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Surface Go vs. Surface Pro 3 - Detailed Specs Comparison

Here's what you need to know what's different between Surface Go and Surface Pro 3 specs including CPU, RAM, storage, battery, display, and more.

BY Evan Forrest November 15, 2023

Surface Go vs. Surface Pro 3

The 2018 Surface Go features the 6W 7th Generation Intel Kaby Lake dual-core Intel Pentium Gold 4415Y with a clock speed of 1.60 GHz. While the 2014 Surface Pro 3 features the 11.5W 4th Generation Intel Haswell dual-core Intel Core i3-4020Y up to dual-core Intel Core i7-4650U with the boost speed up to 3.30 GHz.

If you are in the market looking for a laptop and don't know what's the difference between the 10″ Surface Go (2018) and the 12″ Surface Pro 3 (2014), we have a detailed tech specs comparison between both devices for you to check out here.

Surface Go vs. Surface Pro 3: Specs Comparison

	Compare With Please enter device name or part of it Surface Go See at Amazon	Compare With Please enter device name or part of it Surface Pro 3 See at Amazon
Key Features
What's new		New Design It’s now thinner (9.1mm), lighter (800g), and new platinum magnesium exterior. Better display New 3:2 aspect ratio, bigger and better 2K 12” ClearType pixel-free display. Better performance It’s now 10% faster than Surface Pro 2 with the new range of 4th Gen Intel processors up to Core i7. New Inking Supports It now supports a new Surface Pen with 256 pressure sensitivity, tail eraser, and remote Bluetooth activation. Better Battery It has 20% more battery life than Surface Pro 2 up to 9 hours. More Better 5.0MP front and rear-facing camera, new Surface Connect Port (charging and docking), new type cover with two typing angles.
What's missing		Replace old charging connector with new Surface Connect port

Availability	Surface Go	Surface Pro 3
Released	2018	2014
Release Info	Introduced: July 10, 2018 Pre-ordered: July 10, 2018 Released: August 2, 2018	Introduced: May 20, 2014 Pre-ordered: May 20, 2014 Released: June 20, 2014
Pricing	Surface Go for Consumer $399 - 4 GB \| 64 GB \| W10 S-mode $549 - 8 GB \| 128 GB \| W10 S-mode Surface go for Commercial $449 - 4 GB \| 64 GB \| W10 Pro $599 - 8 GB \| 128 GB \| W10 Pro	Starting at 799$

Surface Go Price
	Microsoft Surface Go 2-10.5" Touch-Screen - Intel Pentium - 8GB Memory - 128GB SSD - WiFi - Platinum (Latest Model) (Renewed) By Microsoft $279.00	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface Go 3 - 10.5" Touchscreen - Intel® Core™ i3 - 8GB Memory - 128GB SSD - Device Only - Black (Latest Model) By Microsoft $500.03 $629.99 21% OFF	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface Go 3 - 10.5" Touchscreen - Intel® Pentium® Gold - 8GB Memory - 128GB SSD - Device Only - Platinum (Latest Model) By Microsoft $470.65 $549.99 14% OFF	See at Amazon
Surface Pro 3 Price
	Microsoft Surface Pro 3 Tablet PC - Intel Core i5-4300U 1.9GHz 4GB 128GB SSD Windows 10.1 (Renewed) By Microsoft $145.00 $154.99 6% OFF	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface Pro 3 (256 GB, Intel Core i5)(Windows 10 Professional 64 bit) (Renewed) By Microsoft $229.00	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface Pro 3 Tablet (12-inch, 128 GB, Intel Core i5, Windows 10) + Microsoft Surface Type Cover (Renewed) By Microsoft $299.00	See at Amazon

Display	Surface Go	Surface Pro 3
Size	10 Inches	12 Inches
Info	Resolution: 1800 x 1200 (2.1M Pixels) Density: 217 PPI PixelSense™ Display Contrast ratio: 1500:1 Aspect ratio: 3:2 Inking: designed together with Surface Pen Touch: 10 points multi-touch Corning® Gorilla® Glass 3	Resolution: 2160 x 1440 (3.1M Pixels) Density: 216 PPI ClearType Display Aspect ratio: 3:2 Touch: 10 point multi-touch Surface Pen support

