The Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 (15-Inch) Review: AMD Ryzen Surface Edition
by Brett Howse on October 21, 2019 9:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
- AMD
- Microsoft
- Surface
- Ryzen
- Surface Laptop
- Surface Laptop 3
This year at Microsoft’s somewhat annual Surface update event, Microsoft surprised everyone by not only announcing a newer and larger Surface Laptop 3, bumping the screen size from 13.5-inches to 15-inches, but also by selecting an AMD processor for the laptop. Though still an incremental shift when looking at the entire Surface lineup, it was a big change for Microsoft, as well as a big win for AMD. Not only is Microsoft now offering a traditional, clamshell laptop in the ever-popular 15-inch form factor, but it's the highest profile laptop yet to ship with one of AMD's APUs.
While there's a lot more to the 15-inch Surface Laptop 3 than just its processor, certainly this is the highlight of the announcement. Up until now, Microsoft has relied exclusively on Intel processors for their entire range of x86 Surface devices. So this marks Microsoft's first departure from their long-time CPU provider, while highlighting a deeper connection between Microsoft and AMD that has grown from their Xbox work. And to be sure, it's beneficial to both parties – Microsoft gets a second supplier of x86 chips with a more graphics-heavy performance balance, and AMD gets a top-shelf laptop vendor that has gone the extra mile to optimize their setup.
Indeed, that optimization is perhaps the most important aspect of this latest partnership. While Microsoft and AMD perhaps go too far in touting the laptop's processor as "semi custom" – it's a specialized bin of AMD's existing Ryzen 3000 series Picasso APUs with a bit more graphics performance – what's not exaggerated is the work that the two parties have put into the final product. As we learned from AMD earlier this month, a great deal of effort has been put into the firmware, the drivers, and the software stack for the AMD-powered Surface Laptop 3, and these days these factors are often as important as the hardware itself, since problems here can lead to bad experiences elsewhere. This is a level of effort and co-design work that goes beyond what's been done for any other Ryzen-powered laptops, and as a result, the Surface Laptop 3 is AMD's chance to show its best foot forward at a critical time.
Meanwhile, for the rest of the laptop, there's a good deal to unpack here as well. The larger design alone represents a significant change for the Surface Laptop family, giving Microsoft a laptop better sized to be used as a true desktop replacement machine. 15 inches means more room for a larger screen, more room for cooling, etc, resulting in a machine that's going to be a bit less portable than the 13.5-inch model, but arguably easier to work with over long periods of time. All the while, it's interesting just how much the new 15-inch model resembles the smaller Surface Laptop – every aspect of the design has been scaled up so that it feels like the same sharp machine as the 13.5-inch model.
For this generation of the Surface Laptop family, the Surface team has also changed one of the defining characteristics of lineup by making a version available without the Alcantara fabric keyboard deck. Discussing this with the designers, they said that owners with the synthetic fabric keyboard deck were overwhelmingly happy with it, despite fears of it getting dirty or damaged; but that they also heard from potential buyers who just prefer a more traditional aluminum feel. So for the 15-inch Surface Laptop 3, it's is aluminum only, available in Platinum or Black. Meanwhile the 13.5-inch model sees some similar changes, offering Sandstone, Black, or Platinum colors with a metal deck, or Cobalt Blue and Platinum colors with the Alcantara deck.
Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 Model Tested: 15-inch Ryzen 5 3580U 16GB 256GB $1499 |
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13.5-Inch | 15-Inch (Intel) Enterprise Only |
15-Inch (AMD) Consumer |
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Processor | Intel Core i5-1035G7 4C/8T, 1.2-3.7GHz, 6MB L3, 10nm Intel Core i7-1065G7 4C/8T, 1.3-3.9GHz, 8MB L3, 10nm |
AMD Ryzen 5 3580U 4C/8T, 2.1-3.7GHz, 15w AMD Ryzen 7 3780U 4C/8T, 2.3-4.0GHz, 15w |
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Memory | 8 GB or 16 GB Dual-Channel LPDDR4X-3733 | 8/16/32GB Dual-Channel DDR4-2400 | |||||
Graphics | Intel Core i5-1035G7 Intel Iris Plus "G7" Graphics (Gen 11, 64 EU) Intel Core i7-1065G7 Intel Iris Plus "G7" Graphics (Gen 11, 64 EUs) |
AMD Ryzen 5 3580U Vega 9 Graphics (9 CUs) AMD Ryzen 7 3780U Vega 11 Graphics (11 CUs) |
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Display | 13.5" 2256x1504 3:2 PixelSense Touch and Pen support Individually calibrated panels |
15" 2496x1664 3:2 PixelSense Touch and Pen support Individually calibrated panels |
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Storage | 128 GB, 256 GB, 512 GB, 1 TB PCIe NVMe | 128 GB, 256 GB, 512 GB PCIe NVMe | |||||
Networking | 802.11ax Bluetooth 5.0 |
802.11ac 2x2 MIMO Bluetooth 5.0 |
