Surface Laptop 3 review, the 15-inch Microsoft Intel version

When Microsoft updated its Surface product line last fall, one of the most interesting announcements was undoubtedly that of the 15-inch version of the Laptop 3. First of all because of the unedited format, until then the Laptop only existed with a 13-inch display, and then for the AMD Ryzen custom platform on which this model is based. In fact, it seemed that for the first time Microsoft was proposing a Surface product without Intel chipset.

In reality it is not so; there is one on the Microsoft website Surface version dedicated to companies, but still purchasable by private individuals, which can be configured with Intel processors Core i5 or i7 10th generation. Taken from curiosity we managed to recover one and after a few weeks of use I can tell you how it behaves, what its strengths are and where the defects are hidden.

After two generations of Laptops, Microsoft has decided with this new model of abandon the Alcantara, which remains available as a finish for the 13-inch version only. The chassis of this Laptop 3 15 "is therefore entirely made of aluminum, with a satin finish on which it is still pleasant to rest your wrists. The structure is overall quite rigid, there are no noticeable crunches and the hinges have a rigidity that allow you to open the panel with one hand without giving up good stability.

The design is the element of this notebook that convinced me most when I first removed it from the box. Sober is certainly the most suitable adjective to describe it. The lines are clean, the combination of colors and chromatically impeccable and all the elements are carefully assembled and designed to be simple and perfectly in harmony with each other.

In this well-kept context, the display frames that are not very thin and certainly make a jump in the past to anyone who has recently had to deal with a high-end notebook. Precisely because of these frames and the display with an aspect ratio of 3: 2 we are faced with a solution that turns out to be a little bit bigger than the competition. It is not necessarily a bad thing, this form factor allows us to have more space available on the screen, but it is still a feature to be taken into account.

The weight and thickness, however, are not absolutely excessive. Let's talk about 1.5 kg and 15 mm which, speaking of a 15-inch notebook, are in line with the competition or even below. These are specifications that Microsoft has managed to achieve thanks to a good optimization of the spaces but also because of a not too complex hardware.

On the sides of the notebook we find the expansion ports, undoubtedly one of the negative elements. On a product of this size I would have expected a more varied and numerous set of doors. Surface Laptop 3 offers instead only one USB Type A, one 3.5 mm jack and one USB Type C without even Thunderbolt 3 support. Through the latter we can recharge the notebook but there is still the proprietary magnetic connector. Let's say I would have liked to see at least one other Type C and a memory card reader, even MicroSD.

On this 15-inch Laptop 3, however, there is a lot of wasted space. The touchpad, for example, is centered in the palm rest but has plenty of space around it and could have been much larger. Attention, I'm not saying it's small, you work quietly, your fingers slide well and the control on the cursor is precise, but surely it could have been enlarged a little and made all the operations even easier.

We also have a lot of empty space on the sides of the keyboard, but probably it would not have been enough to insert a numeric keypad to the right of it. Or rather, to do this you would have had to reduce the spacing between the keycaps which, on the other hand, is wide and allows you to type in a very comfortable way. The feedback offered by the click is good, it is a little muffled but it certainly makes it one of the quietest keyboards I have tried. Personally I prefer a click more dry and also "noisier" but they are obviously subjective considerations.

The speakers have been placed under the keyboard, as on the 13-inch model. A nice solution from the aesthetic point of view because it frees us from the cracks or grids but which at the same time allows you to have a good quality audio output and discrete volume. We are certainly not at the level of the new MacBook Pro 16 but we say that it ranks among the first in the category.

One of the most interesting elements of this new Surface Laptop 3 is certainly the display. Not that it's new. Microsoft has always accustomed us to excellent panels for its products and has not been less with this model. It is one touch screen with 3: 2 aspect ratio and 2496×1664 pixel resolution, which guarantees a density of 201 ppi and allows, thanks to the aspect ratio, to have a greater surface that can be exploited when we go to place two windows side by side.

Let's talk about one IPS unit manufactured by Sharp which comes calibrated in the hands of the user and which will surely be appreciated by all those who work with graphics and therefore need a precise panel in the reproduction of colors. We measured the display with our x-rite i1 colorimeter and the Calman software and found some very interesting data. The maximum brightness reaches 400 cd / m2 and the contrast ratio of just over 1000: 1 allows you to always read the information on the screen well, even in bright environments.

In relation to the precision in the reproduction of the colors we have instead measured some delta E well below 2 both for the grayscale and for the colors. This is a very low value, which is positioned in both cases below the threshold indicating tolerance, i.e. 3.

The fact that the panel is compatible with the Surface Pen that is not included in the package and that you will hardly find useful with a display that cannot be flattened on the table deserves a mention. In short, perhaps I would have just avoided using a touch panel on this Laptop and maybe lowered the price a little.

From the hardware point of view we are talking about a machine with interesting features. We are certainly not faced with a platform for gaming or for the most advanced multimedia productivity but, at least on paper, it is a solution that defends itself well. Let's talk about a chipset Intel Core i7 1065G7 featuring a CPU with four cores and eight threads, and an integrated GPU Intel Iris Plus Graphics, all accompanied by 16 GB of RAM and a 256GB PCIe SSD with sequential read and write speeds of around 2300 and 1500 MB / s. SSD which is by the way the only replaceable element and upgradeable across the platform.

