Home » Devices » Surface Book vs. Surface Book i7 - Detailed Specs Comparison

Surface Book vs. Surface Book i7 - Detailed Specs Comparison

Here's what you need to know what's different between Surface Book and Surface Book i7 specs including CPU, RAM, storage, battery, display, and more.

BY Evan Forrest February 21, 2026

Surface Book vs. Surface Book i7

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. While the 2016 Surface Book i7 features the 15W 6th Generation Intel Skylake 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 Book (2015) and the 13.5″ Surface Book i7 (2016), we have a detailed tech specs comparison between both devices for you to check out here.

Surface Book vs. Surface Book i7: Specs Comparison

	Compare With Please enter device name or part of it Surface Book See at Amazon	Compare With Please enter device name or part of it Surface Book i7 See at Amazon
Key Features
What's new	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.	Performance Info Up to 6th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-6600U (2-Core, up to 3.40Ghz w/Turbo Boost) Up to NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 965M (2GB GDDR5) Up to 1TB SSD Up to 16GB (1866Mhz LPDDR3 RAM) Up to 16 hours battery life (81Wh) Better Graphics Performance Now it comes with a better NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 965M with 2GB GDDR5 memory. Longer Battery Life It now packs with a bigger battery in the base (51Wh → 63Wh) for longer battery life up to 16 hours. More powerful power adapter To supply enough juice for the graphics unit, it now comes with a bigger 102W power supply with a USB charging port.
What's missing		New Base with a bigger battery and newer graphics processor only available on Surface Book with Intel Core i7.

Availability	Surface Book	Surface Book i7
Released	2015	2016
Release Info	Introduced: October 7, 2015 Pre-ordered: October 7, 2015 Released: October 26, 2015	Introduced: October 26, 2016 Pre-ordered: October 26, 2016 Released: November 10, 2016
Pricing	Starting at 1,499$	Starting at 2,399$
Amazon Deals	$195.80 Microsoft Surface Book, Intel Core i5-6300U, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD, LCK-00001 - (Renewed) $189.95 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) $289.00 Microsoft Surface Book 512GB Intel Core i7-6600U X2 2.6GHz 13.5", Silver (Renewed)	$289.00 Microsoft Surface Book 512GB Intel Core i7-6600U X2 2.6GHz 13.5", Silver (Renewed) $189.95 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) $199.99 Microsoft Surface Book Tablet PC - 13.5" - PixelSense - Wireless LAN - Intel Core i7 i7-6600U Dual-core (2 Core) 2.60 GHz - Silver SW6-00001

Microsoft Surface Book i5-6300U i7-6600U Price
	Microsoft Surface Book, Intel Core i5-6300U, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD, LCK-00001 - (Renewed) By Microsoft $195.80	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 $189.95	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface Book 512GB Intel Core i7-6600U X2 2.6GHz 13.5", Silver (Renewed) By Microsoft $289.00 $322.99 11% OFF	See at Amazon
Microsoft Surface Book i7-6600U Price
	Microsoft Surface Book 512GB Intel Core i7-6600U X2 2.6GHz 13.5", Silver (Renewed) By Microsoft $289.00 $322.99 11% OFF	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 $189.95	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface Book Tablet PC - 13.5" - PixelSense - Wireless LAN - Intel Core i7 i7-6600U Dual-core (2 Core) 2.60 GHz - Silver SW6-00001 By Microsoft $199.99	See at Amazon

Display	Surface Book	Surface Book i7
Size	13.5 Inches
Info	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 Book	Surface Book i7
Size Comparison
Dimensions	12.3” x 9.14” x 0.51”-0.90” (312 mm x 232 mm x 13 mm-23 mm)	12.3” x 9.14” x 0.59”-0.90” (312 mm x 232 mm x 15 mm-23 mm)
Weight	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)	Tablet only: 1.6 lbs (726 g) Total: 3.68 lbs (1,669 g)
Colors	Platinum
Keyboard and Trackpad	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	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 Book	Surface Book i7
Processor	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	6th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-6600U 2 cores, 4 threads, 2.60 → 3.40 GHz, 4MB SmartCache, 15W
Integrated Graphics	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	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.	NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 965m Maxwell Architecture, 2GB GDDR5 128-bit, 924/935 - 950/1151 MHz, 1024 CUDA Cores.
Memory	8GB 16GB 1866 MHz LPDDR3 RAM
Storage	128GB 256 GB 512 GB 1 TB NVMe PCIe 3.0 SSD	256 GB 512 GB 1 TB Soldered PCIe 3.0 SSD

Connectivity	Surface Book	Surface Book i7
Wi-Fi	Wi-Fi 5: IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac compatible.
Bluetooth	Bluetooth Wireless 4.0 technology

Battery	Surface Book	Surface Book i7
Size	Total: 69Wh Clipboard: 18Wh Base: 51Wh	Total: 81Wh Clipboard: 18Wh Base: 63Wh
Battery Life	Up to 12 hours of video playback	Up to 16 hours of video playback
Power Supply	Surface Book 36W power supply with USB-A (5W) charging port. Surface Book with dGPU 65W power supply with USB-A (5W) charging port.	102W power supply with USB-A (5W) charging port.

Software	Surface Book	Surface Book i7
OS	Windows 10 Pro
Built-in Apps	Microsoft Office 365 30-days trial

Camera & Audio	Surface Book	Surface Book i7
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 Front-facing stereo speakers with Dolby® Audio™ Premium

Misc	Surface Book	Surface Book i7
Inking	Supports Surface Pen 1024 levels of pressure Magnetic storage
Sensors	Ambient light sensor Proximity sensor Accelerometer Gyroscope Magnetometer
Security	HW TPM chip for enterprise security Enterprise-grade protection with Windows Hello face sign-in
In the box	Surface Book Surface Pen Power supply Quick Start Guide Safety and warranty documents
Warranty	One-year limited hardware warranty
More	Supports Surface Dial Supports off-screen interaction only.