Surface Book underlines the problem with hybrids

Microsoft’s Surface Book is as good as it gets for hybrid devices. You can’t buy a better hybrid, even if the Surface Book still has irritating bugs.

Hybrids are popular. They are the only growing PC segment. There is no doubt they are what many people want from a computing device.

And yet there is something wrong with the hybrid format. Wrong is not the right word here. Perhaps unsatisfactory better fits the bill.

Compromise

The problem is that all hybrids involve compromise. In most cases you don’t get the best laptop experience, nor do you get the best tablet experience.

Many users are happy to tradeoff these experiences in return for having two devices in one package.

This tradeoff plays out in a different way with the Surface Book. It is an excellent Windows 10 laptop. In practice it is such a good laptop, that you might only ever use the Surface Book as a laptop.

Clever hardware, not smart hardware

Sure, detaching the screen is clever. But when I reviewed the Surface Book, I found I never needed to do this apart from when I tested the feature to see how it works.

I also found I almost never use the touch screen. It helps that the Surface Book has a great touchpad that means you don’t need to make uncomfortable reaching movements

And there’s the problem. The Surface Book is a great Windows laptop, the extras that turn it into an OK tablet add a lot to the cost. Prices start at NZ$2750. That’s $1000 more than you’d pay for something with the same specification that doesn’t double as a tablet.

Make that "double as a tablet that you'll rarely use".