Surface Laptop Studio vs. Dell XPS 17 9700: Which is better?

Here is a side by side comparison between Surface Laptop Studio and Dell XPS 17 9700 specs including CPU, RAM, storage, battery, display, and more.

Surface Laptop Studio Pros

Reasons that Surface Laptop Studio is better than Dell XPS 17 9700.

Newer manufacturing

2021 vs. 2020

Supports faster memory

Surface Laptop Studio supports a faster memory speed than the Dell XPS 17 9700. It supports up to 4267MHz versus 2933MHz of system memory on the Dell XPS 17 9700.

Memory type and speed
Surface Laptop Studio - LPDDR4X
4,267 MHz
Dell XPS 17 9700 - DDR4
2,933 MHz
About 18% lighter

Surface Laptop Studio weighed 3.83 pounds, 18% lighter than the 4.65 pounds Dell XPS 17 9700.

WeightSurface Laptop StudioDell XPS 17 9700
Pound
3.83 lbs.
4.65 lbs.
Kilogram
1.74 kg
2.11 kg

Dell XPS 17 9700 Pros

Reasons that Dell XPS 17 9700 is better than Surface Laptop Studio.

Significantly faster CPU performance

Intel Core i9-10885H inside Dell XPS 17 9700 has a 39% better multi-core CPU performance score than the Intel Core i7-11370H inside Surface Laptop Studio.

Geekbench 5 multi-core score
Dell XPS 17 9700 - Intel Core i7-10875H
6,874
Dell XPS 17 9700 - Intel Core i9-10885H
6,788
Dell XPS 17 9700 - Intel Core i7-10750H
5,412
Surface Laptop Studio - Intel Core i7-11370H
4,864
Surface Laptop Studio - Intel Core i5-11300H
4,441
Dell XPS 17 9700 - Intel Core i5-10300H
3,747
Supports larger memory

Dell XPS 17 9700 supports a larger memory capacity than the Surface Laptop Studio. It supports up to 64GB versus 32GB of system memory on the Surface Laptop Studio.

Max system memory size
Dell XPS 17 9700
64 GB
Surface Laptop Studio
32 GB
18% larger display

Dell XPS 17 9700 has a 17-inch screen size 18% larger than the 14.4-inch Surface Laptop Studio.

Display size
Dell XPS 17 9700
17-inch
Surface Laptop Studio
14.4-inch
Has three more ports and slots

Dell XPS 17 9700 has more ports and slots count than the Surface Laptop Studio. It has seven versus four amount of ports and slots on the Surface Laptop Studio.

PortsSurface Laptop StudioDell XPS 17 9700
full-size SD card slotNoYes
headphone jackYesYes
lock slotNoYes
Surface Connect+YesNo
Thunderbolt 3NoYes x4
Thunderbolt 4Yes x2No
Total47
Slightly more versatile connectivity

Dell XPS 17 9700 has better versatile I/O connectivity than the Surface Laptop Studio. It has three versus two commonly used ports and slots on the Surface Laptop Studio.

PortsSurface Laptop StudioDell XPS 17 9700
headphone jackYesYes
full-size SD card slotNoYes
Thunderbolt 3NoYes
Thunderbolt 4YesNo

