The Surface 3: A Mediator Between Notebooks and Tablets

I recently had the opportunity to put the Microsoft Surface 3 through its paces, using it as both a notebook and a tablet. The device is an optional accessory with a $50 pen, which I used from my existing Surface Pro 3. To my surprise, the pen worked well on this device, providing smooth pressure sensitivity and no lag even when running demanding applications like Prime 95.

One of the standout features of the Surface 3 is its Fresh Paint app, which is snappy and responsive, much like it was on my Surface Pro 3. However, there was a slight hiccup when changing colors and brushes, but overall, the experience was good. For users who enjoy drawing, this combination is nice, as the pen provides good pressure sensitivity and minimal lag.

Unfortunately, I don't use the pen for drawing purposes, as I find it difficult to create freehand lines without practice. The tech behind the Surface 3's stylus is impressive, but my handwriting is already subpar, making writing on a tablet an unappealing experience for me. However, for those who enjoy digital art, this device is a great option.

I decided to test the Surface 3's thermal performance by running Prime 95 while recording temperature readings using a thermal camera. The results were quite impressive, as the device pushed all four cores hard and stayed warm, despite being powered by an Atom Processor. This processor may not be the most efficient, but it gets the job done.

Gaming on the Surface 3 was underwhelming, with frame rates ranging from 20-25 FPS in games like Dota and Heroes. While League of Legends showed slightly better performance, the experience was still rough, especially when there were many graphical elements on screen. The device is not suitable for gaming, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone looking for a serious gaming laptop.

Battery life was another aspect I tested, as I wanted to see how long the Surface 3 would last during typical use. I found that browsing the web and playing videos yielded around 7-1/2 hours of battery life, which is respectable but not exceptional. However, this time frame does vary depending on usage patterns.

In terms of charging, the device's AC adapter was surprisingly small at only 13W. Unfortunately, it took an unusually long time to charge the Surface 3 from empty to full, requiring me to put the device to sleep to achieve a respectable charging rate. This may be due to the limitations of micro USB 2.0, which is the current standard for charging these devices.

The bottom line when using the Surface 3 as a notebook is that it's not an ideal experience. The screen is small, the keyboard and trackpad are cramped, and the device feels uncomfortable to use. While it gets work done, users will have to make compromises in terms of ergonomics and usability. As a tablet, the experience is slightly better but still compromised by its design and operating system.

The hardware of the Surface 3 is solid, with good performance from the processor, a decent screen, keyboard, and trackpad. However, the user experience is where this device falls short. I feel like I've had to settle for mediocrity, rather than experiencing something truly exceptional. At $630, I would not recommend the Surface 3 unless you're looking for a hybrid device specifically.

Overall, my time with the Surface 3 was underwhelming. While it performed reasonably well in certain aspects, its design and usability issues make it a less-than-ideal choice for most users. If budget is an issue, there are better options available that cater to specific needs without sacrificing so much in terms of performance or features.

