Home » Devices » Surface Pro 3 vs. Surface Pro (5th Gen) - Detailed Specs Comparison

Surface Pro 3 vs. Surface Pro (5th Gen) - Detailed Specs Comparison

Here's what you need to know what's different between Surface Pro 3 and Surface Pro (5th Gen) specs including CPU, RAM, storage, battery, display, and more.

BY Evan Forrest April 12, 2023

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 2017 Surface Pro (5th Gen) features the 4.5W 7th Generation Intel Kaby Lake dual-core Intel Core m3-7Y30 up to dual-core Intel Core i7-7660U with the boost speed up to 4.00 GHz.

If you want to know more what's the difference between the 12″ Surface Pro 3 (2014) and the 12.3″ Surface Pro (5th Gen) (2017), we have a detailed tech specs comparison between both devices for you to check out here.

Surface Pro 3 vs. Surface Pro (5th Gen): 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 (5th Gen) 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.	New Design It now has clean lines and rounded edges. Better performance It’s now 2.5x times faster than Surface Pro 3. Better Battery It has 50% more battery life than Surface Pro 4 up to 13.5 hours. Better Inking It supports a new Surface Pen with 4,096 pressure sensitivity and tilt sensing. More Fanless on Core m3 and i5 models, new deeper 165-degree hinge, on-screen Surface Dial capability.
What's missing	Replace old charging connector with new Surface Connect port

Availability	Surface Pro 3	Surface Pro (5th Gen)
Released	2014	2017
Release Info	Introduced: May 20, 2014 Pre-ordered: May 20, 2014 Released: June 20, 2014	Introduced: May 23, 2017 Pre-ordered: May 23, 2017 Released: June 15, 2017
Pricing	Starting at 799$

Surface Pro 3 Price
	Microsoft Surface Pro 3 (256 GB, Intel Core i5)(Windows 10 Professional 64 bit) (Renewed) By Microsoft $249.38 $270.00 8% OFF	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface Pro 3 Tablet (12-inch, 128 GB, Intel Core i5, Windows 10) + Microsoft Surface Type Cover (Renewed) By Microsoft $319.00 $394.99 19% OFF	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface 3 10.8 FHD (1920x1280) Touchscreen 2-in-1 Education and Business Laptop Tablet (Intel Quad-Core Atom x7-Z8700, 4GB RAM, 64GB SSD) Mini DP, WiFi AC, Webcam, Windows 10 Pro (Renewed) By Microsoft $209.00	See at Amazon
Surface Pro (5th Gen) Price
	Microsoft Surface Pro (5th Gen) Intel Core i7, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD (Renewed) By Microsoft $481.45 $549.00 12% OFF	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface Pro (5th Gen) (Intel Core i5, 8GB RAM, 256GB) By Microsoft $695.00	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface Pro (5th Gen, 1796) Intel Core M 4GB RAM / 128GB, 2017 model (Renewed) By Microsoft $265.06	See at Amazon

Display	Surface Pro 3	Surface Pro (5th Gen)
Size	12 Inches	12.3 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	Resolution: 2736 x 1824 (5M Pixels) Density: 267 PPI PixelSense™ Display Aspect ratio: 3:2 Inking: designed together with Surface Pen Touch: 10 points multi-touch Corning® Gorilla® Glass 4 10nm Oleophobic Coating

Exterior	Surface Pro 3	Surface Pro (5th Gen)
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)	11.50” x 7.9” x 0.33” (292 mm x 201 mm x 8.5 mm) Width: 11.50” (292 mm) Height: 7.9” (201 mm) Thickness: 0.33” (8.5 mm)
Weight	1.76 lbs (800 g)	Intel Core m3: 1.69 lbs (768 g) Intel Core i5: 1.7 lbs (770 g) Intel Core i7: 1.73 lbs (784 g)
Colors	Silver	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.	Surface Type Cover Not included Weight: 0.68 lb (310 g) Dimension: 11.61 x 8.54 x 0.19 inches (295 mm x 216 mm x 5mm) Keyboard: Activation: Moving (mechanical) keys Layout: QWERTY, full row of function keys (F1-F12) 4 directional keys; Windows, Brightness and Media Controls Keys; LED backlighting Trackpad: Precision glass trackpad. Trackpad size: 4 x 2 inches (101.6 mm x 50.8 mm) Supports a five-finger multitouch gesture.
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

