Since its arrival in May of 2017, Microsoft’s range of Surface Laptops has continued to impress with each iteration. Suitable for work, creation, and play, Surface Laptop models are versatile devices that offer a lot, straight out of the box. But pairing your Microsoft laptop with the right accessories can help realize the notebook’s full potential. After looking through the available accessories for Surface Laptops, we’ve assembled the best Surface Laptop accessories available right now.
What are the best Surface Laptop accessories?
There are tons of great Surface Laptop accessories available, but determining the best one may be heavily swayed by how you use your device. One of the best all-around accessories is the Surface Dock 2, with its potential to expand your Surface Laptop into a fully-fledged workstation. Fantastic USB-A/C 3.2 speeds, additional monitor support, and a dedicated Ethernet port are just a few of the ways the Surface Dock 2 can revolutionize your workspace. It has a sizable price tag at just over $250, which is pretty hard to swallow. However, for sheer speed, convenience and power? It has to be the Surface Dock 2. While there’s nothing inherently flawed about the Surface Laptop’s trackpad, using any trackpad for a prolonged period isn’t ideal. A great mouse is a compliment to any workstation or desktop and has the potential to improve your productivity, comfort and performance. We recommend the Logitech MX Master 3, a premium feature-rich mouse that can do almost anything. Some primo tech drives this ideal daily driver’s cost up to around $99, but it earns praise for both price-to-performance and comfort. Of course, now that you have your Surface Laptop, your Surface Dock 2 and your Logitech MX Master 3, Microsoft’s clamshell notebook no longer seems quite so portable. Luckily, the tomtoc 360 Protective Laptop Sleeve has plenty of room available inside its ultra-cushioned walls for your device and accessories. For just $25, the sleeve/carry case hybrid offers CornerArmor protection against occasional bumps and drops, but limited shock protection from higher falls. It’s easy to carry by its retractable handle and good to throw in a larger bag to not worry about scuffs and scratches. The tomtoc 360 Protective Laptop Sleeve is great for those with a daily commute, or those who just need somewhere safe to store their mobile workstation when not in use. Modern laptops are obsessed with being as thin as possible. As such, the amount of available ports and connections has also been steadily shrinking. It started with us losing our optical media drives, but nobody cared because we all had Steam and MP3s. A few of us began to sweat when we lost Ethernet, though by then Wi-Fi was everywhere. However, now that the ultra-thin Surface Laptop 4 has arrived, we’re left with only two USB ports (Type-C and Type-A), a Surface Connect port and a 3.5mm audio jack. Luckily, Microsoft has a handy solution, and they’re willing to sell it to you for just $259.99. The Surface Dock 2 supplies enough ports to quell any fears about connectivity and delivers enough power to manage all of your devices simultaneously. The dock connects through the Surface Connect port and houses a Gigabit Ethernet port, a 3.5mm headphone/microphone jack, two USB-A 3.2 ports, and four USB-C 3.2 ports (two of which can be used to drive external displays at up to 5K resolutions). The Surface Dock 2 can transform your notebook into a true workstation and is compatible with all Surface Laptops. It’s pricey, but it brings a ton of high-speed connections that make it a worthy match for the best laptop docking stations. Remember pens? We used to use them before the world decided it was much easier to slam our fingers onto square buttons with letters on them. As it turns out, the digital age still has a lot of uses for them. Microsoft’s Surface Slim Pen may be tough on your wallet with its sizable $144.99 price tag, but it is one of the most impressive styluses on the market. The updated Surface stylus differs from the original Surface Pen by taking the more flattened shape of a carpenter’s pencil. This is likely to prevent any unnecessary rolling and to potentially help align the pen better in its new wireless charging cradle. Microsoft has also improved compatibility for Surface products across the board, including support for tilt shading in the Surface Laptop 3 and Surface Laptop 4. The Surface Slim Pen features 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity and near latency-free results from each stroke. From sketching hobbyists to digital artists, the Surface Slim Pen has something to offer, but the stylus is by no means exclusively their domain. Microsoft’s impressive handwriting recognition software can convert your writing into text with remarkable accuracy, and anyone who has ever spent time writing out math equations will love the ability to quickly draw them out instead. There’s a world of potential when it comes to a peripheral like this. Whether it’s used for education, business, creation or play; for the right person, this could be a Surface Laptop must-have. The Xbox Wireless Controller is a natural match for any Windows 10 system with nearly universal support among PC games. The most recent version includes textured rubber grips, more tactile shoulder bumpers, and a sorely needed D-pad improvement. It plays well across a huge range of games and feels great thanks to its ergonomic form and layout. With a typical price tag of $59.99, all that’s left to do now is figure out what to play. Surface products aren’t known for their gaming capabilities, but that doesn’t mean you’ll be stuck playing Simple Mahjong forevermore. There’s even a subreddit dedicated to documenting how well Surface products handle various titles. With an enormous back catalog of PC titles, there’s always a game to be run, no matter the specs. Thanks to cloud gaming services like GeForce Now and Xbox Cloud Gaming, you don’t even need to worry about your system limitations when it comes to experiencing AAA games. With a fast and reliable connection, you can simply stream games to your device with a little input lag as your only concern. The tomtoc 360 Protective Laptop Sleeve is a fantastic blend of sleeve and travel case that offers all-around cushioning and extra storage for a reasonable $26.99. Available in a variety of colors, and in sizes that fit all Surface Laptops, the tomtoc sleeve is a great way to keep your device and accessories safe while on the go. While it won’t offer the same level of safety as a rugged or hardshell case, tomtoc’s sleeve does have some shock protection thanks to its CornerArmor design. This should be enough to handle any minor bumps or knocks while in transit. The additional storage available is sizable enough for peripherals, cables and even phones or tablets. Elastic straps hold your items in place, snug against the sleeve’s ultra-thick padding. This keeps your items from rattling around and damaging each other, all while remaining organized. Using a sleeve is great if you don’t want to wrap your laptop up in a bulky shell while still being protected from scuffs and scratches, keeping your Surface Laptop looking factory fresh. The Logitech MX Master 3 recently topped our list for the best mouse in 2021, and with good reason. Logitech’s flagship peripheral is ergonomically designed to give the best support possible to your wrist, palm, and thumb. This keeps you fatigue-free for hours at a time, which is crucial for longer stretches of work. There are numerous premium features packed into the Logitech MX Master 3 that make it deserving of its $99 price tag. One of those features is Logitech’s Darkfield high-precision sensor, which is accurate and responsive on almost any surface. This is a great match to the ultra-light Surface Laptop, which is designed with portability in mind. Other features include USB-C fast charging, 70-day battery life, Logitech’s MagSpeed mouse wheel for superfast scrolling, and the ability to control up to three devices at once using Logitech Flow. The Logitech MX Master 3 is the perfect accompaniment to any setup, and the Surface Laptop is no exception. See our full Logitech MX Master 3 review.
