Home » Devices » Surface Pro 3 vs. Surface Pro (12”, 2025) - Detailed Specs Comparison

Surface Pro 3 vs. Surface Pro (12”, 2025) - Detailed Specs Comparison

Here's what you need to know what's different between Surface Pro 3 and Surface Pro (12”, 2025) specs including CPU, RAM, storage, battery, display, and more.

BY Evan Forrest February 21, 2026

Surface Pro 3 vs. Surface Pro (12”, 2025)

The 2014 Surface Pro 3 features the 11.5W 4th Generation Intel Haswell dual-core Intel Core i3-4020Y up to dual-core Intel Core i7-4650U with the boost speed up to 3.30 GHz. While the Surface Pro (12”, 2025) features the Snapdragon X-Series 8-core Snapdragon X Plus (X1P-42-100) with the boost speed up to 3.20 GHz.

If you are in the market looking for a laptop and don't know what's the difference between the 12″ Surface Pro 3 (2014) and the 12″ Surface Pro (12”, 2025) , we have a detailed tech specs comparison between both devices for you to check out here.

Surface Pro 3 vs. Surface Pro (12”, 2025): Specs Comparison

	Compare With Please enter device name or part of it Surface Pro 3 See at Amazon	Compare With Please enter device name or part of it Surface Pro (12”, 2025) See at Amazon
Key Features
What's new	New Design It’s now thinner (9.1mm), lighter (800g), and new platinum magnesium exterior. Better display New 3:2 aspect ratio, bigger and better 2K 12” ClearType pixel-free display. Better performance It’s now 10% faster than Surface Pro 2 with the new range of 4th Gen Intel processors up to Core i7. New Inking Supports It now supports a new Surface Pen with 256 pressure sensitivity, tail eraser, and remote Bluetooth activation. Better Battery It has 20% more battery life than Surface Pro 2 up to 9 hours. More Better 5.0MP front and rear-facing camera, new Surface Connect Port (charging and docking), new type cover with two typing angles.
What's missing	Replace old charging connector with new Surface Connect port	No Surface Connect port

Availability	Surface Pro 3	Surface Pro (12”, 2025)
Released	2014	2025
Release Info	Introduced: May 20, 2014 Pre-ordered: May 20, 2014 Released: June 20, 2014	Introduced: May 6, 2025 Released: May 20, 2025
Pricing	Starting at 799$	Windows 11 Home Wi-Fi only Snapdragon® X Plus $799.99 16GB 256GB $899.99 16GB 512GB
Amazon Deals	$143.96 Microsoft Surface Pro 3 Tablet (1631) Silver - 256GB, 12in, Windows 8, Intel Core i5 - Renewed $163.43 Microsoft Surface Pro 3 Tablet PC - Intel Core i5-4300U 1.9GHz 4GB 128GB SSD Windows 10.1 (Renewed) $119.99 Microsoft Surface Pro 3 12" Tablet Notebook i3 1.50GHz 4GB 64GB SSD W10P Touch (Renewed)	$1,049.99 Microsoft Surface Pro 2-in-1 Laptop/Tablet (2025), Windows 11 Copilot+ PC, 12" Touchscreen Display, Snapdragon X Plus (8 Core), 16GB RAM, 512GB Storage, Platinum $699.99 Microsoft Surface Pro 2-in-1 Laptop/Tablet (2025), Windows 11 Copilot+ PC, 12" Touchscreen Display, Snapdragon X Plus (8 Core), 16GB RAM, 256GB Storage, Platinum (Renewed) $1,019.99 Microsoft Surface Pro 2-in-1 Laptop/Tablet (2025), Windows 11 Copilot+ PC, 12" Touchscreen Display, Snapdragon X Plus (8 Core), 16GB RAM, 512GB Storage, Ocean

