Hi Everyone
We are overstocked with Surface Book 2 2-in1s and are have a special deal for Ozbargain
Use code OZB120 to get these units for $279 inc shipping
These have a 8th gen i5 processor, 3K resolution touchscreen (detaches from base to convert to tablet), intel graphics, 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD. Can also charge with type-c charger. These have been graded as excellent condition with battery health over 80%.
Ready to use with Windows 11 and 44W surface charger.
The code worked for me, in both lowercase and uppercase.
Worked now. Thank you :)
8GB ram is not very usable on windows 11. Have a similar specced HP 1013, it bogs down on anything more than 2 tabs of chrome.
Was wondering if you can upgrade the ram on these guys?
Dont' worry.. ChatGPT tells me no =D
ChatGPT confidently gives me wrong answers all the time, then argues with me about it.
@illumination: I got into an argument with whatever AI WhatsApp uses when I asked it how I can disable it.
@Jimbuscus: I got the opposite problem. I'll tell it that it's wrong and then it changes it to what I say without even understanding what's been said.
The only time I had found it useful is when I'm doing small snippets of codes, like getting it to code review for me. It often still over complicate it but when an idea I have isn't really working, llms can bridge that small gap without me searching for the syntax or whatever.
@Wonderfool: I struggle with getting it to forget information that is irrelevant to the new topic, it confidentially assumes that anything similar is the context of the new thing.
I can tell it to not factor that previous discussion, it'll Yeah Haus, then continue keeping it as relevant.
No, they are extremely thin with everything soldered.
It's a completely sealed unit, It's a hard no on RAM upgrades (thanks Microsoft!)
Computer said no
My parents machine is a Lenovo m700 tiny and 8gb of ram (6400t) is enough for that machine for their use (email, Web browsing, printing).
For anyone else, probably not enough ram, no.
Yea old generation has enough patience; even when they have to wait for 5 seconds for a click to respond.
probably because they grew up in a time where computers were actually slow. I still remember how long some games took to move around in or loading screens.
Can i watch 4k movies with VLC player with no lag or stuttering?
That's not really a RAM question necessarily. And the 6400T is different to the cpu in this laptop. Better to check googs for that one.
8th gen using hardware acceleration should be fine, it'll struggle using software only tho. Still ymmv if you're talking streaming vs blu ray full size content.
It wasn't usable on Win10 either. I have a Lenovo X1 Yoga I can't even bring myself to turn on because it runs like such a dog on 8Gb.
To many people not using the greatest browser of all time, Brave!
Have 16gb and its the same. Think its more related to windows 11 being a hot mess than anything else.
In my case, 16gb works fine. I have a PC with an 8100t in it and it works flawlessly for web browsing with 10+ tabs plus a few apps in the background running.
Based on my experience, the leanest W11 can run currently is a tad above 8gb. So having just 8GB will put a lot of things in swap (or pagefile) while 16gb is still quite manageable.
I would not get a brand new device with soldered 16gb but if you currently have 16gb you should still be fine, assuming you’re running a decently clean w11 install.
Yeah mine works on 16gb but its been really hit or miss from my understanding after seeing various computers at work forced to update.
Previously the fan barely ran, things opened instantly, 50 tabs on chrome, 10 excels, teams, a million emails etc. Absolutely no issue.
Since the update it can take 5 seconds to open explorer at times, have to limit tabs to 10 max, likewise with any other apps. Constant issues with the laptop grinding to a halt, the fan constantly spinning etc. And in processes there is a million new ones that seem to be loosely related to AI. Some are minor but have 150 of the same procesees running at once.
If i put on my tin foil hat i feel like there is chance microsoft is using everyones windows 11 devices to collectively work on AI processes and searches for the rest of the world.
That cpu is 38% faster and you have double the ram. A bit ignorant to talk about how good a completely different computer is.
Does anyone has an experience installing linux on this?
No but I'll try it. Internet seems positive.
I was thinking the same thing. This might help: https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Microsoft_Surface_Book_2
Yes that's what I saw. Also more info from the linux-surface github
Looks like BLE will kill the battery so my old surface pen might not be that useful. From the feature matrix:
"¹⁵ Marvell Wi-Fi/Bluetooth chip has a firmware bug where system powersaving is prohibited if any Bluetooth Low Energy devices are paired (yes: paired, not connected). For best battery life, make sure not to pair any BT LE devices (that includes the Surface Pen)."
With the horror show that is windows at the moment, it's a no-go unless you intend to install Linux on it.
The surface-linux kernel is very good. I have a Surface Book 1 and a Surface Dock 2 set up as a tiny server. Tried proxmox but ended up going my own with a minimal Debian install and Cockpit/Dockge to manage Podman containers. Works like a charm and can easily slap it on the side of my desktop PC's case as it is so slim (don't need the keyboard when using the dock).
