This is a pretty typical tradeoff in lower-end GPUs, however to ship 1GB of GDDR5 in a mobile part in 2015 is quite unusual to say the least. Normally GT 940M would come with 2 GB of DDR3 memory, and Microsoft has instead gone with 1 GB of GDDR5, trading memory capacity for improved GPU performance through additional memory bandwidth.
There are 384 CUDA Cores available, but the custom part is the memory. Taking a look at the GPU in our samples leads us to the conclusion that it is most certainly a GM108 based GPU, with specifications fairly close to the GeForce GT 940M. Their specifications just listed it as an "NVIDIA 8G" part, which was a custom Maxwell based GPU. At the launch event, Microsoft was pretty guarded about what GPU model was in the Surface Book. GT 940M) w/1GB GDDR5įirst, I think the one piece of information that most of our regular readers are curious about is the GPU. We have some results for both the base Core i5 model as well as the Core i7 version which comes with the NVIDIA GPU in the base. Due to the time needed to swap I haven’t had time to do a full review yet, but being that this is the launch day it’s important to offer a preliminary showing on the Surface Book.
Due to very limited supply initially obtaining a replacement unit was difficult, but Microsoft came through with another sample. I was lucky enough to receive a Surface Book at the event, but the pre-production unit that I received had a defective keyboard. By moving the CPU and other components into the display, it has certainly freed up the base for extra battery capacity as well as the GPU, something that would not be thermally possible in a normal Ultrabook. Microsoft has tried to break the mold compared to the standard Windows Ultrabook, with a detachable display, which they call a Clipboard, and an optional GPU in the base. There had been rumors of a larger form factor Surface Device, but launching it as a “The Ultimate Laptop” was certainly unexpected. Today is the official launch day for not only Microsoft’s Surface Pro 4, but also the Surface Book which was announced back at the Microsoft Windows 10 Devices event.
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