Surface Go USB-C Charging: We tested 3 USB-C PD chargers for comparison

Can you charge the Surface Go with USB-C?

In short, yes you can. The USB-C 3.1 Gen 1 port on Microsoft Surface Go does support smart charging along with data transfer and video out capability. It supports USB Power Delivery revision 3.0 which supports 4 different power rules (5v, 9v, 15v, and 20v) with the ability to supply power up to over 45W.

With that said, you will need a compatible USB-C with Power Delivery which rated at a higher wattage to fast charge your Surface Go. Fortunately, as we tested, the Surface Go can also be slow charged via standard USB charger as well. So, if you can’t find a USB-C PD charger, don’t panic, you can use any phone’s USB chargers or power bank to continue your work.

How to charge Surface Go with USB-C?

It’s really simple to charge your Surface with USB-C. Just like the Surface Connect connector, the USB-C connector itself is reversible, so you don’t have to worry about the wrong side plug-in. Anyway, there 2 ways to charge your Surface Go over USB-C depending on the available charger port:

1. USB-A to USB-C: You can charge your Surface Go with any standard USB charger or portable power bank with a good charging rate (at least 5V/1.5A) by connecting them with the USB-A to USB-C cable.
   
2. USB-C to USB-C: If you have a USB-C PD charger, which is highly recommended, and they are using USB-C port, then you can charge your Surface Go by connecting them with the USB-C to USB-C cable.
   

Surface Go USB-C chargers we’ve tested

To find out what type of USB-C PD chargers work best for Microsoft Surface Go, we have tested three different chargers with USB-C PD support. To help you understand more about each charger’s specifications, we have put them together in the table below:

For better comparison, below is the specification of original Surface Go charger and a standard phone charger that we’ve already tested:

Now we have an array of chargers with the power range from 7.5W up until 45W with different type charging interfaces. And now it’s time test it out, read on for the actual charging speed of those chargers.

Surface Go USB-C chargers testing result

The following table summarizes the speed, duration, and charging rate of each charger. We have ordered the chargers by maximum charging rate they can offer.

What we’ve learned from the result

Now we’ve seen the result. Here are some facts that we can see:

1. Battery below 80%: you can expect to get the peak charging rate of each charger.
2. Battery between 80% – 90%: the charging rate starts to slow down to around 8W.
3. Battery between 90% – 99%: the charging rate drop dramatically down to around 2.5W that take twice as long as between 80%-90%.
4. Battery between 99% – 100%: Our tested Surface Go took about 25 minutes to fully charge from 99% no matter what chargers we’ve tried.

Experiment Condition

Of course, the actual charging speed depends on your device’s settings and usage. It will be much faster to charge your device when it’s off, and it will be slow as you play games or use any heavy tasks.

Below are our testing condition that we used and think most people would use in the general situation:

• Turn off the display: Never (Always-on display)
• Display brightness: 50%
• Auto brightness: No
• Bluetooth: On
• WiFi: On (connected to the internet)

Tracking Tools

The tool we used to track the battery capacity, speed and duration of the charging is BatteryInfoView. Beside that, this tool also has the ability to display more detail information about your device’s battery.

We also use our favorite tool BatteryBar to view real-time charging stats right from the taskbar. You can download both tools for free from the links below:

• Click here to download BatteryInfoView
• Click here to download BatteryBar

Recommended Chargers for Surface Go

Since Surface Go is compatible with both the Surface Connect and the USB-C charging interface, you have many options when you want additional chargers to be used while on the go, at home, or at the office.

More powerful chargers for Surface Go The following Surface Connect chargers are more powerful than the 24W original Surface Go charger. If you want a better charging speed, it's a good choice for you.
	Microsoft Surface 65W Power Supply for Surface Book, Surface Laptop, Surface Pro, Pro 4, and Pro 3 By Microsoft $46.00 Was: $79.99	See at Amazon

USB-C chargers with Power Delivery for Surface Go The chargers here are relatively small in size, easy to carry around, and powerful enough to fast charge your Surface Go. Especially, since they're using USB-C interface, you can charge all your USB-C devices without carrying additional chargers.
	Anker USB Type C Wall Charger, 30W with Power Delivery, PowerPort Speed PD 30 for MacBook Pro/Air 2018, iPad Pro 2018, iPhone XS/Max/XR/X/8/7/Plus, S10/S9, LG, Nexus, Pixel C/3/2/XL, MateBook and more By Anker $25.99	See at Amazon
	iClever 45W USB Type-C Wall Charger with Power Delivery Adapter for Nintendo Switch, Samsung Note 8, Pixel C, Nexus 5X/6P, Apple MacBook 2015/2016 and More[Contains a 6.6ft USB C to C Cable] By iClever Out of stock	See at Amazon
	ZMI Turbo 45W Wall Charger USB-C PD AC Adapter Laptop Charger for New MacBook (NOT MacBook Pro) / Pixelbook/Pixel/Pixel XL Fast Charging Samsung Galaxy S10 / S9 / S8/Note9 with 5ft USB C to C Cord By ZMI $19.95	See at Amazon

Portable power bank with Power Delivery for Surface Go Chargers required the electrical outlet, but it isn't always easy to find one. So, if you are a student or a person that need to stay in class or attend a long hours meeting, you should pick a portable power bank.
	Anker PowerCore Speed 20000 PD, 20100mAh Portable Charger & 30W Power Delivery Wall Charger Bundle, Input & Output Type C Power Bank for MacBook Air/iPad Pro 2018, Nexus 6P, iPhone 8/X, MacBooks, S10 By Anker $99.99	See at Amazon
	USB C Power Bank RAVPower 26800mAh PD Portable Charger (Fast Recharged in 4.5 Hours, 30W Type C Output) external battery pack for Nintendo Switch, USB-C Laptops, 2016 MacBook Power Delivery Support By PAVPower $75.99	See at Amazon