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Microsoft Surface Book 3 (SMN-00015) review

Microsoft Surface Book 3 (SMN-00015)

CHOICE Expert Rating

76%
What is the CHOICE Expert Rating?
Good points

Good Points

  • Webcam captures very good detail
  • Very good screen quality
  • Very good sound quality for a tablet
  • Very good screen luminance
Bad points

Bad Points

  • Power plug is easy to use, but needs to be plugged in with the cord facing the rear so as not to cover the USB-C port
  • Lacks HDMI

Type

Ultraportable
Ultrabook
Tablet mode
Operating system
Windows 10 Home

Recommended products

Recommended
Not recommended
Recommended for tablet use

Test results

CHOICE Expert Rating
76%
Performance score
60%
Tablet use score
80%
Ease of use score
80%
Battery life score
68%
Display score
86%
Audio score
80%
Wi-Fi score
78%
Storage write-speed (MBps)
839
Storage read-speed (MBps)
2076
Wi-Fi speed (MBps)
41
Average battery life – heavy usage (hours)
7:01
Charging time to 80% full (h:min)
1:52
Expert tester comments
The Surface Book 3 is made for demanding users who need strong graphics capabilities in addition to a portable tablet. It's a laptop that separates into two parts via an electric hinge mechanism, with the tablet and the base both housing batteries, and the base also adding high-end NVIDIA graphics processing that can be used for design and rendering work.

Sustainability

Shop Ethical rating
C
Warranty (years)
1
Replaceable battery
Not collected
Replace/upgrade RAM
Not collected
Slots for additional RAM
Not collected
Replace/upgrade storage
Not collected
Slot for additional storage
Not collected
Replace/upgrade Wi-Fi
Not collected
Country of origin
China

Related products

Availability
Discontinued model

Cost

Price
$4,439.00

Specifications

Screen size (inches)
15
Native screen resolution (pixels)
3240 x 2160
Processor (CPU) type
Intel Core i7-1065G7
CPU frequency (GHz)
1.3
RAM (GB)
32
Video graphics type
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti
Storage capacity (GB)
512
Available user space (GB)
421
Storage type
SSD
Wi-Fi version
6
Weight of laptop (kg)
1.9
Weight of power supply (kg)
0.5
Size (mm, H x D x W)
25 x 245 x 343

Features

Screen finish
Glossy
Touchscreen
USB-C
USB 2.0 ports
0
USB 3.0 ports
2
USB 4 as USB-C port
0
USB-C (USB 3.2 Gen 1 or 2, not Thunderbolt 3 or 4) ports
1
Thunderbolt 3 or 4 (as USB-C) ports
0
SD card slot (full-size)
SD card slot (micro)
HDMI port
Gigabit ethernet port
Rear camera
Backlit keyboard levels of brightness
3

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Recommended

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$1,499

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