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Microsoft Surface Book 3 15 vs Dell XPS 15 9500

57 out of 100
Microsoft Surface Book 3 15
VS
53 out of 100
Dell XPS 15 9500
Microsoft Surface Book 3 15
Dell XPS 15 9500
You can select specific configurations for the laptops to get a more accurate comparative review
Display 3240 x 2160
Battery 82 Wh
CPU Intel Core i7 1065G7
RAM
Storage

Review

Evaluation of Microsoft Surface Book 3 15 and Dell XPS 15 9500 important characteristics
Performance
System and application performance
Gaming
Performance in popular 3D games
Display
Viewing angle, color accuracy, brightness
Battery Life
Potential battery life in light and average use
Connectivity
Ports, webcam and other interfaces
Case
Design, materials, durability and usability
NanoReview Score

Key Differences

What are the key differences between the notebooks
Advantages of the Microsoft Surface Book 3 15
  • Includes an old-school USB-A port
  • Features a much bigger (~46%) battery – 82 against 56 watt-hours
  • Can run popular games at about 19-26% higher FPS
  • Display has support for touch input
  • 79% sharper screen – 260 versus 145 pixels per inch (PPI)
Advantages of the Dell XPS 15 9500
  • Higher number of cutting-edge USB Type-C ports: 3 versus 1
  • Thinner bezels and 15% higher screen-to-body ratio
  • User-upgradable RAM (up to 64GB) and an SSD
  • Provides 25% higher max. screen brightness: 500 vs 400 nits
  • Smaller footprint: 8% more compact case (122.6 vs 133.4 square inches)
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Tests and Specifications

Comparison table of test results and technical specs
Laptop:
Surface Book 3 15
vs
XPS 15 9500

Case

Weight 1.9 kg (4.19 lbs) 1.83 kg (4.04 lbs)
Dimensions 343 x 251 x 15-23 mm
13.5 x 9.88 x 0.59-0.91 inches		 344 x 230 x 18 mm
13.54 x 9.06 x 0.71 inches
Area 861 cm2 (133.4 inches2) 791 cm2 (122.7 inches2)
Screen-to-body ratio ~77.8% ~89.2%
Side bezels 13 mm 4 mm
Colors Silver Silver
Transformer Yes No
Opening angle 360° 140°
Size comparison
Cooling solution
Cooling system Active Active
Vapor chamber No No
Number of fans 2 2
Max. fan speed (RPM) - 5000 RPM
Noise level 34 dB 46 dB

Display

Size 15 inches 15.6 inches
Type IPS LCD IPS LCD
Refresh rate 60 Hz 60 Hz
PPI 260 ppi 145 ppi
Aspect ratio 3:2 16:10
Resolution 3240 x 2160 pixels 1920 x 1200 pixels
HDR support No Yes, Dolby Vision
Touchscreen Yes No
Coating Glossy Matte
Display tests
Contrast 1600:1 1650:1
sRGB color space 93% 100%
Adobe RGB profile 58% 89.5%
DCI-P3 color gamut - 94%
Response time 35 ms 43 ms
Max. brightness
Surface Book 3 15
400 nits
XPS 15 9500 +25%
500 nits

Battery

Capacity
Full charging time - 3:00 hr
Battery type Li-Po Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Fast charging Yes Yes
USB Power Delivery Yes Yes
Charging port position Left Left, Right
Charge power 127 W 90 / 130 W
Weigh of AC adapter 452 gramm 481 gramm

CPU

CPU name
Base frequency 1.3 GHz 2.5 GHz
Turbo frequency 3.9 GHz 4.5 GHz
Cores 4 4
Threads 8 8
L3 Cache 8 MB 8 MB
Integrated GPU Intel Iris Plus Graphics G7 Intel UHD Graphics 630
Fabrication process 10 nm 14 nm

Benchmarks

Geekbench 5 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 5 (Multi-Core)
Cinebench R23 (Single-Core)
Cinebench R23 (Multi-Core)

Graphics Card

GPU name
TGP - 55 W
Type Dedicated Dedicated
Fabrication process 12 nm 12 nm
GPU base clock 1140 MHz 1350 MHz
GPU boost clock 1335 MHz 1485 MHz
FLOPS 4.101 TFLOPS 3.041 TFLOPS
Memory size 6 GB 4 GB
Memory type GDDR6 GDDR6
Memory bus 192 bit 128 bit
Memory speed ~12 Gbps ~12 Gbps
Shading units (cores) 1536 1024
Texture mapping units (TMUs) 96 64
Raster operations pipelines (ROPs) 48 32
GPU performance
Surface Book 3 15 +35%
4.101 TFLOPS
XPS 15 9500
3.041 TFLOPS

RAM

RAM size
Channels 2x4 GB 2x4 GB
Clock 3733 MHz 2933 MHz
Type LPDDR4X DDR4
Upgradable No Yes
Total slots 2 2
Max. ram size - 64 GB

Storage

Storage size
Bus PCI-E Gen 3.0 (4x) PCI-E Gen 3.0 (4x)
Storage type SSD (M2) SSD (M2)
Channels 1x256 GB 1x256 GB
Upgradable No Yes
Total slots 1 2
NVMe Yes Yes

Sound

Audio chip Intel Ice Lake-U/Y PCH-LP cAVS Realtek ALC3281-CG
Speakers 2.0 2.2
Power - 2x2W
Dolby Atmos Yes No
Loudness 65.7 dB 84.2 dB
Microphones 2 2

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard v6 v6
Bluetooth v5 v5.2
Fingerprint Yes Yes
Optical drive No No
Webcam Above the display Above the display
Webcam resolution 1280 x 720 1280 x 720
Ports
USB-A 2x USB 3.1 No
USB Type-C 1x USB 3.1 3x USB 3.1
Thunderbolt No Thunderbolt 3
HDMI No No
DisplayPort No No
VGA No No
Audio jack (3.5 mm) Yes Yes
Ethernet (RJ45) No No
SD card reader Yes Yes
Proprietary charging port No No

Input

Keyboard
Keyboard type Island Island
Numpad No No
Backlight Yes Yes
Key travel 1.55 mm 1.3 mm
Touchpad
Size - 15.0 x 9.0 cm
Surface - Glass
Windows Precision Yes Yes
*Disclaimer! Ports, speakers, display, and other specifications can be different depending on the laptop’s particular configuration or region.

Cast your vote

So, which laptop would you choose?
1 (50%)
1 (50%)
Total votes: 2

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