Customer Ratings & Reviews

Reviewers in this invitation-only program are provided products for the purpose of writing honest, unbiased reviews. This computer is a work horse. It was able to handle anything I threw at it, with speed. Startup and shutdown are super quick. The face recognition also is very quick and, for me, accurate. It worked with and without a hat and with and without glasses. I like that the keyboard is back lit but for me the keyboard layout is a little off. I think the buttons and the space between the buttons is too much. I’m just not used to having to reach so far for some letters with my other keyboards. Battery life is excellent too. I don't feel like I need to have the computer always plugged in when I'm doing anything CPU intensive. Some other things I like about the Surface Book 3 is that it is super lightweight. Which when it is in tablet mode it makes it weigh nothing. The sound in the display is good for games and movies. It’s easy to connect and disconnect the display. I like that the charger has a built in USB to charge other devices. The connector is a unique magnetic end that sucks right into place. You can charge through the keyboard or on the tablet. I think it is very handy that it has two USB 3.0 ports and a USB-C port. The headphone jack on the display is also handy. What I’ve tried out was just simple computer use which was smooth as expected. I watched some movies on it which was great with the size and clarity. This is where the weight of the display was good for just sitting with it in your lap. Exercising the computing some more, I played some games on it connecting a wireless mouse. I played Diablo III which was very smooth. Destiny 2 looked amazing and was also very smooth. I wasn’t able to hook my Xbox 360 controller up wireless but if I had a Xbox One controller I think that would of really elevated the experience. A Steam game, EVE also looked amazing. I’m just really impressed with the display for gaming. I loaded up Adobe Photoshop and did some drawing. I think that the computer should come with a simple stylus that works with it. I was surprised that none of mine would work on the screen. I'm worried about using anything on the screen and causing scratches. At some point I will probably get the Surface Pen. I have a Wacom drawing pad that I use. Hooking that up was simple and fast. Adobe loaded fast with the SSD. Drawing was very smooth and responsive. One of the annoying parts about trying to use it for drawing is that the display has limited range of motion. I can't configure it into a tent or open it up enough to have the keyboard behind the display as with other 2-in-1's. If you remove the display to draw there isn't a kick stand to prop it up and there are no ports to plug in extra storage or a drawing pad. So it just didn't seem very useful for drawing on the go. Maybe with a Surface Pen and just sketching something out quick that won't take a lot of space. Additionally I did some video editing with Adobe Premier. Again the application loaded up very quickly. I just did some quick videos from the cameras on the display. That was easy with the camera app and they were the quality I would expect from a tablet. I combined them in Premier then exported a video. That processing took about as long as I would expect on a desktop computer. I found that with all the programs and projects that I created the hard drive was already 50%. That's a little concerning after only a week's worth of use. I think that an external drive or some cloud storage needs to be utilized. I didn't have any issues with it getting really hot on my lap so that was nice for portability. I think it is really powerful for the small package.

I bought this laptop because I needed something more professional-oriented while also having flexibility in how I use it. After nearly a year owning it, I can say that there's a lot of "over-promised, under delivered" performance with this device. The CPU is just slow! If you're going to compete with Apple in terms of price, you expect somewhat equal levels of performance. That unfortunately isn't the case here, as you can't fully utilize the cool features of this device without being painfully aware of how long it takes to load or transition to different windows or positions.

