If you’ve been wondering what Surface Laptop 3 will bring to the table, you’ve come to the right spot.
When the first Surface Laptop first came out a little over two years ago, stuck with Windows 10 S Mode, it didn’t make for a compelling device, especially next to the rest of the Surface lineup. However, Microsoft refined the formula enough and redefined the Surface Laptop image, and when the Surface Laptop 2 finally hit the streets last year, it became one of the best laptops on the market.
Which leaves us thinking: what exactly will the Surface Laptop 3 look like and what innovations will it bring to the table?
Beyond the necessary upgrades to its internal components – Intel Whiskey Lake or Ice Lake chips – to start, higher resolution and a Thunderbolt 3 connection are among the highest on our wishlist. Although a Thunderbolt 3 would only happen if Microsoft is willing to abandon its proprietary Surface connector.
At the moment, we really don’t have any concrete information regarding the Surface Laptop 3. However, some are speculating that Microsoft might show it off at its October 2 event.
In fact, a recently spotted benchmark seems to show a Surface Pro or Surface Laptop running on a 10th generation Intel Core i5-1035G1 processor. Could it be the Surface Laptop 3 we’ve been waiting for? There’s a good chance.
Still, until Microsoft releases any official information about the next generation Surface Laptop, all we can do is speculate based on leaks, rumors and information on past Surface Laptop releases.
Here are the Surface Laptop 3 speculations, predictions and rumors that we’ve heard through the grapevine. Be sure to keep this page bookmarked, and we’ll update it with any news Surface Laptop 3 release date news and rumors that comes our way.
Cut to the chase
- What is it? The next Surface Laptop
- When is it out? September 2019 at the earliest
- What will it cost? Likely around $999 (about £780, AU$1,385)
We might end up seeing the Surface Laptop 3 later in 2019.
Surface Laptop 3 release date
Unlike the Surface Pro 7, for example, Microsoft has only released two Surface Laptops. This isn’t surprising, as it’s a product line that has only been around for less than two years. Though that also means that we have less information to work with when guessing the release window.
The original Surface Laptop came out in June 2017, alongside the Surface Pro. However, the follow up, Surface Laptop 2, saw an October 2018 release. So, while we might end up seeing the Surface Laptop 3 later in 2019, it’s hard to predict exactly what month it will get released.
Granted, June 2019 has come and gone without so much as a teaser from Microsoft. So, we’re now hoping for an October release.
Since Intel has already started shipping out the Ice Lake chips on August 1 – and with Microsoft gearing up for its October 2 event, we could see the company showcasing the Surface Laptop 3 at the event and releasing it a few days or weeks later. Especially if that recently benchmarked device touting an Ice Lake chip is the next Surface Laptop.
This is all speculation, of course, so you should take it with a grain of salt. We’ll update this section as soon as we hear anything about the Surface Laptop 3 release date.
It's likely that Microsoft will charge the same price for the Surface Book 3 to keep it competitive.
Surface Laptop 3 price
The first Surface Laptop was released with a $799 (around £560, AU$1,000) price tag. That was with an Intel Core m3 processor and Windows 10 S out of the box.
The Surface Laptop 2, on the other hand, raised the price of entry significantly, charging users $200 more than the original at $999 (£979, AU$1,499). To be fair, this higher price point did come with full-fat Ultrabook processors in every configuration – not to mention, the full Windows 10 Home. So the upgrade was worth the price increase.
It’s highly likely that Microsoft will charge the same $999 (£979, AU$1,499) for the Surface Book 3, to keep it competitive with similar Ultrabooks like the Dell XPS 13.
We'd like to see faster processors and Thunderbolt 3 on the Surface Laptop 3, to start.
What we want to see
The Surface Laptop 2 already considerably improved on the Surface Laptop that it’s trickier to know what else Microsoft could do to make it even better. Still, we’ve come up with a few things we’d like to see in the Surface Laptop 3, using our tech expertise as our guiding hand.
Faster processors
The Surface Laptop 2 had vastly improved upon the processors on offer, moving from dual-core Kaby Lake chips to quad-core 8th-generation Kaby Lake Refresh chips. Still, more speed is never a bad thing, and we’d love to see more power behind the Surface Laptop 3.
There are technically faster and more powerful Ultrabook-class processors out already, starting with Intel’s Whiskey Lake chips. However, those deliver such a small upgrade in performance, that it really isn’t worth upgrading.
At CES 2019, Intel announced its 10nm Ice Lake processors, promising a two-fold increase in performance for certain workloads. While Intel’s performance claims should be taken with a grain of salt, the gains to performance and battery life that a 10nm process would afford are still exciting. And, we’d love to see that in the next Surface Laptop.
Thunderbolt 3, please
Now that Thunderbolt 3 has become a standard, Microsoft absolutely needs to include the technology in its next line of laptops. There are so many monitors, external hard drives and other peripherals are using Thunderbolt 3, and Microsoft has to bring its port selection on the Surface Laptop to the modern age – that Surface connection isn’t going to cut it for much longer.
Luckily, Microsoft has patented a new magnetic USB-C charger, that would have the best of both worlds. We just hope the technology is ready and on the Surface Laptop 3 before its release.
Freshen up the design
The Surface Laptop 2 largely inherited the look and feel of its predecessor, so beyond adding a new black color option, there wasn’t a big change design-wise. For the Surface Laptop 3, however, we’d like to see Microsoft offer a slimmer design.
And, it’s not like Microsoft is against pursuing thinner designs. Microsoft has patented a thinner Type Cover, with a touchpad built right into the printed circuit board. This could possibly lead to the Surface Pro 7 having a smaller footprint overall, but we’d also be interested to see if this design philosophy would carry over to other Surface devices.
Thinner laptops are always in demand, so a thinner and lighter Surface Laptop 3 is highly likely.
However, we have seen a recent patent from Microsoft that could make the fur-coated design of the Surface Laptop 3 make a little more sense. The patent describes a touch-sensitive fabric, that could give the Surface Laptop 3 more touch controls on the chassis of the device, maybe for volume or brightness. A fuzzy Touch Bar, perhaps?
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