Skip to main content

Microsoft’s Surface Book has a custom GTX 950M-like GPU

Microsoft has been surprisingly coy about the Nvidia GPU it announced was powering the high-end version of its Surface Book tablet. We knew it was from that particular manufacturer and we knew it was located in the keyboard section — meaning that the Skylake CPU’s Intel HD or Iris GPU took over in the event of it being detached — but beyond that, information is quite thin on the ground.

However now there’s been a suggestion that in fact, the discrete GPU may be a modified Maxwell graphics chip with a gigabyte of video memory, potentially with performance in the region of a 950M.

This is all unconfirmed mind you, and it’s worth considering that this comes from Microsoft-News without a source reference, so take this with a pinch of salt until we hear otherwise.

Related: Hands on: Microsoft Surface Book

Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming
Check your inbox!

While this is all up in the air though, we do know quite a bit about the Surface Book itself. Our own Jeremy Kaplan had a go on one a few days ago and proclaimed it not only Microsoft’s first laptop ever, but one of the lightest and fastest he’d ever used.

This is thanks to the on-board i5 or i7 CPU (depending on buyer preference) which is twinned with up to 16GB of RAM and as much as a terabyte of SSD storage space. It also has a unique fulcrum to control the pitch of the screen (which can be anything up to 3,000 x 2,000) and a magnetic connector between it and the keyboard to hold it in laptop mode.

However, users can also detach the keyboard to create a more versatile tablet, though it will switch over at that point to the CPU’s companion graphics chip. While still capable, that will be a big drop off on GPU performance, so tablet gaming may be best with the keyboard folded away, rather than detached.

We’ll learn more about the Surface Book during the team’s Reddit AMA next week. You can pre-order a Surface now, starting at $1,500.

Editors' Recommendations

Jon Martindale
Jon Martindale is the Evergreen Coordinator for Computing, overseeing a team of writers addressing all the latest how to…
Microsoft’s Surface Laptop Go 3 is a more capable budget laptop
Surface Laptop Go 3 at Microsoft debut event.

At today's Surface event, Microsoft announced the third generation of its budget-priced Surface Laptop Go, the premium Surface Laptop Studio 2, and the Surface Go 4. Sporting a Microsoft pedigree, the Surface Laptop Go 3 is worth considering if you're looking for a nice-looking touchscreen notebook.

Microsoft upgraded several components in this year's offering to make the Surface Laptop Go 3 more competitive. Microsoft upgraded the processor to a 12th Gen Core i5-1235U, which deliversa massive upgrade of 88% faster performance. Memory and storage capacity are larger than ever for a Surface Laptop Go, with 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD. At the same time, battery life increases from 13 to 15 hours, so you can go all day with this laptop.

Read more
Microsoft September 2023 event: Copilot, Surface Laptop Studio 2, and more
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella talks on stage during the Microsoft September event.

Microsoft's September event delivered a slew of exciting announcements. All things AI were a hot topic, ranging from the Microsoft Copilot to updates to Paint and Snipping Tool. Several new Surface products were also revealed, including the Surface Laptop Studio 2.

We were at the event and got all of the news firsthand. Here's everything that Microsoft unveiled as part of its September 2023 event.
A new category of computing

Read more
Microsoft’s executive shake-up casts a shadow on upcoming Surface event
Microsoft Corporate VP of Devices Panos Panay holding up a Surface Book.

In what some are calling the "end of an era," Microsoft revealed that long-time Surface and Windows leader, Panos Panay, would be leaving the company. The announcement comes just days before Microsoft's Surface and AI event on September 21, where the company is expected to reveal new devices like the Surface Laptop Studio 2.

Panay is a mainstay at Microsoft events, as well as the champion of Surface devices during Microsoft's presentations. Microsoft says the former executive won't be at the event on Thursday, according to Tom Warren.

Read more