Microsoft launched the Surface Book 3 on Wednesday, refreshing the powerful detachable 2-in-1 with 10th-gen Intel Core chips and the choice of either an Nvidia GTX or Nvidia Quadro RTX GPU to enable real-time ray tracing.
With the new Surface Book 3, Microsoft employed the same basic strategy it’s pursued with other Surface devices: Maintain the overall look and feel, while improving the microprocessor and GPU. The Surface Book 3 will ship in either a 13.5-inch or 15-inch configuration beginning May 21, for $1,599 and above.
Microsoft claims the Surface Book 3 will deliver 50 percent more performance than the Surface Book 2, which offered a choice of Intel’s 7th-gen and 8th-gen processors. The Surface Book 3 offers Intel’s 10th-gen Ice Lake chips and a choice of GPUs: Nvidia’s GTX 1650 (Max-Q) and GTX 1660 Ti (Max-Q), as well as its Quadro RTX 3000 (Max-Q). Maximum memory soars to 32GB, and there’s a whopping 2TB storage option for what the company is claiming is its fastest SSD ever. Microsoft’s also claiming that the Book 3 delivers up to 17.5 hours of battery life, divided between batteries in the tablet and the base.