14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has recently launched the Surface Book 3 with welcome upgrades under the hood, but as far as the design is concerned, there’s basically no change from the previous version.
The Surface Book 3 looks and feels almost like the Surface Book 2, which in its turn, looks and feels almost like the original Surface Book.
Needless to say, this isn’t necessarily what customers expect, despite the fact that the Surface Book itself remains a high-end laptop in almost all regards.
Someone on reddit has created a mockup that envisions a cosmetic overhaul for the Surface Book 3, and unsurprisingly, it’s all based on features that would make more sense going forward.
For example, the proposed Surface Book 4 design comes with smaller bezels, which is something that most device makers these days are trying to get. At the same time, the mockup also envisions a larger trackpad and a more compact chassis, all of which would further polish the productivity but also the portability of the Surface Book.
Don’t hold your breath for SB4
While these are great ideas that would certainly help polish the Surface Book, it’s harder than it seems for Microsoft to make the whole thing happen.
And it’s all because shrinking the bezels, for example, could actually affect some features of the device in the first place. For example, the 2-in-1 form factor allows for the Surface Book display to be used as a tablet as well when detached from the keyboard, so smaller bezels could affect this experience with touch input.
Certainly, there are ways to deal with this, as other tablet makers, including Apple, have already adopted smaller bezels on their devices, so this is something that Microsoft can do as well if this is the approach that the company wants to go for.
It goes without saying it’ll take a while until the Surface Book 4 sees daylight, so it’s better not to hold your breath for it.