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Rumour | Microsoft Surface Book 3 appears on 3DMark powered by an Intel Core i7-1065G7 and NVIDIA Max-Q GPUs

Microsoft last refreshed the Surface Book in 2017. (Image source: Microsoft)
Microsoft last refreshed the Surface Book in 2017. (Image source: Microsoft)
Microsoft might be releasing the Surface Duo and Surface Neo later this year, but a Surface Book 3 could be in development too. Two devices that would fit the description have now appeared on 3DMark, which suggest that the Surface Book 3 will come with Intel Ice Lake processors and a choice of NVIDIA Max-Q GPUs.

The Surface Book is long overdue a refresh, with Microsoft having released the Surface Book 2 over two years ago now. Strictly speaking, the Surface Book 2 is into its fourth year, with Microsoft having unveiled it in October 2017. The company has put out two generations of the Surface Laptop and Surface Pro since too, making the Surface Book line look rather neglected by comparison.

The Surface Book 3 was thought to arrive at Microsoft's October 2019 event when it unveiled the Surface Laptop 3 and Surface Pro 7 among other devices, but that did not come to pass either. A new Surface Book may be on the horizon after all though, thanks to the keen eyes of _rogame.

Tweeting to their followers today, the leaker revealed two images of 3DMark listings that they claim are configurations of the Surface Book 3. While we have been unable to verify the authenticity of these listings, they certainly look the part.

Seemingly, _rogame has deduced that these are Surface Book 3 configurations for two reasons. Firstly, they both list Microsoft as the Vendor. While this falls under the Graphics Card section of 3DMark, it relates to the OEM that has produced the device rather than the one that has developed the GPU.

Secondly, the Surface Book series is the only one in which Microsoft includes a dedicated GPU (dGPU) and a low-powered mobile processor. In these cases, it is the Core i7-1065G7. Thus, unless Microsoft is planning to release a new category of devices again, a Surface Book could be the only Microsoft device with a dGPU and a low-powered mobile processor.

If a Surface Book 3 is on its way, then expect these examples to be high-end SKUs. Going by the Surface Book 2, the Core i7-1065G7 and GTX 1660 Ti Max-Q SKU would correlate to a new 15-inch model. Likewise, the Core i7-1065G7 and GTX 1650 Max-Q SKU would be the flagship edition of the 13.5-inch Surface Book 3.

There have been no clues about when Microsoft will release the Surface Book 3, though. 

(Image source: 3DMark via _rogame)
(Image source: 3DMark via _rogame)

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@_rogame (1) (2)

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > News > News Archive > Newsarchive 2020 01 > Microsoft Surface Book 3 appears on 3DMark powered by an Intel Core i7-1065G7 and NVIDIA Max-Q GPUs
Alex Alderson, 2020-01-29 (Update: 2020-01-29)