Customer Ratings & Reviews

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.

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.

The computer freezes a lot and the audio stops working when there is a need for updates. I have owned other computers and that has never been the case. The screen also randomly will show lines and starts to glitch. For the amount of money the computer cost, it should not do these things. I bought the computer in late September. The computer does have great graphic quality. The pen works very well but sometimes it freezes.

I want to love this laptop but I've had one too many issues. The screen goes black randomly during use and will not turn back on without touching it. I've had random screen flickering as well. This was supposed to be a replacement for my surface pro 4 that also had screen flickering, just paid alot of money to deal with the same problem it seems.

Would give it 4/5 stars but the battery doesn’t last very long at all.

not worth it to spend $$$$ you can get lot better computer in that price

I generally love the surface, upgraded the last surface laptop with this recent purchase & I don’t love it. It’s clunky, doesn’t process as fast even though it’s a more powerful computer. If I could switch it out I would

Nice computer but it froze up and wouldn’t work at all after using it about 4-5 times.. had to pay to have a new computer fixed..

the touchpad is extremely sensitive. Great battery life, but I will be returning it because of the touchpad.