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Surface Pro 3 vs. Surface Go 3 - Detailed Specs Comparison

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

BY Evan Forrest November 15, 2023

Surface Pro 3 vs. Surface Go 3

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. While the 2021 Surface Go 3 features the 5W 10th Generation Intel Amber Lake Y dual-core Intel Pentium Gold 6500Y up to dual-core Intel Core i3-10100Y with the boost speed up to 3.90 GHz.

If you are in the market looking for a laptop and don't know what's the difference between the 12″ Surface Pro 3 (2014) and the 10.5″ Surface Go 3 (2021), we have a detailed tech specs comparison between both devices for you to check out here.

Surface Pro 3 vs. Surface Go 3: Specs Comparison

	Compare With Please enter device name or part of it Surface Pro 3 See at Amazon	Compare With Please enter device name or part of it Surface Go 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.	More Powerful Processors - The Surface Go 3 now features the latest 10th generation Intel Mobile processors, including Intel® Turbo Boost Technology 2.0, resulting in faster speeds up to 3.40 GHz, particularly on the entry-level models. Longer Battery Life - Last up to 11 hours battery life of typical device usage. More Now with the Matte Black option Preloaded with Windows 11 Supports fast charging
What's missing	Replace old charging connector with new Surface Connect port

Availability	Surface Pro 3	Surface Go 3
Released	2014	2021
Release Info	Introduced: May 20, 2014 Pre-ordered: May 20, 2014 Released: June 20, 2014	Introduced: September 22, 2021 Pre-ordered: September 22, 2021 Released: October 5, 2021
Pricing	Starting at 799$	$399 Gold 6500Y 4 GB 64 GB WiFi $549 Gold 6500Y 8 GB 128 GB WiFi $629 i3-10100Y 8 GB 128 GB WiFi

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 $109.99 $129.99 15% 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 4 (Intel Core i5, 4GB RAM, 128GB) with Windows 10 Anniversary (Renewed) By Microsoft $139.99 $149.99 7% OFF	See at Amazon
Microsoft Surface Go 3 - 10.5” Price
	Microsoft Surface Go 3 - 10.5" Touchscreen - Intel® Pentium® Gold - 4GB Memory - 64GB eMMC - Device Only - Platinum (Latest Model) By Microsoft $424.99	See at Amazon
	Microsoft Surface Go 3 - 10.5" Touchscreen - Intel® Core™ i3 - 8GB Memory - 128GB SSD - Device Only - Platinum (Latest Model) By Microsoft $358.80 $629.99 43% 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 $380.00 $549.99 31% OFF	See at Amazon

Display	Surface Pro 3	Surface Go 3
Size	12 Inches	10.5 Inches
Info	Resolution: 2160 x 1440 (3.1M Pixels) Density: 216 PPI ClearType Display Aspect ratio: 3:2 Touch: 10 point multi-touch Surface Pen support	Resolution: 1920 x 1280 (2.45M Pixels) Density: 220 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

Exterior	Surface Pro 3	Surface Go 3
Size Comparison
Dimensions	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)	9.65” x 6.9” x 0.33” (245 mm x 175 mm x 8.3 mm) Width: 9.65” (245 mm) Height: 6.9” (175 mm) Thickness: 0.33” (8.3 mm)
Weight	1.76 lbs (800 g)	Surface Go 3: 1.2 lbs (544 g) Surface Go 3 Keyboard: 0.55 lbs (249 g)
Colors	Silver	Platinum Matte Black
Keyboard and Trackpad	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.	Surface Go 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.
Ports	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	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 microSDXC™ card reader 1 x Surface Go Type Cover port

Internal Specs	Surface Pro 3	Surface Go 3
Processor	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	10th Gen Intel® Pentium® Gold 6500Y 2 cores, 4 threads, 1.10 → 3.40 GHz, 4MB SmartCache, 5W 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i3-10100Y 2 cores, 4 threads, 1.30 → 3.90 GHz, 4MB SmartCache, 5W
Integrated Graphics	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	10th Gen Intel® Pentium® Gold 6500Y Intel® UHD Graphics 615 23 Execution Units, 300 → 900 MHz 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i3-10100Y Intel® UHD Graphics 615 24 Execution Units, 300 → 1000 MHz
Memory	4GB 8GB 1600 MHz LPDDR3 RAM	4GB 8GB 1866 MHz LPDDR3 RAM
Storage	64 GB 128 GB 256 GB 512 GB SSD	64GB eMMC 128GB SSD

Connectivity	Surface Pro 3	Surface Go 3
Wi-Fi	Wi-Fi 5: IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac compatible.	Wi-Fi 6: IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax compatible.
Bluetooth	Bluetooth Wireless 4.0 technology	Bluetooth Wireless 5.0 technology
		LTE version coming soon.

Battery	Surface Pro 3	Surface Go 3
Size	42.2 Wh	28Wh Nominal battery capacity. 26.8Wh Minimum battery capacity.
Battery Life	Up to 9 hours of web browsing	Up to 11 hours of typical device usage
Power Supply	36W proprietary power supply USB-A output: 5W Surface Connect: 31W	24W proprietary Surface Connect power supply

Software	Surface Pro 3	Surface Go 3
OS	Windows 8.1 Pro Free upgrade to Windows 10	Windows 11 Home in S-mode
Built-in Apps	Microsoft Office 30-days trial	Xbox Game Pass Ultimate one month trial Microsoft 365 Family one month trial

Camera & Audio	Surface Pro 3	Surface Go 3
Camera	5.0MP front-facing camera with 1080p Skype HD video 5.0MP rear-facing camera with 1080p Skype HD video	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
Audio	Front and rear-facing microphones Front-facing stereo speakers with Dolby® Audio enhanced sound	Enhanced dual far-field Studio Mics 2W stereo speakers with Dolby® Audio™

Misc	Surface Pro 3	Surface Go 3
Inking	Supports Surface Pen 256 levels of pressure N-trig Active Pen technology	Supports Microsoft Pen Protocol (MPP) 4096 levels of pressure Tilt sensing Best in class latency Paper feel magnetic storage
Sensors	Ambient light sensor Accelerometer Gyroscope Magnetometer
Security	HW TPM 2.0 chip for enterprise security	HW TPM 2.0 chip for enterprise security Enterprise-grade protection with Windows Hello face sign-in
In the box	Surface Pro 3 Surface Pen Power supply Quick Start Guide Safety and warranty documents	Surface Go 3 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 150 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 165 degrees Magnetic attach for keyboard fold stability Physical buttons: volumes, power Casing: Magnesium