Microsoft's new Surface Book laptop sports GeForce GPU, Skylake CPU

Microsoft has taken aim at Apple's Macbook line with its own 2-in-1 Surface Book, a 13.5-inch Windows 10 laptop that features higher-end specs while fitting right into the new Windows ecosystem.

The Surface Book is touted as the "world's most powerful, thinnest PC" and Microsoft boasts that "ounce for ounce its the fastest 13-inch laptop on the planet". The hybrid laptop can be docked or removed from the base to transform from a laptop or a tablet, but the GPU itself is located in the base so you'll need to keep it docked to tap its power.

Even with these claims Microsoft has been somewhat vague on the GPU specifics, saying that the Surface Book has an accelerated NVIDIA GeForce GPU with GDDR5 memory that's been tuned by the Xbox team. It sports Intel's latest 6th-generation Skylake Core i5 and i7 processors for beefy performance, and can utilize up to 16GB of RAM. There's word that a NVIDIA GeForce 940M could be the GPU that powers the Surface Book's base, but nothing's been confirmed just yet.

The Surface Book has a 13.5-inch display with 267ppi that harnesses Microsoft's new PixelSense technology for optimized latency and parallax. It can be used in a variety of form factors from twisted, spun and detached to be used like a clipboard, and can be written on with the new Surface pen. Microsoft affirms the Surface Book can last up to 12 hours with a single charge.

Microsoft's new Surface Book starts at $1499, and below we have a price breakdown of the cost of each of the models. Pre-orders open up tomorrow with shipments starting on October 26.

• Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB RAM, 128GB storage - $1500
• Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB RAM, 256GB storage - 1700
• Intel Core i5 processor, discrete NVIDIA GeForce GPU, 8GB RAM, 256GB storage - $1900
• Intel Core i7 processor, discrete NVIDIA GeForce GPU, 8GB RAM, 256GB storage - $2100
• Intel Core i7 processor, discrete NVIDIA GeForce GPU, 16GB RAM, 512GB storage - $2700