Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 Allegedly A Glorious Design Win For AMD Ryzen

Microsoft has done well with its Surface line of hardware in competing against Apple and others in the higher-end market for laptops and tablets. Microsoft is reportedly set to launch a new and larger Surface Laptop 3. Reports indicate for the first time Microsoft will adopt AMD hardware inside its Surface line. 

While a larger Surface Laptop 3 would be welcome by many (with rumors hinting at a new 15-inch model), the real change that will set the new machines apart from the predecessors is said to be a change to AMD processors. Rumors about this move have been swirling since the Surface Laptop 2 launched in October 2018. Some speculation had suggested that a Surface Laptop 3 might land with Qualcomm Snapdragon processors.

Reports now indicate that entries in non-public databases of European retailers have confirmed that the Surface Laptop 3 be available with AMD CPUs. Three Surface Laptop models using AMD chips were found in the database entries, but there was nothing to indicate what specific AMD chips will be used. 

AMD announced the Picasso Ryzen APU in January and rumors tip that AMD is at work on its Renoir APU with Zen 2 cores and Raven Ridge-based Dali APUs. Microsoft could well use several of those chips in its Surface Laptop 3 machines as the Renoir parts are expected to be high-end offerings with the Dali targeting the low-end market.

The most likely AMD parts for the new Surface Laptop 3, however, are expected to be the Ryzen 5 3550H and Ryzen 7 3750H. Both are quad-core offerings with integrated AMD Radeon RX Vega GPUs. It's unclear if both AMD and Intel parts will be offered in the Surface Laptop 3 line, but we'll find out for certain during Microsoft's October 2 Surface event.