I recently got a Surface Laptop 3 for review and I was very impressed with it, to say the least. I do think this is the best and most premium laptop on the windows side I have seen. I want to explain as well I got the business one with the Intel, not the consumer AMD model.

Screen

The screen to me is great worth the money with its anti-scratch gorilla glass style. The resolution of 2496 x 1664 on a 15-inch screen was amazingly was great. I do like how Microsoft has gone more edge to edge like Lenovo and have gotten away from big bezels. I have been opposed to touchscreens on laptops but not after using it to scroll and zoom it’s a feature I can’t believe I lived without for so long. I now believe all laptops should be a touchscreen. For me, the 13-inch surface screen is a little small but very useable and light. For me, I like a bigger screen but I know my wife said the 13 would be better for her cause it’s small and light. While the 15 is light as well it’s noticeably bigger for me I like a bigger screen her not so much this really comes down to preference on the screen size both are great and I love the fact that the screen is scratch-resistant.

Keyboard & Touchpad

I really like the keyboard and touchpad they feel very nice. To me, the best typing experience is on a MacBook Pro and this keyboard and mouse feel just like that experience. The keys and touchpad feel just like a MacBook and it’s just amazing typing on it just feels good and premium.

Build Quality

Surface Laptop 3 has a premium look and feel. The keyboard screen and body looks very well made and is very sturdy. This device looks and feels like a premium PC.

Windows

Since I got the business model mine came with Windows 10 Pro. I will say Microsoft has fallen a bit short on the software update peace as the Surface hardware has been some of the last to get the latest version of feature updates and build updates. But that might be Microsoft protecting their brand till the end to make sure they have all the bugs and glitches worked out before deploying.

Hardware

So I went with an Intel i7 but the i5 is just as good. I went with the 16 gigs of ram but the 8 works fine for day to day use. While 8 is great for tasks I do if you are doing programming or video work get the 16 or 32 gigs of ram. I went with the i7 because it was 100 dollars more than the i5.

The solid-state hard drive makes for fast bootup but to me, the 256 is just to small as windows will take up more space as it gets updates if you are not saving much you will be fine but me I went with the 512 if you are going to be doing a lot saving go with the 1 terabyte drive.

Battery Life

According to Microsoft, the battery life of the Surface Laptop 3 is about 11.5 hours based on “typical Surface device usage.” For me, it got me through the day 8 to 9 hours doing basic stuff like Word, Excel, Web Browsing, and Remote Desktop. I would point out that intensive activities like editing visual media or playing games will likely drain the battery faster. It will also depend on how bright or dim your display is every day.

Ports

This to me is where this device really falls short. One USB-A port, One USB-C port, and a 3.5 mm headphone jack. Part of me thinks this is so Microsoft can sell you the docking station for $199 but to me, it’s just not enough even the MacBook Pro gives you four USB-C ports on a device with no network or video jack. To me, this is a huge drawback and a big mark for this device. If you are in a situation where you need two dongles and they are both USB-C you are screwed. If they wanted to make only two ports on this device make them all USB-C or USB-A, not one of each this makes dongles a pain.

Conclusion

I do think this is a great laptop I do think the ports may be a big issue for some people if you are someone who just hooks to wireless and never plug anything in you will be fine. I do think the very light thin design is perfect for someone on the go but I do think that dongles will be needed as the lack of ports would be an issue for some people especially since they did one of each type USB-C and USB-A. I think this is a great premium laptop but I do think it should be as the price point is very high.