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Surface Laptop 2 vs. Surface Laptop Go 3 - Detailed Specs Comparison

Here's what you need to know what's different between Surface Laptop 2 and Surface Laptop Go 3 specs including CPU, RAM, storage, battery, display, and more.

BY Evan Forrest February 21, 2026

Surface Laptop 2 vs. Surface Laptop Go 3

The 2018 Surface Laptop 2 features the 15W 8th Generation Intel Kaby Lake R quad-core Intel Core i5-8250U up to quad-core Intel Core i7-8650U with the boost speed up to 4.20 GHz. While the 2023 Surface Laptop Go 3 features the 15W 12th Generation Intel Alder Lake U 10-core Intel Core i5-1235U with the boost speed up to 4.40 GHz.

If you are in the market looking for a laptop and don't know what's the difference between the 13.5″ Surface Laptop 2 (2018) and the 12.45″ Surface Laptop Go 3 (2023), we have a detailed tech specs comparison between both devices for you to check out here.

Surface Laptop 2 vs. Surface Laptop Go 3: Specs Comparison

	Compare With Please enter device name or part of it Surface Laptop 2 See at Amazon	Compare With Please enter device name or part of it Surface Laptop Go 3 See at Amazon
Key Features
What's new	Better performance It’s now 85 percent faster than the original Surface Laptop. New color Now available in Platinum, Burgundy, Cobalt Blue, and the new Matte Black. Better price $999 for quad-core Intel Core i5, 8GB of RAM, 128 GB SSD, and Windows 10 Home.	More Powerful - All Laptop Go 3 comes with a 10-core 12 threads 13th Gen Intel Alder Lake Core i5-1235U processor and a faster dual-channel LPDDR5 memory. Better Battery Life - It can last up to 15 hours of typical device usage, 1.5 hours longer than the Laptop Go 2 and 2 hours longer than the Laptop Go 1.
What's missing	Graphite Gold is no longer available Windows 10 Pro isn't available for consumers	The base configuration for consumers starts at $799 instead of $599 Laptop Go 2 and $549 Laptop Go 1. No 128GB configuration for consumers. 128GB configuration for commercial uses slow UFS storage instead of SSD. Still have no backlit keyboard. No fingerprint login for the commercial entry model configuration with 128GB.

Availability	Surface Laptop 2	Surface Laptop Go 3
Released	2018	2023
Release Info	Introduced: October 2, 2018 Pre-ordered: October 2, 2018 Released: October 16 2018	Introduced: September 21, 2023 Pre-ordered: September 21, 2023 Released: October 3, 2023
Pricing	Starting at 999$	$799.99 - i5 \| 8GB \| 256GB SSD \| All Colors $999.99 - i5 \| 16GB \| 256GB SSD \| Platinum Only
Amazon Deals	$329.00 Microsoft Surface Book 2 13.5" 2K (3000 x 2000) Dispaly Intel Core i7-8650U @ 1.90GHz 16GB RAM 512GB SSD Intel UHD Graphics 620 & NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Touchscreen Windows 11 Pro (Renewed) $339.00 Microsoft Surface Book 2 15" (Intel Core i7, 16GB RAM, 512 GB) (Renewed) $328.90 Microsoft Surface Laptop 2 (Intel Core i7, 16GB RAM, 512 GB) - Burgundy (Renewed)	$630.00 Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 3 (2023) - 12.4" Touchscreen, Thin & Lightweight, Intel Core i5, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD SSD, with Windows 11, Ice Blue Color Microsoft Copilot $499.99 Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 3 12.4" Touchscreen Notebook - Intel Core i5-8 GB - 128 GB SSD - English Keyboard - Platinum $249.99 Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 3 (2023) - 12.4" Touchscreen, Thin & Lightweight, Intel Core i5, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD SSD, with Windows 11, Ice Blue Color Copilot (Renewed)

