Looking for the best Surface Book? Buy the Surface Book 3.

The choice between Surface Book 2 and Surface Book 3 primarily comes down to your available budget. The bump in specs is nice for those seeking a new, powerful PC with the latest from Intel and NVIDIA, but if you simply need a decently powered 2-in-1 Windows PC from Microsoft, the Surface Book 2 is still worth considering.

The display remains the same, so do the ports and webcams. In fact, there are more things the same than different with the Surface Book 3. But where there are improvements, they’re considerable, making it one compelling portable PC.

Surface Book 2 vs. Surface Book 3 specs

	Surface Book 2 (13.5)	Surface Book 3 (13.5)
Processor	7th Gen Intel Core i5-7300U 8th Gen Intel Core i7-8650U	10th Gen Intel i5-1035G7 10th Gen Intel Core i7-1065G7
RAM	8GB LPDDR3 16GB LPDDR3	8GB LPDDR4x 16GB LPDDR4x 32GB LPDDR4x
Storage	256GB 512GB 1TB	256GB 512GB 1TB
Display size	13.5 inches Touch	13.5 inches Touch
Display resolution	3000 x 2000 3:2 aspect 267 PPI	3000 x 2000 3:2 aspect 267 PPI
Graphics	Intel UHD Graphics 620 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050	Intel Iris Plus GeForce GTX 1650 (Max-Q)
Ports	Two USB Type-A 3.1 (Gen1) One USB Type-C w/ video, power in/out and USB 3.1 (Gen1) data Full-size SDXC card reader (UHS-II) Headphone jack (3.5mm) Two Surface Connect ports (1 in tablet, 1 in keyboard base)	Two USB Type-A 3.1 (Gen1) One USB Type-C w/ video, power in/out and USB 3.1 (Gen1) data Full-size SDXC card reader (UHS-II) Headphone jack (3.5mm) Two Surface Connect ports (1 in tablet, 1 in keyboard base)
Connectivity	Marvel Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac Bluetooth 4.1 Xbox Wireless	Intel Wi-Fi 6 802.11ax Bluetooth 5.0 Xbox Wireless
Camera	5MP Front-facing 1080P 8.0MP Rear-facing AF 1080P	5MP Front-facing 1080P 8.0MP Rear-facing AF 1080P
Biometrics	IR camera	IR camera
Battery	70WHr Up to 17 hours	70WHr Up to 17.5 hours
Charger	39W (Core i5) 95W (Core i7)	65W (Core i5) 102W (Core i7)
Dimensions	343 mm x 251 mm x 15-23 mm (L x W x D) 13.5 in x 9.87 in x 0.57 to 0.90 in	343 mm x 251 mm x 15-23 mm (L x W x D) 13.5 in x 9.87 in x 0.57 to 0.90 in
Weight	Total: 1,905 g (4.20 lbs) Tablet: 817 g (1.80 lbs)	Total: 1,905 g (4.20 lbs) Tablet: 817 g (1.80 lbs)

	Surface Book 2 (15)	Surface Book 3 (15)
Processor	8th Gen Intel Core i7-8650U	10th Gen Intel Core i7-1065G7
RAM	8GB LPDDR3 16GB LPDDR3	8GB LPDDR4x 16GB LPDDR4x 32GB LPDDR4x
Storage	256GB 512GB 1TB	256GB 512GB 1TB 2TB
Display size	15 inches Touch	15 inches Touch
Display resolution	3240 x 2160 3:2 aspect 260 PPI	3240 x 2160 3:2 aspect 260 PPI
Graphics	Intel UHD Graphics 620 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060	Intel Iris Plus GeForce GTX 1660 Ti (Max-Q) NVIDIA Quadro RTX 3000
Ports	Two USB Type-A 3.1 (Gen1) One USB Type-C w/ video, power in/out and USB 3.1 (Gen1) data Full-size SDXC card reader (UHS-II) Headphone jack (3.5mm) Two Surface Connect ports (1 in tablet, 1 in keyboard base)	Two USB Type-A 3.1 (Gen1) One USB Type-C w/ video, power in/out and USB 3.1 (Gen1) data Full-size SDXC card reader (UHS-II) Headphone jack (3.5mm) Two Surface Connect ports (1 in tablet, 1 in keyboard base)
Connectivity	Marvel Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac Bluetooth 4.1 Xbox Wireless	Intel Wi-Fi 6 802.11ax Bluetooth 5.0 Xbox Wireless
Camera	5MP Front-facing 1080P 8.0MP Rear-facing AF 1080P	5MP Front-facing 1080P 8.0MP Rear-facing AF 1080P
Biometrics	IR camera	IR camera
Battery	80WHr Up to 17 hours	80WHr Up to 17.5 hours
Charger	102W	127W
Dimensions	343 mm x 251 mm x 15-23 mm (L x W x D) 13.5 in x 9.87 in x 0.57 to 0.90 in	343 mm x 251 mm x 15-23 mm (L x W x D) 13.5 in x 9.87 in x 0.57 to 0.90 in
Weight	i5 total: 1,533g (3.38lbs) i7 total: 1,642g (3.62lbs) Tablet: 719g (1.59lbs)	i5 total: 1,533g (3.38lbs) i7 total: 1,642g (3.62lbs) Tablet: 719g (1.59lbs)

New internals for the same excellent Surface Book

Externally, nothing changed with the move from Surface Book 2 to Surface Book 3. If you put one of each side by side, you’d be hard-pressed to tell any visual difference. It’s all about what’s under the hood, which is where the considerable price difference comes into play.

The newer Surface Book 3 is updated for 2020, though there are some omissions like Thunderbolt 3. For CPUs, we’ve got the choice of up to a 10th Gen Intel Core i7-1065G7, a very capable mobile processor used in many modern Ultrabooks.

GPUs were also given a bump with the 15-inch able to take on a GTX 1660 Ti with 6GB GDDR6 RAM. It’s powerful, clocking in a 40% performance boost over the Surface Book’s GTX 1060. There’s even an NVIDIA Quadro RTX 3000 GPU option for creatives and professionals.

Next up is Wi-Fi, which is now Wi-Fi 6, and thanks to Microsoft switching to Intel for wireless connectivity, we also have Bluetooth 5.0. And, of course, Microsoft included Xbox Wireless. Finally, we have RAM and SSD improvements. Surface Book 3 swaps out the slower DDR3 RAM for LPDDR4x. SSD performance has also been bumped.

Overall, the Surface Book 3 is essentially a Surface Book 2 with everything turned up to 11. If you dig the Surface Book design and don’t want it to change, this new generation will please you. But if you’re holding out for a design refresh, you’re going to have to wait a little longer.

Surface Book 2 is better for tighter budgets

If you simply do not have enough funds to splash out on the Surface Book 3, but still desire a Surface Book of your own, the Surface Book 2 is still a good buy. It can be configured with an 8th Gen Intel Core-i7 CPU, 16GB of RAM, 1TB SSD, and an NVIDIA GTX 1050 GPU.

Surface Book 3 is the star pick with better internal hardware

If you want the absolute best Surface Book, there’s only one choice. Surface Book 3 has better internal components, is newer, and has support for Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0. It’s just a shame that Microsoft couldn’t evolve the external design a little.