Customers are impressed with the Surface Book 3's performance and ease of use, citing its portability and smooth operation. However, some users experienced issues with the screen, including glitches and overheating, and reported inconsistent battery life. Concerns were also raised regarding the device's price and its tendency to become warm during use. The weight was also mentioned as a potential drawback by some users.
This summary was generated by AI based on customer reviews.
The vast majority of our reviews come from verified purchases. Reviews from customers may include My Best Buy members, employees, and Tech Insider Network members (as tagged). Select reviewers may receive discounted products, promotional considerations or entries into drawings for honest, helpful reviews.
Page 1 Showing 1-20 of 238 reviews
Cons mentioned:
Screen
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Great for the time it released
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Posted . Owned for more than 2 years when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Overall really great. My only problem was that the gaming-graphics card would sometimes disconnect due to it being in the keyboard and the screen wouldn't connect properly at times. I do prefer a better quality screen - but this one had a great screen for the year it was released.
When there were no hardware errors (which could have been exclusive to my unit), it ran graphics-intensive games pretty well. ;)
No, I would not recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Performance
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Excellent 2 in 1 laptop
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Posted . Owned for 3 weeks when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I use this everyday and so far not a single complaint. I use it for working from home, design and artwork. I have been running Maya and Photoshop with no issues. I picked up a surface pen also which sticks magnetically to the tablet (or anything really). The detach function is really cool. You press the button and wait for the okay and if there are programs not able to be used it will ask if you want to close before detaching. All in all a great purchase
I would recommend this to a friend
Brand response from MicrosoftOutreachTeam
Posted .
Hi there,
Thanks for sharing! We're delighted to hear you've been liking the graphics and unique 2-in-1 features of your Surface Book 3.
Cheers,
Heather Surface Customer Care
Pros mentioned:
Speed
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Best Decision and Purchase Ever
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Posted . Owned for 1 month when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I love my surface book 3! I’m coming from a Mac Book Pro and thought I would regret moving to a Microsoft 2-in-1 but I don’t think I’ll ever look back! It’s so fast, so dynamic and I can do just about anything with it! The support is great as well - I accidentally spilled my beverage on the keyboard two weeks after I bought it and within days I had a replacement. No questions asked (of course I had the accidental coverage). You won’t regret this buy. Beautiful resolution, smooth interface. Cannot go wrong.
I would recommend this to a friend
Brand response from MicrosoftOutreachTeam
Posted .
Hello Jamie,
It's wonderful to hear that you love your new Surface Book 3. We're glad that you're a fan of its speed, beautiful display, and easy usability. Thank you for sharing your experience; we hope you enjoy using it.
Cheers, Chuck Surface Customer Care
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Microsoft Surface 3
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Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Purchased this laptop for my daughter for college. She’s loving it, exploring all the functions. She’s excited to use it, especially in class to take notes and video. She purchased a case, screen, and keyboard protector, along with the pen.
I would recommend this to a friend
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
2 in 1
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Posted . Owned for 1 month when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Love it other than the fact that the Hinge is a little flimsy but that's designer flaw.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Speed
Cons mentioned:
Heat
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Slight upgrade from the 2
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Posted . Owned for 2 weeks when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I also have the Surface Book 2, as well as the Surface Pro 3 and Surface Laptop 3. While I wouldn't recommend upgrading from a Book 2 to a Book 3, there are some noticeable differences. Both of my models are the 13" with the dedicated graphics card. I'm not sure if it's the upgrade graphics card, but I feel the display is better on my Surface Book 3, even though they have the same resolution. The processing speed is obviously faster because of the new generation i7. I haven't noticed much difference in weight, or heat output, as they both get very hot, especially if running it as a tablet. My Surface Book 3 did shut off once for overheating, which has never happened to my 2. Fortunately, this only happened once, and I haven't been able to replicate it. I use my Books mainly as a desktop, by connecting to the dock and running an ultra wide monitor. I have multiple offices, all with the same setup, and the book has been my best option so far. I do have the Laptop and the Pro, and while I love them, I recommend getting the Book if you are on the fence about which to get. I absolutely love the dedicated graphics card, it gives me the ability to run Adobe InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop with ease. If you aren't able to purchase the model with the dedicated graphics card, I would honestly go with a Surface Laptop or Surface Pro, because the graphics card is really what sets this apart from the rest.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Speed
Cons mentioned:
Battery life
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
First laptop I’ve ever owned,
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Posted . Owned for 7 months when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
This is the first laptop I’ve ever owned. It was preordered and received not long after it came out last year in 2020. So far I haven’t had much issues with it that haven’t been patched out with windows updates. It is a amazing laptop, and extremely fast.