Technical specifications Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 15 "

• CPU: Intel Core i7 1065G7 / 4 cores at 1.1 – 3.9 GHz
• GPU: Intel Iris Plus Graphics G7
• RAM: 16 GB DDR4-2400 soldered
• Screen: SHP14B4 15 inches 3: 2, 2496 x 1664 pixels 201 PPI, touch with Surface Pen support, IPS LCD, HDR
• Storage: Toshiba KBG40ZNS256G, 256 GB
• Ports: 1 USB Type-A, 1 USB Type-C, 3.5mm jack
• Network: Wi-Fi ax Intel AX201 / Bluetooth 5.0
• Dimensions: 339.5 x 244 x 14.7 mm / Weight: 1.5 kg
• Battery: 45 Wh / Power supply: 65 watts / OS: Windows 10
• Other: Webcam: 720p / Keyboard illuminated with white LEDs

But how does this hardware behave in practice? Let's say that carries out the homework but that undoubtedly a little more could have been dared. It's not Intel's fault, I've tried this processor on other solutions that have performed better, especially when pressured. It's all a matter of setting up and managing TDP and temperatures which are always quite low here thanks to a lot of conservative management, maybe even too much.

If we look at the graphs relating to the stress test we immediately notice how after the initial peak, in which the cores reach the maximum frequency limit (3.9GHz), we have a fairly sudden drop due to the rise in temperatures. After a few seconds they reach and exceed 90 degrees on all cores. The system at this point lowers the TDP by reporting the temperatures below 70 degrees and stabilizing at around 20W with frequencies of just over 1 GHz. Just to offer a comparison, in the same test, the Lenovo C940 maintains temperatures between 80 and 85 degrees with frequencies on all cores never below 1.5 GHz. In both cases we are well below the recommended safety threshold from Intel (99 °) but with very different performances in terms of performance.

Having said that, however, we remain in front of a product with which we can deal with all the daily work activities without any problem. But we can also go further with a bit of photo editing on Photoshop or with video editing, even in 4K if you don't need too many effects and additional graphic elements, as long as you accept some compromises such as rather dilated rendering times.

You can play? If you are hardcore gamers, the answer is obviously no, the performance of the integrated graphics component is not enough to give you a gaming experience at your height. If instead you just need to spend a few minutes in the company of the great classics, perhaps giving up the finer details and settling for 30 fps in fullHD, then you can also try installing some games and have a little fun.

And let's talk about autonomy. Inside this Surface Laptop 3 we have one battery with a capacity of 45 Wh which, for a product of this size, is not that great. There are smaller products, with 13 or 14-inch displays, which have modules with a larger capacity. However, we must affirm that, despite this "physical" limit, we are still faced with a product capable of guaranteeing a good overall autonomy.

Battery life Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 15 "

50% screen brightness (about 180 nits), 50% audio.

With a working use under WiFi network that we could define as standard, we managed to get up to 8 hours of continuous use with about 50% display brightness, sufficient to work in a closed but bright environment. Using Laptop 3 only to watch streaming videos on Netflix or YouTube, you can instead reach 9 and a half hours. Finally, making the most of the available hardware, the notebook runs out of charge after about two hours.

The battery is charged through the power supply with proprietary magnetic connector inserted in the package. It is a classic charger, identical in shape and size compared to the previous Surface, and capable of delivering up to 65W. It takes about 2 hours to fully charge the Laptop 3 in standby. However, it is also possible to take advantage of the Type C connector for charging, even using different chargers from the original one.

And we are at the moment to draw conclusions starting from the price. The new Surface Laptop 3 in the version with the tenth generation Intel Core i7 processor that we tried here it costs 1999 euro and is available in a dedicated section of the Microsoft site. The price is high, too high. We are faced with an excellent product, we cannot say otherwise, but for that price I would certainly have expected a better implementation of the Intel chipset and better exploited spaces, perhaps with a larger touchpad and a set of ports with a greater number of options.

LINK PURCHASE LAPTOP 3 15 "INTEL VERSION

At present it remains a good 15-inch notebook that does excellent display with 3: 2 aspect ratio its biggest plus. Multitasking on a screen of this type is certainly favored by the proportions that allow two windows to be placed side by side without losing too much information. This is also thanks to the resolution, which offers the right compromise in terms of density, guaranteeing the right space without sacrificing good reading comfort.

All this, however, taking into account a weight that remains fairly contained in the category. 1.5 kg, considering the body entirely in metallic material and a structure that is however very solid and rigid, they are not excessive at all, on the contrary, if we combine the thickness of just over one and a half centimeters we immediately realize a impact on the stock exchange and in transport more than good.

Would I recommend it? At this price probably not, or at least not to a common user. The perfect integration with Microsoft services and dedicated tools can in fact be decisive for some companies, but for the private sector the alternatives are certainly not lacking. An example? The Lenovo Yoga C940 mentioned above, now available at 1699 euros with UHD display and 1599 with FHD panel, or the recent one MSI Prestige 15, a little less thick and light but with a lot more computing power, at 1449 euros.