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Surface Laptop Go 3 specs: what’s the best configuration?

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This story is part of our complete Microsoft Events coverage

The Surface Laptop Go 3 is a fast, but affordable new laptop from Microsoft’s latest line of Surface devices. Announced at Microsoft’s September 2023 Surface event, it offers a speedy modern processor, plenty of SSD storage space, and a range of color options for the chassis. You can get the complete Surface package for $799, but you can configure it with more of less components to make it best suited for your needs.

Those extras do affect the cost, though, begging the question: Which is the best Surface Laptop Go 3 configuration? We’ve delved through the spec and retail listings to find out.

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Surface Laptop Go 3 specs

The Surface Laptop Go 3 is available with different configurations depending on whether you’re buying the consumer or commercial versions, but there are different hardware options within each of those ranges.

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CPU Intel Core i5-1235U Intel Core i5-1235U
RAM 8GB, 16GB LPDDR5 8GB, 16GB LPDDR5
Graphics Intel Iris Xe Intel Iris Xe
Storage 256GB removable SSD 128GB UFS  Drive, 256GB or 512GB SSD

The display is the same 12.4-inch, 1536 x 1024 resolution screen no matter what you decide, and all models get the same 15-hours of battery life. Weight is also identical across all models, although the commercial version does have a more robust repair and service program, with a greater selection of swappable components.

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Which Surface Laptop Go 3 should you buy?

The base configuration Surface Go 3 with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of SSD storage space is priced at $799, making it not only the most affordable of the range, but arguably the most competitive. It’s no powerhouse, but there’s plenty of performance there for everyday computing, web browsing, and basic office tasks. You’ll find greater performance in similarly priced models, but few that can match its mix of hardware, price, and portability.

We’ll need to test it ourselves to tell you how it performs in the real world, but we can safely say that if you want to do something like gaming, you’d be better off with a dedicated gaming laptop.

If the price difference at your store doesn’t end up being dramatically different, the 16GB version is probably worth splurging for, as that will improve the system’s multitasking capabilities considerably. The 256GB SSD is removable, though, so while you can’t pick a higher-end model in the Consumer line of this laptop, you will be able to replace the SSD down the line if you wish.

If your budget is a little higher, you might want to consider the Surface Laptop Studio 2, instead.

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