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Surface Pro 4 vs. Surface Laptop: What's different?

The Surface Laptop is the first Microsoft real laptop PC with a starting price of $999. How this new Surface Laptop compared to its cousin the Surface Pro 4 with a similar price tag.

BY Evan Forrest November 10, 2023

Microsoft Surface Laptop is a new PC device in the Microsoft Surface family. It has a stylish clamshell design without the detachable keyboard which is different from its cousins, the Surface Pro 4 tablet and Surface Book. It is a real laptop with a better typing experience than the Surface Pro 4 and thinner than the 2-in-1 Surface Book.

In terms of performance, the Surface Laptop doesn't have the dGPU options as the Surface Book. However, as compared to Surface Pro 4, it comes with a similar configuration except for the new Intel Kaby Lake chip comes with a Surface Laptop. Here is a quick specs comparison between Surface Laptop and Surface Pro 4.

Surface Pro 4 vs Surface Laptop: Specs Comparison

	Compare With Please enter device name or part of it Surface Pro 4 See at Amazon	Compare With Please enter device name or part of it Surface Laptop See at Amazon
Key Features
What's new	New Design It’s now thinner (8.4mm), lighter (766g), the smaller bezel on the same footprint. Better display New bigger and better 12.3” PixelSense display with Microsoft G5 chipset. Better performance It’s now 30% faster than Surface Pro 3 with the range of 6th Gen Intel processors. Better Inking It now supports Surface Pen with 1,024 pressure sensitivity, magnet attached to the side of Surface Pro 4. Windows Hello It's all comes with Windows Hello facial recognition as standard. More Better 8.0MP rear-facing autofocus camera, new 1866 MHz LPDDR3 RAM.

Availability	Surface Pro 4	Surface Laptop
Released	2015	2017
Release Info	Introduced: October 7, 2015 Pre-ordered: October 7, 2015 Released: October 26, 2015	Introduced: May 2, 2017 Pre-ordered: May 2, 2017 Released: June 15, 2017
Pricing	Starting at 899$	Platinum $799 - M3 \| 4GB \| 128GB $999 - i5 \| 4GB \| 128GB $1,299 - i5 \| 8GB \| 256GB Graphite Gold Burgundy Cobalt Blue $1,599 - i7 \| 8GB \| 256GB $2,199 - i7 \| 16GB \| 512GB $2,699 - i7 \| 16GB \| 1TB

Surface Pro 4 Price
	Latest Microsoft Surface Pro 4 (2736 x 1824) Tablet 6th Generation (Intel Core i5-6300U, 8GB Ram, 256GB SSD, Bluetooth, Dual Camera) Windows 10 Professional (Renewed) By Microsoft $269.95	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface Pro 4 Intel i5-6300U X2 2.4GHz 256GB 8GB 12.3in, Silver (Renewed) By Microsoft $219.00 $239.99 9% OFF	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface Pro 4; 256 GB, 8 GB RAM, Intel Core i5 (Renewed) By Microsoft $259.99	See at Amazon
Surface Laptop Price
	Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 (2022), 13.5" Touch Screen, Thin & Lightweight, Long Battery Life, Fast Intel i5 Processor for Multi-Tasking, 8GB RAM, 256GB Storage with Windows 11, Platinum By Microsoft $796.55 $999.00 20% OFF	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 13.5" Touch-Screen Intel Core i5-8GB Memory - 256GB Solid State Drive (PKX-00003) Matte Black (Renewed) By Microsoft $350.74 $399.99 12% OFF	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 13.5/'' Touchscreen AMD Ryzen 5 8GB 128GB Windows 11 H, 13-13.99 inches By Microsoft $419.00	See at Amazon

Display	Surface Pro 4	Surface Laptop
Size	12.3 Inches	13.5 Inches
Info	Resolution: 2736 x 1824 (5M Pixels) Density: 267 PPI PixelSense™ Display Contrast ratio: 1300:1 Aspect ratio: 3:2 Inking: designed together with Surface Pen Touch: 10 points multi-touch with GPU-based processing 100 percent sRGB color, individually calibrated	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

Exterior	Surface Pro 4	Surface Laptop
Size Comparison
Dimensions	11.50” x 7.93” x 0.33” (292 mm x 201.42 mm x 8.4 mm) Width: 11.50” (292 mm) Height: 7.93” (201.42 mm) Thickness: 0.33” (8.4 mm)	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)
Weight	Intel Core m3: 1.69 lbs (766 g) Intel Core i5 and i7: 1.73 lbs (786 g)	Intel Core i5 › 2.76 lbs (1.26 kg) Intel Core i7 › 2.83 lbs (1.28 kg)
Colors	Silver	Graphite Gold Platinum Burgundy Cobalt Blue
Keyboard and Trackpad	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.	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.
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	1 x Full-size USB 3.0 1 x Surface Connect™ Supports charging and docking station. 1 x Mini DisplayPort 1 x Headset jack

