There is no Thunderbolt 3 support on this machine Microsoft has previously described Thunderbolt 3 as a security flaw, but it’s a convenience that most of its competitors have, particularly at this price. There’s a 3.5mm headphone jack on the top-right hand corner of the tablet itself and another Surface Connect port on the bottom. On the right side of the base are the USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C ports and the proprietary Surface Connect port for charging and docking. On its left side are a pair of USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A ports and an SDXC card reader. The magnesium base is the same color as the back of the tablet. While Microsoft describes the Surface Book 3 as having “next-gen, pro-grade performance,” physical limitations mean it doesn’t have the parts to match. But more traditional laptops, like the 16-inch MacBook Pro and the Dell do use H-series chips. That’s seemingly not enough room for Microsoft to fit Intel’s H-series processors, so the Surface Book 3 continues to use Intel’s lower power Ice Lake U-series CPUs. But perhaps the bigger deal is that Microsoft can’t take advantage of more powerful processors, despite the premium price and positioning the Surface Book 3 takes in its lineup.īecause the tablet disconnects from the base, the processor, RAM and storage are all behind the screen (and why there are vents around the back edge of the tablet).

For one, it’s been five years, and there’s still an unsightly gap in the middle of the fulcrum hinge when the laptop’s closed. The age of the Surface Book 3’s design (or at least, it’s limitations), are starting to show. Unfortunately, I was able to replicate that on this model. With previous Surface Books, there were issues with disconnecting and reconnecting the display and base and problems with the tablet recognizing the GPU in the base. And after you reconnect, you still have to wait a second or two until you can use the keyboard and touchpad.

Microsoft sped up the disconnect process this year, but it’s still not instant. The screen is attached to the keyboard base with a fulcrum hinge and disconnects with a button on the keyboard.

Surface book 3 release date