Microsoft Surface 3 review

We didn’t think we’d see another Surface tablet before Microsoft launched Windows 10, let alone one that didn’t have the word ‘Pro’ in the title, but the Surface 3 comes as a very welcome surprise – particularly if you thought its big brother, the Surface Pro 3, was a touch expensive.

With the 64GB version starting at £419 and the 128GB version reviewed here at £499, it’s cheaper than the entry-level Pro 3, and, unlike its predecessors, the Surface 3 runs full 64-bit Windows 8.1 rather than Windows RT, allowing you to download and install any third party program just like you would on an ordinary PC or laptop.

This alone gives it a huge advantage over the original Surface and Surface 2 tablets, which restricted you to only using apps available from the Windows Store, but you also get a free upgrade to Windows 10 later this summer and Microsoft’s even throwing in free year’s subscription to Office 365 Personal if you buy one before the end of the year, adding a lot of extra value to the package. This includes full versions of Excel, Word, PowerPoint, OneNote and Outlook, and it certainly makes a compelling argument for getting rid of your old netbook or business laptop and replacing it with this gorgeous all-in-one tablet hybrid.

BUILD QUALITY AND PORTS

We were already big fans of the Surface Pro 3’s silver magnesium chassis, so we’re pleased to see Microsoft reprising the same design for the smaller Surface 3. It’s lighter this time, weighing just 622g, and at 8.7mm it’s thinner too. While it’s far from the most slender tablet we’ve seen, any thinner and Microsoft wouldn’t be able to fit a full-sized USB3 port on the side.

^ The Surface 3’s display is one of the best we’ve ever seen on, both on a tablet and on a laptop

This makes it much more versatile than other Windows tablets as it means you can plug in an existing keyboard or mouse if you don’t fancy paying another £110 for a Surface Type Cover keyboard, or even a gamepad for a spot of mobile gaming. With Bluetooth support you could even use wireless peripherals, leaving the USB port free for a flash drive, and if that’s not enough a separate docking station with more ports will be available soon. You’ll also find a microSD card slot, a mini DisplayPort output for connecting the Surface 3 to a projector or external display, and a headphone jack for listening to films and music.

The biggest change is the switch to micro USB charging, rather than a magnetically attached proprietary cable like the one found on the Surface Pro 3. This was very easy to knock out if you accidentally caught the cable or moved the tablet around your desk, but thankfully the USB connection on the Surface 3 is much more secure. It also means you can charge it with the same cable as your phone, allowing you to bid farewell bulky power supplies while you’re travelling.

DISPLAY

The Surface 3’s 10.8in display is a more manageable size than the 12in screen on the Pro 3, but it’s also slightly less practical as a result. This is partly down to its almost box-like 3:2 aspect ratio, which makes it tricky to work on two documents side by side. We had a similar problem on the Surface Pro 3 as well, but at least the Pro’s high resolution of 2,160×1,440 gave it a fighting chance of fitting in more than one document.

The Surface 3, on the other hand, has a smaller resolution of 1,920×1,280, giving it a pixel density of 213 pixels-per-inch. This is still sharp by tablet standards, coming in just below the iPad Air 2’s PPI of 264, but you’ll likely need to use one of the scaling options available in Display Settings; we felt that setting the desktop to scale to 100% was a real strain on our eyes when reading text. Fortunately, the Surface 3 is set to scale to a much more comfortable 150% by default, but you can always increase this to a maximum of 200% if necessary.

^ To help making working easier, the Surface 3 has a kickstand that props it up at the back

Still, being restricted to viewing one document at a time is a small price to pay when image quality is so good. Microsoft told us the Surface 3 has the most accurate display of any tablet, and our colour calibrator certainly returned some impressive results to help back up their claim. For instance, it measured an outstanding 97.2% of the sRGB colour gamut, which is higher than both Apple’s new Macbook and almost every other laptop and tablet we’ve ever tested. The only tablet that’s surpassed this figure is the Android-based Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet.

The Surface 3’s screen was also lovely and bright, measuring 410.18cd/m2. This is more than enough for working outside in the sunshine (although you’ll need to set the brightness to the maximum in order to do so), and it helps to keep whites looking clean and pure. Blacks were more mediocre at 0.46cd/m2, but text still looked perfectly deep enough when reading web pages and typing Word documents.

^ The kickstand has three set positions, making it ideal for working on at home or in the office

Contrast was good, too, measuring 888:1 and providing plenty of detail in images. We were also able to see the screen clearly from a wide variety of angles, which is particularly important when the Surface 3’s rear kick-stand only has three fixed positions for working on. It’s a shame it’s not as flexible as the Surface Pro 3’s kickstand, but the steepest angle still gives you plenty of clearance to work comfortably on a train, for instance, while the widest is perfect for typing out a quick email on your lap.

SURFACE PEN

One of the main reasons why Microsoft adopted a 3:2 display for last year’s Pro 3 was because every tablet came with a bundled Surface Pen stylus, making it ideal for drawing in similar dimensions to an A4 sheet of paper. Sadly, the Surface Pen is now an optional extra with the Surface 3, so you’ll have to pay another £45 for it if you want to take advantage of it.

If you’re a digital artist, though, it’s well worth the extra expense as it’s easily one of the best and most accurate styli we’ve ever used. It’s pressure sensitive, so the thickness of your lines will vary depending on how hard you press down on the screen, and the Surface 3’s built-in palm rejection means you can actually rest your hand on the screen without making accidental marks on the page. It makes for a very natural drawing experience, and is a great tool for artists who want to be able to draw directly on the screen.

