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Microsoft Surface Go 3 (1901) review

Microsoft Surface Go 3 (1901)

CHOICE Expert Rating

69%
What is the CHOICE Expert Rating?
Good points

Good Points

  • Excellent viewing angles
  • Very good screen
  • Very good screen luminance
  • Silent operation
  • microSD card slot
Bad points

Bad Points

  • Small touchpad
  • Short power cord

Type

Ultraportable
Ultrabook
Tablet mode
Operating system
Windows 11 S

Recommended products

Recommended
Not recommended
Recommended for tablet use

Test results

CHOICE Expert Rating
69%
Performance score
52%
Tablet use score
78%
Ease of use score
73%
Battery life score
71%
Display score
80%
Audio score
55%
Wi-Fi score
78%
Storage write-speed (MBps)
843
Storage read-speed (MBps)
1736
Wi-Fi speed (MBps)
41
Average battery life – heavy usage (hours)
5:02
Charging time to 80% full (h:min)
1:31
Expert tester comments
Microsoft's Surface Go 3 is a tablet that can be used as a laptop when the optional keyboard cover is purchased. Its small size makes it an easy travel companion and comfortable to hold while consuming content as a tablet, but it can be a bit awkward to use as a laptop until you get used to it. It's not a powerful computer, running a Pentium CPU whose mere mention takes some of us back to the 1990s, but it's fine for simple document creation, web-based tasks, and media streaming from the likes of YouTube and Netflix.

Sustainability

Shop Ethical rating
C
Warranty (years)
1
Replaceable battery
Not collected
Replace/upgrade RAM
Not collected
Slots for additional RAM
Not collected
Replace/upgrade storage
Not collected
Slot for additional storage
Not collected
Replace/upgrade Wi-Fi
Not collected
Country of origin
China

Related products

Availability
Discontinued model

Cost

Price
$1,189.00

Specifications

Screen size (inches)
10.5
Native screen resolution (pixels)
1920 x 1280
Processor (CPU) type
Intel Pentium Gold 6500Y
CPU frequency (GHz)
1.1
RAM (GB)
8
Video graphics type
Intel UHD Graphics 615
Storage capacity (GB)
128
Available user space (GB)
83
Storage type
SSD
Wi-Fi version
6
Weight of laptop (kg)
0.8
Weight of power supply (kg)
0.2
Size (mm, H x D x W)
14 x 180 x 257

Features

Screen finish
Glossy
Touchscreen
USB-C
USB 2.0 ports
0
USB 3.0 ports
0
USB 4 as USB-C port
0
USB-C (USB 3.2 Gen 1 or 2, not Thunderbolt 3 or 4) ports
1
Thunderbolt 3 or 4 (as USB-C) ports
0
SD card slot (full-size)
SD card slot (micro)
HDMI port
Gigabit ethernet port
Rear camera
Backlit keyboard levels of brightness
3

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