HP EliteBook 6 G1q 14" vs Microsoft Surface Pro 12 Comparison

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HP EliteBook 6 G1q 14"

14 inches | March 2025

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Microsoft Surface Pro 12

12 inches | May 2025

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HP EliteBook 6 G1q 14" vs Microsoft Surface Pro 12 Comparison Overview

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In this review, we will be comparing EliteBook 6 G1q 14" and Surface Pro 12, two laptops from HP and Microsoft. HP EliteBook 6 G1q 14" was introduced to market in March 2025 and Microsoft Surface Pro 12 was launched in May 2025. There is only 2 months difference between EliteBook 6 G1q 14" and Surface Pro 12 so we are expecting this to be a fair comparison regarding age and technology level.

Click for Available Configurations of the Laptops

EliteBook 6 G1q 14" and Surface Pro 12 are members of Microsoft's series of laptops. Below you can find the latest models from this series.

HP Series History

	Release Date	Screen Size	Dimensions	Weight
HP ZBook 8 G1i 16"	March 2025	16.0"	359 x 250 x 19.2 mm	1.72 kg (3.79 lbs)
HP ZBook 8 G1i 14"	March 2025	14.0"	215.6 x 222 x 18.9 mm	1.43 kg (3.15 lbs)
HP ProBook 4 G1i 16"	March 2025	16.0"	359.4 x 251 x 1.7 mm	1.75 kg (3.86 lbs)
HP EliteBook 6 G1i 16"	March 2025	16.0"	359.4 x 251 x 1.7 mm	1.75 kg (3.86 lbs)
HP ProBook 4 G1q	March 2025	14.0"	318.6 x 224.3 x 10.9 mm	1.46 kg (3.22 lbs)
HP EliteBook 6 G1q 14"	March 2025	14.0"	318.6 x 224.3 x 17 mm	1.44 kg (3.18 lbs)
HP OmniBook 5 14	March 2025	14.0"	311.9 x 217.4 x 12.7 mm	1.35 kg (2.98 lbs)
HP OmniBook 7 Aero 13.3	March 2025	13.3"	297.3 x 212.2 x 16.5-17.4 mm	1 kg (2.21 lbs)

Here is a brief look at the main features of HP EliteBook 6 G1q 14" and Microsoft Surface Pro 12 before getting into our more detailed comparison.

HP EliteBook 6 G1q 14" Key Specs

Launched in March 2025
14.0" IPS LCD, 16:10 Aspect Ratio Display
CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon X (X1-26-100),Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus (X1P-42-100),Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite (X1E-78-100)
GPU: Adreno X1-45
16GB,32GB,64GB Ram
318.6 x 224.3 x 17 mm (12.54 x 8.83 x 0.67 inches)
Weight: 1.44 kg (3.18 lbs)

Microsoft Surface Pro 12 Key Specs

Launched in May 2025
12.0" Touchscreen - IPS LCD, 3:2 Aspect Ratio Display
CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus (X1P-42-100)
GPU: Adreno X1-45
16GB Ram
274 x 190 x 7.8 mm (10.79 x 7.48 x 0.31 inches)
Weight: 0.68 kg (1.5 lbs)

Let's read on the following sections in order to better understand in detail how EliteBook 6 G1q 14" and Surface Pro 12 compares and decide which one is better for you.

**This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking through my links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Reasons to choose HP EliteBook 6 G1q 14" over Microsoft Surface Pro 12

Side Bezel Thickness	8.6 mm vs 10.2 mm	1.6 mm thinner bezels
Display Size	14 inches vs 12 inches	Larger Screen Estate
Screen Type	Matte vs Glossy	potentially less reflections on screen
Upgradable Storage	Yes vs No	Easily increase the Storage when needed
NVMe Type SSD	Yes vs No	Faster data transfers
Webcam Resolution	2592 x 1944 vs 1920 x 1080	Higher Resolution Camera
HDMI Port	1x HDMI 2.1 vs No	Connect to external monitors directly via HDMI cable
Ethernet RJ45 Port	Yes vs No	Connects to the local network via Ethernet RJ45

