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Surface 3 vs. Dell XPS 15 9550: Full specs comparison

The following is a comprehensive comparison of the Surface 3 and Dell XPS 15 9550 specifications, including details on CPU, memory, storage, battery life, display quality, and other features.

Compare With Please enter device name or part of it Surface 3 See at Amazon	Compare With Please enter device name or part of it Dell XPS 15 9550 See at Amazon

Surface 3 Pros

Reasons that Surface 3 is better than Dell XPS 15 9550.

Surface 3 weighed 1.37 pounds, 65% lighter than the 3.9 pounds Dell XPS 15 9550.

Weight	Surface 3	Dell XPS 15 9550
Pound	1.37 lbs.	3.9 lbs.
Kilogram	0.62 kg	1.77 kg

Dell XPS 15 9550 Pros

Reasons that Dell XPS 15 9550 is better than Surface 3.

Intel Core i7-6700HQ inside Dell XPS 15 9550 has a 296% better multi-core CPU performance score than the Intel Atom x7-Z8700 inside Surface 3.

Geekbench 5 multi-core score

Dell XPS 15 9550 - Intel Core i7-6700HQ

3,073

Dell XPS 15 9550 - Intel Core i5-6300HQ

2,409

Dell XPS 15 9550 - Intel Core i3-6100H

1,597

Surface 3 - Intel Atom x7-Z8700

776

Dell XPS 15 9550 supports a larger memory capacity than the Surface 3. It supports up to 32GB versus 4GB of system memory on the Surface 3.

Max system memory size

Dell XPS 15 9550

32 GB

Surface 3

4 GB

Dell XPS 15 9550 supports a faster memory speed than the Surface 3. It supports up to 2133MHz versus 1600MHz of system memory on the Surface 3.

Memory type and speed

Dell XPS 15 9550 - DDR4

2,133 MHz

Surface 3 - DDR3

1,600 MHz

Configurable up to Nvidia Quadro GTX 960M 2GB GDDR5 vs. integrated

Dell XPS 15 9550 has a 15.6-inch screen size 44% larger than the 10.8-inch Surface 3.

Display size

Dell XPS 15 9550

15.6-inch

Surface 3

10.8-inch

Dell XPS 15 9550 has more ports and slots count than the Surface 3. It has nine versus seven amount of ports and slots on the Surface 3.

Ports	Surface 3	Dell XPS 15 9550
Battery gauge button	No	Yes
full-size SD card slot	No	Yes
HDMI	No	Yes
headphone jack	Yes	Yes
lock slot	No	Yes
microSD card slot	Yes	No
Micro USB	Yes	No
Mini DisplayPort	Yes	No
nanoSIM card slot	Yes	No
power port	No	Yes
Thunderbolt 3	No	Yes
Type Cover	Yes	No
USB-A	Yes	Yes x2
Total	7	9

Dell XPS 15 9550 has better versatile I/O connectivity than the Surface 3. It has six versus four commonly used ports and slots on the Surface 3.

Ports	Surface 3	Dell XPS 15 9550
headphone jack	Yes	Yes
USB-A	Yes	Yes
full-size SD card slot	No	Yes
HDMI	No	Yes
microSD card slot	Yes	No
Mini DisplayPort	Yes	No
power port	No	Yes
Thunderbolt 3	No	Yes

Prices

Here are the latest price updates and offers for both devices.

Surface 3 Price
	Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 13.5" Touch-Screen Intel Core i5-8GB Memory - 256GB Solid State Drive (PKX-00003) Matte Black (Renewed) By Microsoft $299.00 $319.00 6% OFF	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface Go 3 - 10.5" Touchscreen - Intel® Core™ i3 - 8GB Memory - 128GB SSD - Device Only - Platinum (Latest Model) By Microsoft $509.99 $629.99 19% OFF	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface 3 128GB WiFi Tablet 10.8" Intel Atom - Silver (Renewed) By Microsoft $228.00	See at Amazon
Dell XPS 15 9550 Price
	Dell XPS 15 9530 15.6'' FHD+ (Intel 13th Gen 14-Core i7-13700H (Beat i9-12900H), 32GB DDR5 RAM, 1TB SSD, Arc A370M) Business Laptop, Backlit, Fingerprint, Thunderbolt 4, Wi-Fi 6E, Platinum Silver By Dell $1,654.00	See at Amazon
	Dell XPS 15 9550 Business Laptop, 15.6" FHD (1920×1080), Intel Core i7-6700 up to 3.8 GHz, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, Nvidia GeForce GTX 960M, Backlit Keyboard, Windows 10 pro (Renewed) By Dell $399.00	See at Amazon
	DE10020 Dell XPS 15 9550-15.6" 4K Touch - i7-6700HQ - NVIDA GTX960M - 16GB - 1TB PCIe SSD By Dell $791.00	See at Amazon