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Audio | Omnisonic Speakers Dolby Audio Premium |
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Battery | 46 Wh 60 + 5 W AC Adapter |
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Right Side | Surface Connect Port | ||||||
Left Side | USB Type-A USB Type-C Headset Jack |
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Dimensions | 308 x 223 x 14.51 mm (12.1 x 8.8 x 0.57 inches) | 339.5 x 244 x 14.69 mm (13.4 x 9.6 x 0.57 inches) | |||||
Weight | Fabric: 1.25kg Metal: 1.31kg |
1.54kg | |||||
Camera | Front: 720p Camera and Windows Hello support Dual far-field Studio Mics |
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Extras | Surface Pen and Dial (sold separately) TPM 2.0 |
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Pricing | 8GB/128GB/i5: $999 8GB/256GB/i5: $1299 16GB/256GB/i7: $1599 16GB/512GB/i7: $1999 16GB/1024GB/i7: $2399 |
Enterprise Sales Contract | 8GB/128GB/R5: $1199 8GB/256GB/R5: $1499 16GB/256GB/R5: $1699 16GB/512GB/R7: $2099 32GB/1024GB/R7: $2799 |
As is typical of the Surface lineup, Microsoft has stuck with the 3:2 aspect ratio which has served them so well, and with the same pixels-per-inch (PPI) of the 13.5-inch model, which results in a somewhat strange sounding 2496x1664 resolution. This is almost exactly 200 PPI, matching the smaller 13.5-inch model, but well short of the Surface Pro and Surface Book devices which come in around 270 PPI. It’s still a sharp display, with over double the density of a “standard” 96 PPI display, so while not quite as crisp as the Surface Pro and Surface Book, it’s still a good resolution and one that should help with battery life.
Microsoft has finally made the jump away from the Marvell network adapters that have been so prominent in their other products. Ice Lake-based devices (including the enterprise-only 15-inch Surface Laptop 3) get Intel's own Wi-Fi 6, while AMD systems get a Qualcomm Wi-Fi 5 solution that we're admittedly less than enthusiastic about. However, the good news is that Microsoft has finally embraced USB-C by supplanting the DisplayPort output with the more modern connector. It does not support Thunderbolt 3, but regardless it’s still a nice addition to the lineup since this was a feature that was certainly lacking from the last couple of generations. This doubles the number of USB ports from just a single USB-A port, to both USB-A and USB-C ports. And of course it still offers the Surface Connect port as well for charging and docking if necessary, further expanding the connectivity.
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melgross - Monday, October 21, 2019 - link
The biggest significance here is that Microsoft has moved partly away from the Wintel alliance. Otherwise, it doesn’t mean much for AMD’s direct sales, as estimates of Surfacebook yearly sales is about 300 thousand to at most, 500 thousand.Will it stimulate other Windows OEMs to follow? Well, those that are already using AMD chips will continue doing so, and the rest will most likely continue doing what they’ve been doing.
id4andrei - Monday, October 21, 2019 - link
AMD was always hobbled by OEMs coupling the former's CPU with single channel RAM, shoddy build, HDD instead of SDD,etc. I agree that the Ryzen Surface is underwhelming but it's by far the best AMD notebook and hopefully spur some higher end AMD notebooks.The Hardcard - Monday, October 21, 2019 - link
I have a couple of questions.First, do other AMD laptops have access and benefit from the firmware and other optimizations that Microsoft has done?
Second, are there any extra obstacles or restrictions to loading a Linux OS onto a surface laptop?
Ryan Smith - Monday, October 21, 2019 - link
For the first question, you should see the following article on just that subject:https://www.anandtech.com/show/14947/already-worki...
"AMD did state that of all the work that has gone into the Surface Laptop 3 co-design, around 50-70% is going to directly benefit the state of other Ryzen Mobile hardware in the ecosystem."
thesloth - Monday, October 21, 2019 - link
$300 jump from 8GB/128GB/R5 to 8GB/256GB/R5 seems a little extreme for 128GB extra SSDPeachNCream - Monday, October 21, 2019 - link
It's the latest Apple tax brought to you by Microsoft.andrewaggb - Monday, October 21, 2019 - link
Completely agree. Sure goes from being reasonably priced to overpriced in a hurry.justin.anthony.hall - Monday, October 21, 2019 - link
If you don't like Ryzen then just order it with 10th Gen i7 Ice Lake. Simples:https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/p/surface-laptop-3...
maroon1 - Monday, October 21, 2019 - link
Battery life is much more important than GPU performance in those devices. It is not like people buy surface to play AAA games.PeachNCream - Monday, October 21, 2019 - link
Agreed, but there are people that will only buy one computer and if the Surface Laptop is that one system AND they play PC games, it will end up happening. I do doubt anyone will pick up a Surface Laptop mainly for gaming though. There are other systems that are less expensive and better suited to the task that can also handle any Surface Laptop workloads.