The Surface Book 3 is the third generation of
Microsoft's Surface Book
The Surface Book is a 2-in-1 PC designed and produced by Microsoft, part of the company's Surface line of personal computing devices. Surface Book is distinguished from other Surface devices primarily by its full-sized, detachable keyboard, wh ...
series, and a successor to the
Surface Book 2
The Surface Book 2 is the second generation of the Surface Book, part of the Microsoft Surface line of personal computers. It is a 2-in-1 PC which can be used like a conventional laptop, or the screen can be detached and used separately as a tab ...
. Like its previous generation, the Surface Book 3 is part of the
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation, multinational technology company, technology corporation producing Software, computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at th ...
Surface
A surface, as the term is most generally used, is the outermost or uppermost layer of a physical object or space. It is the portion or region of the object that can first be perceived by an observer using the senses of sight and touch, and is t ...
lineup of personal computers. It is a
2-in-1 PC
A 2-in-1 PC, also known as convertible laptop, 2-in-1 tablet, 2-in-1 laptop, 2-in-1 detachable, laplet, tabtop, laptop tablet, or simply 2-in-1, is a portable computer that has features of both tablets and laptops.
Before the emergence of '' ...
that can be used like a conventional laptop, or detached from its base for use as a separate tablet, with touch and stylus input support in both scenarios. It was announced by Microsoft online alongside the
Surface Go 2
The Surface Go 2 is a 2-in-1 detachable tablet computer developed by Microsoft. It is the second generation of Surface Go and was announced alongside the Surface Book 3 on May 6, 2020 online. It was available for purchase starting May 12, 20 ...
on May 6, 2020, and later released for purchase on May 12, 2020.
Configurations
Features
Hardware
Surface Book 3 retains most of the hardware from the previous generation, released in November 2017. This includes the same full-body magnesium alloy construction and design, footprint, keyboard, touchpad, cameras, discrete
TPM chip with identical support for AES full-drive encryption, and the same display panel options. The 13.5-inch model Surface Book 3 features a 3000x2000 pixels resolution screen at 267 pixels per inch, and 3240x2160 pixels resolution at 260 pixels per inch for the 15-inch model. Both screens feature a 3:2 aspect ratio, to echo a key feature of the
Surface
A surface, as the term is most generally used, is the outermost or uppermost layer of a physical object or space. It is the portion or region of the object that can first be perceived by an observer using the senses of sight and touch, and is t ...
lineup.
The new generation offers some hardware improvements, including new Dolby-certified speakers, improved battery life, a new hinge release, and an updated Surface Connect port that supports a higher electrical input. It is the first device in the
Microsoft Surface
Microsoft Surface is a series of touchscreen-based personal computers, tablets and interactive whiteboards designed and developed by Microsoft, running the Microsoft Windows operating system, apart from the Surface Duo, which runs on Andro ...
lineup to offer the
Intel
Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the devel ...
10th generation quad-core processors
A central processing unit (CPU), also called a central processor, main processor or just processor, is the electronic circuitry that executes instructions comprising a computer program. The CPU performs basic arithmetic, logic, controlling, an ...
, optional
Nvidia Quadro
Quadro was Nvidia's brand
A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's good or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognitio ...
graphics, up to 32GB of system memory, and up to 2TB for data storage.
The 13.5-inch model is sold with a 102W charger, while a more powerful 127W charger comes with the 15-inch model. Both devices no longer suffer from battery drain during heavy workloads, which was a problem occasionally observed with the last generation.
Finally, much like the last generation, Microsoft has opted to forego
Thunderbolt 3
Thunderbolt is the brand name of a hardware interface for the connection of external peripherals to a computer. It has been developed by Intel, in collaboration with Apple. It was initially marketed under the name Light Peak, and first sold as ...
due to overall security concerns with the protocol.