Availability	Surface 3	Dell XPS 15 9550
Released	2015	2015
Release Date	Introduced: March 21, 2015 Pre-ordered: March 21, 2015 Released: May 5, 2015	-
Pricing	Surface 3 Wi-Fi $499 - 2 GB \| 64 GB $599 - 4 GB \| 128 GB Surface 3 4G LTE $599 - 2 GB \| 64 GB $699 - 4 GB \| 128 GB	-
Generations	2021 Surface Go 3 2020 Surface Go 2 2018 Surface Go 2015 Surface 3 2013 Surface 2 2012 Surface RT	2022 Dell XPS 15 9520 2021 Dell XPS 15 9510 2020 Dell XPS 15 9500 2019 Dell XPS 15 7590 2018 Dell XPS 15 9570 2017 Dell XPS 15 9560 2015 Dell XPS 15 9550

Exterior	Surface 3	Dell XPS 15 9550
Dimensions	10.52” x 7.36” x 0.34” (267 mm x 187 mm x 8.7 mm) Width: 10.52” (267 mm) Height: 7.36” (187 mm) Thickness: 0.34” (8.7 mm)	14.06 x 9.27 x 0.45 - 0.66 in (357 x 235 x 11 - 17 mm) Width: 14.06” (357 mm) Depth: 9.27” (235 mm) Height: 0.45 - 0.66” (11 - 17 mm)
Weight	Surface 3: 1.37 lbs (621 g) Surface 3 with Keyboard: 1.95 lbs (884 g)	3-cell battery models: 3.9 lb (1.78 kg) 6-cell battery models: 4.4 lb (2.0 kg)
Colors	Silver	CNC machined aluminum Edge-to-edge Corning® Gorilla® Glass NBT™ on 4K Ultra HD display Carbon fiber composite palm rest with soft-touch paint
Keyboard and Trackpad	Surface Type Cover Not included Keyboard: Activation: Moving (mechanical) keys Layout: QWERTY, full row of function keys (F1-F12) 4 directional keys; Windows and Media Controls Keys; LED backlighting Trackpad: Precision glass trackpad. Supports up to three-finger multitouch gesture.	Full size, backlit chiclet keyboard; 1.3mm travel. 4.13 x 3.15 in (105 mm x 80 mm) touchpad with multi-touch gesture support.

Display	Surface 3	Dell XPS 15 9550
Size	10.8 Inches	15.6 Inches
Info	Resolution: 1920 x 1280 (2.4M Pixels) Density: 214 PPI Aspect ratio: 3:2 Inking: supports Surface Pen Touch: 10 points multi-touch	15.6-inch WED FHD non-touchscreen 1920 x 1080, IPS, 141 PPI, 400-nit brightness 100% sRGB, InfinityEdge Anti-Glare, Non-touch support. 15.6-inch WED UHD touchscreen 3840 x 2160, IPS, 282 PPI, 350-nit brightness, 100% AdobeRGB, InfinityEdge Anti-Reflective, Touch support.

Ports	Surface 3	Dell XPS 15 9550
Image Source: Microsoft Right (4) 1 x USB-A USB 3.0 (5 Gbps) 1 x Mini DisplayPort 1 x Micro USB Charging Port 1 x headphone jack Headphone/Microphone Bottom (1) 1 x Type Cover Under Kickstand (2) 1 x microSD card slot 1 x nanoSIM card slot Surface 3 with LTE only, Optional	Image Source: Dell Left (5) 1 x Thunderbolt 3 40 Gpbs, USB 3.1 Gen 2 (10 Gbps), PCIe Gen 3 x2, DisplayPort, Power Delivery 1 x USB-A USB 3.0 (5 Gbps), PowerShare 1 x HDMI v2.0 1 x headphone jack Headphone/Microphone 1 x power port Right (4) 1 x USB-A USB 3.0 (5 Gbps), PowerShare 1 x full-size SD card slot 1 x lock slot 1 x Battery gauge button

