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Surface Laptop 2 vs. Surface Book - Detailed Specs Comparison

Here's what you need to know what's different between Surface Laptop 2 and Surface Book specs including CPU, RAM, storage, battery, display, and more.

BY Evan Forrest February 21, 2026

Surface Laptop 2 vs. Surface Book

The 2018 Surface Laptop 2 features the 15W 8th Generation Intel Kaby Lake R quad-core Intel Core i5-8250U up to quad-core Intel Core i7-8650U with the boost speed up to 4.20 GHz. While the 2015 Surface Book features the 15W 6th Generation Intel Skylake dual-core Intel Core i5-6300U up to dual-core Intel Core i7-6600U with the boost speed up to 3.40 GHz.

If you are in the market looking for a laptop and don't know what's the difference between the 13.5″ Surface Laptop 2 (2018) and the 13.5″ Surface Book (2015), we have a detailed tech specs comparison between both devices for you to check out here.

Surface Laptop 2 vs. Surface Book: Specs Comparison

	Compare With Please enter device name or part of it Surface Laptop 2 See at Amazon	Compare With Please enter device name or part of it Surface Book See at Amazon
Key Features
What's new	Better performance It’s now 85 percent faster than the original Surface Laptop. New color Now available in Platinum, Burgundy, Cobalt Blue, and the new Matte Black. Better price $999 for quad-core Intel Core i5, 8GB of RAM, 128 GB SSD, and Windows 10 Home.	Performance Info Up to 6th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-6600U (2-Core, up to 3.40Ghz w/Turbo Boost) Up to NVIDIA® GeForce® GPU (1GB GDDR5) Up to 1TB SSD Up to 16GB (1866Mhz LPDDR3 RAM) Up to 12 hours battery life (69Wh) The most powerful Microsoft's Laptop Surface Book is a high-performance laptop with exceptional power and unprecedented versatility as a laptop, powerful tablet, detachable touchscreen, and a portable studio. Best-in-class screen 13.5-inch PixelSense™ display with 6 million pixels (3000x2000), 1700:1 contrast ratio, and 100% sRGB color gamut. It supports 10-point multitouch and Surface Pen with 1,024 pressure sensitivity (magnet attached to the side of the screen). More Features Magnet charging connector, Full-size USB 3.0 port, Bluetooth 4.0, 5MP front and 8MP rear camera.
What's missing	Graphite Gold is no longer available Windows 10 Pro isn't available for consumers

Availability	Surface Laptop 2	Surface Book
Released	2018	2015
Release Info	Introduced: October 2, 2018 Pre-ordered: October 2, 2018 Released: October 16 2018	Introduced: October 7, 2015 Pre-ordered: October 7, 2015 Released: October 26, 2015
Pricing	Starting at 999$	Starting at 1,499$
Amazon Deals	$359.90 Microsoft Surface Book 2 (Intel Core i7, 16GB RAM, 512GB) - 13.5in (Renewed) $329.00 Microsoft Surface Book 2 13.5" 2K (3000 x 2000) Dispaly Intel Core i7-8650U @ 1.90GHz 16GB RAM 512GB SSD Intel UHD Graphics 620 & NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Touchscreen Windows 11 Pro (Renewed) $549.00 Microsoft Surface Book 2 13.5" Touchscreen - Intel Core i7-8650U, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (Renewed)	$179.95 Microsoft Surface Book, Intel Core i5-6300U, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD, LCK-00001 - (Renewed) $322.99 Microsoft Surface Book 512GB Intel Core i7-6600U X2 2.6GHz 13.5", Silver (Renewed) $190.00 Microsoft Surface Book SW5-00001 2-in-1 Notebook PC - Intel Core i7-6600U 2.6 GHz Dual-Core Processor - 8 GB RAM - 256 GB Solid State Drive - 13.5-inch Touchscreen Display - (Renewed)

