Energy Star confirms Core i7-1065G7 and 32 GB of RAM for the Surface Book 3 but no Ryzen 4000 Renoir options; third Surface Go 2 SKU confirmed too

The Surface Book 3 has reared its head again, this time at Energy Star. Listed along with the Surface Go 2 in recent certification publications, Microsoft is expected to unveil new Surface hardware this month.

While the Surface Book 3 has been nailed on as one of the devices to be unveiled by Microsoft this spring, there has been plenty of talk about what processors it will feature. Energy Star has offered some clarification on this, and it is not good news for AMD and Renoir fans.

In short, it is looking unlikely that Microsoft will release a Ryzen 4000 version of the Surface Book 3. If Microsoft had planned to do so, then it would have assigned this model another SKU, as it has with the AMD version of the Surface Laptop 3 15. As it stands, Microsoft has only registered Intel SKUs of the Surface Book 3. Hence, unless Energy Star publishes another Surface Book SKU in the coming days, we doubt that Microsoft will release an AMD-powered Surface Book 3. 

Contrary to previous rumours, the two Energy Star listings suggest that Microsoft has developed Ice Lake-U versions of the Surface Book 3. Energy Star reports that both the 13.5-inch and 15-inch models have been tested running a quad-core Core i7 processor with a 1.3 GHz base clock.

Energy Star accurately reports base clocks, so these three elements are enough to deduce what processor is powering these Surface Book 3 units. Reasonably, only the Core i7-1065G7 matches the description offered by Energy Star, which also confirms that Ice Lake-U processor are headed to the Surface Book 3.

Do not rule out Microsoft releasing Comet Lake-U variants too, though. Microsoft would not need to assign another SKU for a Comet Lake-U Surface Book 3, in the same way it did not with 7th and 8th generation Intel Core versions of the Surface Book 2.

Energy Star confirms that the Surface Book 3 will be configurable with up to 32 GB of RAM, an upgrade over the Surface Book 2. Additionally, the listings make plain that the C3K1900 and C3K1899 at the FCC are the Surface Book 3 13 and Surface Book 3 15, respectively. Incidentally, the FCC has confirmed that at least the 13.5-inch model will be fitted with an Intel AX201D2W Wi-Fi 6 modem.

Energy Star also offered assurances that the Surface Go 2 will be configurable with up to a Core m3-8100Y and 8 GB of RAM. The listing references model numbers 1926 and 1927, on which we have previously reported.

Interestingly, the listing mentions model 1901, listed as the C3K1901 at the FCC. Confirmed to be featuring an Intel AX200 Wi-Fi modem, this is the first we have heard of a third Surface Go 2 SKU. Energy Star and the FCC offer limited details about the device too, besides it including an Intel modem. Regardless, the release of the Surface Go 2 and Surface Book 3 should only be a few weeks away now, although Microsoft is yet to confirm a date.