Internal Specs	Surface 3	Dell XPS 15 9550
Processor	Intel® Atom™ x7-Z8700 4 cores, 4 threads, 1.60 → 2.40 GHz, 2MB Cache, 2W	6th Gen Intel® Core™ i3-6100H 2 cores, 4 threads, 2.70 GHz, 3MB SmartCache, 35W 6th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-6300HQ 4 cores, 4 threads, 2.30 → 3.20 GHz, 6MB SmartCache, 45W 6th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-6700HQ 4 cores, 8 threads, 2.60 → 3.50 GHz, 6MB SmartCache, 45W
Integrated Graphics	Intel® Atom™ x7-Z8700 Intel® HD Graphics 16 Execution Units, 20 → 600 MHz	6th Gen Intel® Core™ i3-6100H Intel® HD Graphics 530 24 Execution Units, 350 → 900 MHz 6th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-6300HQ Intel® HD Graphics 530 24 Execution Units, 350 → 950 MHz 6th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-6700HQ Intel® HD Graphics 530 24 Execution Units, 350 → 1050 MHz
Memory	2GB 4GB 1600 MHz DDR3 SDRAM.	8 GB 16 GB 32 GB 2133 MHz Dual-channel DDR4 RAM.
Discrete Graphics	-	NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 960M (Optional) Maxwell Architecture, 2GB GDDR5 128-bit, 1033 → 1098 MHz, 640 CUDA Cores.
Storage	64GB 128GB eMMC	500GB/32GB SSD 512GB/128GB SSD Hybrid Hard Drive. 256 GB 512 GB PCIe Gen 3 SSD.

Connectivity	Surface 3	Dell XPS 15 9550
Wi-Fi	Wi-Fi 5: IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac compatible.	DW1820A Up to 867 Mbps, Dual band 2.4 GHz/5 GHz, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g, WiFi-4 (802.11n), WiFi-5 (802.11ac).
Bluetooth	Bluetooth Wireless 4.0 technology	Bluetooth 4.1
More	Optional LTE Nano SIM Tray GPS Assisted GPS GLONASS	-

Battery	Surface 3	Dell XPS 15 9550
Size	27.5 Wh	3-cell smart lithium-ion 56 Wh 6-cell smart lithium-ion 84 Wh
Battery Life	Up to 10 hours of video playback	Up to 17 hours * Tested on 84 WHr battery, FHD panel, SSD models.
Power Supply	13W Micro USB power supply	130 W power adapter Power rated at 19.50VDC/6.67A.

Software	Surface 3	Dell XPS 15 9550
OS	Windows 8.1 Pro Upgradable to Windows 10 Pro	Windows 10 Home Windows 10 Pro
Built-in Apps	1-Year Microsoft Office 365 Personal	Microsoft Office 30-days trial McAfee LiveSafe™ 12 Month Subscription

Camera & Audio	Surface 3	Dell XPS 15 9550
Camera	3.5MP front-facing camera with 1080p HD video 8.0MP rear-facing autofocus camera with 1080p HD video	Front-facing camera Bottom-mount front camera with fixed focus lens, 0.92 Megapixels (1280 x 720 HD) at 30 fps.
Audio	Single microphone Front-facing stereo speakers with Dolby® Audio enhanced sound	Realtek ALC3266 with Waves MaxxAudio Pro Two speakers (2W x 2 = 4W total) Digital-array microphones

Misc	Surface 3	Dell XPS 15 9550
Inking	Supports Surface Pen 256 levels of pressure N-trig Active Pen technology	-
Sensors	Ambient light sensor Proximity sensor Accelerometer Gyroscope Magnetometer Digital compass	-
Security	-	Kensington lock slot
In the box	Surface 3 Power supply Quick Start Guide Safety and warranty documents	-
Warranty	One-year limited hardware warranty	-
More	Casing: Magnesium Kickstand: 3 positions Physical buttons: volumes, power	-

Key Features	Surface 3	Dell XPS 15 9550
At Glance	Released in Early 2015 3:2 FHD+ 10.8” 1280p 60Hz Weight 1.37 lb 0.62 kg Powered By Intel Atom x7-Z8700 4C/4T, 1.60 → 2.40 GHz Geekbench 5 224 Single Core Geekbench 5 776 Multi-Core With integrated Intel® HD Graphics 16 Execution Units, 20 → 600 MHz Configurable up to 4GB 1600 MHz DDR3	Released in 2015 16:9 4K UHD 15.6” 2160p 60Hz Weight 3.9 lb 1.77 kg Up to Intel Core i7-6700HQ 4C/8T, 2.60 → 3.50 GHz Geekbench 5 798 Single Core Geekbench 5 3,073 Multi-Core With integrated Intel® HD Graphics 530 24 Execution Units, 350 → 1050 MHz Up to 32GB 2133 MHz DDR4 Nvidia Quadro GTX 960M 2GB GDDR5