Internal Specs	Surface Pro 3	Surface Pro (5th Gen)
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	7th Gen Intel® Core™ m3-7Y30 2 cores, 4 threads, 1.00 → 2.60 GHz, 4MB SmartCache, 4.5W 7th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-7300U 2 cores, 4 threads, 2.60 → 3.50 GHz, 3MB SmartCache, 15W 7th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-7660U 2 cores, 4 threads, 2.50 → 4.00 GHz, 4MB SmartCache, 15W
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	7th Gen Intel® Core™ m3-7Y30 Intel® HD Graphics 615 24 Execution Units, 300 → 900 MHz 7th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-7300U Intel® HD Graphics 620 24 Execution Units, 300 → 1100 MHz 7th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-7660U Intel® Iris® Plus Graphics 640 48 Execution Units with 64 MB eDRAM side cache, 300 → 1100 MHz
Memory	4GB 8GB 1600 MHz LPDDR3 RAM	4GB 8GB 16GB 1866 MHz LPDDR3 RAM
Storage	64 GB 128 GB 256 GB 512 GB SSD	128 GB 256 GB 512 GB 1 TB PCIe NVMe SSD

Connectivity	Surface Pro 3	Surface Pro (5th Gen)
Wi-Fi	Wi-Fi 5: IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac compatible.
Bluetooth	Bluetooth Wireless 4.0 technology	Bluetooth Wireless 4.1 technology

Battery	Surface Pro 3	Surface Pro (5th Gen)
Size	42.2 Wh	45 Wh
Battery Life	Up to 9 hours of web browsing	Up to 13.5 hours of video playback
Power Supply	36W proprietary power supply USB-A output: 5W Surface Connect: 31W	44W power supply USB-A output: 5W Surface Connect: 39W

Software	Surface Pro 3	Surface Pro (5th Gen)
OS	Windows 8.1 Pro Free upgrade to Windows 10	Windows 10 Pro (Creators Update)
Built-in Apps	Microsoft Office 30-days trial	Microsoft Office 365 30-days trial

Camera & Audio	Surface Pro 3	Surface Pro (5th Gen)
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 (front-facing) 5.0MP front-facing camera with 1080p Skype HD video 8.0MP rear-facing autofocus camera with 1080p full HD video
Audio	Front and rear-facing microphones Front-facing stereo speakers with Dolby® Audio enhanced sound	Dual microphones 1.6W stereo speakers with Dolby® Audio™ Premium

Misc	Surface Pro 3	Surface Pro (5th Gen)
Inking	Supports Surface Pen 256 levels of pressure N-trig Active Pen technology	Supports Surface Pen 4096 levels of pressure Tilt sensing Best in class latency Paper feel 0.1mm precision magnetic storage
Sensors	Ambient light sensor Accelerometer Gyroscope Magnetometer	Ambient light sensor Accelerometer Gyroscope
Security	HW TPM 2.0 chip for enterprise security	HW TPM 2.0 chip for enterprise security Enterprise-grade protection with Windows Hello face sign-in
In the box	Surface Pro 3 Surface Pen Power supply Quick Start Guide Safety and warranty documents	Surface Pro (5th Gen) Power supply Quick Start Guide Safety and warranty documents
Warranty	One-year limited hardware warranty	One-year limited hardware warranty Commercial: Advanced Exchange warranty service with expedited device replacement
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	Mechanical features: Signature unibody magnesium design with hidden perimeter venting Kickstand with a full-friction multiposition hinge to 165 degrees Magnetic attach for keyboard fold stability Physical buttons: volumes, power

Surface Pro 3 Price
	Microsoft Surface Pro 3 (256 GB, Intel Core i5)(Windows 10 Professional 64 bit) (Renewed) By Microsoft $249.38 $270.00 8% OFF	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface Pro 3 Tablet (12-inch, 128 GB, Intel Core i5, Windows 10) + Microsoft Surface Type Cover (Renewed) By Microsoft $319.00 $394.99 19% OFF	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface 3 10.8 FHD (1920x1280) Touchscreen 2-in-1 Education and Business Laptop Tablet (Intel Quad-Core Atom x7-Z8700, 4GB RAM, 64GB SSD) Mini DP, WiFi AC, Webcam, Windows 10 Pro (Renewed) By Microsoft $209.00	See at Amazon
Surface Pro (5th Gen) Price
	Microsoft Surface Pro (5th Gen) Intel Core i7, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD (Renewed) By Microsoft $481.45 $549.00 12% OFF	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface Pro (5th Gen) (Intel Core i5, 8GB RAM, 256GB) By Microsoft $695.00	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface Pro (5th Gen, 1796) Intel Core M 4GB RAM / 128GB, 2017 model (Renewed) By Microsoft $265.06	See at Amazon