Which Surface Book offers best bang for the buck?

Simply put, the new Surface Book looks awesome. It’s not so much a matter of should you buy a Surface Book. The answer is yes. The question is, “Which one?” There are seven models to choose from that will set you back between $1,500 and $3,200.

I took a look at the available options and wrote this post about which one offers the best overall value:

The early reviews of Microsoft’s Surface Book are in, and the tech media seems impressed—almost shocked. Microsoft took the Surface tablet line to a whole different level with the Surface Book and designed a product that puts it head-to-head with elite machines like the MacBook Pro. There are seven different Surface Book models to choose from, though—ranging in price from $1,500 to $3,200—so how do you decide which Surface Book is the one for you?

All of the Above

First, let’s take a look at what you get no matter which Surface Book you choose. You get a 13.5-inch hybrid 2-in-1 laptop. It has a 10-point multi-touch PixelSense display with a maximum resolution of 3000 by 2000 for a pixel density of 267ppi. While it looks and acts like a laptop, the display also detaches to function as a standalone Surface tablet, and it can be connected backwards so the tablet is facing out when the laptop is closed.

You get a hybrid 2-in-1 laptop with Windows 10—a full Windows PC capable of running Microsoft Office, games, and the vast array of software, both traditional Windows applications and apps from the Windows Store designed specifically for a touch-centric Windows experience.

You also get the Surface Pen. You can use it to navigate the OS, markup Web pages in Microsoft Edge, or with creativity software like Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator. My kids actually spend a potentially-concerning amount of time expressing their artistic creativity with the Fresh Paint app using the Surface Pen.

In other words, you get the same core device with most of the same features and capabilities regardless of which Surface Book model you buy. What differs is the horsepower that drives it—the CPU, the amount of RAM, the storage capacity, and the graphics processing capabilities.

Surface Book Models

You have seven different Surface Book models to choose from:

· Core Intel i5 / 8GB RAM / 128GB storage $1,500

· Core Intel i5 / 8GB RAM / 128GB storage / GPU $1,700

· Core Intel i5 / 8GB RAM / 256GB storage $1,700

· Core Intel i5 / 8GB RAM / 256GB storage / GPU $1,900

· Core Intel i7 / 8GB RAM / 256GB storage / GPU $2,100

· Core Intel i7 / 16GB RAM / 512GB storage / GPU $2,700

· Core Intel i7 / 16GB RAM / 1TB storage / GPU $3,200

Unfortunately, you’re limited to choosing from the pre-configured options. You can’t customize your own—say a Core Intel i5 with 8GB of RAM and the 1TB of storage. If you want the 16GB of RAM you have to choose one of the top two Core i7 models, and if you want the 1TB of storage you have no choice but to get the top-of-the-line $3,200 maxed out model.

Check out the full story at Forbes and let me know if you agree with me about which Surface Book provides the most bang for the buck: Choosing The Right Surface Book For Your Needs.