Home » Devices » Surface Pro 3 vs. Surface Pro 9 with 5G - Detailed Specs Comparison

Surface Pro 3 vs. Surface Pro 9 with 5G - Detailed Specs Comparison

Here's what you need to know what's different between Surface Pro 3 and Surface Pro 9 with 5G specs including CPU, RAM, storage, battery, display, and more.

BY Evan Forrest November 15, 2023

Surface Pro 3 vs. Surface Pro 9 with 5G

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 2022 Surface Pro 9 with 5G features the 7W Qualcomm Snapdragon 8-core Microsoft SQ3 with a clock speed of 3.00 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 13″ Surface Pro 9 with 5G (2022), we have a detailed tech specs comparison between both devices for you to check out here.

Surface Pro 3 vs. Surface Pro 9 with 5G: 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 9 with 5G 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 80% faster for CPU and 77% for GPU than Surface Pro X with SQ2. Built-in NPU - The integrated Neural Processing Unit provides up to 15 trillion operations per second for running exclusive features like background blur, automatic framing, eye contact, and voice focus. Better specs - It comes with Microsoft® SQ3™ with Neural Processing Unit, up to 16GB of 4266 MHz LPDDR4X memory, WiFi-6E, and Bluetooth 5.1. Longer Battery Life - It now offers a better battery life with up to 19 hours of typical device usage. No perimeter venting - It uses passive cooling with whisper-quiet operation.
What's missing	Replace old charging connector with new Surface Connect port	Only available in Platinum No Thunderbolt 4 port

Availability	Surface Pro 3	Surface Pro 9 with 5G
Released	2014	2022
Release Info	Introduced: May 20, 2014 Pre-ordered: May 20, 2014 Released: June 20, 2014	Introduced: October 12, 2022 Pre-ordered: October 12, 2022 Released: October 25, 2022
Pricing	Starting at 799$	Consumer models Windows 11 Home on ARM Microsoft SQ® 3 $1,299.99 8GB 128GB $1,399.99 8GB 256GB $1,599.99 16GB 256GB $1,899.99 16GB 512GB Business models Windows 11 Pro on ARM Microsoft SQ® 3 $1,399.99 8GB 128GB $1,499.99 8GB 256GB $1,699.99 16GB 256GB $1,999.99 16GB 512GB

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 $119.99 $129.99 8% OFF	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface Pro 3 (128 GB, Intel Core i5) (Renewed) By Microsoft $179.95 $194.00 7% OFF	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface Pro 4 (Intel Core i5, 4GB RAM, 128GB) with Windows 10 Anniversary (Renewed) By Microsoft $149.99 $159.99 6% OFF	See at Amazon
Microsoft Surface Pro 9 5G Price
	Microsoft Surface Pro 9 Tablet - 13" - Core i7 12th Gen i7-1265U Deca-core (10 Core) - 16 GB RAM - 256 GB SSD - Windows 11 Pro 64-bit - Graphite By Microsoft $1,025.00	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface Pro 9 13" Touch Tablet, Intel i7, 16GB/256GB, Platinum Bundle Surface Pro Signature Mechanical Keyboard, Black and 1 YR CPS Enhanced Protection Pack By Microsoft $1,579.03 $1,804.97 13% OFF	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface Pro 9 Tablet - 13" - Core i5 12th Gen i5-1245U Deca-core (10 Core) - 16 GB RAM - 256 GB SSD - Windows 10 Pro 64-bit - Graphite By Microsoft $865.99 $950.01 9% OFF	See at Amazon

Display	Surface Pro 3	Surface Pro 9 with 5G
Size	12 Inches	13 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	13” PixelSense™ Flow Display Resolution: 2880 x 1920 5.53M Pixels. Density: 267 PPI Color profile: sRGB and Vivid Dynamic refresh rate: up to 120Hz Aspect ratio: 3:2 Contrast ratio: 1200:1 Touch: 10-point multi-touch Brightness: 450 nits maximum (typical), 5 nits minimum Gorilla® Glass 5 Adaptive Color

