With a wonderfully thin but solid design, a great feel and a new big-screen option, Microsoft's latest Surface Laptop is closer than ever to representing a first-party MacBook-style device for Windows users. It comes with Apple-level price tags too, but those hoping a larger Laptop might mean Pro-level performance may be disappointed.
Starting at $1699, the 13.5-inch Surface Book 3 keeps the same beautiful 3:2 aspect touchscreen as its predecessor, the same 8GB or 16GB of RAM, but upgrades to the latest 10th-generation Intel Core processors. In addition to the soft Alcantara material finish of last time, there's also new all-aluminium options in black or sandstone.
The Surface Laptop 3 comes in the familiar size, but also a new bigger 15-inch.
More notably, there's a brand new 15-inch device that drops Intel chips entirely for AMD's Ryzen line, and drops Alcantara for a choice of either black or platinum metal. My review unit was a black 15-inch model, and it's an extremely nice device to the look and touch, if quite minimal. The taller than usual display is great for work and browsing, with plenty of room for multiple windows, and at less than 1.5cm thick and around 1.5kg in weight it's surprisingly backpack-ready for a big laptop.
For me the Ryzen chipset didn't offer an obvious upgrade over machines with comparable ninth-generation Intel processors, but this is a snappy laptop that had no issues multitasking various work apps and Chrome tabs. It doesn't get hot or noisy even when working very hard, and the Windows Hello camera combined with "Instant On" means it's generally ready to go within a second of opening the lid.
As expected on a Microsoft laptop the trackpad and keyboard are excellent, as is the battery life, and there's connectivity with the sold-separately Surface Pen. In short this is a fast and quietly elegant laptop for general use.
The main disappointment is that it isn't much more than that. I had hoped that a larger Surface Laptop would make for a good replacement for my ageing Surface Book with Performance Base, or go toe-to-toe with Apple’s MacBook Pro. But as it happens the larger Laptop is comparable to its smaller sibling in most ways, just with a bigger screen.
With no dedicated graphics and limited ports, the Laptop 3 doesn't have what it takes to be a capable gaming or video editing rig, in either size. For a game of Rocket League or Fortnite, or some light video editing, the 15-inch Laptop did much better than your standard ultrabook, but wasn't on par with others in its price range sporting dedicated graphics.
All models have one USB-A port as well as a single USB-C to replace the old Mini DisplayPort. The machine still keeps its Surface Connect port for fast charging, meaning the USB-C is free to connect to monitors or docks, but unfortunately it's not Thunderbolt compatible so you won't be able to hook the Laptop 3 up to an external GPU.
Also a bit of a letdown is that the larger Laptop 3 keeps the same keyboard size as the smaller, and just puts bare aluminum on either size. It's still a great keyboard, but it seems a bit like wasted space.
I really enjoy using the 15-inch Surface Book 3 for work, and if you're not expecting a powerhouse it's one of the nicest 2019 laptops you can get. The reason the oomph level is so underwhelming is mostly related to the device's price.
In Apple land $1699 would get you the most basic MacBook Air, which doesn't compare favourably to the entry level Surface Laptop 3 on the spec sheet. In fact the cheapest 13.5-inch Laptop 3 seems very reasonable comparatively.
But when you move up to the 15-inch models Microsoft's machines are priced to compete with laptops from Apple, Dell and others that are significantly more capable on the graphics and connectivity side of things.
For example at $3499, the 15-inch Surface Laptop 3 with Ryzen 7 boasts a newer chipset than the 15-inch MacBook Pro with i7, but dedicated graphics and Thunderbolt ports on Apple's machine will make it much more attractive for creatives. Meanwhile the $3499 version of Dell's new XPS 15 smokes the Surface Laptop on paper with a more powerful processor, an OLED display, a Thunderbolt port and GTX 1650 dedicated graphics.
But comparisons aside, and especially if graphics-intensive applications aren't something you mess with, this is a great expansion of the Surface Laptop line that adds options while keeping the everyday productivity focus.
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