78 PCWorld JANUARY 2020
REVIEWS MICROSOFT SURFACE LAPTOP 3 15-INCH (CORE i7)
numbers. But we
wondered how dialing
up the performance,
especially when
plugged in, would
affect the rankings. So
you’ll see a red
outlined bar indicating
the benchmark
recorded under “Best
Performance” settings.
It’s a lot of data, but it
should help you
decide whether the
Surface Laptop 3 is
right for you.
One real-world
performance note:
While other reviews
note that the Surface
Laptop 3 struggles
with 4K/60-frames-
per-second playback
on sites like YouTube,
that appears to have
been fixed, perhaps
with a software update.
Our Ice Lake-based
Surface Laptop 3
wasn’t affected at all,
99 percent of the time.
There was a tiny bit of
judder at rare
moments.
Microsoft’s Surface Laptop 3 (Core i7) tops everything else we tested in this
PCMark test.
Microsoft Surface Laptop 3
Perf (Core i7-1065G7)
Microsoft Surface Laptop 3
(Core i7-1065G7)
MPerf icrosoft Surface Laptop 3 (Ryzen 7 3780U SE)
Huaw(Core i5-8265U)ei Matebook 13
Acer Sw(Core i7-8565U)ift 3 (2019)
MPerf icrosoft Surface Laptop 3 (Ryzen 5 3580U SE)
Microsoft Surface Laptop 3
(Ryzen 7 3780U SE)
Microsoft Surface Laptop 3
(Ryzen 5 3580U SE)
PCMark 8 Creative 3.0
(Native resolution)
LONGER BARS INDICATE BETTER PERFORMANCE
4,365
3,662
3,670
3,595
4,033
3,610
3,662
3,500
While the Surface Laptop 3 (Core i7) is about a midrange performer overall,
it smokes the Ryzen PCs on our list.
Acer Sw(Core i7-8565U)ift 3 (2019)
MPerf icrosoft Surface Laptop 3 (Core i7-1065G7)
M(Core i7-1065G7)icrosoft Surface Laptop 3
Huaw(Core i5-8265U)ei Matebook 13
Microsoft Surface Laptop 3
(Ryzen 7 3780U SE)
Microsoft Surface Laptop 3
Perf (Ryzen 7 3780U SE)
Microsoft Surface Laptop 3
Perf (Ryzen 5 3580U SE)
M(Ryzen 5 3580U SE)icrosoft Surface Laptop 3
PCMark 8 Work 3.0
(Native resolution)
LONGER BARS INDICATE BETTER PERFORMANCE
3,642
3,050
3,551
3,032
3,567
3,043
3,432
3,017