We've uploaded a video comparing the Surface Laptop 2 and 3 side by side.
Just some notes on what has changed. Surface Laptop line is very much imagined for the everyday use, versatile from catching up on email & Skype, to working on business spreadsheets with its generous 3:2 display aspect ratio.
Surface Laptop 2 & 3 (13.5”) - what’s changed on the new model?
20% Large Surface Trackpad - takes a decent trackpad and making it larger.
New Metal palmrest options (in Black, or Sandstone, as in Gold). This is in addition to the usual Alcantara soft fabric. The metal option is not available on the base price model. Keypad colour could also match the metal finish.
USB-C port (has replaced the previous 1x mini-Display port; no Thunderbolt 3 though, so you won’t be able to use eGPU)
Antenna line is gone on the outside casing - for the eagle eyes.
Featuring Intel's 10th Gen Quad-Core Processor (built with the much anticipated 10nm technology). It is supposed to be more efficient than the 8th Gen (though doesn’t run at as a raw high clock). Overall, the CPU performance should be equal or above the previous-gen Surface Laptop 2.
The integrated Iris Plus has received a noticeable boost in graphics performance (over the 8th Gen Core i7); its performance nears that of Ryzen 3000 series’ Vega integrated graphics and near that of NVIDIA’s MX250 graphics.
The Surface Laptop 3 could appear like an incremental refinement, on paper (in fact, Microsoft merely labels its processor simply as 10th Gen i5 or i7 in its marketing, such simplicity is surely a reflection of their confidence that close software & hardware integration, stem from their first-party offering which they hope would set the new bar among the laptop makers).
If the Alcantara palmrest might not have been your cup of tea, though the metal option is now there to ease the move. It feels a bit For a laptop form factor design, it feels more intentionally touch focused in the design language (3:2 aspect ratio), than its peers such as the XPS 13 (one certainly hopes that other manufacturers could also offer this ratio).
Surface Laptop 3 (15”) - a new product, so no comparison is necessary - here are some notes anyway.
AMD Ryzen is available on the consumer channels, whereas the Intel model is still available but only via Microsoft for Business store.
Like for like - the Intel model is said to have better battery life, than the AMD
Some reviews online suggest that the 15” feels very much like a stretched 13.5” version, rather than being an entirely new product.
