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

If you’re in the market for Microsoft’s Surface Go 3, consider the Surface Go 2, too.

- MARK HACHMAN

Microsoft touts its 10.5-inch Surface Go 3 tablet as its most mobile Surface. While that’s definitely true, what else does the new Surface Go 3 have to offer? A small processor bump, Windows 11, and—well, that’s about it.

The Surface Go 3 is essentially the same device as the Surface Go 2. We don’t consider Windows 11 to be necessarily worth the upgrade (fave.co/3cdEtj3), which robs the Surface Go 3 of its appeal. As for the processor upgrade—yes, there’s now a 10th-gen Core i3 option, but it doesn’t really move the needle performance-wise.

BASIC FEATURES AND CONFIGURATIONS

Microsoft’s Surface Go 3 is available in three configurations, ranging from $399.99 on up to $629.99, which is the price of our review unit. We wouldn’t recommend the $399.99 base model (with a Pentium Gold 6500Y, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage) because the 4GB of memory isn’t sufficient for running multiple apps. The other configurations, including a midrange version (Pentium Gold 6500Y/8GB RAM/128GB SSD: $549.99) and a premium offering (Intel Core i3/8GB RAM/128GB SSD: $629.99), round out the offerings.

The Surface Go 3 is unique because there aren’t many small, inexpensive Windows tablets vying for your wallet. Otherwise, the Go 3 is priced similarly to Microsoft’s budget clamshell laptop, the Surface Laptop Go (fave.co/3sbM4Yk), which also has a $549.99 discounted version that includes a Core i5-1035G1 with 8GB of memory and a 128GB SSD. The Laptop Go’s screen is a definite step down, however.