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Surface Laptop 2 vs. Surface Laptop SE - Detailed Specs Comparison

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

BY Evan Forrest February 21, 2026

Surface Laptop 2 vs. Surface Laptop SE

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 2021 Surface Laptop SE features the 6W Intel Gemini Lake Refresh dual-core Intel Celeron N4020 up to quad-core Intel Celeron N4120 with the boost speed up to 2.60 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 11.6″ Surface Laptop SE (2021), we have a detailed tech specs comparison between both devices for you to check out here.

Surface Laptop 2 vs. Surface Laptop SE: 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 Laptop SE 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.	The most affordable Surface Laptop - Starting at $249, the Surface Laptop SE helps students achieve the skills they need for their future with a laptop designed for Windows 11 SE and Microsoft 365 for Education. Easy to Repair - Surface Laptop SE has replaceable components including the keyboard, display, battery, and mainboard without special tools required. 11.6-inch HD Liquid Crystal Display Module. Up to Intel® Celeron® Processor N4120 (4C/4T, Up to 2.60 GHz, 4MB Cache) Up to 8GB DDR4 Memory. Available only in Glacier More Up to 16-hours of battery life Microsoft Precision touchpad Full-size keyboard
What's missing	Graphite Gold is no longer available Windows 10 Pro isn't available for consumers	No backlit key. No touch screen. No Inking support. No IR camera for Windows Hello Facial Recognition. No Fingerprint reader. All plastic bodies instead of Aluminum. Using Intel UHD Graphics instead of Intel Iris Plus Graphics. Lowest Surface screen resolution (135 PPI).

Availability	Surface Laptop 2	Surface Laptop SE
Released	2018	2021
Release Info	Introduced: October 2, 2018 Pre-ordered: October 2, 2018 Released: October 16 2018	Introduced on November 9, 2021
Pricing	Starting at 999$	Starting at $249.99
Amazon Deals	$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) $339.00 Microsoft Surface Book 2 15" (Intel Core i7, 16GB RAM, 512 GB) (Renewed) $328.90 Microsoft Surface Laptop 2 (Intel Core i7, 16GB RAM, 512 GB) - Burgundy (Renewed)	$199.99 Microsoft Surface Laptop SE CELERON 8GB RAM 128GB SSD, Glacier $289.59 Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 2 12.4" Laptop, Core i5, 256GB SSD, 16GB RAM \| Touchscreen, Windows 11 PRO (Renewed) $244.00 Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 12.4" Laptop, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD, Platinum (Renewed) \| Touchscreen, Intel Core i5-1035G1

Surface Laptop 2 i7-8650U Price
	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 15" (Intel Core i7, 16GB RAM, 512 GB) (Renewed) By Microsoft $339.00 $369.99 8% OFF	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface Laptop 2 (Intel Core i7, 16GB RAM, 512 GB) - Burgundy (Renewed) By Microsoft $328.90	See at Amazon
Microsoft Surface Laptop SE Price
	Microsoft Surface Laptop SE CELERON 8GB RAM 128GB SSD, Glacier By Microsoft $199.99	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 2 12.4" Laptop, Core i5, 256GB SSD, 16GB RAM \| Touchscreen, Windows 11 PRO (Renewed) By Microsoft $289.59 $382.06 24% OFF	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 12.4" Laptop, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD, Platinum (Renewed) \| Touchscreen, Intel Core i5-1035G1 By Microsoft $244.00	See at Amazon

Display	Surface Laptop 2	Surface Laptop SE
Size	13.5 Inches	11.6 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	Resolution: 1366 x 768 (135 PPI) Liquid Crystal Display Module Aspect ratio: 16:9

Exterior	Surface Laptop 2	Surface Laptop SE
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)	11.17” x 7.6” x 0.70” (283.70 x 193.05 x 17.85 mm)
Weight	Intel Core i5 › 2.76 lbs (1.26 kg) Intel Core i7 › 2.83 lbs (1.28 kg)	2.45 lbs. (1,112.4 g)
Colors	Black Platinum Burgundy Cobalt Blue	Glacier
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 keyboard with a soft-touch feel and full 1.3mm travel. Trackpad: Microsoft Precision Touchpad. Supports up to Five-finger multitouch gestures.
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	Left Kensington lock slot Right 1 x USB-A 1 x USB-C 1 x DC-in Barrel type power connector. 1 x Headset jack Standard 3.5mm jack.

Internal Specs	Surface Laptop 2	Surface Laptop SE
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	Intel® Celeron® Processor N4020 2 cores, 2 threads, 1.10 → 2.80 GHz, 4MB Cache, 6W Intel® Celeron® Processor N4120 4 cores, 4 threads, 1.10 → 2.60 GHz, 4MB Cache, 6W
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	Intel® Celeron® Processor N4020 Intel® UHD Graphics 600 12 Execution Units, 200 → 650 MHz Intel® Celeron® Processor N4120 Intel® UHD Graphics 600 12 Execution Units, 200 → 700 MHz
Memory	8GB 16GB 1866 MHz LPDDR3 RAM	4GB 8GB 2400 MHz DDR4 Memory
Storage	128 GB 256 GB 512 GB 1 TB Soldered BGA PCIe SSD	64GB 128GB eMMC

Connectivity	Surface Laptop 2	Surface Laptop SE
Wi-Fi	Wi-Fi 5: IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac compatible.	Wi-Fi 5 (2x2): IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac compatible.
Bluetooth	Bluetooth Wireless 4.1 technology	Bluetooth Wireless 5.0 LE technology

Battery	Surface Laptop 2	Surface Laptop SE
Size	45.2 Wh	35Wh
Battery Life	Up to 14.5 hours of typical device usage	Up to 16 hours of typical device usage
Power Supply	44W proprietary power supply USB-A output: 5W Surface Connect output: 39W	45W Barrel type power adapter [email protected].

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

Camera & Audio	Surface Laptop 2	Surface Laptop SE
Camera	Windows Hello face authentication camera (front-facing) 720p HD front-facing video camera	1MP Front facing camera With up to 720p 30fps video
Audio	Dual microphones OmniSonic stereo speakers with Dolby® Audio™ Premium	2W Stereo Speakers Single digital microphone

Misc	Surface Laptop 2	Surface Laptop SE
Inking	Supports Surface Pen 4096 levels of pressure Tilt sensing Best in class latency	Not Support
Sensors	Ambient light sensor	1 x Hall-effect Sensor
Security	HW TPM 2.0 chip for enterprise security Enterprise-grade protection with Windows Hello face sign-in	TPM 2.0 chip for enterprise security
In the box	Surface Laptop 2 Power supply Quick Start Guide Safety and warranty documents	Surface Laptop SE 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	Exterior Casing: All plastic bodies unpainted Physical buttons: Power button and Volume buttons on Keyboard Hinge: 135 degrees open angle