Software
As of May 2020, both the 13.5-inch and 15-inch models ship with a pre-installed trial of
Microsoft Office 365
Microsoft 365 is a product family of productivity software, collaboration and cloud-based services owned by Microsoft. It encompasses online services such as Outlook.com, OneDrive, Microsoft Teams, programs formerly marketed under the name Mi ...
, as well as a pre-installed 64-bit Windows 10 Home for all general customers.
It is a downgrade compared to the predecessor, which offered
Windows 10
Windows 10 is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It is the direct successor to Windows 8.1, which was released nearly two years earlier. It was released to manufacturing on July 15, 2015, and later to retail on ...
Professional to all consumers, business and enterprise customers.
Unlike its predecessor, the Surface Book 3 only comes pre-installed with Windows 10 Pro if it is ordered via business procurement channels. For most consumers, it will only come with a step down, Windows 10 Home.
Accessories
The new Surface Book 3 is
backwards-compatible
Backward compatibility (sometimes known as backwards compatibility) is a property of an operating system, product, or technology that allows for interoperability with an older legacy system, or with input designed for such a system, especially ...
with some of the same peripheral accessories of its direct predecessors, such as the
Surface Pen
The Surface Pen is an active stylus and digital pen developed by Microsoft for its series of Surface computing devices. It is designed to showcase the pen computing capabilities of Microsoft's Windows 8/ 8.1 and Windows 10 operating system ...
and the Surface Docks, however notably despit
advertisingotherwise, it is not fully compatible with the surface dial and lacks the advertised the on-screen functionality.
Much alike its predecessor, the Surface Book 2, users have the ability to use built-in pen computing capabilities based on N-trig technology Microsoft acquired in 2015, although no significant updates have been made for this new release. All major tweaks and improvements, which Microsoft had first released for the Surface Book 2, are also applied to this new generation.
Both the Surface Book 2 & 3 share the same display options, with the same 10-point touch support. With that said, the tablet and keyboard base portions are not interchangeable between the Surface Book 2 and 3. A series of magnets are installed in opposing positions, alongside additional software controls, to ensure that users will not accidentally mix hardware between the two generations.
Release timeline
Reception
Compared to the broadly positive feedback awarded to its predecessor, the Surface Book 3 only received lukewarm reviews.
Most reviewers mentioned the Surface Book 3 continues to feel like a premium product. The updated graphics options, effective cooling for the GPU, high-quality cameras, keyboard, touch and pen capabilities continue to be applauded, as is the improved tablet release. With that said, the underwhelming CPU options,
poor thermals in the main computing unit (despite the tablet being nearly identical in thickness to the Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch's base), thick screen bezels, and an outdated design were all common complaints, with the product appearing largely identical to original
Surface Book
The Surface Book is a 2-in-1 PC designed and produced by Microsoft, part of the company's Surface line of personal computing devices. Surface Book is distinguished from other Surface devices primarily by its full-sized, detachable keyboard, wh ...
introduced 5 years ago, in 2015.
For creative production, reviewers noted the screen suffered from poor overall accuracy, contrast, and color range (at less than 70% coverage of the
DCI-P3
P3 is an RGB color space. DCI-P3 (Digital Cinema Initiative) is used with digital theatrical motion picture distribution (DCDM). Display P3 is a variant developed by Apple Inc. for wide-gamut displays.
__TOC__
History Development of the stan ...
standard) compared to other direct competitors, such as the
Apple
An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus '' Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ances ...
MacBook Pro and
Dell
Dell is an American based technology company. It develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related products and services. Dell is owned by its parent company, Dell Technologies.
Dell sells personal computers (PCs), servers, data ...
XPS lineup, both of which come with factory-calibrated displays and significantly better visual reproduction than the Surface Book 3. For gaming and entertainment consumption, the Surface Book 3's thick screen bezels, slow response time, and the lack of higher refresh-rate display panels negatively impacted the product proposition in this area. For other high-performance workloads, the Surface Book 3 also fell short compared to several key competitors, many of which offer 6 or 8-core processors and up to 64GB system memory (128GB in some cases); in contrast, the Surface Book 3 has a low-powered 4-core
ultrabook
Ultrabook is a marketing term, originated and trademarked by Intel, for a category of high-end laptop computers.
