Microsoft Reveals Its Surface Laptop 3, Three Times Faster Than A Macbook Air

Microsoft is taking on its greatest rival Apple with it’s latest tech release, unveiled at its annual hardware event in New York City.

The audience received the first look of the Surface Laptop 3 that boasts a 20 per cent larger trackpad for more precise cursor movement, a removable hard drive for easy user upgrades and a fast-charging port that will give an 80 per cent charge in less than an hour.

Futuristic earbuds were also presented equipped with touch-input and a dual-screen notebook that is said to be the ‘next category’ of technology took the stage.

Every year, Microsoft holds its highly-anticipated Surface Event in New York City where it unveils new hardware and software ahead of the holiday season with the hopes of them making your Christmas list.

And this year did not seem to disappoint.

Surface Laptop  3

Microsoft showed off its next-generation Surface Laptop 3, which is the latest update to its line of touchscreen powered laptops that were first introduced in 2017.

The next-generation laptop boasts a number of new features, including USB-C, a 20 percent larger trackpad for more precise cursor movement, a removable hard drive for easy user upgrades and a fast-charging port that will give an 80 percent charge in less than an hour.

And for the first time, Microsoft will offer a larger 15-inch version alongside the traditional 13.5 inch version.  

The 13.5-inch version of the laptop will come with Intel’s 10th generation quad-core ‘Ice Lake’ processor, which Microsoft claims is three times faster than a MacBook Air.

The 15-inch version will use a custom designed processor from AMD Ryzen that Microsoft describes as ‘the most powerful mobile processor AMD has ever created, bar none.’

Surface Laptop 3 comes with a new machined aluminium finish and an ‘Instant On’ feature that will make the device usable as soon as it’s opened.

‘On a product like this it’s the details you can’t see, it’s the feeling you get when you’re using this product,’ Panos Panay, Microsoft’s chief product officer, said.

The tech giant has said that users can ‘open it with a single finger’ – even though it does not have a finger school.

The firm is also bragging that the laptop does not have speaker holes or the tacky rubber bumper around the metal model’s screen, as it aims to create a ‘meticulous design’.

The 15-inch version will use a custom designed processor from AMD Ryzen that Microsoft describes as ‘the most powerful mobile processor AMD has ever created, bar none

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In addition to a sleek design, the Surface Laptop 3 is much easier to handle on the go as it has been reduced to 1.3mm compared to its predecessor, the Surface Laptop 2, which is 1.5mm.

However, the latest version boasts a 20 percent larger trackpad with Windows Precision drivers – and Microsoft claims the keys are designed for ‘near-silent typing’.

The firm promises users an ‘all-day battery life’, which can be charged to 80 percent in under an hour.

The Surface Laptop 3 will be available on October 22.

The 13.5-inch model will cost $999 and the 15-inch model will start at $1199.

Surface Earbuds 

Not only is the Surface Laptop 3 an Apple competitor, but the firm claims its new Surface Earbuds are as well.

The futuristic devices appear like traditional earbuds on the inside, but the outer edge widens into a flat white disc equipped with touch-input sensors.

Users can tap and swipe across the outer surface of the earbuds to control volume, start and stop playback and navigate through different programs on a computer or notepad.

The wireless buds will have 24-hours of battery life and come with a charging case. Users can tap and swipe across the outer surface of the earbuds to control features

They’re also designed to be noise-cancelling and will offer two built-in microphones for better call clarity.

Though they appear significantly larger than other earbuds, Microsoft says they’ve been carefully designed for ‘all-day comfort.’

The wireless buds will have 24-hours of battery life and come with a charging case.

Microsoft didn’t specify a release date, but promises they will release this year.

The Surface Earbuds will retail for $249.

Surface Neo 

For the past 10 years it has been rumored that Microsoft was developing a dual-screen device and today those rumors have been confirmed.

Although still in the prototype stages, the Surface Neo is said to be one-of-a-kind.

It has two screens connected with a 360-degree hinge for seamless opening and closing of the device.

And the notepad may have two separate screen, but Microsoft has designed it to let users to spread a single screen across for a larger view.

For the past 10 years it has been rumored that Microsoft was developing a dual-screen device and today those rumors have been confirmed – the dual-screen notepad called Surface Neo

The Surface Neo has two screens connected with a 360-degree hinge for seamless opening and closing of the device. And the notepad may have two separate screen, but Microsoft has designed it to let users to spread a single screen across for a larger view

The Surface Neo is equip with a pen that attaches and charges magnetically on the back and a magnetically attached keyboard that folds over onto one screen creating a laptop-like device

The Surface Neo is equip with a pen that attaches and charges magnetically on the back and a magnetically attached keyboard that folds over onto one screen creating a laptop-like device.

and although there is a gap in-between, the firm said users can spread a single screen across the them.

Each screen is nine inches diagonally and each side is 5.6mm thin – it is the ‘thinnest LCD ever created’

Designed with Gorilla Glass and weighing just 655 grams, Panos Panay, Microsoft’s chief product officer who led the unveiling, said it is ‘a new product that I believe is the next category’.

Panay noted that Surface Neo will not be ready until the 2020 holiday season, but wanted to tease the public with the new innovation.