Reviewers in this invitation-only program are provided products for the purpose of writing honest, unbiased reviews. Hybrid laptops have been a niche product since their introduction to the world of computing. With the Surface Book 3, it is Microsoft's most ambitious machine yet... well, technically that is. I'll get into more detail. Out of the box you get the tablet, the base, the power brick and plug, and documentation. The setup itself was quite easy. Took longer than I expected, but after about 7 minutes, I was at the desktop. (The Windows hello system is one of the best features that isn't talked about too much. During the setup, the front facing camera captures your face, and from there it uses your face to unlock the computer). Once I got to the desktop, I tweaked the settings to make the computer as fast as possible for my tests. I turned on the dedicated Nvidia card, and changed the battery to performance mode. Aesthetics: The screen is absolutely gorgeous. It is possibly one of the best laptop screens that I have seen. The laptop itself looks a bit dated. The screen is amazing, but the bezels are quite thick for a laptop in 2020. Of course what separates this laptop from many others is its ability to detach from the base. With a push of a button, the screen can be lifted off the base/keyboard. Once detached, there isn't a kickstand of any kind to keep it propped up, but a simple trick of placing the screen back on the base backwards solves that problem. What makes this laptop unique is its hinge. The laptop opens and closes using this curved hinge. There's a little bit of wobble, but considering the screen detaches, it's expected. Performance: The computer is also extremely fast. With 32 gigs of ram and an Intel i7, simple web surfing and video watching was a pleasure. Once I installed my video editing software of choice, it was time to push the laptop and see what it's capable of. I recorded 5 minutes of video at 4K 60FPS and uploaded it into the video editing software. I added a few transitions, music, and chose to render the video at its original 4K 60FPS settings. The rendering took about 17 minutes to complete. I believe that the Nvidia dedicated card played a huge hand in completing the task so quickly. Next I opened up some engineering drawings to see how the SB3 handles 3D modeling. As I scaled in and out, and increased the number of nodes, there wasn't a single hiccup. All in all, the tests that I ran showed off the raw power that's nestled in the base of the laptop. The laptop is actually not as heavy as expected. Even when it's detached, it doesn't feel like i'm holding a 15 inch screen. It has a SD card reader (Normal size) which is great for transferring photos from my DSLR. The sound on the SB3 is great, but I wish it got louder. The headphone jack is placed in a very unusual place. It's as if they're encouraging the use of wireless headphones. Now to my only gripe. With such a powerful machine, it's really strange that they wouldn't update the look of the laptop. From the big bezels, to its unchanged design, I think an upgrade to its design would have made it stand out more. Ultimately this is still a great laptop to use. It's fast, with a dedicated GPU which is capable of 4K video processing at a great time. This is a great machine for creators as well as work/study, and some light gaming. If you're looking for a great Windows laptop, this is a great yet pricey choice.

Very good but one issue: The computer is not compatible with my iPhone, so I cannot use the iPhone from the computer. I would have bought something different had I known this will be the case. MS ought to fix this problem...

Bought one of these open box certified. Phantom clicks and errors connecting the tablet to the laptop - wouldn't recognize the tablet attaching or detaching from the keyboard so some functions were limited/unusable - from the moment I first booted it up. I am very satisfied with the interface, concept, speed, and power of this product...when it works. Will be returning and replacing for a new version of the product, instead of lightly used. Hopefully just a one off slip through the geek squad certification process.

It is an amazing machine, capable of handling anything you throw at it, even a couple games. It's drawback is that you can get it's power for much lower of a price, so much of what you're paying for is the 2-in-1 functionality.

Overall good laptop. I’ve only used Mac, so I’m obviously comparing it to a Mac and what I’m used to. So getting used to all the different settings is a bit confusing. But I do like it so far (had it for about a month).

It's been a while since I've used a laptop, that I'd almost forgotten how to use one. Thank the gods for the touch screen, it's been so convenient using phones and tablets. I am enjoying the computer/tablet very much.

We have been purchasing several of these now. They have become a favorite of upper level users due to the low weight, high power and really good screen. What better thing can you say besides repeat purchases.

I've never owned a better laptop, and the fact that it doubles as a tablet should I choose is an added bonus. I've asked a lot of computationally intensive work of it already and it's handled it like a champ.

Its got great power, loads very quickly, has great resolution, and great battery life. I had to get this as a replacent to my old laptop and it is incredible. Glad I made the decision to upgrade to a surface.