Prices

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

Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio Price
Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio - 14.4" Touchscreen - Intel® Core™ i7 - 32GB Memory - 1TB SSD - Platinum
Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio - 14.4" Touchscreen - Intel® Core™ i7 - 32GB Memory - 1TB SSD - Platinum
By Microsoft
$1,744.93
$2,699.99 35% OFF
Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio, 14.4" Touchscreen Display - Intel Core H35 i7-11370H, 16GB RAM 512GB SSD NVIDIA GFORCE RTX 3050 Ti, Windows 11 Home, Platinum - A8Z-00001 (Renewed)
Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio, 14.4" Touchscreen Display - Intel Core H35 i7-11370H, 16GB RAM 512GB SSD NVIDIA GFORCE RTX 3050 Ti, Windows 11 Home, Platinum - A8Z-00001 (Renewed)
By Microsoft
$994.99
$1,099.00 9% OFF
Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio - 14.4" Touchscreen - Intel® Core™ i5 - 16GB Memory - 256GB SSD - Platinum
Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio - 14.4" Touchscreen - Intel® Core™ i5 - 16GB Memory - 256GB SSD - Platinum
By Microsoft
$1,116.03
$1,599.99 30% OFF
Dell XPS 17 9700 Price
Dell XPS 17" 9700 FHD+ Laptop PC Intel Core i7-10750H Processor, 16GB Ram, 1TB NVMe SSD, Type C, Webcam, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB, Windows 11 Pro (Renewed)
Dell XPS 17" 9700 FHD+ Laptop PC Intel Core i7-10750H Processor, 16GB Ram, 1TB NVMe SSD, Type C, Webcam, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB, Windows 11 Pro (Renewed)
By Dell
$1,916.99
2020 Dell XPS 9700 Laptop 17 - Intel Core i7 10th Gen - i7-10750H - Six Core 5Ghz - 1TB SSD - 32GB RAM - Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Ti - 1920x1200 FHD+ - Windows 10 Home (Renewed)
2020 Dell XPS 9700 Laptop 17 - Intel Core i7 10th Gen - i7-10750H - Six Core 5Ghz - 1TB SSD - 32GB RAM - Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Ti - 1920x1200 FHD+ - Windows 10 Home (Renewed)
By Dell
$1,458.81
Dell New XPS 17 9700 17 inch UHD Plus Laptop, Intel i9-10885H 10th Gen, 32GB DDR4 RAM, 1TB SSD, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 6GB GDDR6, Windows 10 Home, Silver
Dell New XPS 17 9700 17 inch UHD Plus Laptop, Intel i9-10885H 10th Gen, 32GB DDR4 RAM, 1TB SSD, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 6GB GDDR6, Windows 10 Home, Silver
By Dell
$1,799.00

Availability

Surface Laptop StudioDell XPS 17 9700
Released20212020
Release Date
  • Introduced: September 22, 2021
  • Pre-ordered: September 22, 2021
  • Released: October 5, 2021
Announced Date: May 13, 2020
Pricing
  • $1,599.99
    i5-11300H 16GB 256GB Intel Iris Xe
  • $1,799.99
    i5-11300H 16GB 512GB Intel Iris Xe
  • $2,099.99
    i7-11370H 16GB 256GB RTX 3050 Ti
  • $2,699.99
    i7-11370H 16GB 1TB RTX 3050 Ti
  • $3,099.99
    i7-11370H 32GB 2TB RTX 3050 Ti
-
Generations-

Exterior

Surface Laptop StudioDell XPS 17 9700
Dimensions12.72” x 8.98” x 0.746” (323.28 mm x 228.32 mm x 18.94 mm)
  • 14.74 x 9.76 x 0.77 in (374.45 x 248.05 x 19.5 mm)
    • Width: 14.74” (374.45 mm)
    • Depth: 9.76” (248.05 mm)
    • Height: 0.77” (19.5 mm)
Weight
  • 3.83 lb (1,742.9 grams)
    Intel Core i5 models.
  • 4.00 lb (1,820.2 grams)
    Intel Core i7 models.
  • Non-touch with 56Wh: 4.65 lbs (2.11 kg)
  • Touch screen with 97Wh: 5.53 lbs (2.51 kg)
Colors
Platinum
Casing: Magnesium and Aluminum
  • CNC machined aluminum in platinum silver with carbon fiber composite palm rest in black
  • Edge-to-edge Corning® Gorilla® Glass 6 on touch panel
Keyboard and Trackpad
  • Keyboard:
    • Activation: Moving (mechanical) keys
    • Layout: QWERTY, full row of function keys (F1-F12)
    • Windows key and dedicated buttons for media controls, screen brightness
    • Backlight.
  • Precision Haptic touchpad:
    • Largest surface touchpad to date.
    • Supports up to Five-finger multitouch gestures.
  • Full size, backlit chiclet keyboard with larger keycaps.
  • Larger touchpad with multi-touch gesture support.

