JANUARY 2020 PCWorld 75same power that Microsoft’s Surface charger
provides (60W) to enable this.
In testing, though, the Surface Laptop 3’s
fast charging fell short of Microsoft’s
expectations. We drained the battery, then
gave it 60 minutes to charge. It reached 66
percent using the stock charger on the
Surface Laptop 3 for Business.
Microsoft chose not to add Thunderbolt
functionality to the USB-C port, which means
that the Surface Connector, will be your
primary display output to a Surface Dock.
Assuming you have a Dock, that’s not critical.
One under-appreciated deficiency of any
Surface device to date has been the inability to
output to a pair of 4K monitors, at eye-pleasing
60Hz rates (go.pcworld.com/secn). The
Surface Laptop 2 struggled
to meet a 4K/60Hz setup
with a secondary 1080p
monitor, too. For those
who loved productivity,
this was a big deal.
I was extremely
pleased to see the Surface
Edition-based Laptop 3
simultaneously output to
its own display, a 4K/60
setup, and a 1080p
monitor with aplomb. As
Thunderbolt I/O
interfaces become more
common, however, it’s
possible the lack of
Thunderbolt may become a deficiency
Microsoft will be forced to solve.A DECENT KEYBOARD AND
BUILT-IN SPEAKERS
Picking apart keyboard subtleties usually boils
down to the spacing between the keys (the
pitch), and the amount of play in the keys (the
key travel). Surface keyboards are generally
quite good, and the Surface Laptop 3
keyboard is no exception. Spacious keys
provide a comfortable landing pad, with
good resiliency. The 19mm key pitch remains
unchanged. The Laptop 3’s key travel feels
somewhat lesser than in the Surface Laptop 2,
though, and it is: 1.3mm versus 1.5mm.
A quick digression about SurfaceMicrosoft rearranged some of the Surface Laptop 3’s function keys and
slightly reduced the key travel. Unlike the Matte Black model, however,
the Surface Laptop 3’s Platinum chassis barely attracts fingerprints. Plus,
it’s just plain pretty.