The Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 15 (2019) is an exceptionally well-built laptop with a full aluminum chassis. It has a sharp and well-calibrated display with a 3:2 aspect ratio, which gives you more vertical screen real estate so that you don't have to scroll as much when viewing documents. The keyboard is comfortable to type on and easy to adapt to, the touchpad is large and responsive, and the webcam's video quality is outstanding. Its AMD Ryzen CPU can handle light productivity tasks, like web browsing, Excel spreadsheets, and PowerPoint presentations, but it struggles in demanding workloads. Also, it isn't ideal for any graphically intensive tasks because there's no option for a dedicated GPU. Sadly, the battery doesn't last a full 8-hour workday, and there are very few ports.
Our Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 has an AMD Ryzen 5 3580U Microsoft Surface Edition CPU with Radeon Vega 9 integrated graphics, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage. You can upgrade to the AMD Ryzen 7 3780U if you need more processing power, though the increase in performance isn't significant. You can get a Surface Laptop 3 with an Intel 10th Gen CPU, but only on the 13.5 inch model because the 15 inch Intel models are only available for businesses. You can configure the memory up to 16GB and the storage up to 1TB.
Our Verdict
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 is good for students. It has a full aluminum chassis that feels exceptionally well-built, and it's very portable due to its thin profile. The keyboard is comfortable to type on for long periods, the touchpad is responsive, and the display is large enough for split-screen multitasking. Unfortunately, the battery doesn't last very long, so you'll likely have to carry the power adapter with you. Its AMD Ryzen CPU can handle light tasks like word formatting and web browsing, but it isn't ideal for demanding workloads like 3D modeling or graphic design.
- Sharp and bright display.
- Large touchpad and comfortable keyboard.
- Easy to carry around due to thin profile.
- Outstanding build quality with full aluminum chassis.
- Poor port selection.
- Short battery life for productivity.
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 is inadequate for gaming. It's only available with low-power processors designed for ultraportable laptops with integrated graphics, so it isn't powerful enough to run any graphically demanding titles. Also, while it doesn't get too hot or loud, there's a fair amount of performance loss when performing demanding tasks for an extended period. The display is limited to 60Hz and has a slow response time, but it supports FreeSync variable refresh rate to reduce screen tearing, which is rare for a productivity-focused thin and light laptop.
- Doesn't get overly hot or loud under load.
- Variable refresh rate support.
- Throttles under load.
- CPU and integrated GPU not powerful enough for demanding workloads.
- Few user-replaceable parts.
- 60Hz display and slow response time.
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 is good for media consumption. It has a sharp and bright screen that's exceptionally well-calibrated out of the box, so it displays images with accurate and natural-looking colors. Its taller 3:2 aspect ratio means you'll have black bars at the top and bottom in most content. Battery life is decent for video playback, enough to get you through a couple of TV show episodes on a full charge. The speakers are only okay because they sound treble-heavy, and they don't get very loud.
- Sharp and bright display.
- Easy to carry around due to thin profile.
- Superb color accuracy out of the box.
- Decent battery life for video playback.
- No wide gamut support for HDR content.
- Speakers sound quiet and treble-heavy.
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 is sub-par for use as a workstation. Its AMD Ryzen U-series processor and integrated GPU can't handle demanding workloads, and they also throttle under load. It has very few ports, and because its single USB-C doesn't support Thunderbolt, you can't plug in an external GPU for better graphical performance. The SSD is a bit slow when writing large files, but thankfully, it's user-replaceable.
- Doesn't get overly hot or loud under load.
- Throttles under load.
- CPU and integrated GPU not powerful enough for demanding workloads.
- Poor port selection.
- Few user-replaceable parts.
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 is decent for business use. It feels exceptionally well-built, and even with a fairly large 15 inch display, it's still very portable because it's very thin. The keyboard is comfortable to type on, the touchpad is large and responsive, and the webcam's video quality is outstanding. Unfortunately, its port selection is limited, and the battery doesn't last a full 8-hour workday. Its AMD Ryzen CPU can handle light productivity tasks, like Excel spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations, but it isn't powerful enough for demanding workloads like video editing.
- Sharp and bright display.
- Large touchpad and comfortable keyboard.
- Easy to carry around due to thin profile.
- Outstanding build quality with full aluminum chassis.
- CPU and integrated GPU not powerful enough for demanding workloads.
- Poor port selection.
- Short battery life for productivity.
- Few user-replaceable parts.
Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We tested the 15 inch Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 equipped with an AMD Ryzen 5 3580U CPU, AMD Radeon Vega 9 Graphics, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage. The CPU, memory, and storage are configurable; you can see the options in the table below.
There's a 13.5 inch Surface Laptop 3 as well as variants equipped with Intel 10th Gen CPUs; however, there are certain limitations. For general consumers, the 13.5 inch Surface Laptop 3 is only available with Intel 10th Gen CPUs, whereas the 15 inch model is only available with AMD Ryzen CPUs. There are 15 inch models with Intel CPUs, but you can only purchase them if you have a business account with Microsoft.
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Our display and performance results are only valid for the configuration that we tested. If you come across a different configuration option not listed above, or you have a similar Surface Laptop 3 that doesn't correspond to our review, let us know, and we'll update it. Some tests, like black uniformity and color accuracy, may vary between individual units.
You can see our unit's label here.
Popular Laptop Comparisons
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 (2022) is a newer version of the Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 15 (2019). They're identical in almost every aspect; the only differences are that the Surface Laptop 5 has newer Intel 12th Gen. CPUs, longer battery life, and Thunderbolt 4 support.
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 15 (2019) and the Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2019) are productivity-focused laptops, but the Surface Laptop 3 is an ultraportable that runs Windows, while the MacBook Pro is more of a mobile workstation that runs macOS. The MacBook Pro 16 is available with more powerful CPUs and GPUs, making it a better choice for demanding workloads like photo and video editing. It also has longer battery life and a better screen with full DCI P3 coverage, whereas the Surface Laptop 3 is limited to sRGB. The MacBook Pro 16 has a much better touchpad because it's larger, and its haptic feedback makes it a lot easier to click anywhere. However, its keyboard isn't as comfortable to type on for extended periods as the Surface Laptop 3's.
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 15 (2019) and the Apple MacBook Air 13 (M1, 2020) are both premium thin and light laptops. The main differences between them have to do with the operating system, CPU performance, and battery life. The Surface Laptop 3 runs Windows, while the MacBook Air 13 runs macOS. The MacBook Air 13's M1 SoC performs significantly better than the AMD Ryzen 5 3580U in almost all aspects, and because it's more power-efficient, the MacBook Air 13 has much longer battery life. The MacBook Air 13 also has a better wide gamut display with full DCI P3 coverage, whereas the Surface Laptop 3 only has full sRGB coverage.
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 15 (2019) and the HP ENVY x360 13 (2020) are thin and light Windows laptops, with the main difference being that the ENVY x360 is a 2-in-1 convertible that can be used as a tablet. The ENVY x360 is better overall because it's available with newer and more powerful CPUs, has longer battery life, and doesn't get as hot our loud under load. The ENVY x360 also has more ports, a faster storage drive, and it can be configured with a much brighter screen to combat glare. On the other hand, the Surface Laptop 3 has a much better touchpad and webcam, and it feels significantly better built.
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