Display

Surface Laptop StudioDell XPS 17 9700
Size14.4 Inches17 Inches
Info
  • 14.4” PixelSense™ Flow Display
  • Resolution: 2400 x 1600 (201 PPI)
  • Aspect ratio: 3:2
  • Contrast ratio: 1500:1
  • Refresh rate: 120Hz
    60Hz default.
  • Inking: GPU Ink Acceleration
  • Touch: 10 points multi-touch
  • Dolby Vision® support
  • 17-inch FHD+ non-touchscreen
    • 1920 x 1200, IPS, 145 PPI, 500-nits brightness, 1650:1 contrast ratio, 100% sRGB, InfinityEdge Anti-Glare, Non-touch support.
  • 17-inch UHD+ IPS touchscreen
    • 3840 x 2400, IPS, 290 PPI, 500-nit brightness, 1600:1 contrast ratio, 100% AdobeRGB, InfinityEdge, Anti-Reflective, Touch support.

Ports

Surface Laptop StudioDell XPS 17 9700
Surface Laptop Studio Ports
Image Source: Microsoft
Left (2)
  • 2 x Thunderbolt 4
    40 Gpbs, USB 4.0 (40 Gbps), DisplayPort, Power Delivery
Right (2)
  • 1 x Surface Connect+
    Magnet Charging, Surface Dock
  • 1 x headphone jack
    Headphone/Microphone
Dell XPS 17 9700 Ports
Image Source: Dell
Left (3)
  • 2 x Thunderbolt 3
    40 Gpbs, USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps), DisplayPort 1.4, Power Delivery
  • 1 x lock slot
Right (4)
  • 2 x Thunderbolt 3
    40 Gpbs, USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps), DisplayPort 1.4, Power Delivery
  • 1 x full-size SD card slot
    v6.0
  • 1 x headphone jack
    Headphone/Microphone

Internal Specs

Surface Laptop StudioDell XPS 17 9700
Processor
  1. 11th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-11300H
    4 cores, 8 threads, 3.10 → 4.40 GHz, 8MB SmartCache, 35W
  2. 11th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-11370H
    4 cores, 8 threads, 3.30 → 4.80 GHz, 12MB SmartCache, 35W
  1. 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-10300H
    4 cores, 8 threads, 2.50 → 4.50 GHz, 8MB SmartCache, 45W
  2. 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-10750H
    6 cores, 12 threads, 2.60 → 5.00 GHz, 12MB SmartCache, 45W
  3. 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-10875H
    8 cores, 16 threads, 2.30 → 5.10 GHz, 16MB SmartCache, 45W
  4. 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i9-10885H
    8 cores, 16 threads, 2.40 → 5.30 GHz, 16MB SmartCache, 45W
Integrated Graphics
  1. 11th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-11300H
    Intel® Iris® Xe Graphics
    80 Execution Units, 400 → 1300 MHz
  2. 11th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-11370H
    Intel® Iris® Xe Graphics
    96 Execution Units, 400 → 1350 MHz
  1. 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-10300H
    Intel® UHD Graphics 630
    24 Execution Units, 350 → 1050 MHz
  2. 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-10750H
    Intel® UHD Graphics 630
    24 Execution Units, 350 → 1150 MHz
  3. 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-10875H
    Intel® UHD Graphics 630
    24 Execution Units, 350 → 1200 MHz
  4. 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i9-10885H
    Intel® UHD Graphics 630
    24 Execution Units, 350 → 1250 MHz
Memory
16GB 32GB
4267 MHz LPDDR4X RAM
  • 8 GB 16 GB 32 GB 64 GB
    2933 MHz Dual-channel DDR4 RAM.
Discrete Graphics
  • Optional NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3050 Ti  with 4GB GDDR6
    For Consumer.
  • Optional NVIDIA® RTX™ A2000 with 4GB GDDR6
    For Business.
  • NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 1650 Ti with Max-Q (Optional)
    • Turning Architecture, 4GB GDDR6 128-bit, 1035 → 1200 MHz, 1024 CUDA Cores.
  • NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 2060 with Max-Q (Optional)
    • Turning Architecture, 6GB GDDR6 192-bit, 975 → 1185 MHz, 1920 CUDA Cores.
Storage
256GB 512GB 1TB 2TB
Removable M.2 NVMe SSD
  • 256 GB 512 GB 1 TB 2TB 4TB
    • 2 x Removable M.2 2230/2280 PCIe® 3x4 NVMe™ SSD, Up to 32 Gbps.