Internal Specs	Surface Pro 4	Surface Laptop
Processor	6th Gen Intel® Core™ m3-6Y30 2 cores, 4 threads, 0.90 → 2.20 GHz, 4MB SmartCache, 4.5W 6th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-6300U 2 cores, 4 threads, 2.40 → 3.00 GHz, 3MB SmartCache, 15W 6th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-6650U 2 cores, 4 threads, 2.20 → 3.40 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	6th Gen Intel® Core™ m3-6Y30 Intel® HD Graphics 515 24 Execution Units, 300 → 850 MHz 6th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-6300U Intel® HD Graphics 520 24 Execution Units, 300 → 1000 MHz 6th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-6650U Intel® Iris® Graphics 540 48 Execution Units with 64 MB eDRAM side cache, 300 → 1050 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 16GB 1866 MHz LPDDR3 RAM	4GB 8GB 16GB 1866 MHz LPDDR3 RAM
Storage	128 GB 256 GB 512 GB 1 TB PCIe NVMe SSD	128 GB 256 GB 512 GB 1 TB SSD 1 TB of OneDrive cloud storage with 1-year subscription of Office 365

Connectivity	Surface Pro 4	Surface Laptop
Wi-Fi	Wi-Fi 5: IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac compatible.
Bluetooth	Bluetooth Wireless 4.0 technology

Battery	Surface Pro 4	Surface Laptop
Size	38.2 Wh	45.2 Wh
Battery Life	Up to 9 hours of video playback	Up to 14.5 hours of typical device usage
Power Supply	36W proprietary power supply USB-A output: 5W Surface Connect: 31W	44W proprietary power supply USB-A output: 5W Surface Connect output: 39W

Software	Surface Pro 4	Surface Laptop
OS	Windows 10 Pro	Windows 10 S
Built-in Apps	Microsoft Office 30-days trial	1 year of Microsoft Office 365 personal

Camera & Audio	Surface Pro 4	Surface Laptop
Camera	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	Windows Hello face authentication camera (front-facing) 720p HD front-facing video camera
Audio	Dual microphones Front-facing stereo speakers with Dolby® Audio	Dual microphones OmniSonic stereo speakers with Dolby® Audio™ Premium

Misc	Surface Pro 4	Surface Laptop
Inking	Supports Surface Pen 1024 levels of pressure magnetic storage	Supports Surface Pen with 1024 levels of pressure
Sensors	Ambient light sensor Accelerometer Gyroscope Magnetometer	Ambient light sensor
Security	HW TPM 2.0 chip for enterprise security Enterprise-grade protection with Windows Hello face sign-in
In the box	Surface Pro 4 Surface Pen Power supply Quick Start Guide Safety and warranty documents	Surface Laptop Power supply Quick Start Guide Safety and warranty documents
Warranty	One-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	Supports Surface Dial Supports off-screen interaction only

Surface Pro 4 vs Surface Laptop: Processor Comparison

Surface Laptop comes with only 2 processor configurations, the Intel Core i5-7200U, and Intel Core i7-7660U. While Surface Pro 4 comes with 3 processor configurations starting from Intel Core m3-6Y30 for a better starting price point.

Overall, the new processors available in the Surface Laptop have a better clock speed than the Surface Pro 4. The Intel Core i7-7660U has a max turbo frequency of up to 4.00 GHz.

Surface Laptop

Processor		Intel Core i5-7200U	Intel Core i7-7660U
Base Frequency		2.50 GHz	2.50 GHz
Max Turbo Frequency		3.10 GHz	4.00 GHz
TDP		15 watt
Level 1 Cache		128 KB
Level 2 Cache		512 KB
Level 3 Cache		3 MB SmartCache	4 MB
Surface Pro 4

Processor	Intel Core m3-6Y30	Intel Core i5-6300U	Intel Core i7-6650U
Base Frequency	0.9 GHz	2.4 GHz	2.2 GHz
Max Turbo Frequency	2.2 GHz	3.0 GHz	3.4 GHz
TDP	4.5 watt	15 watt
Level 1 Cache	128 KB
Level 2 Cache	512 KB
Level 3 Cache	4 MB	3 MB	4 MB

Surface Pro 4 vs Surface Laptop: Graphics Comparison

Surface Laptop

Graphics		Intel HD Graphic 620	Intel Iris™ Plus Graphics 640
Graphics Frequency		300 – 1000 MHz	300 – 1100 MHz
Graphics Max Memory		32 GB
Graphics 4K Support		Yes, at 60Hz
Graphics DirectX		12
Graphics OpenGL		4.4
# Display Supported		3
eDRAM			64MB
Surface Pro 4

Graphics	Intel HD Graphic 515	Intel HD Graphic 520	Intel Iris Graphics 540
Graphics Frequency	300 – 850 MHz	300 – 1000 MHz	300 – 1050 MHz
Graphics Max Memory	16 GB	32 GB
Graphics 4K Support	Yes, at 60Hz	15 watt
Graphics DirectX	12
# Display Supported	3
Graphics OpenGL	4.4
eDRAM			64MB