This is my 2nd surface book and 3rd of the surface line. Love these surface books. Performace and versatility are unmatched in any other laptop/tablet combo. Great for gaming and working.

Magnesium construction gives you a sense of a fine piece of a machinery. Bought this to last for a decade, power, style and full of optional features. Touch screen and flexibility are huge pluses.

I use this system for video editing and graphics work in the line of web development and it works great. Clarity and transcoding are very fast and certainly support a greater work effort.

This is my second surface book. Rock solid performance. My book 2 is now my backup machine. I want for the larger screen this time around. The detachable tablet has been very helpful.

Great for running my photo editing apps. Being able to detach the screen and use a smart pen has been amazing and a game changer for me!

Bought this for my son for his freshman year of college. He absolutely loves it. He especially likes the ability to use as a notepad for taking handwritten notes.

this is our third Surface, but I love the "book" by far more!! the feel and weight immediately states that the unit is strong and durable! looking forward to a surface duo phone!

The Surface Book 3 is a really nice laptop which can be used multiple ways. I received this product and reviewing it on behalf of BestBuy TIN, which I will be giving my personal and unbiased review. Reviewers in this invitation-only program are provided products for the purpose of writing honest, unbiased reviews. The build quality of this laptop is top notch. Even though they did not change the design from the previous generation, it’s still in a league of its own. The hinge system is like no other, and the laptop can easily be opened with one finger. The screen has a 3:2 ration which is great for productivity apps, but not so much for watching movies that are best viewed in a 16:9 ratio. The keyboard has excellent key travel and the trackpad is nice a fluid. It now comes with a 127 watt charger which provides more power than the previous model. This will allow the device to charge when power is demanded from the processor, rather than not being able to keep up with the power demand. If the screen is disconnected from the base you can connect the charger to the bottom of the screen if you need a charge without having to reconnect it to the base. This will definitely come in handy because battery life isn’t as good when using the screen by itself. When connected to the base you will get better battery life and better performance, as well as taking advantage of the dedicated graphics card that’s housed inside the base. Windows Hello is extremely fast, and it also comes with a great webcam. Unlike previous Surface Pro models I’ve owned, the Surface Book does not appear to have an issue with the fan constantly running, allowing it to run quietly unless under heavy demand. Despite being a great device, it does have its flaws. The speaker quality is inferior to many other laptops and tablets. The speakers will get the job done, but the sound quality is something you would not expect on a product in this price range. Despite having USB-C ports, they do not support Thunderbolt 3. For who are in need of of Thunderbolt 3, you might be disappointed. The screen is crisp and clear, but at times I’ve experienced issues with the screen flickering. I had this issue at times with my Surface Pro as well. I’m not sure what’s the refresh rate of the screen, but if I use it for an extended period of time, I tend to experience eye fatigue. The charging brick gets extremely hot, which I will keep an eye out and hope this isn’t a defect. The Surface Book 3 had no issues running PhotoShop. The processor had no issues keeping up with multiple layers, and whatever I threw its way. Being able to draw and edit using the Surface Pen on the tablet screen is a huge plus. For this price it would have been nice if the pen was included, and not sold separately. I also used it for Finale, which is the gold standard for composing sheet music. Removing the screen from the base comes in handy if you wish to place it on a music screen for reading sheet music, looking over scores, or directing scores. The Surface Pro was also able to handle playback of Garritan and Human Playback sounds, even with large scores. The only issue I had with Finale is that the pixel density of the Surface Book screen makes everything small. Windows sets a scaling of 200%, which is still a bit small for my eyes. When I scale it to around 250% or higher, the cursor accuracy is off, which makes it difficult to click on Play and Pause buttons. Overall I am impressed with the Surface Book 3, and its form factor allows it to be used in multiple ways.

My second Surface Book in 6 years, this version is intended as WFH substitute for office desktop, and has the firepower for the job. Original Surface Book is now my music streaming server.