Connectivity

Surface Laptop StudioDell XPS 17 9700
Wi-FiWi-Fi 6: IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax compatible.
  • Rivet Killer AX1650w
    Up to 2400 Mbps, Dual band 2.4 GHz/5 GHz, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g, WiFi-4 (802.11n), WiFi-5 (802.11ac), WiFi-6 (802.11ax)
  • Rivet Killer AX500s DBS
    Up to 1774.50 Mbps, Dual band 2.4 GHz/5 GHz, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g, WiFi-4 (802.11n), WiFi-5 (802.11ac), WiFi-6 (802.11ax)
BluetoothBluetooth Wireless 5.1 technology
  • Rivet Killer AX1650w › Bluetooth 5.1
  • Rivet Killer AX500s DBS › Bluetooth 5.2

Battery

Surface Laptop StudioDell XPS 17 9700
Size
  • 58.0 Wh
    Nominal battery capacity.
  • 56.3 Wh
    Minimum battery capacity.
  • 3-cell smart lithium-ion 56 Wh
  • 6-cell smart lithium-ion 97 Wh
Battery Life
  • Up to 19 hours of typical device usage
    Intel Core i5 models.
  • Up to 18 hours of typical device usage
    Intel Core i7 models.
-
Power Supply
  • 60W power supply
    Intel Core i5 models.
  • 95W power supply
    Intel Core i7 models.
  • 90 W USB Type-C power adapter
    Power rated at 5VDC/3A, 9VDc/3A, 15VDC/3A, 20VDC/4.5A.
  • 130 W USB Type-C power adapter
    Power rated at 5VDC/1A, 20VDC/6.5A.

Software

Surface Laptop StudioDell XPS 17 9700
OS
  • For Consumer: Windows 11 Home
  • For Commercial: Windows 11 Pro
Windows 10 Home Windows 10 Pro
Upgradable to Windows 11
Built-in Apps
  • Preloaded Microsoft 365 Apps
  • Microsoft 365 Family 30-day trial
  • Preloaded Xbox app
  • Xbox Game Pass Ultimate one month trial
  • Microsoft Office 30-days trial
  • McAfee LiveSafe™ 12 Month Subscription

Camera & Audio

Surface Laptop StudioDell XPS 17 9700
Camera
  • Windows Hello face authentication camera (front-facing)
  • 1080p resolution front-facing camera
  • Front-facing camera
    Top-mount front camera with fixed focus lens, 0.92 Megapixels (1280 x 720 HD) at 30 fps.
  • Infrared camera
    576 x 360 (VGA) at 30 fps for Windows Hello Facial Recognition.
Audio
  • Dual far-field Studio Mics
  • Quad Omnisonic™ speakers with Dolby Atmos®
  • Studio quality tuning with Waves MaxxAudio® Pro and Waves Nx® 3D audio
  • Quad-speaker design
  • Dual microphone array optimized with Waves MaxxVoice supporting VoIP - Microsoft Cortana capable

Misc

Surface Laptop StudioDell XPS 17 9700
Inking
  • Supports Microsoft Pen Protocol (MPP)
    4096 levels of pressure Tilt sensing Best in class latency Paper feel 0.1mm precision
  • Supports Tactile signals with Surface Slim Pen 2
-
Sensors
  • Ambient light sensor
  • Accelerometer
  • Gyroscope
  • Magnetometer
  • Ambient light sensor
  • Windows Hello compliant fingerprint reader in the power button
Security
  • Hardware TPM 2.0 chip for enterprise security and BitLocker support
  • Enterprise-grade protection with Windows Hello face sign-in
  • Windows enhanced hardware security
  • Windows Hello with Fingerprint Sign in
  • Enterprise-grade protection with Windows Hello face sign-in
  • Wedge-shaped lock
In the box
  • Surface Laptop Studio
  • Power supply
  • Quick Start Guide
  • Safety and warranty documents
-
Warranty
  • One-year limited hardware warranty
  • Surface for Business customers: Includes Advanced Exchange, an expedited replacement service, at no additional cost
-
MoreSupports Surface Dial
Supports off-screen interaction only.
Hinge
Dynamic Woven Hinge made of woven fabric with embedded cables that can bend 180 degrees.
-

