Microsoft Expands Hardware Offerings with Surface Book [Video]

Microsoft and Apple have been going at it for decades. Not only have these two tech monsters been at it in the lab, they’ve been each other’s prime competition throughout the advents of the personal computer, the graphic user interface, and the smartphone. Today they continue to make devices that deliberately (or not) seem more like counterpunches to the other than pure innovation.

This “war” has produced its fair share of innovative goods. In fact the people at LSP0 have put together a video that shows the direct competition the two companies have had in the context of delivering computing operating systems for over 35 years. Watch the video here:

On September 28th in New York City, the world’s largest software company went one step further into being a hardware vendor when it announced its new laptop offering, the Surface Book. It is designed as a powerful and versatile rival for Apple’s MacBook Pro. For the past three years they have been marketing their Surface line of tablets as the “tablet that can replace your laptop,” but with the announcement of the new Surface Book, which is in essence “a laptop that can replace your tablet,” Microsoft is moving forward in the hardware market.

The Surface Book features a 13.5-inch screen with a resolution of 3000 by 2000 pixels, either an Intel Core i5 and i7 processor with 8 GB or 16 GB of RAM, and 128 GB, 256 GB, 512 GB, or 1 TB available hard drives. In other words, the Surface Book is looking to be a high-end, ultra-portable powerhouse. Here’s the release video Microsoft put together:

It is just the next step in Microsoft’s shift in business strategy. CEO Satya Nadella has previously stated that intention: “I think reconceptualizing Microsoft as a devices and services company is absolutely what our vision is about.” By offering dynamic hardware, equipped with device-specific software, Microsoft is placing themselves in a market that has been dominated by other tech giants; and as a result, rekindling its 30+ year competition with Apple.

Do you prefer Apple or Microsoft devices? OS X or Windows 10? iOS or Windows Mobile? Please sound off in the comments.