Surface Laptop 2 i7-8650U Price
	Microsoft Surface Book 2 13.5" 2K (3000 x 2000) Dispaly Intel Core i7-8650U @ 1.90GHz 16GB RAM 512GB SSD Intel UHD Graphics 620 & NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 Touchscreen Windows 11 Pro (Renewed) By Microsoft $329.00	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface Book 2 15" (Intel Core i7, 16GB RAM, 512 GB) (Renewed) By Microsoft $339.00 $369.99 8% OFF	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface Laptop 2 (Intel Core i7, 16GB RAM, 512 GB) - Burgundy (Renewed) By Microsoft $328.90	See at Amazon
Surface Laptop Go 3 Price
	Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 3 (2023) - 12.4" Touchscreen, Thin & Lightweight, Intel Core i5, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD SSD, with Windows 11, Ice Blue Color Microsoft Copilot By Microsoft $630.00 $688.99 9% OFF	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 3 12.4" Touchscreen Notebook - Intel Core i5-8 GB - 128 GB SSD - English Keyboard - Platinum By Microsoft $499.99	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 3 (2023) - 12.4" Touchscreen, Thin & Lightweight, Intel Core i5, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD SSD, with Windows 11, Ice Blue Color Copilot (Renewed) By Microsoft $249.99 $630.00 60% OFF	See at Amazon

Display	Surface Laptop 2	Surface Laptop Go 3
Size	13.5 Inches	12.45 Inches
Info	Display Resolution: 2256 x 1504 (3.4M Pixels) Display Density: 201 PPI PixelSense™ Display Aspect ratio: 3:2 Inking: designed together with Surface Pen Touch: 10 points multi-touch Corning® Gorilla® Glass 3 10nm Oleophobic Coating 100% sRGB color, individually calibrated	Touchscreen: 12.4” PixelSense™ Display Resolution: 1536 x 1024 (148 PPI) Aspect ratio: 3:2 Contrast ratio: 1000:1 Color profile: sRGB and Enhanced Individually color-calibrated display Touch: 10-point multi-touch Corning® GorillaFootnote® Glass 3 Brightness: 320 nits (typical)

Exterior	Surface Laptop 2	Surface Laptop Go 3
Size Comparison
Dimensions	12.13” x 8.79” x 0.39-0.57” (308.02 mm x 223.2 mm x 9.93 mm-14.47 mm) Width: 12.13” (308.02 mm) Depth: 8.79” (223.2 mm) Height: 0.39 - 0.57” (9.93 - 14.47 mm)	10.95” x 8.12” x 0.62” (278.18mm x 206.2 mm x 15.7 mm)
Weight	Intel Core i5 › 2.76 lbs (1.26 kg) Intel Core i7 › 2.83 lbs (1.28 kg)	2.49 lbs (1.13 kg)
Colors	Black Platinum Burgundy Cobalt Blue	Sage Ice Blue Sandstone Platinum Material Top: Aluminum. Base: Aluminum and polycarbonate composite resin system with glass fiber and 30% post-consumer recycled content.
Keyboard and Trackpad	Keyboard: Full-size backlit keyboard with the soft-touch feel and full 1.5mm travel. Large palm rest with premium Alcantara® material for maximized typing comfort. Trackpad: Larger size 105 mm x 70 mm, glass. Supports up to Five-finger multitouch gesture.	Keyboard: Full-size keyboard with a soft-touch feel and full 1.3mm travel. Trackpad: Large 115 mm x 76.66 mm, glass. Supports up to Five-finger multitouch gestures.
Ports	1 x Full-size USB 3.0 1 x Surface Connect™ Supports charging and docking station. 1 x Mini DisplayPort 1 x Headset jack	1 x Full-size USB-A Supports USB 3.1. 1 x USB Type-C Supports USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) with Power Delivery and DisplayPort. 1 x Surface Connect™ Supports charging and docking stations. 1 x Headset jack

