The launch of Microsoft’s long-rumored Surface Book 3 could be just around the corner if a newly-public FCC filing is anything to go by.
While the Surface Book 3 isn’t explicitly mentioned, the FCC filing, which was filed last week and became public today, mentions a ‘Microsoft Corporation Portable Computing Device’ with the model number 1899. As noted by Windows Latest, which sniffed out the filing, this is different from the incoming Surface Go 2's model number of 1927.
Unfortunately, the filing doesn’t show much else about the Surface Book 3. However, it does appear to confirm that the 2-in-1 will launch alongside the second-generation Surface Go and Surface Earbuds and that it’ll come equipped with an Intel modem complete with support for Wi-Fi 6 connectivity.
Based on previous rumors, support for Wi-Fi 6 isn’t all the Surface Book 3 will have going for it. The machine, which hasn’t been updated since 2017, is expected to come kitted out with Intel’s 10th-generation Comet Lake processors, with the 13-inch and 15-inch variants set to pack Core i5-10210U and Core i7-10510U CPUs, respectively.
On higher-end Surface Book 3 models, rumors claim, these processors will come teamed with Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650 Max-Q or GTX 1660 Ti Max-Q graphics, positioning the laptop as a machine for content creators and professional users.
There’s also talk that the third-generation Surface Book will be the first to be offered in an AMD variant, much like last year’s Surface Laptop 3. Reputable tipster @_rogame recently discovered an AMD Ryzen 4000 benchmark that showed the APU inside a mysterious Surface machine and speculated that the device - which sports a custom Ryzen 7 CPU with integrated Radeon RX Vega 11 graphics - could be the incoming Surface Book 3.
The laptop, which will supposedly stick with the same detachable design as existing Surface models, is 8GB, 16GB or 32GB configurations, with storage running up to 1TB.
As per rumors, the Surface Book 3 will be available from $1,699 (around £1,385, AU$3,318), which will get you a 13-inch i5 model sans dGPU with 8GB RAM and 256GB storage. The top-spec 15-inch Core i7 model with 32GB RAM and 2TB storage will set you back a $3,399 (around £2,770, AU$6,640).
