PC World - USA (2020-01)

82 PCWorld JANUARY 2020

REVIEWS MICROSOFT SURFACE LAPTOP 3 15-INCH (CORE i7)

BOTTOM LINE

When we began testing the Ryzen 5-powered

Surface Laptop 3, our original thesis was that

the Intel-powered Surface Laptop 3 might be

the better bet. That has since been

confirmed. Moreover, Microsoft’s Surface

Laptop 3 for Business demonstrates the

battery life that we expect of a business

laptop, as well as a Surface. Battery life of over

eight hours is simply a fundamental

requirement, and the reason that the Surface

Laptop 3 for Business clears the bar and wins

an Editor’s Choice award. Keep in mind that

there’s nothing stopping you, as a consumer,

from buying this business laptop, either!

We’d still like some clarification in the ports

department. USB-C with Thunderbolt 3 would

have been nice, or perhaps an updated

Surface Dock to take advantage of the Surface

I/O port. But being able to work comfortably

in a multi-monitor setup is a big improvement.

There aren’t too many 15-inch notebook

PCs that aim toward the high end of the

consumer/productivity space without aiming

at gamers. HP’s Spectre series is worth a hard

look. The HP Spectre x360 15T (go.pcworld.

com/b15t) featured on our performance

charts offers some compelling features at an

equally attractive price. Those who are more

inclined toward brutal efficiency should also

look at recent introductions like the Acer Swift

3 (available via Amazon [go.pcworld.com/

swf3])—we like the functionality Acer included

for under $1,000, even if you won’t like the

display and keyboard as much. Lenovo’s

affordable Thinkbook 13s (available via

Amazon [go.pcworld.com/t13s]) is also

worth considering.

There’s one more interesting twist: the

pricing. The Surface Laptop 3s with Ryzen

chips inside are—for this generation,

anyway—clearly not the best choice. Perhaps

recognizing this, Microsoft discounted the

consumer Surface Laptop 3s by about $200

or so in places, sweetening its deal.

While we haven’t tested every possible

configuration of the Surface Laptop 3, the

results with three of the top versions lead us

to conclude you’ll be more than happy with

a Surface Laptop 3 with either an Intel Core

i5 or the Core i7 model we reviewed. This is

the Microsoft Surface that we’ve been

waiting for.

Microsoft Surface Laptop 3

(Core i7)

PROS

• All-day battery life.


• Excellent performance.


• Bright, beautiful screen.
  CONS


• Keyboard isn’t quite as good as in previous
  models.


• No Thunderbolt I/O tech behind its USB-C ports.
  BOTTOM LINE
  Microsoft’s Surface Laptop 3 for Business, with Intel’s
  10th-gen Ice Lake architecture inside, is a solid
  all-around laptop with higher performance and
  battery life than its AMD-powered cousins.
  $1,599