How does Linux perform with 8Gb?
not as well as it does with 16GB. It's not linux that the problem. But if you want to, I dunno, run a browser with more than 2 tabs. you will be at the memory limit. I wouldn't waste your cash on a 10 year old door stop
@grumbly: "… more than 2 tabs" is a gross understatement. There's nothing inherently wrong with these for people who have only basic needs.
They're a better option than paying $700+ for lower specced e-waste from Hardly Normal.
Depends what you are doing with it but generally a hell load better doing the same tasks as you would on w11
@16k-zx81: I won't be doing much on w11, if anything. When the w10 ESU runs out, my machines & the friends/family I look after will all be migrating to Linux.
The only w11 device I'll have will be my handheld. Even that will likely be migrated to SteamOS in the near future.
@BinaryPirate: I made the switch when I was forced to upgrade my home server to windows 10 due to 7 expiring,.around 2016. Turon cpu. It could not run 11 useably. Put Ubuntu on it, and everything was perfect - snappy, responsive.. and never looked back. That little server ran for years. I have a bunch of machines these days all running Linux and it's been great. These days with ai it's even easier because if i need to troubleshoot something i can just chat and generally (not always, but more often than not) it will drill down pretty fast on what's wrong and offer a working solution, or at least point me in the right direction. Anyway all this is just to say I can't see myself ever needing or wanting to run another ms os.
Fine for something that just runs containers and no desktop environment.
With about 6 containers running but idle, usage only 2.2gb.
It's really just a glorified Nas that cost me $80 (minus the storage).
Yeah, had some issues with the wireless driver. But if you can manage to get online in some other way (or put the driver on USB) it's fine. Also it may depends on which distro you install. I did CachyOS and I think EndeavorOS, both Arch based and in both cases the wireless works fine when booting from USB but stopped working once the OS was installed on the SSD.
Besides that it worked fine.
This would be a struggle on Windows with only 8GB ram but it's more serviceable in Linux. The screens are excellent even in 2026, 4:3, good colours and resolution. Not saying I'd get one of these though. At this price I'd rather get a second hand Thinkpad.
3:2 actually, but yeah amazing screen. Would be cool if someone could rig up a control board to make them DP/USB-C to repurpose as a portable monitor
Any chance with the i7 surface book 3?
I would snap that up @ $279 in a second
with 16gb ram!
A silly question. Is the battery hosted inside the display to work as a Tablet or is it on the Keyboard part?
It has two batteries, one in the keyboard, the other in the display.
And I can the Display battery independently with USB Cable?
I don't think the tablet has usb port. The only way usb-C port is when attached to the keyboard.
@mfu: That's right. You may charge the display independently via the dock port using surface charger plug.
You can use a Type C to Surface charging cable like this to charge the display without the keyboard.
Good deal, grabbed one for wife just before Christmas
Anyone know which courier they use?
Auspost
Awesome, thanks.
@untech hey guys, any deals on 11th Gen Laptops with 16GB Ram, 14" / 15.6" Screen for $299?
No plans currently
what the battery report like on these?
The battery when in tablet mode is atrocious. Maybe 45-60 minutes of streaming time before the battery dies.
When attached to the keyboard, its not too bad, few hours.
word of warning, these have common issues likeoverheari, and the screen battery bloating and becoming disconnected, making it unable to be detached
On mine, half of the screen touch is dead, and the battery of the tablet also dead. Previously quoted $500 to fix, I rather make it non touchscreen laptop. So now it is connected to the keyboard all the time.
If it's battery bloat inside of warranty, Microsoft will usually replace it for you. Happened to mine a number of years back.
It doesn't come with windows or office installed?
would this be a good alternative to the xiaomi lenovo tablet for watching streaming content?
I recently bought the lenovo Xiaoxin Pad Pro and to be honest it's plagued with issues, the OS is rubbish, even with the English conversion. Super clunky and glitchy, wifi has a known issue where it just drops out every two seconds and you have to reconnect it, and putting it on a monitor/display looks weird and has connectivity issues. I'd recommend a name-brand tablet.
the big thing stopping me from pulling the trigger on that is everyone who talks about them sounds like they're constantly fighting against the native OS intruding on their experience
I’m using the Chinese model, but of course I set it to English. The only thing is that when I search in the menu, I see some Chinese text. I don’t think that really matters at all. I’ve already removed most of the preinstalled Chinese apps anyway. I use it both at work and at home, and I’ve never had any Wi-Fi issues. Also, I definitely don’t agree that it’s glitchy. For this price, it’s an unbelievably good tablet.
On top of that, I had previously bought a GMKtec mini PC from aliexpress(12gb win 11), but this tablet made me forget all about it. I even sold my M2 iPad Pro for this tablet, because I already have a MacBook Pro. It’s absolutely great for watching YouTube and Netflix. The screen quality is surprisingly good. After seeing this Surface listing, I honestly think it’s completely unnecessary, because even with 12 GB of RAM, Windows 11 can still lag. That’s why I definitely recommend this tablet.
