Microsoft Surface Laptop 3
USD
Pros
- Luxury look and feel
- Comfortable keyboard and trackpad
- Reasonably great performance
- Instant On feature
- Sleek design
Cons
- No Thunderbolt 3 support
- No Dolby Vision
- Non-anti-glare screen
- No dedicated GPU
- Does not support high-end gaming
In This Article
Verdict
The 13.5-inch Microsoft Surface laptop 3 is a device that falls within the bracket of average laptops in terms of versatility and power. However, the laptop comes with a premium and more refined design that promises a reasonably fast performance, making it a worthy investment.
Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 & Variants Price
Introduction
This device is one of those laptops that will help you to make a bold statement and move in style when you carry it along with you.
The sleek and light laptop with premium design comes with a luxurious look that also promises a reliable and high level of performance.
The features and hardware included in the system are very useful and will help you to fuel your computing tasks with its improved speed and performance.
The elegant finish of the keyboard of the system will provide comfort, smoothness and speed while typing due to the reasonably good key travel.
The system is also very reliable for doing your everyday tasks on it and will prove to be more productive, matching both your computing needs as well as with your style.
The reasonably high battery life also makes this system one of the most reliable ones that will allow you to do all your day’s work without need it to recharge every now and then.
The improved speed and performance of the system and the latest processor is at least two times faster than its earlier versions. In short, the system will allow you to do what you want, making it one of the most reliable computers for work.
Buy for: Sturdy build quality, good software inclusion, USB Type C port.
Beware of: Limited port selection, a few odd bugs, screen running blue at times requiring restarting the system.
Best uses for: Mechanical engineering students, music production, working from home, everyday use and other purposes.
The alternatives:
Design and Build
Though there are no colossal changes made in the system design, one of the most notable changes in this laptop is the inclusion of the USB Type C port. .
However, there are no Thunderbolt 3 ports in it, which is a bit of an anticlimax of sorts, considering the fact that most modern laptops come with it.
Otherwise, this is a worthy laptop to keep due to its fast-enough Intel Core i5 processor and a faster SSD of the latest model with adequate storage space, Instant ON feature and more.
The system is faster and secure and the design of the trackpad is also much improved making it more responsive and easier to navigate. The wi-fi connectivity standard adds some future-proofing to the system.
The 13.5-inch touchscreen also allows a very easy navigation and command input. Check out top 10 laptop brands.
With an aspect ratio of 3:2 along with useful features like Surface Pen usage, and 10-point multi-touch facility added to its design, the screen seems to be quite good in performance, appeal and functionality.
Apart from focusing on keeping the design of the system clean, sleek and elegant, the engineers also ensured that it is built to precision.
The chassis design as well as the careful selection of the innards of the system for its build keeps it light in weight, in fact only 3.40 pounds, making the system highly portable.
Built to perfection, you can choose from a more than one variety of rich tone and color combinations that includes matte black, platinum, cobalt blue and new sandstone.
Performance
The latest generation of the processor ensures a much-improved speed and a better performance of the system.
With four cores you can do more than you can expect on this system making the best use of the Windows 10 Home operating system.
The 10th generation Core i5-1035G7 processor provides the best performance as well as makes the system of an exceptional value to the users.
The Intel Iris Plus Graphics, though not dedicated, integrated in the system comes with some of the most powerful features that will support Windows and the Intel Core processor.
This will make the system competent enough and able to provide additional enterprise management, if you need it.
The Windows 10 Home operating system that the system comes with is something that you already know and are used to the useful features in it such as the password-free Windows Hello sign-in.
This operating system will make your computing operations much easier, safer and secure.
You can use the Microsoft Edge to browse faster, use the Office 365 feature to create some of the best contents, and also store larger and more files in the cloud safely using the integrated OneDrive facility in the system.
However, if you need more security tools for your workplace, you can easily switch to Windows 10 Pro operating system. This will also add to the value of the system.