If you're looking for a device that can fill multiple roles but doesn't excel in any one area, the Surface 3 may be worth considering. However, for those seeking exceptional performance, ergonomics, and user experience, there are better options available.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey how's it going guys this is Dave 2D and this is my review of the Microsoft Surface 3 so this is Microsoft cheapest smallest and I guess newest tablet and it's quite a bit cheaper than their Surface Pro 3 so let's see what we get let's kick this off with a quick unboxing here it's a horizontal slide open box unlike the normal top open boxes and when you slide it open tablet sitting there underneath the surface is a bunch of pamphlets and on the right is a small box containing the AC adapter so we'll get into details of all these things in a little bit the surface 3 has an optional keyboard that they call the type cover but it really is an integral part of the surface experience so you kind of need to spend $130 to get this accessory so the unit here is running an Intel atom X7 it's got 64 gigs of storage a 10.8 in screen that runs at 1920 x 1280 2 gigs of RAM and the type cover and this setup here will run you $500 for the tablet and $130 for that keyboard so the top of this tablet is entirely glass there's a capacitive button here which is a Windows button two speakers on your left and right and a webcam and mic up top the back of the tablet and basically the whole body of it is made out of a magnesium alloy it's a pretty lightweight material but it has a distinctly different feel from aluminum and like all Surface tablets there's a kickstand now unlike the pro model you can't just tilt it to whichever position you want there's three set positions you can put it in or or you can close it completely so I'm just going to bring you around the tablet so you can take a look on the sides on this side you have a headphone jack a micro USB charging port a USB 3 port and a mini display port you can connect a second display at 2560 by 1440 now I tried this but quite frankly this device is a little underpowered for that the video output gets choppy and so does the device when I spin it over you can see the six pin connection for the magnetic keyboard and on this side there's no ports or anything and on the last side you have Hardware volume buttons as well as your power button so back to those kickstand positions there are three positions but I find that first position not very useful the second position is the one you'd use normally for typing on your lap and the third position well if you're standing and looking down on the surface like if you're cooking and looking at a recipe this kind of works for that but it's not a great angle typing on the keyboard isn't particularly comfortable so this is the second position and after a few minutes the kickstand kind of digs into your legs and the whole experience just feels really cramped I've used Surface tablets before and I used this one for over a week and I think that's just the way it is it's not a very comfortable notebook experience now the keyboard is actually pretty good it's tactile it's clicky and I love that blue color it's got pretty good travel but it is very cramped and the directional keys are in that weird configuration again one thing I noticed though right out of the box is that this thing smells like latex paint like a freshly painted room it just smelled like paint now after a couple of days it kind of off gassed itself and it doesn't smell anymore but it does smell weird at first now the trackpad okay this thing probably deserves a video of of its own this trackpad is incredibly small it's about the size of a matchbox but it is one of the best trackpads I've ever used in a windows-based machine and I've used a lot of them it's super smooth it tracks well it clicks well and seriously I wish a larger version of this trackpad was on every single Windows machine out there okay onto the display it's a 1080p touchscreen and it looks really nice Microsoft gave the surface 3 a much more tablet friendly screen ratio so movies and TV shows still look good but it's much more usable for just the regular tablet experience the viewing angles are pretty good but because it's a gloss screen you're going to have some Reflections overall though I think it's a really great screen and just out of curiosity I threw a spider on there I had to run it at lower res but it comes in at 74% for Adobe RGB which was surprisingly good for a tablet like this drive speeds were surprisingly low now just for reference a good consumer grade SSD would get about 400 or 450 megabytes per second read and write so these numbers are pretty disappointing but to be fair on a device like this you're probably not going to be needing super fast Drive speeds anyways there is one other port on this device so underneath the kickstand there is a slot for a mini SD card the only mini SD card I have is the one on my dash cam so I popped it in I just wanted to see if it could play 1080p movies and it can the video ran really smooth and tracking was quick as well so keep in mind that you can upgrade your storage for media files pretty easily with these cards the rear facing camera is 8 megapixels it works but it's a tablet camera so whatever there's two speakers on the front and they sound okay I mean they're great for a tablet but they're pretty pretty quiet for a notebook here's what they sound like there is an optional accessory which is the surface pen so this thing is 50 bucks but I'm using the pen from my Surface Pro 3 I'm pretty sure it's exactly the same like it does on the pro the pen works really well and the fresh paint app is as Snappy on this device as it is on the Surface Pro now there is a bit of a hiccup when changing colors and brushes sometimes but for the most part it feels pretty good now personally I don't use the pen much on these tablets the tech is pretty good but I can't draw a freehand at all so I just never use it for that now for people who do like to draw though this combo is nice it has good pressure sensitivity and there isn't much lag even running on the Atom Processor for no taking and handwriting I've tried this a lot on the Surface Pro 3 and I just never liked it I'm sure some people love this function but my handwriting is already bad and writing on a tablet just amps that up so so yeah it's just not for me but if you're interested in this kind of tech the Surface tablets do it well I took some thermal footage while this thing was running Prime 95 so that's a benchmark program it's pushing all four cores and I wanted to see how hot this thing got and it's really pronounced when you look on the back of the device it's actually pretty warm there but you tend not to hold it at that spot so it's not a big deal as expected gaming on this thing isn't great I was getting about 20 25 frames per second for DOTA and heroes and for League I was getting a little bit better but it's still not playable and when there's a lot of stuff on screen the frame rates dropped to single digits kist strike was similar I mean the frame rates were a little better but in general this is definitely not a gamer's device and to round this off just a little bit about battery life I got about 7 and 1/2 hours browsing the web and also about 7 and 1/2 hours playing videos off the drive these numbers are actually pretty good for a notebook but it's kind of cruddy for a tablet so I guess it really depends on how you want to look at this device the AC adapter is pretty small it's only 13 WTS but it takes a surprisingly long time to charge this thing you actually want to put it to sleep to charge it at a respectable rate we're talking like 5 and 1/2 6 hours to charge it from Z to full if you're not using it and if you're using it lightly we're talking like 12 plus hours but if you're watching a movie or something it's not even going to charge it's just going to power the device so it's kind of crazy I feel like they should have given a more robust charging system but I think this is the best that micro USB 2.0 can do okay so the bottom line when you use the surface 3 as a notebook it's not a great experience the screen is small the keyboard is small the trackpad is small and even though everything works reasonably well it's not a very enjoyable experience you can get work done but you kind of make compromises to be able to get it done and you're not very comfortable doing it and the same thing applies when you're using as a tablet so as a tablet it's a little bit better than when you use it as a notebook but again it's a still an uncomfortable experience it's not very ergonomic and Windows 8.1 never felt like a great tablet OS to begin with and it just doesn't the whole product feels kind of mediocre it's not about the performance of the device I mean the device was never designed to be super super fast so I'm actually very content with how it performs the hardware is actually pretty solid the screen the keyboard the trackpad all mechanically very good the problem lies in usability I feel like the user experience is really compromised whether you use it as a tablet or a notebook it's uncomfortable it's cramped and there's edges that dig in when you use it as a tablet and it just feels like I've settled for mediocrity so that's really what you get a mediocre notebook and a mediocre tablet combined into one mediocre hybrid device now if this was for $500 that'd be okay but it's not it's $630 and at that price point you can get a really good Ultrabook or a pretty decent notebook or a great tablet so unless you really need a hybrid device I'd skip the surface 3 so that's the end of the review I hope you guys liked it if you did give me some thumbs and if you loved it give me some subs it's been nice and I'll see you guys next time\n"