They were originally marketed as featuring ultra thin form factor and light weight design without compromising battery life or per ...
processor and up to 32GB memory.
Aside from the device's poor market fit and consequential niche appeal, some reviewers also raised concerns about stagnation in product innovation.
When reviewing the 13.5-inch model, Dieter Bohn of
The Verge
''The Verge'' is an American technology news website operated by Vox Media, publishing news, feature stories, guidebooks, product reviews, consumer electronics news, and podcasts.
The website launched on November 1, 2011, and uses Vox Media' ...
said, "The idea here is you're supposed to get a full-powered, pro laptop with a GPU, and lots of horsepower and battery at the base, but if you want you may also detach the screen and detach it into a tablet. Now, with the third iteration, we finally understand the trade-offs (...) You have to ask yourself, how much the detach means to you."
While he continues to highlight the device's good quality hardware, touch and pen capabilities, and impressive graphics performance, he also noted the Intel Core i7 CPU equipped inside the device is restrictive, "the extra cost that you pay doesn't really fit on the specs sheet."
Devindra Hardawar of Engadget, who gave positive remarks to the predecessor Surface Book 2, notes similar problems with the lackluster CPU performance in 2020, "The Surface Book 3 features Intel's quad-core 10th generation Ice Lake CPUs, which max out at a 3.9GHz Turbo Boost speed. Those chips also appear in the Surface Laptop 3, an ultraportable that doesn’t even pretend to handle heavy lifting. The MacBook Pro 16-inch, on the other hand, offers Intel's recent six and eight-core CPUs, including the monstrously powerful 5GHz Core i9. Dell's XPS 15 can also be configured with similar chips reaching up to 5.1GHz. You do the math. There's just no way the Surface Book 3 can compete in a CPU fight."
Luke Larsen of
Digital Trends
Digital Trends is a Portland, Oregon-based tech news, lifestyle, and information website that publishes news, reviews, guides, how-to articles, descriptive videos and podcasts about technology and consumer electronics products. With offices in ...
writes, "CPU performance on its own isn’t impressive for a device this large. There’s one primary reason for this: It uses the same 15-watt chip that appears in small laptops like the Dell XPS 13, Surface Laptop 3, and HP Spectre x360 13," "The difference in core count makes a massive difference in performance. Add four cores with a laptop like the Dell XPS 15, and you’ll see a 53% better score in Cinebench R20’s multi-core test than the Surface Book 3."
Jordan Novet, on
CNBC
CNBC (formerly Consumer News and Business Channel) is an American basic cable business news channel. It provides business news programming on weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Eastern Time, while broadcasting talk sh ...
, noted the Surface Book 3's ability to handle heavy graphical workloads, but also criticized the device's dated design and poor battery life, "Microsoft could stand to get more experimental with this product. Performance is excellent. The computer stays quiet and cool to the touch while handling workloads that can challenge lesser machines. (However,) I typically got around six and a half hours’ worth of battery life on the Surface Book 3. That's disappointing because I got almost seven and a half hours on the previous model (...) Don't get me wrong. The Surface Book 3 isn't a bad PC. If you need a new PC, you could do worse. It's just iterative, and no longer feels fresh. It's not a major leap forward for Microsoft's most powerful portable PC. When Microsoft redesigns the Surface Book and makes this otherwise very good laptop look modern again, then it'll be easier to justify the splurge."
Known issues
Some devices suffer from screen blackout issues.
Microsoft investigating Surface Book 3 'screen blackout' issues
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References
External links
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{{Microsoft
Microsoft Surface
Tablet computers introduced in 2020
2-in-1 PCs