Review: Microsoft Surface Laptop 3

Specs & Build

When examining the equipment level of this Surface Laptop 3, we have to admit that we are happy with the choices made by Microsoft’s design team. The Surface Laptop 3 is equipped with 802.11ac wifi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0. The power connector is magnetic, so the Laptop 3 does not end up on the floor when someone gets stuck behind the charging cable. Microsoft has even integrated a 3.5mm headphone jack, so we don’t have to worry about the battery life of both the laptop and the Bluetooth headphones.

Microsoft has added both a USB-A and USB-C port. This makes this machine 100 percent compatible into the future and allows us to continue using our trusted USB products for a few more years. Although in practice we probably won’t be short of a connection soon, we are missing a second or third USB-A or UBS-C port. However, Microsoft compensates for this with a USB-A charging port on the AC adapter. Fine, with this we don’t charge the mainboard when we want to charge our smartphone or tablet and keep the scarce ports free for other USB devices.

The USB-C port is unfortunately not equipped with Thunderbolt technology, but we can live with this. However, we do miss an SD card slot. One of the reasons to choose a powerful 15-inch laptop is the ability to quickly and easily import photos for Instagram and videos for YouTube from our camera. Now we have to carry an extra card-reader in our camera bag along the way. Not insurmountable, but a pity.

Construction method

The top and bottom of the bezel are constructed of aluminium. The contact surfaces have an exact fit and this gives a nice premium look. Our torsion test shows that the bezel is rigidly constructed, but logically does not have the same stiffness as a one-piece milled bezel. Also, the lid with the screen and touch panel is relatively stiff. During our severe torsion test, however, we see markings appear in the centre of the display. Even with point loads on the top of the lid, this is marked by a colour spot in the screen. We have seen better results, but we do not expect this to be at the expense of the lifespan of the screen or touch screen.