Exterior	Surface Go	Surface Pro 3
Size Comparison
Dimensions	9.6” x 6.9” x 0.33” (245 mm x 175 mm x 8.3 mm) Width: 9.6” (245 mm) Height: 6.9” (175 mm) Thickness: 0.33” (8.3 mm)	11.50” x 7.93” x 0.36” (292 mm x 201.3 mm x 9.1 mm) Width: 11.50” (292 mm) Height: 7.93” (201.3 mm) Thickness: 0.36” (9.1 mm)
Weight	Surface Go: 1.15 lbs (522 g) Surface Go with LTE: 1.17 lbs. (532 g) Surface Go Keyboard: 0.55 lbs (249 g)	1.76 lbs (800 g)
Colors	Platinum	Silver
Keyboard and Trackpad	Surface Type Cover Not included Keyboard: Full-size mechanical backlit keyset with 1 mm of key travel. Trackpad: Precision glass trackpad. Trackpad size: 101 mm x 56 mm Supports a five-finger multitouch gesture.	Surface Type Cover Not included Keyboard: Activation: Moving (mechanical) keys Layout: QWERTY, full row of function keys (F1-F12) 4 directional keys; Windows and Media Controls Keys; LED backlighting Trackpad: Precision glass trackpad. Supports up to three-finger multitouch gesture.
Ports	1 x USB Type-C 3.1 Gen 1 Supports Power Delivery and DisplayPort. 1 x Surface Connect™ Supports charging and docking station. 1 x Headset jack 1 x microSD™ card reader 1 x Type Cover port	1 x Full-size USB 3.0 1 x Mini DisplayPort 1 x Surface Connect™ Supports charging and docking station. 1 x Headset jack 1 x microSD™ card reader 1 x Type Cover port

Internal Specs	Surface Go	Surface Pro 3
Processor	7th Gen Intel® Pentium® Gold 4415Y 2 cores, 4 threads, 1.60 GHz, 2MB SmartCache, 6W	4th Gen Intel® Core™ i3-4020Y 2 cores, 4 threads, 1.50 GHz, 3MB SmartCache, 11.5W 4th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-4300U 2 cores, 4 threads, 1.90 → 2.90 GHz, 3MB SmartCache, 15W 4th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-4650U 2 cores, 4 threads, 1.70 → 3.30 GHz, 4MB SmartCache, 15W
Integrated Graphics	7th Gen Intel® Pentium® Gold 4415Y Intel® HD Graphics 615 24 Execution Units, 300 → 850 MHz	4th Gen Intel® Core™ i3-4020Y Intel® HD Graphics 4200 20 Execution Units, 200 → 850 MHz 4th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-4300U Intel® HD Graphics 4200 20 Execution Units, 200 → 1100 MHz 4th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-4650U Intel® HD Graphics 5000 40 Execution Units, 200 → 1100 MHz
Memory	4GB 8GB 1866 MHz LPDDR3 RAM	4GB 8GB 1600 MHz LPDDR3 RAM
Storage	64GB eMMC 128GB 256GB SSD	64 GB 128 GB 256 GB 512 GB SSD

Connectivity	Surface Go	Surface Pro 3
Wi-Fi	Wi-Fi 5: IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac compatible.
Bluetooth	Bluetooth Wireless 4.1 technology	Bluetooth Wireless 4.0 technology
	Optional LTE Nano SIM Tray 4G LTE Advanced (22 Bands: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 13, 17, 19, 20, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 38, 39, 40, 41, 66) GPS/GLONASS: Standalone and Assiste GNSS, accuracy up to 3 meters

Battery	Surface Go	Surface Pro 3
Size	26.12 Wh	42.2 Wh
Battery Life	Up to 9 hours of video playback	Up to 9 hours of web browsing
Power Supply	24W proprietary Surface Connect power supply	36W proprietary power supply USB-A output: 5W Surface Connect: 31W

Software	Surface Go	Surface Pro 3
OS	For Consumer: Windows 10 in S-mode For Commercial: Windows 10 Pro	Windows 8.1 Pro Free upgrade to Windows 10
Built-in Apps	Microsoft Office 365 30-days trial	Microsoft Office 30-days trial

Camera & Audio	Surface Go	Surface Pro 3
Camera	Windows Hello face authentication camera (front-facing) 5.0MP front-facing camera with 1080p Skype HD video 8.0MP rear-facing autofocus camera with 1080p full HD video	5.0MP front-facing camera with 1080p Skype HD video 5.0MP rear-facing camera with 1080p Skype HD video
Audio	Single microphone 2W Front-facing stereo speakers with Dolby® Audio™ Premium	Front and rear-facing microphones Front-facing stereo speakers with Dolby® Audio enhanced sound

Misc	Surface Go	Surface Pro 3
Inking	Supports Surface Pen 4096 levels of pressure Tilt sensing Best in class latency Paper feel magnetic storage	Supports Surface Pen 256 levels of pressure N-trig Active Pen technology
Sensors	Ambient light sensor Accelerometer Gyroscope Magnetometer
Security	HW TPM 2.0 chip for enterprise security Enterprise-grade protection with Windows Hello face sign-in	HW TPM 2.0 chip for enterprise security
In the box	Surface Go Power supply Quick Start Guide Safety and warranty documents	Surface Pro 3 Surface Pen Power supply Quick Start Guide Safety and warranty documents
Warranty	One-year limited hardware warranty
More	Mechanical features: Signature unibody magnesium design with hidden perimeter venting Kickstand with a full-friction multiposition hinge to 165 degrees Magnetic attach for keyboard fold stability Physical buttons: volumes, power	Mechanical features: Signature unibody magnesium design with hidden perimeter venting Kickstand with a full-friction multiposition hinge to 150 degrees Magnetic attach for keyboard fold stability Physical buttons: volumes, power