Leaker refutes Intel Comet Lake-U and NVIDIA Quadro Surface Book 3 listings

The Surface Book series is overdue a refresh, with Microsoft still selling hardware that it released in 2017. There have been plenty of sightings of possible Surface Book 3 SKUs on benchmarking websites recently though, implying that Microsoft is on the verge of releasing new 13.5-inch a 15-inch 2-in-1s. Apparently due before the end of spring, Microsoft is expected to release a Surface Book refresh alongside a Surface Go 2.

While repeated sightings of the Surface Go 2 suggest that it will be an iterative upgrade of the Surface Go, the Surface Book 3 looked to be getting Ice Lake-U series processors. Likewise, it seemed that Microsoft would be upgrading the Surface Book to GeForce GTX 16 GPUs. However, then WinFuture published retailer listings stating that the Surface Book 3 will have Comet Lake-U series processors and NVIDIA Quadro GPUs.

Certainly, the retailer listing is the first time that we have seen references to Comet Lake-U versions of the Surface Book 3. Likewise, SKUs with NVIDIA Quadro GPUs would be unusual. Not only would the Surface Book 3 be the first Surface device to feature the professional-grade GPUs, but it would also be one of the few non-workstation laptops with workstation GPUs.

Additionally, @_rogame claims to have only found Ice Lake-U versions of the Surface Book 3 on benchmarking databases. Codenamed OEMGC OEMGC Product Name SFB1, @_rogame asserts that SFB1 means Surface Book. This is not the first time we have seen Core i7-1065G7 versions of the Surface Book 3, either. Other sources report that Microsoft is planning Ice Lake-U upgrades for its Surface Book series too, making the WinFuture retail listing even stranger.

The Core i5-10210U and Core i7-10510U are not bad chips by any means. Releasing a Comet Lake-U Surface Book now makes little sense, though. The Surface Book is Microsoft's premier mobile hardware, and the company has already upgraded the Surface Laptop and Surface Pro to Ice Lake-U processors. If past Surface Book release cycles are anything to go by, then the Surface Book 3 will be around for at least eighteen months. Presumably, Microsoft will move the Surface Laptop and Surface Pro onto Tiger Lake before then, which would leave a huge performance disparity between them and a Comet Lake-U powered Surface Book 3.

Hence, we would be surprised if Microsoft is planning to solely release Comet Lake-U versions of the Surface Book 3. Microsoft sells 7th generation and 8th generation Intel Core versions of the Surface Book 2 though, so we would not rule out it doing something similar with the Surface Book 3.