Key Features

Surface Laptop StudioDell XPS 17 9700
At Glance
Released in Late
2021
3:2 2.4K
14.4”
2400p 60~120Hz
Weight
3.83 lb
1.74 kg
Up to
Intel Core i7-11370H
4C/8T, 3.30 → 4.80 GHz
Geekbench 5
1,397
Single Core
Geekbench 5
4,864
Multi-Core
With integrated
Intel® Iris® Xe Graphics
96 Execution Units, 400 → 1350 MHz
Configurable up to
32GB
4267 MHz LPDDR4X
Surface Laptop Studio Ports
NVIDIA GeForce
RTX 3050 Ti 
4GB GDDR6
Released in Mid
2020
16:10 4K UHD+
17”
2400p 60Hz
Weight
4.65 lb
2.11 kg
Up to
Intel Core i9-10885H
8C/16T, 2.40 → 5.30 GHz
Geekbench 5
1,196
Single Core
Geekbench 5
6,788
Multi-Core
With integrated
Intel® UHD Graphics 630
24 Execution Units, 350 → 1250 MHz
Up to
64GB
2933 MHz DDR4
Dell XPS 17 9700 Ports
NVIDIA GeForce
RTX 2060
6GB GDDR6 with Max-Q

Comparison Summary

Surface Laptop Studio vs. Dell XPS 17 9700

Microsoft has released the Surface Laptop Studio, a 14.4-inch machine, in late-2021. It is powered by up to a quad-core Intel Core i7-11370H with a boost clock speed up to 4.80 GHz. The laptop has a dedicated GPU option up to NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti  with 4GB GDDR6.

On the other hand, we have the 17-inch XPS 17 9700 was introduced by Dell about a year earlier in mid-2020. It comes with up to an octa-core Intel Core i9-10885H with a boost clock speed up to 5.30 GHz. It has a dedicated GPU option up to NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 with 6GB GDDR6 with Max-Q.

Geekbench 5 Single Core

Surface Laptop Studio1
11th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-11300H1,28692.05%
2
11th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-11370H1,397100.00%
Dell XPS 17 97001
10th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-10300H1,06175.95%
2
10th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-10750H1,13481.17%
3
10th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-10875H1,19285.33%
4
10th Gen Intel® Core™ i9-10885H1,19685.61%
01,397

Geekbench 5 Multi Core

Surface Laptop Studio1
11th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-11300H4,44164.61%
2
11th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-11370H4,86470.76%
Dell XPS 17 97001
10th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-10300H3,74754.51%
2
10th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-10750H5,41278.73%
3
10th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-10875H6,874100.00%
4
10th Gen Intel® Core™ i9-10885H6,78898.75%
06,874

The Surface Laptop Studio has a 14.4-inch display which is considerably smaller than the 17-inch Dell XPS 17 9700. In addition, The Surface Laptop Studio weighs 3.83 lbs. about 21% lighter than the 4.65 lbs. Dell XPS 17 9700. Moreover, measured at 12.72” x 8.98” x 0.746”, the Surface Laptop Studio is much more portable than the Dell XPS 17 9700 at 14.74” x 9.76” x 0.77”.

Surface Laptop StudioDell XPS 17 9700

There are a toal number of 4 ports and slots available on Surface Laptop Studio. That includes a Thunderbolt 4 port, a Surface Connect+, and a headphone jack. With that said, it has three ports and slots fewer than the Dell XPS 17 9700 that has four Thunderbolt 3 ports, a lock slot, a full-size SD card slot, and a headphone jack.

Moving over to upgradability, Microsoft claims that the Surface Laptop Studio supports up to 32GB 4267 MHz LPDDR4X memory. However, it has an onboard memory module that is not upgradable by the users. Fortunately, it comes with a single removable M.2 SSD slot that users can replace and upgrade in the future.

For Dell XPS 17 9700, it supports up to 64GB 2933 MHz DDR4 memory. It also has two M.2 slots that users can easily swap or add an extra SSD to get extra space when needed.

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