Surface Laptop 2 i7-8650U Price
	Microsoft Surface Book 2 (Intel Core i7, 16GB RAM, 512GB) - 13.5in (Renewed) By Microsoft $359.90	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface Book 2 13.5" 2K (3000 x 2000) Dispaly Intel Core i7-8650U @ 1.90GHz 16GB RAM 512GB SSD Intel UHD Graphics 620 & NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Touchscreen Windows 11 Pro (Renewed) By Microsoft $329.00	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface Book 2 13.5" Touchscreen - Intel Core i7-8650U, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 (Renewed) By Microsoft $549.00	See at Amazon
Microsoft Surface Book i5-6300U i7-6600U Price
	Microsoft Surface Book, Intel Core i5-6300U, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD, LCK-00001 - (Renewed) By Microsoft $179.95 $195.90 8% OFF	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface Book 512GB Intel Core i7-6600U X2 2.6GHz 13.5", Silver (Renewed) By Microsoft $322.99	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface Book SW5-00001 2-in-1 Notebook PC - Intel Core i7-6600U 2.6 GHz Dual-Core Processor - 8 GB RAM - 256 GB Solid State Drive - 13.5-inch Touchscreen Display - (Renewed) By Microsoft $190.00	See at Amazon

Display	Surface Laptop 2	Surface Book
Size	13.5 Inches
Info	Display Resolution: 2256 x 1504 (3.4M Pixels) Display Density: 201 PPI PixelSense™ Display Aspect ratio: 3:2 Inking: designed together with Surface Pen Touch: 10 points multi-touch Corning® Gorilla® Glass 3 10nm Oleophobic Coating 100% sRGB color, individually calibrated	Display Resolution: 3000 x 2000 (6M Pixels) Display Density: 267 PPI PixelSense™ Display Aspect ratio: 3:2 Contrast ratio: 1700:1 Inking: designed together with Surface Pen Touch: 10 points multi-touch

Exterior	Surface Laptop 2	Surface Book
Size Comparison
Dimensions	12.13” x 8.79” x 0.39-0.57” (308.02 mm x 223.2 mm x 9.93 mm-14.47 mm) Width: 12.13” (308.02 mm) Depth: 8.79” (223.2 mm) Height: 0.39 - 0.57” (9.93 - 14.47 mm)	12.3” x 9.14” x 0.51”-0.90” (312 mm x 232 mm x 13 mm-23 mm)
Weight	Intel Core i5 › 2.76 lbs (1.26 kg) Intel Core i7 › 2.83 lbs (1.28 kg)	Tablet Only: 1.6 lbs (726 g) Surface Book: 3.34 lbs (1,515 g) Surface Book with dGPU: 3.48 lbs (1,578 g)
Colors	Black Platinum Burgundy Cobalt Blue	Platinum
Keyboard and Trackpad	Keyboard: Full-size backlit keyboard with the soft-touch feel and full 1.5mm travel. Large palm rest with premium Alcantara® material for maximized typing comfort. Trackpad: Larger size 105 mm x 70 mm, glass. Supports up to Five-finger multitouch gesture.	Keyboard: Full-size mechanical backlit keyset with 1.55mm travel. Mechanical friction attaches the Clipboard to the keyboard. Trackpad: Larger size 105 mm x 70 mm, glass. Supports up to Five-finger multitouch gesture.
Ports	1 x Full-size USB 3.0 1 x Surface Connect™ Supports charging and docking station. 1 x Mini DisplayPort 1 x Headset jack	2 x Full-size USB 3.0 2 x Surface Connect™ 1 in tablet, 1 in keyboard base, both supports charging and docking. 1 x Mini DisplayPort 1 x Headset jack 1 x Full-size SDXC card reader (UHS-II performance)

