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The Surface Laptop 3 vs. the competition: 13-inch workhorses

The 15-inch model is nice, but the smaller size is where the real battle is waged.

It's October once more, which means we get to look at some new machines from Microsoft. We're long accustomed to the hybrid Surface Pro line but we're also seeing the third iteration of the company's powerful and stylish Surface Laptop. The 15-inch version packs an AMD Ryzen CPU, but the 13-inch is no slouch thanks to its 10th-gen Ice Lake chip, the better to compete with machines like the XPS 13. To see how the smaller Surface Laptop stacks up against some of the leading 13-inch machines on the market, check out the table below and read our hands-on while you wait for our full review of the new computer later this year.

Surface Laptop 3 13-inch

MacBook Pro 13-inch

Dell XPS 13

HP Spectre Folio 13

Price

starts at $999

$1,299 / $1,499 / $1,799 / $1,999

$999 / $1,149 / $1,349 / $1,449

$1,149 / $1,349

Dimensions

12.1 x 8.8 x 0.57 inches (30.8 x 22.3 x 1.45 cm)

11.97 x 8.36 x 0.59 inches (30.41 x 21.24 x 1.49 cm)

11.9 x 7.8 x 0.46 inches (30.2 x 19.9 x 1.16 cm)

12.6 x 9.23 x 0.6 inches (32 x 23.44 x 1.52 cm)

Weight

2.76 pounds (1.25 kg)
2.89 pounds (1.31 kg)

3.02 pounds (1.37 kg)

2.7 pounds (1.23 kg)

3.28 pounds (1.49 kg)

OS

Windows 10

macOS Mojave (Catalina coming soon)

Windows 10

Windows 10

Display

13.5-inch PixelSense

13.3-inch IPS LED

13.3-inch InfinityEdge

13.3-inch IPS LED

Resolution

2,256 x 1,504 (201 ppi)

2,560 x 1,600 (227 ppi)

1,920 x 1,080 (166 ppi)
3,840 x 2,160 (331 ppi)

1,920 x 1,080 (166 ppi)
3,840 x 2,160 (331 ppi)

Processor

Intel Core i5 (1.2 GHz)
Intel Core i7 (1.3 GHz)

Intel Core i5 (1.4 GHz)
Intel Core i5 (2.4 GHz)

Intel Core i3 (2.1 GHz)
Intel Core i5 (1.6 GHz)
Intel Core i7 (1.8 GHz)

Intel Core i5 (1.3 GHz)
Intel Core i7 (1.5 GHz)

Memory

8 GB / 16 GB

8 GB

4 GB / 8 GB / 16 GB

8 GB

Graphics

Intel Iris Plus Graphics 950

Intel Iris Plus Graphics 645
Intel Iris Plus Graphics 655

Intel UHD Graphics

Intel UHD Graphics 615

Storage

128 / 256 / 512 GB / 1 TB

128 / 256 / 512 GB

256 / 512 / 1 TB

256 GB

Ports

USB 3.0, USB-C, Surface Connect

Thunderbolt 3 (x2)

Thunderbolt 3 (x2), USB-C 3.1, micro SD

Thunderbolt 3 (x2), USB-C 3.1

Wireless

802.11ax, Bluetooth 5.0

802.11ac, Bluetooth 5.0

802.11ax, Bluetooth 5.0

802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.2

Battery

Up to 11.5 hours (Wh unlisted at this time)

58.2 Wh

52 Wh

54.28 Wh

* Specs listed are for default configurations and may not include all upgrade options available at checkout.

Follow all the latest news from Microsoft's Surface event here!