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Surface Pro 3 vs. Surface Pro 6 - Detailed Specs Comparison

Here's what you need to know what's different between Surface Pro 3 and Surface Pro 6 specs including CPU, RAM, storage, battery, display, and more.

BY Evan Forrest November 15, 2023

Surface Pro 3 vs. Surface Pro 6

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 2018 Surface Pro 6 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.

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 12.3″ Surface Pro 6 (2018), we have a detailed tech specs comparison between both devices for you to check out here.

Surface Pro 3 vs. Surface Pro 6: 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 6 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.	Better performance: It’s now 67% faster than the Surface Pro (5th Gen). New color: Now available in Platinum and the new Matte Black. Better specs: Surface Pro 6 comes with quad-core 8th Generation Intel Kaby Lake R processors. Better price: $899 for quad-core Intel Core i5, 8GB of RAM, 128 GB SSD, and Windows 10 Home.
What's missing	Replace old charging connector with new Surface Connect port	No Intel Core m3 configuration Windows 10 Pro isn't available for consumers

Availability	Surface Pro 3	Surface Pro 6
Released	2014	2018
Release Info	Introduced: May 20, 2014 Pre-ordered: May 20, 2014 Released: June 20, 2014	Introduced: October 2, 2018 (Microsoft October Event) Pre-ordered: October 2, 2018 Released: October 16, 2018
Pricing	Starting at 799$	Starting at 899$

Surface Pro 3 Price
	Microsoft Surface Pro 3 Tablet PC - Intel Core i5-4300U 1.9GHz 4GB 128GB SSD Windows 10.1 (Renewed) By Microsoft $109.99 $129.99 15% OFF	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface Pro 3 (256 GB, Intel Core i5)(Windows 10 Professional 64 bit) (Renewed) By Microsoft $229.00	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface Pro 4 (Intel Core i5, 4GB RAM, 128GB) with Windows 10 Anniversary (Renewed) By Microsoft $139.99 $149.99 7% OFF	See at Amazon
Surface Pro 6 Price
	2019 Surface Pro 6 Business 12.3 Touchscreen (2736 x 1824) Latest Model Tablet PC \| Intel Quad-Core i5-8350U \| 8GB RAM \| 256GB SSD \| Windows 10 Pro \| Platinum (Renewed) By Microsoft $359.00	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface Pro 6 (Intel Core i5, 8GB RAM, 256GB) - Newest Version (Renewed) By Microsoft $349.99	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface Pro 6 (Intel Core i7, 16GB RAM, 512GB) - Platinum (Renewed) By Microsoft $499.00	See at Amazon

Display	Surface Pro 3	Surface Pro 6
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 10nm Oleophobic Coating

Exterior	Surface Pro 3	Surface Pro 6
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 i5: 1.7 lbs (770 g) Intel Core i7: 1.73 lbs (784 g)
Colors	Silver	Matte Black 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 6
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	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
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	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
Memory	4GB 8GB 1600 MHz LPDDR3 RAM	8GB 16GB 1866 MHz LPDDR3 RAM
Storage	64 GB 128 GB 256 GB 512 GB SSD	128 GB 256 GB 512 GB 1 TB BGA PCIe SSD

Connectivity	Surface Pro 3	Surface Pro 6
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 6
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 6
OS	Windows 8.1 Pro Free upgrade to Windows 10	For Consumer: Windows 10 Home For Commercial: Windows 10 Pro Free upgrade to Windows 11
Built-in Apps	Microsoft Office 30-days trial	Microsoft Office 365 30-days trial

Camera & Audio	Surface Pro 3	Surface Pro 6
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 6
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 6 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