For your use case the Lenovo will be much better, these surfaces are almost 9 years old, battery life won't be the best
Any ideas of how many hours of battery life 80% is? Thinking for kids on holidays, and youtube/netflix.
Purchased. Has to be better than a Surface Book 1. I'm sure I'll find something useful for this. :)
These things are 10 years old next year… much better refurb deals around including dell and hp commercial grade devices with more ram
How about you post some of these better deals you say are out there!!
Batman's a scientist?
Don’t need too they already got posted on here quite frequently buddy
Yeah didnt think you could champ.
Next time you want to try slag down other OP's posts, feel free to bring your own buddy.
@BatmanAU: Easy tiger, this is a commercial entity selling laptops, not a community member scouring a deal that they think is worth posting.
The main past-times of OZBers are:
(1) posting bargains;
(2) complaining about the quality of other posts
You forgot the down-voting Karens in your list
do you have any newer ones. Surfacebook 3 with 32gig/1tb ?
Looking for Surfacebook 3 as well
Same
Looking to upgrade my unused surface pro 5 to something that gives me the same lightweight experience, without the wobbly keyboard and kickstand in my lap.
same here
Good deal.
Trigger pulled.
best door stop ever. must more function when you put linux on it.
I have installed ubuntu and chromeOS on a Surface book 2 and am very happy with it
Im looking at doing the same. I want to try out Chrome OS and I already use Linux Mint for about 10 years+ and Ubuntu for about 15+ years.
Do you have a recommended Linux distro for these? And how hard was it to install ChromOS on these? Any webapge wioth info on how to get ChromeOS onto one of these that you think is easy enough to follow?
You could probably just use any distro. I used Ubuntu for ages on far older hardware than this (32bit) and it runs fine. That machine can't even keep up with medium res youtibe videos but the OS is still rock solid. With this you should have no issues.
Most people I know run Ubuntu or Mint or Debian, I would recommend one of the first two. I switched from Ubuntu to Chrome OS for my daily a few years ago and ChromeOS is almost magical in how lightweit and fast it is on cheap hardware. I haven't tried to run it on x86 though
I purchased a Surface Studio 2 for $400 so pretty thrilled even if it is a few years old now
Could you please share the link, where you bought it from? Thx
I would be interested too for the link plz!
Looking for Surface book 3 :)
Does anyone use these for drawing? Would love to hear some feedback.
I've never used a tablet for sketching before, and I'm looking for a cheap entry point to try it out.
I'm considering the $1049 Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra but this is a tempting offer. I'd need to get a pen seperately with Surface though.
Have not used one of these for drawing. But I do have that Samsung tablet and it is the best thing I've bought in many years. It cannot be faulted, the screen is incredible.
I have use the gen1 surface book and writing experience are pretty terrible because it went hot so fast and. I then switch to an ipad with apple pencil setup and never look back.
Release Date: November 16, 2017
9 years old
Yeah hence I am surprised they are graded with 80% or more battery. Will have to wait and see.
They manufactured them right on through to 2020.
9 years old would be the maximum age.
6 the minimum.
Thanks ordered YaY!
Wife wanted one of these (not this one in particular, just a laptop/tablet combo) for her Fartbook and Youtube crap.
100% will be having a crack at installing Linux on this when it comes in. Pretty hard not to at least give it a go at this price.
Been rocking the i5 16GB 512gb SB2 since 2017 with no desire to replace it. I'm using it right now.
Works great, never had a problem with it. Runs W10 well and the LCD screen is still a joy to use by todays standards.
Cons are it can get warm being passively cooled (so I have a small desktop fan pointing at the back of the screen screen during workloads) and its a bit bulky. I used it once as a tablet this whole time too so I felt the 2-1 was superfluous.
I mainly used it plugged in and set the BIOS so it keeps the SoC at 50% for both batteries.
Currently theyre showing 9 & 6% capacity loss for each. It accepts USB-PD but you need at least 30W.
Would I recommend? If you don't mind a gamble, its hard to know how good the refurb will be.
This is very close to being a negative vote from me. Simply put, these 8th gen Intel's are too old, and 8GB of RAM is too little.
I absolutely loved my first Surface Book 2 (though even in 2018 I had 16GB of RAM and 1TB SSD). Mine lasted about 3.5 years before a catastrophic battery failure. I then ended up with a Surface Pro and I was surprised and impressed by how performant it was. The Surface Book had a superior keyboard, and the fulcrum hinge was cool. I rarely detached it from the base, but it was neat to have the option.
Nostalgia aside, this is not a device that will work well in the long run. It's a hefty unit, but a relic of the past in terms of specs.
![[Refurb] Microsoft Surface Book 2 13" i5 8350U 8GB RAM 256GB SSD Win 11 $279 Delivered @ UN Tech](https://files.ozbargain.com.au/n/62/946762.jpg?h=ad557808)
Works for me!