Cortana has been undergoing major changes as part of the updates to Windows 10. The question is what voice assistants will be used and for what purpose.

And, the Dolby Atmos speakers ensure that the user could hear any sound coming from the computer at the same distance. With video conference calls a central part of many people’s days during the current health crisis, advanced microphones are likely to be even more useful than under other circumstances. Their inclusion in the Surface Book 3 makes it possible to control the laptop from a distance and speak with others on a call through the computer without having to sit directly in front of it. Far-field microphones are how smart speakers and smart displays are able to interact with people from across a room and understand them even when there are other sounds. The microphones are capable of recognizing and parsing speech from farther away and with greater accuracy than the Surface Book 2 could. They are considerably higher quality than the ones in the previous iteration of the computer. The Surface Book 3 comes with two far-field studio microphones.

The laptop, which also converts into a tablet, arrives just as Microsoft’s Cortana voice assistant ends many of its consumer-facing functions in favor of enterprise clients. Microsoft’s new Surface Book 3 laptop will perform a lot like a smart display, thanks to the far-field microphones embedded in the computer.

Surface book 3