Surface Go 3 review: A lateral upgrade for Microsoft’s uniquely affordable tablet

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Microsoft touts its 10.5-inch Surface Go 3 pill as its most cell Surface. While that’s undoubtedly true, what else does the brand new Surface Go 3 have to supply? A small processor bump, Windows 11, and, properly, that’s about it.

The Surface Go 3 is actually the identical machine because the Surface Go 2. We don’t think about Windows 11 to be necessarily worth the upgrade, which robs the Surface Go 3 of its attraction. As for the processor improve — sure, there’s now a 10th-gen Core i3 choice, but it surely doesn’t actually transfer the needle performance-wise.

Surface Go 3: primary options and accessible configurations

Microsoft’s Surface Go 3 is accessible in three configurations, starting from $399.99 on as much as $629.99, which is the worth of our assessment unit. We wouldn’t advocate the $399.99 base mannequin (with a Pentium Gold 6500Y, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage) as a result of the 4GB of reminiscence isn’t adequate for working a number of apps. The different configurations, together with a midrange model (Pentium Gold 6500Y/8GB RAM/128GB SSD: $549.99) and the premium providing (Intel Core i3/8GB RAM/128GB SSD: $629.99), spherical out the choices.

The Surface Go 3 is exclusive as a result of there aren’t many small, cheap Windows tablets vying on your pockets. Otherwise, the Go 3 is priced equally to Microsoft’s price range clamshell laptop computer, the Surface Laptop Go, which additionally has a $549.99 discounted model that features a Core i5-1035G1 with 8GB of reminiscence and a 128GB SSD. The Laptop Go’s display screen is a particular step down, nonetheless.

Unlike the prior Surface Go 2, the present model of the Surface Go 3 client model doesn’t ship with mobile choices. It’s a considerably odd omission, although our Go 2 review indicated that its mobile reception was spotty. Microsoft reserved the LTE choice for what it calls the Surface Go 3 for Business, which ships in each a $499.99 (Core i3/4GB RAM/64GB SSD) and a $679.99 (Core i3/8GB RAM/128GB SSD) configuration, every with an LTE SIM tray that the patron model lacks. The Business configuration additionally means that you can selected both Windows 10 Pro or Windows 11 Pro, an odd alternative given the elective 4GB RAM configuration.

Unlike the Surface Pro 8, the Surface Go’s Type Cover has not been redesigned to accommodate the Surface Slim Pen 2. And sure, you continue to have to purchase the keyboard individually. The Type Cover’s costs vary from $59.99 to $129.99, relying on shade and accessible reductions. For inking, there’s the older $99.99 Surface Pen. Unfortunately, there’s no pen loop to safe the pen with the Go 3, although the facet of the pill is magnetized to assist hold the pen in place when not in use.

Mark Hachman / IDG

• Processor: Intel Pentium Gold 6500Y, Core i3-10100Y (Core i3 as examined)
• Display: 10.5-inch PixelSense (1920×1280, 220 PPI)
• Memory: 4GB/8GB LPDDR3 (8GB as examined)
• Storage: 64 GB (eMMC) /128GB (SSD) (128GB as examined)
• Graphics: UHD Graphics 615
• Ports: USB-C (5Gbps), Surface Connect, microSDXC, Surface Connect, Surface Type Cover
• Security: Windows Hello depth digicam
• Camera: User-facing: 5.0MPixel (1080p video); Rear-facing: 8.0MP (1080p video)
• Battery:  26.8Wh (design), 26.0Wh (full)
• Wireless: Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax), Bluetooth 5.0
• Operating system: Windows 11 Home in S Mode
• Dimensions: 9.65. x 6.9 x 0.33in. (8.3mm)
• Weight: 1.2 kilos (with out keyboard)
• Color: Platinum
• Prices: $399.99 on up, $629.99 as tested
• Optional equipment: Surface Go Type Cover ($84.99-$129.99 MSRP), Surface Pen ($99.99)

The Surface Go 3 appears bodily similar to its predecessor, with barely thinner bezels than the unique to accommodate the 10.5-inch, 1920×1280 PixelSense show. Microsoft sometimes makes use of the chunky bezels as touchdown pads on your fingers and thumbs. It appears they’ve dimmed the show a bit, nonetheless, as we recorded a most brightness of 374 nits versus the Go 2’s 483 nits. Like its predecessors, the Go 3 does away with the fan in addition to the vents, letting the magnesium chassis passively radiate any warmth that the pill generates.

Out of the field, essentially the most important change to the Surface Go 3 includes the transition to Windows 11, particularly the addition of Windows 11 Home in S Mode. This means two various things. First, setup includes stepping via the soothing sequence of introductions as described in our Windows 11 review. Secondly, Windows 11 Home in S Mode handcuffs you by limiting apps to the Microsoft Store, as Windows 10 S (Windows 10 Home in S Mode) did.

This restriction helps safe the PC by guaranteeing that you simply’ll solely obtain apps that Microsoft has nominally vetted. But if you wish to obtain a third-party browser like Google Chrome, for instance, you may’t. We even have but to see tangible upgrades within the efficiency and battery life that Microsoft initially promised with S Mode. All this implies is that I shortly switched out of Windows 11 in S Mode for the “real” Windows 11 Home, which took a minute or two.

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Microsoft’s cell expertise

Using the Surface Go 3 feels extra like a cell expertise than a typical pill or laptop computer (even throughout a pandemic). Windows 11’s up to date pill expertise merely provides a small software-based keyboard to the UI when the keyboard is undocked, which lets you freely wander about the home. The Go 3’s slim show bezels are a few fingers width aside and the compact dimensions make it uniquely suited to utilizing it as a conventional pill.

You can use the Go 3 whereas at a desk or you may simply throw it right into a backpack. Like earlier Surface Go units, nonetheless, I discovered it a lot simpler to make use of at a desk than on my lap. There’s one half on the Type Cover’s dual-hinge that holds onto the pill quick, stopping the keyboard from flipping backwards and out of your lap. But the secondary hinge detaches simply, flopping the keyboard down right into a flat (and uncomfortable) orientation. To be truthful, the Go’s dimension does enable for working beneath cramped circumstances similar to on a practice’s pull-down desk.

Mark Hachman / IDG

Consuming in addition to creating digital content material, nonetheless, has its wrinkles. For one, the Surface Go 3 hasn’t but migrated to utilizing Thunderbolt, which implies that you’ll nonetheless want to make use of both the Surface Dock (or the newer, pricier Surface Dock 2) to hook up with an exterior show. The Surface Go may join through a USB-C dongle to an exterior show, to a single 1080p show or a 4K monitor working at 30 Hz.

Keyboard, audio and webcam: a good worth

The Surface Go 3’s keyboard stays unchanged from the Surface Go 2, so my opinion hasn’t modified both. A small pill means a small keyboard, one which’s tolerable (although a bit uncomfortable) to sort upon for lengthy intervals of time. The keyboard’s key journey stays at a shallow 1mm, with much less key journey than a number of the different wonderful keyboards inside the Surface lineup. A baby’s fingers could also be sufficiently small to sort on the keys, however adults gained’t actually take pleasure in it.

As for the audio, the pill contains a pair of front-facing 2W stereo audio system enhanced by Dolby Audio. It gives a passable (even good) audio expertise. While Microsoft has dialed down the blaring speaker quantity from the Surface Go, it gives a stable mixture of high-end and midrange audio. I by no means felt the necessity to plug in a pair of earbuds into the headphone jack, which is likely one of the larger compliments that you may give a laptop computer or pill.

Mark Hachman / IDG

The front-facing 5.0Mpixel webcam continues to supply respectable shade saturation and lighting, although with out the brand new lighting and shade sensors added to the Surface Pro 8. With the simple migration of photographs between smartphones and PCs, the rear-facing digicam appears much less mandatory with every passing technology. But the Go’s small dimension makes snapping a photograph much less awkward than with bigger tablets and the 8Mpixel decision is loads adequate for capturing paperwork and well-lit scenes.

The Go additionally options twin far-field mics. However, the significance of such mics has diminished as Microsoft has eased away from an surroundings the place customers are anticipated to name throughout the room to Windows’ built-in Cortana assistant.

Still, there’s actually one thing to be mentioned for a video-friendly pill. My youngest son makes use of a Windows laptop computer for distant education and a pill for video chatting together with his buddies, and the Surface Go 3 combines the 2.

Mark Hachman / IDG

Inking isn’t notably spectacular. I attempted inking with the Surface Slim Pen and there’s noticeable line offset and important jitter (a wavy movement) when shifting the pen at a diagonal. The Go 3 is ok for casually drawing, however nothing extra.

Mark Hachman / IDG

Performance: Not a lot enchancment

We examined the Surface Go 3 utilizing our normal benchmarks and real-world exams. The Go 3 streamed a “4K/60” YouTube video with out dropping a body. YouTube scales video to the scale of the show it detects, nonetheless, so the pill was basically downloading a 720p video and upscaling it. When we related to a 4K show, it appeared to drop about 40 p.c of its frames earlier than YouTube dialed again the decision to 1080p, which streamed flawlessly.

We didn’t attempt any video games with the Go 3, but it surely carried out pretty typical duties like net searching, Zoom/Teams, and streaming video. Be conscious that something beneath 8GB of RAM might restrict the variety of tabs you may have open at anybody time and the variety of apps you may run concurrently.

Finally, it’s price noting that Microsoft ships a lot of its latest Surface tablets and notebooks with efficiency turned right down to minimal ranges to maximise battery life. We adjusted the Windows 11 power mode to “best performance” to see if the pill ran any quicker. It did, however solely by about 6 p.c at most — adjusting the facility/efficiency ranges actually gained’t remodel a Surface Go 3 right into a pace demon. It will, nonetheless, assist elevate efficiency above the Surface Go 2 in some circumstances.

Otherwise, we run 4 efficiency exams: PCMark 10, Cinebench R15, Handbrake, and 3DMark. Most of those are geared at higher-performing mainstream laptops just like the Dell Latitude 7320 Detachable, the Lenovo ThinkPad X12 Detachable Gen 1, the Microsoft Surface Pro 7+, and the brand new Surface Pro 8. While understanding how the Surface Go 3 compares to these tablets is helpful, it’s maybe extra illustrative to see how far the pill has progressed from the second-gen Surface Go 2 as an alternative. We’ve highlighted the Go 2 in orange.

UL’s PCMark10 benchmark places the pill via a wide range of duties like net searching, gentle gaming, CAD work, video enhancing, and extra. It’s a stable measure of how properly the Surface Go 3 will fare in day-to-day work. Here, the Go 3’s efficiency dips by about 2 p.c. With the facility mode’s efficiency setting turned as much as greatest efficiency, the Go 3 data a rating of two,804.

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The older Cinebench R15 take a look at measures how properly the Surface Go 3 performs with all of its cores and threads in energetic use. Unfortunately, any software that may take full benefit of all of the laptop computer’s cores and threads will see extra profit from a six-core or eight-core processor fairly than the two-core four-thread Core i3-10100Y. Remember, we’re testing the top-of-the-line model of the Surface Go 3.

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What’s attention-grabbing is that we’re seeing the older Surface Go 2 report larger scores than the Surface Go 3, each in multithreaded purposes in addition to single-threaded purposes (126 to 119). If you do purchase the Go 3, think about adjusting the facility mode upwards. In “Best performance” mode, it reported a multithreaded rating of 260, and a single-threaded rating of 132.

We used Handbrake, which is an open-source transcoding software, as a protracted stress take a look at of the processor. Using this software, we transformed video from its native format right down to a lower-resolution format for enjoying again on a pill. The take a look at sometimes lasts over an hour. Can the fanless Surface Go 3 sustain with extra highly effective tablets? Our outcomes say no, not likely. In efficiency mode, the time required to carry out the duty dipped 3 p.c to 7,847 seconds.

Mark Hachman / IDG

Our last take a look at makes use of the 3DMark “Time Spy” benchmark. It’s futile to check the Surface Go 3 as a gaming pill, however we’ve offered the numbers for reference. It’s vital to notice that the Go 3 and the Go 2 use the identical GPU. Only the CPU has modified between the 2 merchandise. At most efficiency, the 3DMark rating elevated 6 p.c to 385.

Mark Hachman / IDG

Since the Go 3 makes use of roughly the identical quantity of battery capability as its predecessors, we anticipated comparable battery life. We weren’t upset. It nonetheless offers barely lower than eight hours of battery life, which means that you simply’ll must tote alongside the charger to maintain it working via a full day’s work.

Mark Hachman / IDG

Conclusion: You have two tablets to select from

At some level we might ask our colleagues at Macworld to assist evaluate the iPad, the Surface Go 3, and an Android pill. For now, we’re snug in advising you to pick no matter OS fits your fancy. You in all probability shouldn’t be selecting a Surface Go 3 — or an iPad — for efficiency, however for the comfort and portability issue. There’s a purpose you’ll typically see Microsoft’s Surface Go 3 accompanied by photographs of children and enterprise vacationers — that is very a lot a distinct segment product, no pun supposed.

There’s an sudden secondary choice, too. We wouldn’t essentially advocate the Surface Go 2 over the most recent Surface Go 3, however we are able to see why you would possibly think about it. With comparable efficiency plus an accessible LTE client choice (plus Windows 10, in the event you favor the older working system) an older, discounted Surface Go 2 would possibly provide extra worth. Officially, the MSRP for each the Go 2 and Go 3 are about the identical.

Put merely, there’s little purpose to purchase the Surface Go 3 over the Surface Go 2, although shopping for a brand new PC means that it’s going to nonetheless be coated beneath the Go 3’s one-year restricted {hardware} guarantee. Otherwise, we’d advocate you employ our pricing software simply above and discover your Go 2 choices if Microsoft’s small moveable pill is your first alternative. The Surface Go 3 merely doesn’t differentiate itself sufficient from final yr’s mannequin to justify a lot pleasure.