Microsoft have been striving to present a stark alternative to Apple's coffee-shop-ubiquitous Macbook line for a while now. In the past, their Surface range of (mostly) hybrid laptops/tablets have hardly been gaming machines, but that's now changed with current range-topper, the shockingly expensive...

Like its larger sibling, the Microsoft Surface Book 2 (13.5-inch) is an excellent device, and one of the most powerful 2-in-1 devices we've tested. It has a premium design, excellent features and is a great showcase for Windows 10 - though it comes at a price.

Very good battery life; Powerful; Feels great to use as a tablet; Fanless design

Very expensive; Not as powerful as 15-inch model; No Surface Pen included

We liked the original Surface Book on review here at T3.com. We loved its flexibility and do-anything capabilities - it was just so powerful and premium that, despite a few minor issues, it was not hard to wholeheartedly recommend. And here, with the new Surface Book 2, nothing has changed.

Massively powerful for a 2-in-1; Battery life is excellent; Lightweight despite size and spec; Screen is superb; Can play modern AAA games at high settings

Surface Pen is not included; Drab grey finish; Speakers are so-so

After a somewhat shaky start (excuse the pun), Microsoft's Surface Book has found its stride. The new and improved Book 2 retains all that was good about the original - including beautiful design, a versatile Clipboard and an excellent keyboard and trackpad - while introducing a handful of...

Beautiful design; Clipboard works a treat; Excellent keyboard and trackpad; Gorgeous 3:2 PixelSense display; Chart-topping battery life; Fanless base specification; Good range of accessories

Doesn't support Thunderbolt 3; Surface Pen not included

As a showcase of Microsoft's technological prowess, the Surface Book 2 is an unqualified marvel. The screen is near-flawless, and is a dream for artists, editors and cinephiles alike.

Excellent performance; Superb screen; Great keyboard

Expensive; Surprisingly bulky; Poor battery life

Fantastic machine. Very pleased with the hardware and performance. One issue though, Microsoft's fault, is there is no printed visual accompanying the laptop showing what each connectors is. As a result, we bought the wrong connector to connect this to an external Monitor.

With prices starting at £1,500, this isn't a casual purchase – but with its detachable screen, this could be the best Windows 10 power-user laptop going

excellent keyboard; great trackpad; brilliant screen; great stylus; 9-hour battery; fancy hinge; great 2-in-1 compromise; USB A; full-sized SD and USB-C; Windows Hello; Surface Dial support; 8th generation Core i7 chips; discrete GPU

Windows still has tablet app gap; very expensive; relatively heavy; still a bit of play in the hinge; no Thunderbolt 3

Microsoft promises a lot with the new Surface Book 2. The 13.5-inch convertible is a really good device in some respects, but we are sometimes wondering why the manufacturer ignores known issues or waives modern standards. Let us begin with the good things.

high-quality case; very good screen without PWM; high performance; despite passive cooling; very long battery runtime; comfortable input devices; decent camera; often silent

very loud GPU fan (depending on the power setting; power adapter not always sufficient; no Thunderbolt 3; Surface Pen not included anymore; considerable throttling (especially CPU) on battery; display bounces during touch inputs; no LTE connectivity; basically impossible to maintain; long charging...

The Surface Book was an odd fish in a sea of 2-in-1 Surface wannabes. It was Microsoft's first attempt at building a proper laptop and it was good if a tad expensive. Now that the Surface Laptop is here, you might have forgiven Microsoft for conveniently shelving its ambitious detachable and...

This is an exceptional laptop that I have been completely blown away by how capable it is in relation to its size. Microsoft hows outdone themselves and created their best product yet. The screen is spectacular and I love the 3:2 aspect ratio, it works great for both tablet mode and laptop mode.