Microsoft's Surface Book to reignite OEM hostility

Microsoft's foray into notebooks with the Surface Book is certain to tick off its computer-making partners, but there's little recourse for the latter except to grin and bear it, analysts said today.

"If I'm an OEM, I'm not happy," said Jan Dawson, chief analyst at Jackdaw Research. "The big difference between [the Surface Book] and the Surface Pro three years ago is that the Surface Pro was claiming to be a new category. Now Microsoft is saying the Surface Book is the best, thinnest Windows PC, not the best from Microsoft. It's unqualified."

Microsoft device boss Panos Panay certainly didn't qualify his boasts about the Surface Book. "Ounce for ounce, pound for pound, this is the fastest 13-in. laptop ever made anywhere on any planet," an energetic Panay said Tuesday as he unveiled the device. "This is the ultimate laptop."

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