Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 Launches With Intel Ice Lake, 15-inch Model Rocks AMD Ryzen
The Surface Laptop 3 is available in two screen sizes: 13-inches and 15-inches (as previously reported). This is the first time that the larger 15-inch form-factor has been available for the Surface Laptop product line, and gives users who want a bit more screen real estate a new alternative.
Under the hood, it has been confirmed that the 13-inch model is using quad-core Intel Ice Lake processors. On the 15-inch model, Microsoft is using AMD Ryzen APUs with integrated Radeon Vega graphics. In fact, it's called the AMD Ryzen Surface Edition. This is a huge, high-profile design win for AMD and shows that more manufacturers are willing to break ranks with Intel and choose other compelling alternatives.
On the connectivity front, Microsoft has finally gotten with the program and has included a USB-C port with the Surface Laptop 3 family. The company first embraced USB-C with the Surface Go last year, but failed to make the port available on the rest of its devices... until now. For those that were expecting Thunderbolt 3 functionality, we've got some bad news for you -- it is missing here with the Surface Laptop 3. At this price point, we'd almost expect Thunderbolt 3 support, but it apparently wasn't meant to be.
Microsoft has rolled out some new color options for the Surface Laptop 3 including Sandstone, and for the first time, you can get the laptop with or without the Alcantara fabric covering the keyboard deck (which is a big plus for those turned off by grime-collecting fabric on their notebooks). Microsoft has even added fast charging support, which can take the battery to an 80 percent charge in less than an hour.
Both devices are available for preorder and will begin shipping October 22nd priced from $999 for the 13-inch model and $1,199 for the 15-inch model respectively.
Moving on to the Surface Pro 7, the device carries over mostly unchanged from a design perspective. You'll still find a 12.3-inch PixelSense Display (2736x1824) and a chassis that is chock full of hard edges. The company has, however, added a USB-C (no Thunderbolt 3) just like its Surface Laptop 3 counterpart.
Under the hood are where the big changes occur. Instead of 8th generation Kaby Lake-R Core i5 and Core i7 processors, Microsoft has adopted Intel's brand new 10th generation, 10nm Ice Lake processors. Ice Lake promises significant CPU and GPU performance boosts over Kaby Lake-R while keeping power consumption in check. The Surface Pro 7 is available for preorder today priced from $749, and it will also ship starting October 22nd.
