Table of Contents
[wpsm_toplist contents h2]
Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 – Introduction
Microsoft unveiled its third-generation Surface series last month, alongside a handful of other Surface devices ranging from traditional laptops to a foldable Duo smartphone. The model we are going to examine today is the Laptop Surface 3 15 equipped with the Ryzen 5 3580U semi-custom processor.
It’s the first classic laptop Surface: 15 inches 3: 2, as well as the first of its family to offer AMD options as an alternative to the usual Intel stock units., the Microsoft Laptop Surface provides more options than ever before. The new 15-inch Surface 3 laptop offers a giant version of Microsoft’s best laptop while retaining a slim, lightweight frame.
The all-metal design of this laptop and its bright display will seduce you. Still, its performance is often inferior to that of its competitors of high-end notebooks and a battery life quite acceptable.
Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 – Design
If you’re familiar with Microsoft’s Surface range, the first thing you’ll notice about this laptop is its all-aluminum design. Yes, it is a surface without Alcantara. The Alcantara fabric coating has defined the Surface family since its release, and its absence makes this laptop less comfortable, as well, Surface-y. But aluminum is elegant. The most disappointing thing about the new Surface Laptop 3 is that Microsoft has not benefited from the added space in the 15-inch chassis.
But as big as this model is, it almost feels like this space is wasted – the left side and right sides of the keyboard could have speakers, the edges of the chassis could have more ports – Microsoft directly modifying the specifications of length and width. With a thickness of 0.4 to 0.6 inches and a weight of 3.4 kilograms, the Surface Laptop 3 is a little thinner and significantly lighter than the Dell XPS 15 (0.5 to 4.5 pounds) and the Apple MacBook Pro 15 inches (0.6 inches, 4 pounds).
Surface Laptop 3 has the same USB-A and USB-C ports as the 13-inch model. Congratulations to Microsoft for at least giving up the MiniDisplay for a USB-C port, but the loading is still done mainly by the proprietary port, Surface Magnetic Magnetic, which is like a missed opportunity to pack another USB-port. vs. And note that the USB-C port you get does not support Thunderbolt 3.
This means you will not get Thunderbolt 3’s speed boost when you plug in external drives. You also can not use Thunderbolt 3 docking stations to extend your port options. Technically, you can use the port to charge the Surface laptop.
Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 – Display
The Best thing about getting the 15-inch Laptop Surface 3 (and not your little brother) seems to be its giant screen, which offers decent brightness and color output (but not the best). Our colorimeter estimates that the Surface Laptop 3 produces 101% of the sRGB spectrum, which may seem like a lot, but it remains below the average of 131% of high-end laptops.
Among the laptops we compared, the closest scores we saw were 109% of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon’s 1080p screen and 114% of the 15-inch MacBook Pro. The Surface Laptop 3 emits up to 380 nits of brightness, which makes it bright enough to exceed the average of the 346 nits laptops and the 1080p version of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon (336 nits), but no other panels.
We’ve seen even brighter screens in Dell XPS 15 systems (418 and 626 versions in 4K and 4K OLED versions respectively), in the 15-inch MacBook Pro (403 pixels) and the ThinkPad X1 Carbon 4K (432 pixels). We appreciate the Surface Laptop 3 touch screen. The screen retains Microsoft’s 3: 2 aspect ratio, and the 2,496 x 1,664 resolution is sharp enough for all types of use. This makes the display perfect for text-based work and content consumption, as well as for creating and viewing digital media – if you agree with solid black bars. The touch screen is perfect, it is swift and responsive to our actions, although a little useless on a laptop double hull.
Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 – Battery
The result of the Laptop 3 Surface on our battery life test is also average, at 11 o’clock on the nose. Our analysis involves looping a locally stored 720p video with 50% brightness and with Airplane Mode enabled until the laptop dies. This is not precisely representative of typical use, but our result is essentially the 11 and a half hours announced by Microsoft for the Surface Laptop 3.
