Microsoft says its new high-end laptop can get 16 hours of battery life

Microsoft on Wednesday announced a refresh to its highest-end Surface Book laptop, which it's calling the Surface Book i7.

The laptop is available for pre-order starting on Wednesday, and will be available sometime in November. It'll cost $2,399.

For that very high price, Microsoft's Surface boss Panos Panay says the company has boosted the machine with twice as much graphics performance, and 30% more battery life.

The latter is the selling point: Panay says Microsoft's added more batteries to the machine, which'll allow it to get up to 16 hours of juice.

The rest of the laptop looks just about identical to the Surface Book Microsoft launched last year. That means it has the same aluminum design, flexible hinge, and detachable display. Panay says the company added more fans to the device to help keep it cool, however.

This update strictly applies to the highest-end model, which comes with an Intel Core i7 chip. (Hence the name.) The lower-end models will still be available starting at $1,499. Microsoft did not specify if the Surface Book i7 uses one of Intel's new-generation Kaby Lake chips, but that seems like a pretty safe bet.

This story is developing. Check back for updates.