Reasons to choose Microsoft Surface Pro 12 over HP EliteBook 6 G1q 14"

Weight	0.68 kg vs 1.44 kg	0.76 kg lighter
Screen-to-Body Ratio	~82.4% vs ~79.5%	Larger screen area ratio
Refresh Rate	90 Hz vs 60 Hz	Smoother media experience
Screen PPI	220 ppi vs 162 ppi	More pixels per inch
Touch Screen	Yes vs No	Interact with your fingers
Screen Resolution	2196 x 1464 pixels vs 1920 x 1200 pixels	Higher pixel count screen
Max Brightness	400 nits vs 300 nits	Brighter Screen
Dolby Atmos Speakers	Yes vs No	3D Surround Sound Support

Common Strengths of Microsoft Surface Pro 12 and HP EliteBook 6 G1q 14"

Launch Dates	March 2025 vs May 2025	Both laptops are recent models
Fast Charging Support	Yes vs Yes	Charge the battery in a shorter time
VGA Output	No vs No	Connect to External Displays via VGA cable

Common Weaknesses of Microsoft Surface Pro 12 and HP EliteBook 6 G1q 14"

HDR Support	No vs No	No HDR Support
Upgradable RAM	No vs No	No Option to increase the RAM size

HP EliteBook 6 G1q 14" vs Microsoft Surface Pro 12: Physical Specs Comparison

In this section, we will be comparing the physical specifications and body features of the HP EliteBook 6 G1q 14" and the Microsoft Surface Pro 12.

Physical Specs
Weight	1.44 kg (3.18 lbs)	0.68 kg (1.5 lbs)
Surface Area	715 cm2 (110.7 inches2)	521 cm2 (80.7 inches2)
Screen to Surface Ratio	~79.5%	~82.4%
Side Bezel Thickness	~8.6 mm	~10.2 mm
Weight per Inch of Screen	0.10 kg/inch	0.06 kg/inch
	0.22 lbs/inch	0.132 lbs/inch
Colors	Silver	Gray, Blue, Purple

Comparison of the HP EliteBook 6 G1q 14" and the Microsoft Surface Pro 12 External Dimensions

Weight

EliteBook 6 G1q 14" weighs 1.44 kg (3.18 lbs), whereas the Surface Pro 12 weighs 0.68 kg (1.5 lbs). There is a notable difference in weight between these two laptops. However, it's important to consider that comparing their weights directly may not provide a complete picture since they also have different display sizes.

Weight Comparison

HP EliteBook 6 G1q 14"

Avg: 14.0-14.9"

Microsoft Surface Pro 12

Avg: 12.0-12.9"

Thickness Comparison

HP EliteBook 6 G1q 14"

Avg: 14.0-14.9"

Microsoft Surface Pro 12

Avg: 12.0-12.9"

Another value that we use for comparing the weights of the laptops is the Weight per Inch of Screen, which is calculated by dividing the total weight of the model with its usable diagonal screen size. This value for the HP EliteBook 6 G1q 14" is 0.10 kg/inch.In comparison, this value for the Microsoft Surface Pro 12 is 0.06 kg/inch.Here are some of the best performing laptops in this area:

Microsoft Surface Go 4: 0.05 kg/inch
LG Gram SuperSlim 15.6 2023: 0.06 kg/inch
Asus ProArt PZ13 HT5306: 0.06 kg/inch
Asus Zenbook A14 UX3407: 0.06 kg/inch
Dell Latitude 7330: 0.07 kg/inch
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano Gen 2: 0.07 kg/inch
LG Gram 14 2022: 0.07 kg/inch
LG Gram 14 2-in-1 2022: 0.07 kg/inch

HP EliteBook 6 G1q 14" vs Microsoft Surface Pro 12: Internals (CPU, GPU, RAM, Battery, SSD, etc.) Comparison

CPU Comparison

CPU Model	Qualcomm Snapdragon X (X1-26-100) Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus (X1P-42-100) Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite (X1E-78-100)	Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus (X1P-42-100)
Base Frequency	2.98 GHz	3.2 GHz
Number of Cores	8	8
Number of Threads	8	8
L3 Cache	6 MB
Integrated GPU	Qualcomm Adreno X1-45	Qualcomm Adreno X1-45
CPU Fabrication Process	4 nm	4 nm

Above you can see the CPU options and the CineBench and GeekBench test scores for both laptops, which gives an idea about what kind of performance difference you may experience between the HP EliteBook 6 G1q 14" and Microsoft Surface Pro 12.

You may also read reviews of latest laptops with the same CPU ( Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus (X1P-42-100) ) and compare them:

GPU Comparison

GPU Model	Adreno X1-45	Adreno X1-45
Base Clock Frequency	280 MHz	280 MHz
Boost CLock Frequency	1107 MHz	1107 MHz
TGP (Total Graphics Power)	30 W	30 W
Type	Integrated	Integrated
FLOPS	2.3 TFLOPS	2.3 TFLOPS
Memory Size	System Shared	System Shared
Memory Type	LPDDR5X	LPDDR5X
Memory Speed	8.53 Gbps	8.45 Gbps
Shading Units Cores	1024	1024
TMUs	48	48
ROPs	24	24

GPU is as critical as the CPU for graphic heavy applications and the table above gives a picture of how the two GPU compares. FLOPS is a measure of a GPU's performance based on the number of floating-point arithmetic calculations that the processor can perform within a second. HP EliteBook 6 G1q 14" has a FLOPS value of 2.3 TFLOPS whereas the Microsoft Surface Pro 12 ' has a FLOPS value of 2.3 TFLOPS.

RAM Comparison

RAM	16GB 32GB 64GB	16GB
Memory Bus	2x8 GB	2x8 GB
RAM Clock	8533 MHz	8448 MHz
RAM Type	LPDDR5X	LPDDR5X
Upgradable	No	No
Memory Bus	PCI-E Gen 4.0 (4x)	Custom

Both laptops, the EliteBook 6 G1q 14" and the Surface Pro 12, come with similar RAM capacities of 16 GB, providing comparable performance in memory-intensive tasks.

LOCAL LLM Compatibility Evaluation

This quick guide shows what types of large language models (LLMs) each of these laptops could support, based on their respective hardware specifications. It's meant to help you compare their suitability for running AI models locally.

LLM Category	HP EliteBook 6 G1q 14"	Microsoft Surface Pro 12
Small Models(1-3B):Examples: Phi-2, Qwen-1.8B	✔ Run smoothly.	✔ Run smoothly.
Medium Models(7-8B):Examples: Mistral-7B, Qwen-7B	✔ Good performance.	✔ Good performance.
Large Models(13-30B):Examples: Mixtral, Qwen-14B	⚠ Can run slowly on CPU with enough RAM and good iGPU.	✖ Not supported.
Extra-Large Models(65B+):Examples: LLaMA2-70B, Qwen1.5-72B	✖ Not supported on most systems. Requires high-end GPU or advanced setup.	✖ Not supported on most systems. Requires high-end GPU or advanced setup.

Note: Optimized (e.g., 4-bit) models may run on limited hardware. Performance depends on runtime and setup.

📌 MoE Models: Some models like Mixtral 8x7B and Qwen3-30B-A3B use a Mixture of Experts (MoE) design, activating only part of the model during inference. This means they can often run efficiently on laptops with 12–16 GB of VRAM when quantized.

BATTERY

BATTERY	48 Wh 56 Wh	38 Wh
Battery Type	Li-Po	Li-Po
Replaceable	No	No
Fast Charging	No	No
Charging Port Position	Left	Right
Charge Power	65 W	45 W
Cable Length	1 meters

Moreover, the EliteBook 6 G1q 14" boasts a larger battery capacity of 48 Wh, offering extended usage time compared to the Surface Pro 12's38 Wh.

Battery Comparison

HP EliteBook 6 G1q 14"

Avg: 14.0-14.9"

Microsoft Surface Pro 12

Avg: 12.0-12.9"

STORAGE
With a larger storage capacity up to 1 TB, the EliteBook 6 G1q 14" provides more space for storing files and applications compared to the Surface Pro 12's max. storage capacity of 512 GB.

Storage Options	256 GB, 512 GB, 1 TB	256 GB, 512 GB
Upgradable	Yes	No
Storage type	SSD (M2)	SSD (M2)
NVMe	Yes	No

If your budget allows, we recommend opting for the largest possible disk size, considering the potential increase in storage capacity needs in the future. However, please keep in mind the question 'What will the laptop be used for?' when making this decision. Of course, you can later upgrade the hard disk capacity by getting a larger disk. However, if your laptop has only one disk slot, it may not be as straightforward as a RAM upgrade, where you simply add or replace a module, as moving or cloning files to a new disk may be necessary.

HP EliteBook 6 G1q 14" vs Microsoft Surface Pro 12: Display Comparison

The display is an essential aspect to consider when comparing the HP EliteBook 6 G1q 14" and Microsoft Surface Pro 12 since its is the component that you interact the most and significantly impact the experience.

Screen Area and Dimensions

Now let's look at the comparison of the actual display areas of both laptops below, keeping the bezels around the screens out of the equation. EliteBook 6 G1q 14" has a display size of 14.0".On the other hand, Surface Pro 12 has a smaller 12.0" display.The total usable screen area of the EliteBook 6 G1q 14" is 568cm² / 88inch² whereas the Surface Pro 12's total usable screen area is 429cm² / 66inch².

PPI (Pixels per Inch)
Additionally, the Surface Pro 12 features a higher pixel density with 220 pixels per inch (PPI), ensuring sharper image details.

Screen PPI (Pixels Per Inch) Comparison

HP EliteBook 6 G1q 14"

Avg: 14.0-14.9"

Microsoft Surface Pro 12

Avg: 12.0-12.9"

Refresh Rate
The Surface Pro 12 offers a higher refresh rate of 90 Hz, resulting in smoother motion and improved visual experience.

Brightness
The Surface Pro 12 offers a higher maximum brightness of 400 nits, delivering a brighter screen.

Brightness Comparison

HP EliteBook 6 G1q 14"

Avg: 14.0-14.9"

Microsoft Surface Pro 12

Avg: 12.0-12.9"

HP EliteBook 6 G1q 14" vs Microsoft Surface Pro 12 Connectivity Comparison

In terms of connectivity,

Wifi
Both EliteBook 6 G1q 14" and Surface Pro 12 support the latest Wi-Fi standard v7.

Below, you'll find a Wi-Fi Versions Table, along with their release dates and speeds, to provide a brief overview of its development.

Wi-Fi Versions and Speeds

Standard	Speed	Release Date	Network	Frequency Bands (GHz)
Wi-Fi 7	up to 40 Gbps (5 GB/s)	2023	802.11be	2.4, 5, 6
Wi-Fi 6E	up to 9.6 Gbps (1.2 GB/s)	2020	802.11ax	2.4, 5, 6
Wi-Fi 6	up to 9.6 Gbps (1.2 GB/s)	2019	802.11ax	2.4, 5
Wi-Fi 5	up to 6.93 Gbps (866.25 MB/s)	2014	802.11ac	2.4, 5
Wi-Fi 4	up to 600 Mbps (75 MB/s)	2009	802.11n	2.4, 5

* Please note that the provided transfer rates are maximum theoretical values, and real-life performance may vary based on environmental factors.