It does have a pretty terrible battery however, depending on what you’re doing this thing will drain fast. You are able to play most games on here if that’s something you’d like, but games such as Dead by Daylight and Overwatch will kill your laptop within a hour or so of play. You aren’t able to play these with the tablet detached however so please keep that in mind. This laptop can literally do everything, but that doesn’t mean it’s the best at what it does is what I’m getting at. I can see this being a excellent laptop for students who also game casually.
I would recommend this to a friend
Brand response from MicrosoftOutreachTeam
Posted .
Hello Jared – Thanks for sharing! We recommend checking out our website for tips on how to optimize your Surface's battery life: https://aka.ms/AA4r434 Hope that helps, Erica Surface Customer Care
Pros mentioned:
Performance
Cons mentioned:
Weight
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Surface is perfect for students and professionals
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Posted . Owned for 3 weeks when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Only downsides: It's not a light device, and $$$$
I've been using the Surface line (previous owner of a SP3) for about 6 years now, and besides my iPhone and Bose QCII, it's been the most convenient, and impactful tech I own in my daily arsenal. Luckily got this SB3 at a discount, and sold my SP3 to offset the cost significantly, and at the price I purchased, I couldn't be happier. Runs all my games (league, starcraft II etc) at max settings with no loud fan noise, smooth FPS. Unfortunately, it needs to be plugged in to experience max performance for gaming. Love that the screen detaches, and that I can write/draw on it for notes.
Perfect example, I just enrolled in a top MBA program, and took an adv statistics exam to test out of a course. I still had all of my hand written notes from engineering undergrad in my OneNote, I downloaded a textbook and was able to highlight things with the pen, and draw out examples right on the laptop. I use it to run my company, and to get school work done. It's the perfect device for a student, light game, and working professional
I would recommend this to a friend
Brand response from MicrosoftOutreachTeam
Posted .
Hello,
Thank you for your feedback on your new Surface Book 3. We're glad that you consider it to be a perfect device for students and professionals alike. We hope you continue to enjoy using it.
Cheers, Chuck Surface Customer Care
Cons mentioned:
Battery life
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
IGNORE THE YOUTUBE REVIEWS
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Posted . Owned for 2 weeks when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
So, I will start out by saying that this machine is fantastic. DO NOT listen to the YouTube reviews saying things about the parts being outdated and whatnot. Chances are, you will never actually need any more horsepower in your PC unless you need it for hard core video games. In which case, why are you looking at laptops? Just get a desktop.
The disconnect glitch that people complain about, where the dedicated graphics does not get detected, is rare. I counted... it happened to me 1 time out of the 56 times I disconnected it.
It runs the two games I installed extremely smoothly. The fans are virtually inaudible as well. It is that quiet. It is not Macbook quiet, but it is fantastic.
A few querks and shortcomings though... One thing is the battery life. It does not stand up to the 17 hour claim by any means. But, it is more than enough considering it can make it through 8 hours under continuous use, and you can charge it with a micro USB and a power bank. Mac fans will come out and poke fun... but guess what... quit being pretentious. Remember the time where computers could barely go 3 hours? I do. Nonetheless, I am willing to deal with it... but I would like to see that improved in future models.
Overall I think it is a homerun. You cannot go wrong with this. Every device has its shortcomings. This one, because of the nature of its design, has more than a few. But, its easy to look past. I would like to see Microsoft improve the little problems that everyone has with this device.
A few suggestions:
It needs more battery life ESPECIALLY the tablet itself I give it an hour and half tops.
It should have a tighter hinge. It is well built, and strong. It is better than the HP Pavillion I am trading up from.
It could have a better placement for the audio jack
One very important thing, in my opinion, is a mechanical camera kill switch. Not a lot of computers have this. I was debating between Surface Book 3 and HP Spectre x360. I was leaning much further towards the HP for that reason. If this one did not go on sale I would be writing a review for the HP right now.
I would recommend this to a friend
Brand response from MicrosoftOutreachTeam
Posted .