Microsoft Surface Pro 3 12-inch Price
	Microsoft Surface Pro 3 Tablet (1631) Silver - 256GB, 12in, Windows 8, Intel Core i5 - Renewed By Microsoft $143.96 $1,299.00 89% OFF	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface Pro 3 Tablet PC - Intel Core i5-4300U 1.9GHz 4GB 128GB SSD Windows 10.1 (Renewed) By Microsoft $163.43 $179.99 9% OFF	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface Pro 3 12" Tablet Notebook i3 1.50GHz 4GB 64GB SSD W10P Touch (Renewed) By Microsoft $119.99 $134.95 11% OFF	See at Amazon
Microsoft Surface Pro 12-inch Price
	Microsoft Surface Pro 2-in-1 Laptop/Tablet (2025), Windows 11 Copilot+ PC, 12" Touchscreen Display, Snapdragon X Plus (8 Core), 16GB RAM, 512GB Storage, Platinum By Microsoft $1,049.99 $1,149.99 9% OFF	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface Pro 2-in-1 Laptop/Tablet (2025), Windows 11 Copilot+ PC, 12" Touchscreen Display, Snapdragon X Plus (8 Core), 16GB RAM, 256GB Storage, Platinum (Renewed) By Microsoft $699.99	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface Pro 2-in-1 Laptop/Tablet (2025), Windows 11 Copilot+ PC, 12" Touchscreen Display, Snapdragon X Plus (8 Core), 16GB RAM, 512GB Storage, Ocean By Microsoft $1,019.99 $1,149.99 11% OFF	See at Amazon

Display	Surface Pro 3	Surface Pro (12”, 2025)
Size	12 Inches
Info	Resolution: 2160 x 1440 (3.1M Pixels) Density: 216 PPI ClearType Display Aspect ratio: 3:2 Touch: 10 point multi-touch Surface Pen support	12” PixelSense™ LCD Display Resolution: 2196 x 1464 3.21M Pixels. Density: 220 PPI Color profile: sRGB and Enhanced Dynamic refresh rate: 90Hz (60Hz default) Aspect ratio: 3:2 Contrast ratio: 1200:1 Brightness: 400-nits maximum Touch: 10-point multi-touch Gorilla® Glass 5 Adaptive Color Adaptive contrast Adaptive reflect Individually color-calibrated display

Exterior	Surface Pro 3	Surface Pro (12”, 2025)
Size Comparison
Dimensions	11.50” x 7.93” x 0.36” (292 mm x 201.3 mm x 9.1 mm) Width: 11.50” (292 mm) Height: 7.93” (201.3 mm) Thickness: 0.36” (9.1 mm)	10.8” x 7.47” x 0.30” (274 mm x 190 mm x 7.8 mm)
Weight	1.76 lbs (800 g)	1.5 lbs (686 g)
Colors	Silver	Violet Ocean Platinum
Keyboard and Trackpad	Surface Type Cover Not included Keyboard: Activation: Moving (mechanical) keys Layout: QWERTY, full row of function keys (F1-F12) 4 directional keys; Windows and Media Controls Keys; LED backlighting Trackpad: Precision glass trackpad. Supports up to three-finger multitouch gesture.	Not included. Compatible with: Surface Pro 12-inch Keyboard with bold keyset
Ports	1 x Full-size USB 3.0 1 x Mini DisplayPort 1 x Surface Connect™ Supports charging and docking station. 1 x Headset jack 1 x microSD™ card reader 1 x Type Cover port	2 x USB-C Supports USB 3.2 Gen 2 It supports fast charging with a 65W or higher power supply. DisplayPort 1.4a supports up to 2 x 4K@60Hz monitor, Data transfer up to 10 Gbps. Compatible with Surface Thunderbolt™ 4 Dock and other accessories. 1 x Surface Pro 12-inch keyboard port