Internal Specs	Surface Laptop 2	Surface Laptop Go 3
Processor	8th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-8250U 4 cores, 8 threads, 1.60 → 3.40 GHz, 6MB SmartCache, 15W 8th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-8350U 4 cores, 8 threads, 1.70 → 3.60 GHz, 6MB SmartCache, 15W 8th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-8650U 4 cores, 8 threads, 1.90 → 4.20 GHz, 8MB SmartCache, 15W	12th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-1235U 10 cores, 12 threads, 1.30 → 4.40 GHz, 12MB SmartCache, 15W
Integrated Graphics	8th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-8250U Intel® UHD Graphics 620 24 Execution Units, 300 → 1100 MHz 8th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-8350U Intel® UHD Graphics 620 24 Execution Units, 300 → 1100 MHz 8th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-8650U Intel® UHD Graphics 620 24 Execution Units, 300 → 1150 MHz	12th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-1235U Intel® Iris® Xe Graphics 80 Execution Units, → 1200 MHz
Memory	8GB 16GB 1866 MHz LPDDR3 RAM	8GB 16GB 5200 MHz LPDDR5 RAM
Storage	128 GB 256 GB 512 GB 1 TB Soldered BGA PCIe SSD	256GB 512GB Removable SSD Drive

Connectivity	Surface Laptop 2	Surface Laptop Go 3
Wi-Fi	Wi-Fi 5: IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac compatible.	Wi-Fi 6E: IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax compatible.
Bluetooth	Bluetooth Wireless 4.1 technology	Bluetooth Wireless 5.1 technology

Battery	Surface Laptop 2	Surface Laptop Go 3
Size	45.2 Wh	41.0 Wh Nominal battery capacity. 40.0 Wh minimum battery capacity.
Battery Life	Up to 14.5 hours of typical device usage	Up to 15 hours of typical device usage
Power Supply	44W proprietary power supply USB-A output: 5W Surface Connect output: 39W	39W power supply Supports Fast Charge (0-80% in just over one hour)

Software

Surface Laptop 2

Surface Laptop Go 3

For Consumer: Windows 10 Home
For Commercial: Windows 10 Pro

Free upgrade to Windows 11

For Consumer: Windows 11 Home
For Commercial: Windows 10 Pro, Windows 11 Pro

Built-in Apps

Microsoft Office 365 30-days trial

Consumer

Microsoft 365 Apps
Microsoft 365 Family 1-month trial
Xbox App
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate 1-month trial

Commerial

Microsoft 365 Apps
Microsoft 365 Business Standard, Microsoft 365 Business Premium, or Microsoft 365 Apps 30-day trial

Camera & Audio	Surface Laptop 2	Surface Laptop Go 3
Camera	Windows Hello face authentication camera (front-facing) 720p HD front-facing video camera	720p HD f2.0 front-facing video camera
Audio	Dual microphones OmniSonic stereo speakers with Dolby® Audio™ Premium	Dual far-field Studio Mics OmniSonic stereo speakers with Dolby® Audio™ Premium

Misc	Surface Laptop 2	Surface Laptop Go 3
Inking	Supports Surface Pen 4096 levels of pressure Tilt sensing Best in class latency
Sensors	Ambient light sensor	Ambient light sensor
Security	HW TPM 2.0 chip for enterprise security Enterprise-grade protection with Windows Hello face sign-in	Consumer Firmware TPM Enterprise-grade protection with Windows Hello sign-in One-Touch sign-in with FingerPrint Reader Power button Commercial Discrete hardware TPM Enterprise-grade protection with Windows Hello sign-in One-Touch sign-in with FingerPrint Reader Power button Note Surface Laptop Go 3 i5/8GB/128 GB does not include Fingerprint Power Button.
In the box	Surface Laptop 2 Power supply Quick Start Guide Safety and warranty documents	Surface Laptop Go 3 39W Power supply Quick Start Guide Safety and warranty documents
Warranty	One-year limited hardware warranty Commercial: Advanced Exchange warranty service with expedited device replacement	One-year limited hardware warranty
More	Supports Surface Dial Supports off-screen interaction only