

Without any fanfare at all, Microsoft has started offering a quad-core Intel Core i5-8350U in the 13.5-inch Surface Book 2 option, taking the pricing bracket that the dual-core i5-7300U used to fill. USB Type-C 3.1 Gen 1 with USB Power Deliveryĥ.0 MP front-facing camera with 1080p video But the Core i5 model shipped with a dual-core Kaby Lake i5-7300U processor, meaning it had a sizeable performance delta to the top tier model – far greater than we typically see in a Core i5 to Core i7 comparison. The Core i7 model shipped with the 8th generation Intel Core, meaning Kaby Lake Refresh, which means quad-core over the dual-core in Kaby Lake. Such was the case with the Surface Book 2 when it launched in 2017.

Thanks to their somewhat unusual launch windows, that can mean that they use older hardware for longer. There is little doubt that they offer some stunning hardware, but after being the first PC maker to jump on Intel’s Skylake platform, and then being burned by the power management issues that chipset had, they’ve been more cautious with their offerings ever since. Microsoft is a bit of an enigma in the PC space.