Internal Specs	Surface Pro 3	Surface Pro (12”, 2025)
Processor	4th Gen Intel® Core™ i3-4020Y 2 cores, 4 threads, 1.50 GHz, 3MB SmartCache, 11.5W 4th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-4300U 2 cores, 4 threads, 1.90 → 2.90 GHz, 3MB SmartCache, 15W 4th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-4650U 2 cores, 4 threads, 1.70 → 3.30 GHz, 4MB SmartCache, 15W	Snapdragon X Plus (X1P-42-100) 8 cores, 8 threads, → 3.20 GHz, 42MB Cache,
Integrated Graphics	4th Gen Intel® Core™ i3-4020Y Intel® HD Graphics 4200 20 Execution Units, 200 → 850 MHz 4th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-4300U Intel® HD Graphics 4200 20 Execution Units, 200 → 1100 MHz 4th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-4650U Intel® HD Graphics 5000 40 Execution Units, 200 → 1100 MHz	Snapdragon X Plus (X1P-42-100) Adreno™ GPU 1.7 TFLOPS,
Memory	4GB 8GB 1600 MHz LPDDR3 RAM	16GB 8448 MT/s LPDDR5x RAM
Storage	64 GB 128 GB 256 GB 512 GB SSD	256GB 512GB UFS

Connectivity	Surface Pro 3	Surface Pro (12”, 2025)
Wi-Fi	Wi-Fi 5: IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac compatible.	Wi-Fi 7: IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax compatible.
Bluetooth	Bluetooth Wireless 4.0 technology	Bluetooth Core 5.4 technology

Battery	Surface Pro 3	Surface Pro (12”, 2025)
Size	42.2 Wh	38 Wh Nominal battery capacity. 37 Wh Minimum battery capacity.
Battery Life	Up to 9 hours of web browsing	Up to 16 hours of local video playback Up to 12 hours of active web usage
Power Supply	36W proprietary power supply USB-A output: 5W Surface Connect: 31W	Optional Surface 45W USB-C Wall Charger

Software	Surface Pro 3	Surface Pro (12”, 2025)
OS	Windows 8.1 Pro Free upgrade to Windows 10	Windows 11 Home
Built-in Apps	Microsoft Office 30-days trial

Camera & Audio	Surface Pro 3	Surface Pro (12”, 2025)
Camera	5.0MP front-facing camera with 1080p Skype HD video 5.0MP rear-facing camera with 1080p Skype HD video	Windows Hello face authentication camera with Enhanced Sign-in Security Full HD (1080p) front-facing Surface Studio Camera Supports Windows Studio Effects with: automatic framing eye contact and background blur 10MP rear-facing autofocus camera with Ultra HD and 4K video [new]
Audio	Front and rear-facing microphones Front-facing stereo speakers with Dolby® Audio enhanced sound	Dual far-field Studio Mics with voice focus 2W stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos® Support for Bluetooth LE Audio

Misc	Surface Pro 3	Surface Pro (12”, 2025)
Inking	Supports Surface Pen 256 levels of pressure N-trig Active Pen technology	Designed for Surface Slim Pen (2nd edition) Integrated storage and wireless charging for Surface Slim Pen located on the back of Surface Pro, 12-inch Supports haptic feedback with Surface Slim Pen Supports Microsoft Pen Protocol (MPP)
Sensors	Ambient light sensor Accelerometer Gyroscope Magnetometer	Ambient color sensor Accelerometer Gyroscope Magnetometer
Security	HW TPM 2.0 chip for enterprise security	Enhanced security with Microsoft Pluton TPM 2.0 Windows 11 Secured-core PC Windows Hello face authentication with Enhanced Sign-in security Microsoft Defender – for enhanced identity and privacy protection
In the box	Surface Pro 3 Surface Pen Power supply Quick Start Guide Safety and warranty documents	Surface Pro, 12-inch USB-C® charging cable No charger included Quick Start Guide Safety and warranty documents
Warranty	One-year limited hardware warranty	1-year limited hardware warranty
More	Mechanical features: Signature unibody magnesium design with hidden perimeter venting Kickstand with a full-friction multiposition hinge to 150 degrees Magnetic attach for keyboard fold stability Physical buttons: volumes, power