The system will allow you to navigate, scroll and browse easily through several websites and documents, and even stream TV programs and films. You can use this system for creating some of the most stunning presentations.
Adding to the level of performance are other useful features in the system that include ability in smoother multitasking.
The USB Type C and USB Type A ports will allow you to connect the system to other docking stations, displays and external devices.
There is however, a severe problem with the system, as pointed out by a few users. The system often runs into a blue screen.
It can only be resolved by restarting it every time it happens. It is really a headache to them because it cannot be resolved otherwise, permanently, even by the tech staff at Microsoft when asked for assistance.
Add to that, sometimes the system was found to be a bit ‘lagging’ in speed and power but that, they said, is an issue with all Microsoft laptops and has been around for a while now.
This is due to the fact that the system auto sets itself to save battery life which makes it slower. This could be easily resolved to some extent by changing the power saver mode, but would certainly not make it a gaming laptop.
Barring these two issues, with such varied and high levels of performance, this is one of the most perfect laptops to use on the move which will also allow you to charge your smartphone and accessories.
Benchmarks
CPU
The Microsoft Surface 3 laptop comes with an Intel Core i5-1035G7 processor. The average CPU mark of this Intel Core i5-1035G7 processor is 8492. The single thread rating of this processor is 2303.
159 samples were considered by the technical experts of this benchmarking site and they decided to give it an overall rank of 832.
The low margin of error is another plus point of this processor. The CPU mark value of this Intel chip is 26.54. This is a high score and considering this score we can say that this is a good value-for-money product.
One of its closest and toughest competitors is Intel Core i7-8750H. The single core score of the Intel Core i7-8750H is 2315. There is no doubt that the Intel Core i7-8750H is a better processor.
The Acer Predator Helios 300 which is equipped with the Intel Core i7-8750H processor can deliver better and faster processing than the Microsoft Surface 3 laptop.
GPU
The Microsoft Surface 3 laptop comes with the Intel Iris Plus graphics chip. The average G3D mark of this graphics chip is 1840. 316 is the average G2D mark of this GPU. The technical experts of this benchmarking site analyzed 1982 samples and they have given it an overall rank of 606.
RAM & Storage
The 8 GB RAM is good enough to read and write the instructions quickly. Though not of an exceptional capability, the RAM is good enough to support your everyday computing needs.
The 128 GB SSD storage will also provide you with an adequate space to store your files and folders.
The solid-state hard drive interface operates at 7200 RPM allowing you to access these files and folders as and when required quickly and easily.
Want more storage space for your photos and files? Just use the built-in OneDrive feature of the system to store them in the cloud, safely.
Ports & Connectivity
Though limited in number, the ports of the system will offer you with more ways to connect your external devices.
It comes with a USB Type C and USB Type A ports. These ports will not only allow you to connect to other devices but will also provide you with an added benefit: charging your accessories.
The multitasking USB C and USB A ports provides a lot of new and easier ways to connect to the interactive touchscreen and the improved Studio Mics. It will also allow you to wake on voice.
The system also offers some better connectivity than ever. You can achieve this by making the best use of the wi-fi 6 or 802.11ax compatible feature and the Bluetooth wireless technology.
Battery Life
The Lithium ion battery of the system will provide you with enough power on the go for the whole day. However, under test conditions it is found that the battery life will depend on the usage of the system.
Typically, the battery life of this device will last up to 11.5 hours! This is quite a good life considering the fact that it excludes the standby time while you are away or not using the system.
It also comes with quick charging ability. It will take about an hour to get back 80% of its capacity from full battery discharge.
Therefore, the battery of the system is good enough and adequate to provide more power for you to do your jobs on it and follow your passions.
Additional Features
Take a look at the additional features of the system and you will find it is worth investing on.
As for the security features you will get an enterprise-grade protection with the Windows Hello face sign-in feature.
The Pixel Sense feature of the monitor will produce rich and vivid images at 2256 x 1504 resolution.
