Microsoft didn’t change much with the Laptop 3’s external design over the prior models — it’s still an aluminum clamshell laptop with a slightly wedged shape that’s easy to slip into a shoulder bag. The 13.5-inch model weighs 2.89 pounds, which puts it between the MacBook Air’s 2.75 pounds and the MacBook Pro’s three pounds. It’s not the lightest 13-inch laptop you can get, but it certainly isn’t cumbersome.
There are two notable changes with the design, however. Firstly, the Alcantara cloth deck that has been the signature of the Surface Laptop line is now optional depending on which color you get. It’s present on the silver and blue models, but is replaced with a much more traditional aluminum keyboard deck on the gold and black models.
I’ve been testing the gold version (which Microsoft calls “sandstone,” but I’m a human so I call it gold), which looks very nice and doesn’t pick up fingerprints and grease like the black model does. I do miss the Alcantara though — the aluminum deck is nice, but it just kind of feels like every other aluminum laptop and doesn’t have that soft touch the Alcantara provides. But if you were concerned about the Alcantara’s durability, you now have an option to avoid it. (You’ll have to pay at least $1,299 to get a different color, though, as the $999 base model is only available in silver and comes with the Alcantara fabric.)
The other change Microsoft made was swapping the ancient Mini DisplayPort for a USB-C port, which is probably what should have been on the first version of the Surface Laptop in 2017. You can use the USB-C port to charge the laptop (in addition to the Surface Connect port on the opposite side), hook up an external display, or use various USB-C accessories like a hub. Unfortunately, it does not support Thunderbolt 3 speeds, so you’re limited to USB-C 3.2 (10Gbps) devices and can’t use it with an external GPU, faster external SSD drives, or a Thunderbolt desktop dock. Most other laptops in this price and size range do support Thunderbolt 3, so it’s frustrating that the Laptop 3 doesn’t.
Aside from the new USB-C port, the other I/O on the Laptop 3 is a single USB-A port, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and Microsoft’s proprietary Surface Connector, which connects with 65-watt charger that comes in the box.
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