To get closer to the real world, but anecdotally, look at the life of battery, I always used the Microsoft’s Surface Laptop 3. during a full working day, from 10 am to 5 pm, browse the web with lots of tabs and windows opening in Microsoft Edge and Chrome, and the screen turns off only 2 or 3-times when I closed the lid to move to a new office.
The battery was started at 100%, and 35% was left – an impressive result. Still, you will not be able to reproduce accurately, as each user’s workflow causes different requirements for a laptop battery.
Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 – Keyboard & Touchpad
The old keys on the MacBook Pro are missing, so I’m delighted that Microsoft’s Surface Laptop 3 keyboard offers the typing experience I still want from Apple. The keys of the laptop 3 have the impression of having a more significant vertical movement. As a result, you do not drag your fingers down gently to prevent your numbers from collapsing against the deck.
By testing it on the 10fastfingers typing test, I achieve decent rates of 70 words per minute. The Surface Laptop 3’s 4.5 x 3-inch touchpad offers excellent responsiveness, with smooth scrolling when browsing Web pages. The pinch and zoom, as well as the navigation gestures in the three-fingered window, also went smoothly.
Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 – Ports
The 15-inch laptops give businesses much more space for ports, although Microsoft has not benefited much from the added real estate. The Surface Laptop 3 offers only two USB ports (1 USB Type-C, 1 USB Type-A), a headphone jack, and the Surface connector port (for charging). The XPS 15 offers all this, a second Type-A USB port, an SD memory drive, an HDMI output, and one of its Type-C ports is Thunderbolt 3. The X1 Carbon has two ports Thunderbolt 3 and USB Type-A (yes, two of each), an Ethernet Dock, and an HDMI connector.
Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 – Performance
As a new frontier for Microsoft, using an AMD processor in a flagship product, the performance of the laptop was a bit unresolved. Well, we’re excited to say that Surface Laptop 3 is making it fall out of the park in this department – for an Ultrabook. This is a device that will be more than capable of performing basic computer tasks as well as more intensive tasks, such as photo editing and graphic design.
It’s also a dominant powerhouse for video playback if you can bypass the solid black bars of 16: 9 or 21: 9 content. By comparing this 12-nanometer (nm) chip to the 10-nm Intel Core i5 processor provided with the Surface Pro 7, the Ryzen processor is not as powerful in terms of mono or multicore performance.
However, while the Pro 7 was not even able to run the 3DMark tests, this laptop almost contradicted them. Nevertheless, for what Microsoft charges at mid-range and above, we expected better graphics performance from the Surface Laptop 3.
Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 – Maintenance
Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 – Temperature
Most laptops have ventilation grilles at the bottom to facilitate heat dissipation. The Surface Laptop 3 omits them entirely, and the consequences are apparent because the average surface temperatures are higher than what we expected from an Ultrabook. Hot spots, when playing or using demanding loads, can reach a temperature below 50 ° C with a shallower temperature gradient than the HP Specter or Asus ZenBook models. In other words, hot spots are more prominent and more visible when you tap or place the laptop on your lap.
Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 – Verdict
A sleek design with a more angular interpretation of the classic look of Apple’s corner laptop propels the Surface Laptop 3 to gain a bit of our respect. Unfortunately, less than inspiring performance – battery life, overall speed, and gaming – disappointed our expectations for a 15-inch laptop at this price. So it’s clear that the Laptop 3 Surface is doing what Microsoft wants: to make this notebook a tremendous classic notebook and perhaps even the pinnacle of the Windows desktop experience.
There is nothing flashy or spicy about it, but there are still many unique features that you will not find anywhere else. This ranges from an extremely comfortable touchpad to custom AMD silicon to the user-friendly 3: 2 screen for documents and spreadsheets. For times when you need a regular laptop, the Surface Laptop 3 is an expert.