Exterior	Surface Pro 3	Surface Pro 9 with 5G
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)	11.3” x 8.2” x 0.37” (287 mm x 209 mm x 9.3 mm)
Weight	1.76 lbs (800 g)	1.95 lb (883 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.	Not included. Compatible with Surface Pro Signature Keyboard Surface Pro X Keyboard Type Cover Features: 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. Surface Slim Pen Storage Magnetic dock Automatically wireless charge Surface Slim Pen
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 3.2 USB-C interface supports USB 3.2, Power Delivery, DisplayPort, and data transfer up to 10Gbps. 1 x Surface Connect+ Supports charging and docking station. 1 x Surface Pro Type Cover port

Internal Specs	Surface Pro 3	Surface Pro 9 with 5G
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	Microsoft® SQ3™ with Neural Processing Unit 8 cores, 8 threads, 3.00 GHz, 8MB Cache, 7W
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	Microsoft® SQ3™ with Neural Processing Unit Microsoft® SQ3™ Adreno™ 8cx Gen 3 GPU N/A,
Memory	4GB 8GB 1600 MHz LPDDR3 RAM	8GB 16GB 4266 MHz LPDDR4X RAM
Storage	64 GB 128 GB 256 GB 512 GB SSD	128GB 256GB 512GB Removable SSD.

Connectivity	Surface Pro 3	Surface Pro 9 with 5G
Wi-Fi	Wi-Fi 5: IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac compatible.	Wi-Fi 6E: IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax compatible.
Bluetooth	Bluetooth Wireless 4.0 technology	Bluetooth Wireless 5.1 technology
		Location: GPS, Glonass, Galileo, and Beidou Support NanoSIM and eSIM support Supports 5G

Battery	Surface Pro 3	Surface Pro 9 with 5G
Size	42.2 Wh	47.7 Wh Nominal battery capacity. 46.5 Wh Minimum battery capacity.
Battery Life	Up to 9 hours of web browsing	Up to 19 hours of typical device usage
Power Supply	36W proprietary power supply USB-A output: 5W Surface Connect: 31W	39W power supply Supports Fast Charge (0-60% in about one hour)

Software

Surface Pro 3

Surface Pro 9 with 5G

Windows 8.1 Pro

Free upgrade to Windows 10

Consumer models

Windows 11 Home on ARM

Business models

Windows 11 Pro on ARM

Built-in Apps

Microsoft Office 30-days trial

Preloaded Microsoft 365 Apps
Microsoft 365 Family 30-day trial
Preloaded Xbox app
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate one-month trial

Camera & Audio	Surface Pro 3	Surface Pro 9 with 5G
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 10.0MP rear-facing autofocus camera with 1080p full HD and 4K video
Audio	Front and rear-facing microphones Front-facing stereo speakers with Dolby® Audio enhanced sound	Dual far-field Studio Mics 2W stereo speakers

Misc	Surface Pro 3	Surface Pro 9 with 5G
Inking	Supports Surface Pen 256 levels of pressure N-trig Active Pen technology	Designed for Surface Slim Pen 2 Supports Microsoft Pen Protocol (MPP) 4096 levels of pressure Tilt sensing Best in class latency Paper feel 0.1mm precision magnetic storage Supports Tactile signals with Surface Slim Pen 2 The integrated storage and wireless charging for Surface Slim Pen 2 with Surface Pro Signature Keyboard
Sensors	Ambient light sensor Accelerometer Gyroscope Magnetometer	Ambient light sensor Gyroscope Magnetometer Ambient Color Sensor (brightness and color)
Security	HW TPM 2.0 chip for enterprise security	Enhanced security with Microsoft Pluton Enterprise-grade protection with Windows Hello face sign-in Windows 11 Secured-core PC
In the box	Surface Pro 3 Surface Pen Power supply Quick Start Guide Safety and warranty documents	Surface Pro 9 SQ3 with 5G Power supply Quick Start Guide Safety and warranty documents SIM Card access tool
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