I tried Microsoft's $1499 new MacBook Pro rival, and it was awesome

Microsoft just unveiled the Surface Book 2, a premium laptop that will go head-to-head with Apple's MacBook Pro this holiday shopping season.

The Surface Book 2 comes with some big claims: Microsoft says it gets 17 hours battery life (at least, if you're watching streaming video in the Microsoft Edge browser), and that it's twice as powerful as the most recent model MacBook Pro.

I got to go hands-on with the Surface Book 2 at a preview event in San Francisco last week. And while it's hard to assess the reality of those lofty claims in just a few minutes, I can say that the Surface Book 2 is an impressive machine.

Here's the short version: The Surface Book 2 is evolution rather than revolution, bringing a few key tweaks to the original model, first released in 2015. That's actually excellent news, considering that I thought the original Surface Book was just shy of perfect when I reviewed it last year.

Now, here's the more detailed look at why it's such a nice device: