Microsoft Surface 3

FORGO THE PRO FOR DECENT SAVINGS.

AT LESS THAN half the price of the most expensive Surface 3 Pro, we expected the vanilla variant known as the Surface 3 to o er a fraction of the performance and features of its bigger brother. To our delight we were proven wrong; while plenty of corners have been trimmed, this is an exceptionally priced tablet, though you’ll need to shell out extra to make the most of it.

e Surface 3 comes in two avours, and the version reviewed here is the more expensive variant; the entry level goes for $699 but only has half the SSD and system space. Unfortunately there’s no keyboard included with any of the Surface models, and the new Surface 3 Type cover goes for a rather expensive $180. It’s a must-have if you’re going to be entering lots of data into your tablet, as there’s simply no faster way to input text than via a dedicated keyboard, but it does bump the total cost of ownership up to over a grand.

Considering that price, the hardware within this tablet looks a little tame, especially the Intel Atom x7-Z8700 CPU, which tops out at 2.4GHz, though it does pack four cores. 4GB of onboard memory is also on the low end, yet when combined with the system’s SSD, performance is surprisingly responsive. Unlike certain other devices in the roundup, which ran superior hardware, the Surface 3 was quick to open applications and swap between open windows. Add one of the nicest displays in this price range and the incredibly portable weight of just 620 grams, and this is a potent tablet for the upwardly mobile.