Hi – We appreciate you taking the time to tell us your thoughts. We built Surface Book 3 with people like you in mind who work hard and play hard. We hope you continue to enjoy using it. Cheers, Erica Surface Customer Care
Pros mentioned:
Design, Performance
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Great Computer Ticks all The Boxes
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Posted . Owned for 1 month when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
The computer would get 5 stars except for the price. It boots quick and it runs Adobe without a problem. Web pages load quick and my wife loves she can put it it table mode. We did have to reinstall it twice right after getting it but since then it's been great. We also bout the mouse and pen and she really likes those as well. She takes it to clients so we also got the damage protection plan. It's pretty impressive and was a huge upgrade and she is pretty happy but can'tsay for long term as we haven't had it all that long.
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Ease of use
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
Not For Those Who Want A Tablet And A PC
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Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Pros:
- Screen
- Size/Weight
- Keyboard
- Trackpad
- Portability
Cons:
- Thermal management
- Performance vs competition
- Overall value
Thoughts:
I wanted a tablet for reading while laying down and a PC for working. The Surface Book series seemed to be ideal, a detachable tablet for when I need to study and read online coursework, and a PC for the rest of the time.
Unfortunately, the Surface Book 3 I had possessed poor thermal management, so when I would detach the base, I would have an unreasonably hot tablet to hold. Too hot for comfort, in fact; at one point, due to heat, I couldn't grip the tablet to detach it.
This issue of thermal management persisted through a system update, a system reset, and included a thermal shutdown during a final system reset. (It did reset fine, and restored from its last point once cooled, for whatever that's worth.)
Outside of those issues, it's relatively easy to use, has a nice screen with a 3:2 aspect ratio which is great to work on. The keyboard has nice travel, the trackpad is great and responsive, and it's lightweight enough to make for easy travel. The hinge might complicate travel, but that's a known trade-off, like a missing kickstand on the tablet section. I don't like the color of the unit, nor the large amount of unused space on the base. Skins (such as Dbrand, for example) can mitigate that, but I would have liked to see more use of the space for the keyboard in the base: it looks old. There's also some wobble to the unit when utilizing it as a laptop. I think this is due to the weight of the tablet portion: it's got all the internals (except GPU and the larger battery) and the screen, which makes it heavier than laptops. It may be annoying if used on the lap.
Conclusion:
If the heat issue isn't unique to the unit I received, then I cannot recommend the Surface Book 3: it doesn't work well for what it's designed to do. Because of that, it's a poor value for what it provides. That's a shame, because I love the concept: it fills two large needs.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Design, Ease of use, Performance
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Excellent
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Posted . Owned for 1 week when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Sleek and very portable, built tough, powerful and runs smooth. Perfect for the ob the go student or designer.
I would recommend this to a friend
Brand response from MicrosoftOutreachTeam
Posted .
Hello – Thanks for sharing. We hope you continue to enjoy using it. Cheers, Erica Surface Customer Care
Pros mentioned:
Performance
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Perfect all in 1 device for creators
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Posted . Owned for 3 weeks when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
If you are a creative, student who's on the go, or an Apple-hater, then this is the device for you. It's pricey, yes, I'll admit, but to be honest, that seems to be the only thing that review blogs can attack about it. I think it's worth it -- it has the full functionality of the macbook and ipad combined, but it costs less than getting both. Plus, it can handle larger file sizes in tablet mode than the ipad can handle, and I don't have to bother with bringing two things. I have a shameful amount of tabs open on chrome too, along with a dozen other apps and this thing handles it like a champ. So many things before that were adding friction to my work schedule are all gone and it's amazing how seamlessly I can just rip the top off after writing emails and start taking notes, or (this is embarrassing) bring the tablet part with me to the toilet so my youtube watching is uninterrupted. I bought the dock, pen, and dial too, and I would say that the first two are absolutely essential if you plan to use it to its full potential, and have second monitors. The dial is good for creatives as a brush size changer, zoom, redo/undo, whatever you want it to be thing but is nothing more than a shiny hockey puck that scrolls webpages if you're not going to use Photoshop.
I would recommend this to a friend
Brand response from MicrosoftOutreachTeam
Posted .
Hello – Thank you for sharing your experience with Surface Book 3. It’s great to hear that it’s working well for you. We hope you continue to enjoy using it. Cheers, Erica Surface Customer Care
Pros mentioned:
Ease of use
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Good
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Posted . Owned for more than 2 years when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Good laptop can be opened separately become like iPod
I would recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Ease of use, Speed
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Love this lap top for my buisness
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Posted . Owned for 1 month when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Very fast and low profile- fits well in compact carrier case. Love the detaching screen and auto rotate. I design custom blueprints for my customers (custom wood furniture). 100% recromend this to anyone looking for a easy, compact laptop that is fully capable to handle so many programs. It also comes in a few upgraded models depending on ram and hard drive your needing. :)
I would recommend this to a friend
Brand response from MicrosoftOutreachTeam
Posted .
