How well does Surface Book 2 handle Windows Mixed Reality?

The Surface Book 2 is a beastly laptop, providing quad-core i7 processing, 16GB of RAM, and a GTX 1060 – which, in theory, is all the internal ability you need to run Windows Mixed Reality (WMR).

WMR and VR, in full general, are even so in their infancies. Just earlier this week, Oculus Rift headsets all around the globe were rendered useless by an expired security document, and while WMR headsets are slowly gaining basis, they're notwithstanding a niche inside a niche. In that sense, using WMR on a Surface Book 2 is probably a niche within a niche within a niche, only alas, here nosotros are.

I spent the day in virtual worlds with the Surface Book 2 in WMR, and here's what you need to know before because this gear up up as a go-to VR option.

The VR experience, every bit in visuals and caput tracking on the Surface Book 2 using the HP Mixed Reality headset, were quite good. The load times on some games, in particular, Arizona Sunshine were shockingly long for some reason when compared to my Razer Blade xiv, which I can only attribute to the Blade'southward more powerful CPU.

The in-game experience was smoothen enough, as long equally you lot're willing to accept resolution compromises and jagged edges on 3D models. The Book 2 simply doesn't feel like it was designed with WMR in mind, which, considering it has no HDMI port, is easy to believe.

Additionally, WMR drained my battery similar crazy even when it was plugged in with the official charger. There'due south a chance that the fact I'thou using a Europe-to-United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland ability adapter might touch on things, but an hour of gaming was plenty to wipe lx percentage off my battery, which isn't exactly platonic. The Surface Book 2 is known to suffer from this result, merely merely in extreme circumstances. Information technology certainly feels similar WMR is enough to push button the Book ii's power describe to its limits, judging by the experiences of other members of the Windows Central squad.

A question of accessories

Another issue I found with WMR on the Surface Book 2 came in the form of motion controller tracking, which again doesn't feel completely smooth. I'm not a fan of Bluetooth as a solution for tracking the controllers in general, and found like radio interference issues using them on my Razer Blade fourteen besides. Controller tracking jitter was quite aggressive on the Book two, and while I could meliorate the state of affairs by moving closer to the Surface Book 2, you then run the risk of knocking into things. I really hope Microsoft can find an culling method for this.

As noted earlier, yous also demand a USB-C to HDMI dongle to use any WMR headset on the Surface Volume 2, which is a tad annoying, simply not a big deal. I found no issues with the connexion between the USB-C dongle and HDMI cable, besides how damn expensive Microsoft's version is. There are cheaper options on Amazon, but I've had issues previously with cheaper dongles for HDMI, so I decided to simply become with Microsoft's for guaranteed reliability.

Final thoughts on mixed reality and the Surface Volume 2

Overall, the WMR experience on the Surface Volume ii isn't terrible, but it's certainly not ideal. The battery bleed upshot, controller tracking problems, and the fact you take to use a dongle, get in sub-par when compared to the Razer Blade 14, or other similarly spec'd laptops (and certainly when compared to true VR desktops).

If you're considering getting a Surface Book 2 for portable VR alone, simply put, don't. There are better and cheaper options out at that place. The Surface Book ii is certainly a great device for creative types and regular Hard disk gaming, only VR seems to push it to its limits. You can certainly utilize the Surface Volume 2 to dabble with VR and WMR, and even set up brief sessions, merely the shortcomings are relatively wide. Look elsewhere if you prioritize WMR.

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