In a recent post on the official Microsoft Devices Blog, the Surface Team offers an insight into the work that went into creating the Surface Book.
Microsoft’s first true laptop is the result of two solid years of hard work and dedication, going into technologies that may seem simple and easy to take for granted, when in fact, they are revolutionary. The fulcrum hinge and the muscle-wire release mechanism for the display are some of the most visible embodiment of a team effort that produced stacks of prototype models from floor to ceiling.
“...The reason that prototypes could be stacked floor to ceiling is due in part to the nature of the project. The team was asked, essentially, to build something that would lead the future of laptop hardware. Everyone was driven and eager to not just make the first Microsoft laptop, but to make it perfect. They forged ahead, wholly invested in every functional and beautiful detail of the final product....”
One of the industrial designers invited to participate in making the Surface Book happen, recalls how the inspiration for the dynamic fulcrum came to him, during his honeymoon, in Paris, as he stumbled upon a bookstore where he found a sophisticated folio, which seemed to be the embodiment of what the Surface Team was researching and gravitating towards.
The idea behind the dynamic hinge, as described by industrial designers Hua Wang, Kait Schoeck, and Dan O’Neil, the latter of whom relocated from the Xbox Team, was as simple as a carpet rolling out, it had to be elegant and simple, while overcoming the challenge of being able to support the weight of a tablet without toppling over.
That solution worked beautifully with the muscle-wire mechanism devised to detach the tablet portion of the device, which used a smart material that changes shape according to external stimuli. Schoeck was assigned to developing the muscle-wire mechanism, and did so using some of the inspiration behind his own early work involving the creation of robotic astronaut gloves for NASA. The invention was meant to allow astronauts to maneuver and get hold of different objects in zero gravity, while inside thick, pressurized suits.
Aside from the more evident technology, the less obvious, but most important aspect of the Surface Book, is the fact that in spite of the complexity of its hardware, it’s still an extremely thin device, capable of integrating a high-end discrete nVidia GPU underneath its keyboard, and two sets of batteries, one inside the base, and the other within the tablet part, which allows the display to be used as a tablet, independently, with its own battery.
The most exciting part of this process, however, is that the Surface Book is also the first of its kind, with many refinements and improvements still to come in the following generations, making the Surface Book a flagship device in its own right.
Where to buy the Microsoft Surface Book On-Line?