baby in Microsoft's Surface family is the Surface Book. The convertible device has a striking look, as well as a striking price -- particularly if you opt for the newly announced 1TB model -- but Microsoft has been keen to promote performance.

At launch, the claim was made that the Surface Book is twice as powerful as a MacBook Pro. When the $3,199 1TB model was announced, Microsoft repeated the claim. Being quite a fan of evidence, I was intrigued by the fact that the claims were not being backed up with raw data from benchmarks. I asked Microsoft for more details, and found the company to be really quite cagey (and repetitive) in what it had to say.

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Lenovo won't sell Surface because it sees Microsoft as a competitor

Microsoft Surface Pro 3 has proven to be very popular with business users, enough to push Dell and HP to announce that they would officially sell and support the device, alongside their own Windows offerings. Dell and HP are the third and second-largest PC vendors, respectively, so, naturally, market leader Lenovo was expected to also join the Surface Enterprise fold.

That has yet to happen, but it is not due to the lack of customer demand as some folks might be inclined to believe. The reason why Lenovo does not want to sell Surface Pro 3 is because, well, it sees Microsoft as a competitor.

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Adobe Flash zero-day vulnerability surfaces one day after security updates

Yesterday Adobe rolled out its monthly security patches, something all users should pay attention to given past history. Flash, Reader and Acrobat all received fixes, presumably remedying the current batch of problems plaguing the software. The problem is, nothing ever seems fixed in the world of Adobe.

To that end, a zero-day exploit has already been discovered by the folks at security firm Trend Micro. Yes, that didn't take long and Adobe didn't fix this one.

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Toshiba Satellite Radius 12 is world's-first 4K 12.5 inch convertible -- Surface Book killer?

While 1080p is probably "good enough" for many consumers, you never want technology to get stagnant. Manufacturers pushing the envelope benefits us all. Even if 4K isn't a need, it is surely an amazing luxury.

Today, Toshiba announces the pricing and availability of Satellite Radius 12. This svelte 2-in-1 Windows 10 convertible features a 12.5 inch 4K display, which the company claims to be the world's first. Amazingly, this Windows 10 computer is aggressively priced and chock full of the latest features. Is the Surface Book killer already here?

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How Microsoft Surface Book 'scarcity' will raise the fortunes of every OEM partner

"Out of stock". These are familiar words to diehard Apple fans. They go to a web site and select their preferred combination of features from a configurator page only to discover that the product they really want is "temporarily unavailable".

Such manufactured scarcity is de rigueur for customers looking to buy the latest shiny object from Apple's toy chest. However, as sales and marketing tactics go, it’s a fairly new concept for would be Windows device owners. Which is why many will be surprised to encounter an unfamiliar message when trying to buy the highest-end model of the recently announced Surface Book laptop.

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The Surface Book hinge is not a good look

The newly-announced Surface Book feels like it's something I should love. I'm a big Surface Pro fan and I still use my first gen Pro as my daily driver. But there's just something about the Surface Book that grates. The price is not in any way attractive, but there's something else that's rather ugly: the hinge.

The Surface Book's hinge is something that Microsoft seems quite pleased with. Proud of, even. Microsoft calls it a 'dynamic fulcrum hinge', but it looks like a cross between a caterpillar track and a rubberized bendy drinking straw. For what is described as a 'meticulously crafted' device and 'the ultimate laptop', it's not a good look -- and it could be a serious problem.

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Microsoft's insane Surface Book price means it will be left on the shelf

At today's event in New York, Microsoft put on an impressive show. We were -- ironically -- expecting some surprises, and the announcement of the Surface Book meant we weren't disappointed; this is, after all, "the ultimate laptop". The looks are striking. The specs are impressive. The price tag is... eye-watering.

In a way, we should have expected some expensive hardware to be revealed today. With its Surface Pro range, Microsoft showed that it is not afraid to push up the price, but the Surface Book takes things a step further. $1,499 is the starting price. Make a few tweaks to the specs and you could find yourself relieved of a buttock-clenching $2,699. Is there any way to justify this price?

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With Surface Book, Microsoft reinvents the PC -- again

The Surface computer line has revolutionized portable computing -- it reinvented the PC. Want proof? Both Apple and Google have arguably copied Microsoft's now-iconic hybrid PC with the iPad Pro and Pixel-C, respectively. This mimicry, plus solid sales of the Surface Pro 3, solidifies Panos Panay's vision as both worthwhile and successful.

Today, Microsoft unveils the newest member of its hybrid family, the Surface Book. While competitors thought they were catching up, Microsoft has suddenly left them in the dust. Yes, the company has reinvented the PC once again, but this time, with a laptop -- you can finally use a Surface on your lap. It is twice as fast as the MacBook Pro!

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I was right: Your next PC will look like a Microsoft Surface

It’s fun being a thought leader. You get to watch as others supposedly "discover" an idea or truth that you originated weeks or even months before. In this case it’s the notion that Microsoft’s Surface tablet has become a form factor trend setter for PC designs.

The above linked SuperSite for Windows article is a great read, but far from original. I postulated much the same thing when I declared that your next PC will look like a Microsoft Surface. The difference is that I published my take on the matter over three weeks ago, long before any of us knew what the Google Pixel C tablet would look like. But now that the search giant has jumped on the "kickstand-and-keyboard" bandwagon, my prescient musings have been set in stone.

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Google launches the Android 6.0-powered Pixel C -- a rival to Microsoft's Surface

In addition to two new Nexus smartphones: Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P, Google at its media event in San Francisco today refreshes its tablet lineup. The company is calling its new tablet the Pixel C which, unlike the Pixel notebook lineup, doesn't run Chrome OS, but instead it runs the "latest and greatest" version of Android: 6.0 Marshmallow.

Unlike smartphones that continue to sell like hotcakes, tablets shipment figures aren't that pleasing. Everyone from Google to Apple to Samsung is struggling to entice users. Which brings us to the recent modern era where companies aren't trying to sell you a large tablet to just consume media content, and do basic emails. They are selling you a device that can be just as productive as the laptop.

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