Internal Specs	Surface Laptop 2	Surface Book
Processor	8th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-8250U 4 cores, 8 threads, 1.60 → 3.40 GHz, 6MB SmartCache, 15W 8th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-8350U 4 cores, 8 threads, 1.70 → 3.60 GHz, 6MB SmartCache, 15W 8th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-8650U 4 cores, 8 threads, 1.90 → 4.20 GHz, 8MB SmartCache, 15W	6th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-6300U 2 cores, 4 threads, 2.40 → 3.00 GHz, 3MB SmartCache, 15W 6th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-6600U 2 cores, 4 threads, 2.60 → 3.40 GHz, 4MB SmartCache, 15W
Integrated Graphics	8th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-8250U Intel® UHD Graphics 620 24 Execution Units, 300 → 1100 MHz 8th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-8350U Intel® UHD Graphics 620 24 Execution Units, 300 → 1100 MHz 8th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-8650U Intel® UHD Graphics 620 24 Execution Units, 300 → 1150 MHz	6th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-6300U Intel® HD Graphics 520 24 Execution Units, 300 → 1000 MHz 6th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-6600U Intel® HD Graphics 520 24 Execution Units, 300 → 1050 MHz
Discrete Graphics		NVIDIA® GeForce® GPU Maxwell Architecture, 1GB GDDR5 128-bit, 954 - 993 MHz, 384 CUDA Cores.
Memory	8GB 16GB 1866 MHz LPDDR3 RAM
Storage	128 GB 256 GB 512 GB 1 TB Soldered BGA PCIe SSD	128GB 256 GB 512 GB 1 TB NVMe PCIe 3.0 SSD

Connectivity	Surface Laptop 2	Surface Book
Wi-Fi	Wi-Fi 5: IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac compatible.
Bluetooth	Bluetooth Wireless 4.1 technology	Bluetooth Wireless 4.0 technology

Battery	Surface Laptop 2	Surface Book
Size	45.2 Wh	Total: 69Wh Clipboard: 18Wh Base: 51Wh
Battery Life	Up to 14.5 hours of typical device usage	Up to 12 hours of video playback
Power Supply	44W proprietary power supply USB-A output: 5W Surface Connect output: 39W	Surface Book 36W power supply with USB-A (5W) charging port. Surface Book with dGPU 65W power supply with USB-A (5W) charging port.

Software	Surface Laptop 2	Surface Book
OS	For Consumer: Windows 10 Home For Commercial: Windows 10 Pro Free upgrade to Windows 11	Windows 10 Pro
Built-in Apps	Microsoft Office 365 30-days trial

Camera & Audio	Surface Laptop 2	Surface Book
Camera	Windows Hello face authentication camera (front-facing) 720p HD front-facing video camera	Windows Hello face authentication camera (front-facing) 5.0MP front-facing camera with 1080p HD video 8.0MP rear-facing autofocus camera with 1080p HD video
Audio	Dual microphones OmniSonic stereo speakers with Dolby® Audio™ Premium	Dual microphones Front-facing stereo speakers with Dolby® Audio™ Premium

Misc	Surface Laptop 2	Surface Book
Inking	Supports Surface Pen 4096 levels of pressure Tilt sensing Best in class latency	Supports Surface Pen 1024 levels of pressure Magnetic storage
Sensors	Ambient light sensor	Ambient light sensor Proximity sensor Accelerometer Gyroscope Magnetometer
Security	HW TPM 2.0 chip for enterprise security Enterprise-grade protection with Windows Hello face sign-in	HW TPM chip for enterprise security Enterprise-grade protection with Windows Hello face sign-in
In the box	Surface Laptop 2 Power supply Quick Start Guide Safety and warranty documents	Surface Book Surface Pen Power supply Quick Start Guide Safety and warranty documents
Warranty	One-year limited hardware warranty Commercial: Advanced Exchange warranty service with expedited device replacement	One-year limited hardware warranty
More	Supports Surface Dial Supports off-screen interaction only	Supports Surface Dial Supports off-screen interaction only.