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Surface Laptop Go vs. Surface Laptop - Detailed Specs Comparison

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

BY Evan Forrest November 21, 2023

Surface Laptop Go vs. Surface Laptop

The 2020 Surface Laptop Go features the 15W 10th Generation Intel Ice Lake quad-core Intel Core i5-1035G1 with the boost speed up to 3.60 GHz. While the 2017 Surface Laptop features the 4.5W 7th Generation Intel Kaby Lake dual-core Intel Core m3-7Y30 up to dual-core Intel Core i7-7660U with the boost speed up to 4.00 GHz.

If you are in the market looking for a laptop and don't know what's the difference between the 12.45″ Surface Laptop Go (2020) and the 13.5″ Surface Laptop (2017), we have a detailed tech specs comparison between both devices for you to check out here.

Surface Laptop Go vs. Surface Laptop: Specs Comparison

	Compare With Please enter device name or part of it Surface Laptop Go See at Amazon	Compare With Please enter device name or part of it Surface Laptop See at Amazon
Key Features
What's new	The most affordable Surface Laptop. Starting at $549.99, the Surface Laptop Go set a new premium standard for the affordable ultrabook. It has a beautiful 12.45-inch display with touch support. It's a great laptop for students and business users who looking for a simple yet perfect portable laptop for their mobile productivity. The Lightest Surface Laptop. It weighs at only 2.45 pounds easy to carry around while having the same comfort in typing with a full-size keyboard with a large precision trackpad. All the same ports. It has all the necessary ports you need in everyday use, from the full-size USB-A to USB-C, headphone jack, and Surface Connect as you can find on Surface Laptop 3. Powerful Components. It comes with the same powerful 10th Gen Intel Ice Lake Core i5 processor, 3733 MHz LPDDR4x, WiFi-6, Bluetooth 5. New Styles. It is available in Platinum, Sandstone, and Ice Blue. More Features: 13-hours battery life Large glass trackpad Fast Charging Fingerprint Power Button Dual far-field studio mics OmniSonic speakers
What's missing	Here are some noticeable downsides of Surface Laptop Go: No backlit key. No Inking support. No IR camera for Windows Hello Facial Recognition. No Fingerprint reader on the entry configuration. The base section made from Polycarbonate instead of Aluminum. Using Intel UHD Graphics instead of Intel Iris Plus Graphics. Low screen resolution (148 PPI).

Availability	Surface Laptop Go	Surface Laptop
Released	2020	2017
Release Info	Introduced: October 1, 2020 Pre-ordered: October 1, 2020 Released: October 13, 2020	Introduced: May 2, 2017 Pre-ordered: May 2, 2017 Released: June 15, 2017
Pricing	For Consumer (Windows 10 Home): $549.99 - i5 \| 4GB \| 64GB eMMC \| No Fingerprint \| Platinum only $699.99 - i5 \| 8GB \| 128GB SSD $899.99 - i5 \| 8GB \| 256GB SSD For Commercial (Windows 10 Pro): $799.99 - i5 \| 8GB \| 128GB SSD $999.99 - i5 \| 8GB \| 256GB SSD $1,199.99 - i5 \| 16GB \| 256GB SSD \| Platinum Only	Platinum $799 - M3 \| 4GB \| 128GB $999 - i5 \| 4GB \| 128GB $1,299 - i5 \| 8GB \| 256GB Graphite Gold Burgundy Cobalt Blue $1,599 - i7 \| 8GB \| 256GB $2,199 - i7 \| 16GB \| 512GB $2,699 - i7 \| 16GB \| 1TB

Surface Laptop Go Price
	Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 3 (2023) - 12.4" Touchscreen, Thin & Lightweight, Intel Core i5, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD SSD, with Windows 11, Platinum Color Copilot By Microsoft $735.42 $799.99 8% OFF	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 2-12.4" Touchscreen - Intel Core i5 8GB Memory - 256 SSD - Platinum (Latest Model) By Microsoft $599.00	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 12.4" Touchscreen, Intel Core i5-1035G1, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD, Integrated Intel UHD Graphics, Windows 10 Home in S Mode, Platinum, 21D-00001 (Renewed) By Microsoft $369.00	See at Amazon
Surface Laptop Price
	Microsoft Surface Laptop (2024), Windows 11 Copilot+ PC, 13.8" Touchscreen Display, Snapdragon X Plus (10 core), 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD Storage, Platinum By Microsoft $944.14 $999.99 6% OFF	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 By Microsoft $727.86 $799.99 9% OFF	See at Amazon
	Surface Laptop 4 for Business - 13.5", Matte Black (Metal), Intel Core i7, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD, Fren By Microsoft $494.00	See at Amazon