Hello,
Thank you for sharing your experience with your new Surface Book 3! It’s great to hear that it’s working well for your business. We hope you continue to enjoy using it.
Cheers, Chuck Surface Customer Care
Cons mentioned:
Battery life, Heat, Screen
Rated 1 out of 5 stars
Be wary of Microsoft products.
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Posted . Owned for 11 months when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Extremely unsatisfied with this product!! This was my first owned and bought laptop. It was important for getting me through school while classes were held virtually. Unfortunately, within months of owning the laptop I started experiencing issues. My screen would glitch and freeze during zoom meetings. This wouldn't only happen when using zoom but also when I solely have google chrome open with a max of 5 tabs. The bottom of the laptop and back of tablet would get extremely hot and burn my skin. Another issues I had with the products was intermittent black and blue screens. I kept my computer on battery saver mode to see if that would help but I still had issues. Luckily, I purchased warranty and was able to send it in to get repaired. However, just one day of having it back and using the laptop. The computer is still overheating and lagging. I fear that this product will end up being a paper weight because my warranty is almost up and cannot be extended. Beware of what your purchase and do a lot of research on the product and warranty, that is if you are going through Best Buy. Best of luck!
No, I would not recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Design
Cons mentioned:
Price, Screen
Rated 1 out of 5 stars
Terrible Quality Control and Awful Value
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Posted . Owned for 6 months when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I initially loved this laptop. It was beautiful, sleek and unique. Not too many 2-1 hybrid laptops with a dedicated GPU on the market, and none as sleek as this one. That being said, I had multiple issues and had to return three different models of this computer until I decided enough was enough. First, the screen had color issues and so I returned it. The second screen also had color issues, and my final and third replacement had a cracked screen from literally nothing (I treated this laptop like my child, as a college student and because I paid for it myself). This poor quality control is simply ridiculous and truly sad, I actually loved the capabilities of this laptop, the gorgeous display, the soft magnesium body, but I couldn’t justify getting a fourth replacement so I got my money back. Highly recommend just getting a gaming laptop in 2021 if you’re looking at this, with Ryzen 9 and RTX 30XX coming out, the Surface Book 3 is simply a joke at this price point and mired with quality control issues according to other reviews across the internet. Steer clear until Microsoft can get their act together.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend
Cons mentioned:
Battery life
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
Super compact power
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Posted . Owned for 3 weeks when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
I’m really surprised by the power of the Surface Book 3! I’m a graphic designer, so I’m running the usuals... Photoshop and Illustrator. In my downtime, I’m playing my favorite games on this machine. It’s a real powerhouse!
The battery life just depends on what mode you’re in. I keep it in battery saver when it’s not plugged in. Still gets great performance, but I don’t really play games without it being plugged in. So everyday tasks and some design work, I’m getting 10 - 12 hours on the batteries.
The backlit keyboard is excellent, and the touchpad is very responsive. The Surface Pen Slim I purchased works flawlessly with it. Overall, I’m extremely pleased with Microsoft on this one.
I would recommend this to a friend
Cons mentioned:
Battery life
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
Good, but consider what your needs are.
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Posted . Owned for 1 month when reviewed.
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
So I went in to this purchase with the understanding that this computer would be my Do-it-All solution that would save me money on buying a desktop, laptop, and tablet. I would say that that is only partially right.
First things first, I love looking at this thing and using it. The materials are good, the chassis is solid, and the keyboard is absolutely wonderful (I'm typing on it this very moment!)
That being said, frustrations can come when you attempt to use it for all of your needs. As a laptop it is fairly capable, as a tablet not so much.
The idea is appealing, but things like bad speakers and limited battery life make this combination less than stellar in my opinion.
If you're looking to spend the money on this device, you'll have more than enough to get a really nice device without the detaching gimmick, and maybe even an iPad to back it up.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend
Pros mentioned:
Ease of use, Speed
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
Surface book
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Posted .
This reviewer received promo considerations or sweepstakes entry for writing a review.
Loving my laptop it’s very fast easy to manage you can use it as a laptop or remove the keyboard for tablet use