The Dolby Audio Premium standards of the system will produce clear enough sound output with its stereo speakers and help in easier communications with its two microphones.
Specs:
- Brand: Microsoft
- Screen: 13.5 inches
- Display: (2256 x 1504)
- Storage: 128 GB
- RAM: 8 GB
- Storage Type: SSD
- RAM Type: LPDDR4X
- Processor: 10th generation Core i5-1035G7
- Graphics: Intel Iris Plus Graphics
- Processor Speed: 1.3 GHz up to 3.9 GHz with Turbo Boost technology
- Processor Brand: Intel
- Product Dimensions: 13.5 x 2 x 10 inches
- Operating System: Windows 10 Home
What Do Users Think about Microsoft Surface Laptop 3?
Microsoft has done quite a good job in creating a reliable laptop like this, which can compete with other devices in this same range and specs. However, users have different things to say about this device, some good and some bad.
Some users say that it is a good enough laptop but not worth a buy with a few hundreds of dollars more than a smartphone that will most probably out-live, and certainly outperform it.
Few purchasers said that with the same amount of money they could have bought a laptop with twice better specs that would have allowed the laptop to compete with others more effectively.
Other users found this laptop to be more productive, but it all ends there. The lowly configurations of this 13.5-inch device did not appeal to them as it did not support gaming or uploading videos on YouTube channel quickly and effectively.
Some users spoke about their experience of using this system which was kind of ‘so far so good,’ with little or no issues. Check out Microsoft Surface Laptop 3.
They were willing to give the system some more time to find out how exactly the system excels on the productivity, price and performance scale.
The haphazard adaptive brightness of the screen, which cannot be turned off or done anything about, seems to be the common complaint amongst the users.
They said that they have even tried editing the registry to toggle this issue but with little or no success. Other than this issue, they liked everything else about the Surface Laptop.
It works good with no problems, said the other users, though they said that the matte black finish shows the fingerprints quite easily, but that seldom affected its performance in a negative way.
This is a good work laptop, according to some of the users but they said that when a mouse is plugged into the USB C hub, it seems to jump and lag around being unable to handle it as well as other laptops.
It needs to be plugged in separately to resolve this issue, but then, they felt, it negated the purpose of the USB C port.
Our Testing & Analysis Report
When we tested the Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 for general computing tasks, we found that it lagged a bit behind other laptops in our database with an i5 processor.
However, according to Cinebench R15, we found that the multimedia performance of this laptop is reasonably better than the Apple MacBook Pro 13, which is equipped with a Core i5 processor.
Our technical team also tested its graphics performance, which they found pretty impressive, given its limitations being integrated.
According to 3DMark and Superposition, the Iris Plus graphics of this system is faster than the Intel UHD graphics but a lot slower than even the entry-level dedicated GPUs.
When we ran PCMark 10 and 8 tests for a more holistic examination of the system’s performance especially on real-world content creation and productivity workflows.
We did some word processing, worked on spreadsheets, browsed the internet, and made some video calls.
All through, the Surface Laptop was pretty close in both the benchmarks with other laptops such as Asus ZenBook 13, Dell Inspiron 14, and others.
During the testing period, we also tested the battery of this system. We found that, once it is fully charged, till it runs down to 0%, it allows doing a lot of computing tasks and watching videos for more than 11 hours.
However, this is under test conditions when the system is set in power save mode, Wi-Fi is turned off, airplane mode is turned on, brightness is reduced to half, and other battery-saving tweaks.
Still, the battery life of this system could not beat the 18+ hours mark of Apple MacBook Pro, according to our database.
Questions & Answers:
What is the maximum RAM capacity that is supported in the Microsoft Surface 3?
16 GB is the maximum RAM capacity that is supported in this laptop.
Can one charge the Microsoft Surface 3 with the Type-C USB port?
Yes, you can charge this device by using its Type C port.
Does the Microsoft Surface 3 have a touch screen panel?
Yes, the display panel of this laptop is a touch screen panel.