Display	Surface Laptop Go	Surface Laptop
Size	12.45 Inches	13.5 Inches
Info	Resolution: 1536 x 1024 (148 PPI) PixelSense™ Display Aspect ratio: 3:2 Touch: 10 points multi-touch	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

Exterior	Surface Laptop Go	Surface Laptop
Size Comparison
Dimensions	10.95” x 8.1” x 0.62” (278.18mm x 205.67 mm x 15.69 mm)	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)
Weight	2.45 lb (1,110 g)	Intel Core i5 › 2.76 lbs (1.26 kg) Intel Core i7 › 2.83 lbs (1.28 kg)
Colors	Ice Blue Sandstone Platium	Graphite Gold Platinum Burgundy Cobalt Blue
Keyboard and Trackpad	Keyboard: Full-size keyboard with a soft-touch feel and full 1.3mm travel. Trackpad: Larger size 115 mm x 76.66 mm, glass. Supports up to Five-finger multitouch gesture.	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.
Ports	1 x Full-size USB 3.0 1 x USB Type-C 3.1 Gen 2 Supports Power Delivery and DisplayPort. 1 x Surface Connect™ Supports charging and docking station. 1 x Headset jack	1 x Full-size USB 3.0 1 x Surface Connect™ Supports charging and docking station. 1 x Mini DisplayPort 1 x Headset jack

Internal Specs	Surface Laptop Go	Surface Laptop
Processor	10th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-1035G1 4 cores, 8 threads, 1.00 → 3.60 GHz, 6MB SmartCache, 15W	7th Gen Intel® Core™ m3-7Y30 2 cores, 4 threads, 1.00 → 2.60 GHz, 4MB SmartCache, 4.5W 7th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-7300U 2 cores, 4 threads, 2.60 → 3.50 GHz, 3MB SmartCache, 15W 7th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-7660U 2 cores, 4 threads, 2.50 → 4.00 GHz, 4MB SmartCache, 15W
Integrated Graphics	10th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-1035G1 Intel® UHD Graphics 32 Execution Units, 300 → 1050 MHz	7th Gen Intel® Core™ m3-7Y30 Intel® HD Graphics 615 24 Execution Units, 300 → 900 MHz 7th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-7300U Intel® HD Graphics 620 24 Execution Units, 300 → 1100 MHz 7th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-7660U Intel® Iris® Plus Graphics 640 48 Execution Units with 64 MB eDRAM side cache, 300 → 1100 MHz
Memory	4GB 8GB 16GB 3733 MHz LPDDR4X RAM	4GB 8GB 16GB 1866 MHz LPDDR3 RAM
Storage	64GB eMMC 128 GB 256 GB SSD	128 GB 256 GB 512 GB 1 TB SSD 1 TB of OneDrive cloud storage with 1-year subscription of Office 365

Connectivity	Surface Laptop Go	Surface Laptop
Wi-Fi	Wi-Fi 6: IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax compatible.	Wi-Fi 5: IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac compatible.
Bluetooth	Bluetooth Wireless 5.0 technology	Bluetooth Wireless 4.0 technology

Battery	Surface Laptop Go	Surface Laptop
Size	39.7 Wh	45.2 Wh
Battery Life	Up to 13 hours of typical device usage	Up to 14.5 hours of typical device usage
Power Supply	39W power supply Supports Fast Charge (0-80% in just over one hour)	44W proprietary power supply USB-A output: 5W Surface Connect output: 39W

Software	Surface Laptop Go	Surface Laptop
OS	For Consumer: Windows 10 Home in S-mode For Commercial: Windows 10 Pro Free upgrade to Windows 11	Windows 10 S
Built-in Apps	Microsoft 365 Family 30-day trial	1 year of Microsoft Office 365 personal

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

Misc	Surface Laptop Go	Surface Laptop
Inking	Not Support	Supports Surface Pen with 1024 levels of pressure
Sensors	Ambient light sensor
Security	Firmware TPM Enterprise-grade protection with Windows Hello sign-in One-Touch sign in with FingerPrint Reader Power button Note Surface Laptop Go i5/4GB/64GB does not include Fingerprint Power Button.	HW TPM 2.0 chip for enterprise security Enterprise-grade protection with Windows Hello face sign-in
In the box	Surface Laptop Go 39W Power supply Quick Start Guide Safety and warranty documents	Surface Laptop Power supply Quick Start Guide Safety and warranty documents
Warranty	One-year limited hardware warranty
More	Best-in-class support from Microsoft Store Microsoft Store Promise for Surface: 60-day return policy 90 days of free technical phone support Free virtual workshops and training Surface price promise	Supports Surface Dial Supports off-screen interaction only