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Surface Book with Performance Base is shipping now, no delays on new orders

Last month, Microsoft officially unveiled its first major revision of the Surface Book laptop. Now, there are reports that the first wave of pre-orders on the device are starting to ship out to customers, and new stock is becoming available.

Some users that pre-ordered the Surface Book with the new Performance Base peripheral are now beginning to receive their tracking codes, according to a report from MS Power User. This suggests that the hardware will be shipping imminently, if it hasn’t already entered the distribution process.

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The biggest change to the second iteration of the Surface Book is the introduction of the Performance Base. This component allows the system to make good on the promise of a hybrid device — it’s a fully functional laptop when you want it to be, and a high-spec tablet when that’s more convenient.

The result is a system that’s more than capable of handling just about any task that’s thrown at it. With the Performance Base locked in, the new Surface Book boasts an impressive 16 hour battery life, and a new GPU that apparently offers double the graphical performance of its predecessor.

The Surface Book with Performance Base edged out the 2016 MacBook Pro in the Digital Trends comparison between both systems. However, it has to be said that competition was very tight, even if the Surface Book’s hybrid capabilities and its top-notch display allowed Microsoft’s laptop to edge out its biggest competition.

If you’ve been holding off on ordering your Surface Book with Performance Base, now might be the time to strike if you’re looking to receive the device ahead of the holidays. Models with 256GB and 512GB of storage are available now with no shipping delays, while the 1TB variant is scheduled to be available from November 28.

Brad Jones
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Brad is an English-born writer currently splitting his time between Edinburgh and Pennsylvania. You can find him on Twitter…
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