^ Part of the reason why Microsoft isn’t bundling the Surface Pen in with the tablet is because they’re now available in multiple colours

The Surface Pen also works brilliantly with Microsoft’s bundled OneNote application, as you can open the program simply by pressing the button on the end of the pen – even when the tablet’s in sleep mode. This means you don’t have to sign in to your Microsoft account and open the program manually from the Start screen if all you want to do is jot down something very quickly, and it’s this kind of convenience that helps set the Surface 3 apart from other Windows tablets.

Alternatively, a double tap of the end button will grab a screenshot of your desktop and automatically open it in OneNote, allowing you to add your own hand-drawn doodles to it. Everything’s automatically saved in the cloud, too, so you can access all your OneNote documents from your other Windows devices.

We worry that the Surface Pen will be prone to getting lost, though, as there’s nowhere to store it once you’ve finished using it. Previous Surface Pro tablets have always included a loop of material for it on the Type Cover keyboard, but sadly the Surface 3’s keyboard doesn’t come with one at all. Instead, you’ll have to buy one from Microsoft that sticks onto the side for another £4.50, which is pretty cheeky if you ask us.

PERFORMANCE

Inside, the Surface 3 is powered by one of Intel’s new Cherrytrail Atom processors, the quad-core 1.6GHz X7-Z8700. It’s fanless, too, so it’s virtually silent to run. This does come at the expense of performance, though, as it can’t dispel any excess heat to run its CPU at full speed for long periods of time. That said, it still scored a respectable 30 overall in our application benchmarks, which puts it almost ten points ahead of older Atom-based tablet hybrids such as the Asus Transformer Book T200TA.

We were particularly impressed with the X7-Z8700’s respective scores of 34 and 32 in the image-editing and video rendering sections of the test, so it’s perfectly suited to general tasks such as browsing the web, composing Office documents and watching videos. However, even our model, which had 4GB of RAM as opposed to the £419 model’s 2GB of RAM, struggled slightly with the multi-tasking section, scoring just 27, so it may start to slow down if you’re running lots of demanding programs at the same time.

^ The Surface Pen works brilliantly with One Note, but it’s probably only worth buying if you have an interest in digital art

Unsurprisingly, the Surface 3 met its match with our new 4K benchmarks, scoring just 15 overall. This was mostly down to its pitiful score of 3 in the multi-tasking section of the test, but its scores of 28 and 26 in the image and video sections weren’t bad at all considering the Surface 3’s size and low-powered chipset.

It’s not best suited to playing 3D games either, as its integrated Intel HD Graphics chip failed to produce even 15fps in our Dirt Showdown test at 1,280×720 on High quality settings and 4x anti-aliasing. This isn’t surprising, but setting the graphics to Low didn’t help matters either. However, we were able to play 2D indie games such as Kalimba, Papers Please and Fez as long as we tailored the resolution, so it’s not a complete loss if you fancy a quick game while you’re travelling.

BATTERY LIFE

You’ll probably want to keep any gaming sessions fairly brief if you’re away from the mains, though, as the Surface 3’s battery life will only just about get you through the day on a single charge. Microsoft says the device is rated for 9 hours of video playback, and in our light use test, which scrolls through a web page and plays a 12-minute video every half an hour, we managed 8h 54m. This isn’t bad for a Windows tablet, but it also shows that Microsoft’s figure is a little optimistic, so you’ll need to keep an eye on the battery meter if you’re on the move for a long period of time.

SURFACE 3 TYPE COVER KEYBOARD

The Surface 3 doesn’t come with a Type Cover keyboard in the box, so you’ll need to add another £110 onto the cost of the tablet if you want to buy one. However, unless you already own a Bluetooth keyboard, we feel it’s a pretty essential accessory and so we’ve factored this in to our final verdict.

Thankfully, rather than shrink the keys to fit the Surface 3’s smaller screen, Microsoft has kept the same sized keys as the Surface Pro 3’s Type Cover and has instead sheared off the excess space round the sides to match the width of the display. It attaches via a small magnetic strip on the bottom of the tablet and can snap to the lower bezel to give you a slightly raised typing angle, which we find is far more comfortable than typing flat on your work top.

^ The Surface 3’s Type Cover comes in several different colours, but it does add another £110 onto the overall cost of the tablet

The keys are backlit, which is great for working in low lighting conditions, and the raised angle brings a welcome sense of stability to the keyboard if you’re typing while reclining on the sofa. There’s a very small amount of flex in the keyboard, but it never bothered us and the great level of tactile feedback meant we were typing at normal speed in no time.

The Type Cover’s touchpad is still pretty small, but we found it afforded plenty of space for moving the cursor round the screen and multi-touch gestures such as pinch-zooming and two-finger scrolling was incredibly responsive.

CONCLUSION

When you add in all the various accessories, the overall cost of a Surface 3 can quickly feel like it’s ballooning out of control, but it’s by far one of the most capable and attractive Windows hybrids we’ve seen in quite some time. We much prefer it to Asus’ Transformer Book hybrids, and its display is one of the best around. Likewise, the free subscription to Office 365 Personal adds a lot of extra value to the device and the Surface 3’s minute size certainly beats carrying around a bulky laptop when you’re travelling. It may not have the speed or staying power of the larger Surface Pro 3, but if you’re looking for a more wallet-friendly way of replacing your old laptop, the Surface 3 is a great choice.