Hands-on: The Surface Book is a laptop. But it’s also a tablet.

Video shot and edited by Jennifer Hahn. (video link)

Almost as soon as Microsoft announced the Surface RT and Surface Pro in 2012, there was an immediate reaction: “OK, that’s sort of nice, I guess, but when will there be a Surface laptop?”

There’s never been any doubt about the Surface line’s build quality, attention to detail, and aesthetics. But for many of us, a tablet with a kickstand and separate keyboard lacks an essential quality: lapability. The Surface Pro 3’s variable-position kickstand and more secure magnetic keyboard attachment meant that the thing could be used on your lap at a pinch, but it never had the stability or convenience of a true laptop with a stiff hinge, and no matter how much Microsoft claimed it to be a laptop replacement, it wasn’t.