2-in-1s have always divided opinion. Yet, brands have consistently worked to do better with every iteration of their 2-in-1 devices. Microsoft has arguably been at the forefront of this. The Surface line of devices has adaptability at the core of their DNA, and new Surface devices are making quite the impact. Microsoft’s Surface line-up has stood out consistently for being really good when it comes to the design and build quality. The Surface Go 3 is no exception.
The metal body feels premium and the matte grey finish didn’t attract any fingerprints. The Alcantara treatment is here as well. Unlike a number of its competitors, the Surface Go 3 is a detachable 2-in-1 and not a Windows laptop with a 360-degree hinge. This makes it a lot more portable. We were supplied with the optional attachable keyboard and the Surface pen for this review. You can also choose to use the Surface Go 3 without these but that would defeat the purpose of a machine like this. Weighing in at only 544g, the Surface Go 3 is fairly portable.
When it comes to ports, there is a Type-C port and a proprietary Surface connect port that you can use for fast charging. That said, you can also charge the Surface Go 3 with the Type-C port. There is also an SD card reader tucked behind the kickstand. Featuring a 10.5-inch full-HD (1920x1280) touchscreen with a 3:2 aspect ratio and Corning Gorilla Glass 3, the Surface Go 3 delivers when it comes to the display. It gets sufficiently bright and is fairly colour accurate. There is a 5MP webcam and an 8MP main shooter along with an infrared camera for Windows Hello. The front facing stereo speakers are housed either side of the display and are loud enough for daily use.
Our Surface Go 3 features a 10th Gen Intel Pentium Gold 6500Y CPU, 8GB of LPDDR3 RAM, and a 128GB SSD. Performance is adequate although you are met with the occasional lag when launching an application, especially resource intensive ones like Adobe Photoshop. It ships with Windows 11 in S mode which you can upgrade to normal. When it comes to the overall experience, it does what you would expect of a Windows tablet. The low battery life (we could only consistently get around 5 hours) is a major deterrent. The Microsoft Surface Go 3 has a lot of things going for it, one thing it doesn’t is the price of the package when you add in the keyboard and the Surface Pen (above Rs 80,000 all in), which are essential. That said, it still offers the kind of portability that other Windows devices simply don’t and that can be a strong selling point.