USB
EliteBook 6 G1q 14" is equipped with 2x USB 3.2 USB-A ports. Surface Pro 12 does not have USB-A ports.
Both EliteBook 6 G1q 14" and Surface Pro 12 feature 2x USB 4.0 USB Type-C ports.

Below, you'll find a table of USB ports, along with their release dates and speeds.
To mitigate the confusion caused by generation names, the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) suggests using marketing names like USB 5Gbps, USB 10Gbps, and so forth, based on their respective transfer rates.

USB Type and Speeds

USB Type	Version	Speed	Date	Other Features/Explanations
USB4	Gen 4 (2.0)	80 Gbps	2022	Also known as USB 80Gbps
USB4	Gen 3×2	40 Gbps	2019	Also known as USB 40Gbps
USB 3.2	3.2 Gen 2x2	20 Gbps	2019	Double the data transfer rates of Gen 2
USB 3.2	3.2 Gen 2	10 Gbps	2017	Previously known as USB 3.1
USB 3.2	3.2 Gen 1	5 Gbps	2017	Previously known as USB 3.0
USB 3.1	3.1 Gen 2	10 Gbps	2013	Faster data transfer rates
USB 3.0	3.1 Gen 1	5 Gbps	2010	SuperSpeed USB, improved data transfer rates
USB 2.0	2.0	480 Mbps	2000	High-speed data transfer
USB 1.0	1.0	1.5 Mbps	1996	Original USB standard

Thunderbolt
Neither EliteBook 6 G1q 14" nor Surface Pro 12 has Thunderbolt port.

HDMI
EliteBook 6 G1q 14" features an HDMI port (1x HDMI 2.1) for connecting to external monitors. Surface Pro 12 does not have an HDMI port.

Below, you'll find a comparison table detailing different HDMI versions, including their bandwidth, color depth, maximum resolution, and release dates. This information can be helpful in understanding the capabilities of each HDMI version and choosing the most suitable one for your needs.

HDMI Comparison Table

HDMI Version	Maximum Resolution	Bandwidth (Gbps)	Color Depth (bits)	Release Date
HDMI 2.1-2.1b	7680 x 4320 *(8K)* @ 60p 3840 x 2160 *(4K)* @ 120p	48.0	48	2017
HDMI 2.0-2.0b	3840 x 2160 *(4K)* @ 60p	18.0	48	2013
HDMI 1.4-1.4b	3840 x 2160 *(4K)* @ 30p	10.2	48	2009
HDMI 1.3-1.3a	2560 x 1440 @ 60p	10.2	48	2006
HDMI 1.0-1.2a	1920 x 1200 @ 60p	4.95	24	2002

* Please note that the provided resolution values represent the maximum supported resolution, and actual display quality may depend on other factors such as source content and connected devices.

SD Card Reader
Neither EliteBook 6 G1q 14" nor Surface Pro 12 has an SD Card Reader.

Audio Jack
EliteBook 6 G1q 14" is equipped with a 3.5mm Audio Jack, allowing seamless connection to headphones and speakers. Surface Pro 12 does not have a 3.5mm Audio Jack.

To summarize the connectivity and ports details, please refer to the table below to see them listed.

Connectivity and Ports
WiFi Standard (latest: v7)	v7	v7
Bluetooth (latest: v5.4)	v5.4	v5.4
USB-A (latest: 3.2)	2x USB 3.2	No
USB Type-C (latest: USB4 2.0)	2x USB 4.0	2x USB 4.0
Thunderbolt (latest: 5)	No	No
HDMI (latest: 2.1)	1x HDMI 2.1	No
Display Port (latest: v2.0)	No	No
VGA	No	No
Fingerprint Sensor	Optional	No
Optical Drive	No	No
Audio Jack 3.5mm	Yes	No
Ethernet RJ45	Yes	No
SD CardReader	No	No
Proprietary Charging Port	No	No