Surface Go 3 w/ Pentium Gold + 4GB RAM review | Is this even usable? 

The eMMC is what's affecting the launch time of apps, not the CPU here. Unless you push it hard. I used the model with 8/128, given that the 128 gb is SSD, not eMMC, the perfoemance is more than OK.

I think there is a big difference between the entry Surface Go and Upgraded Surface Go model. My Surface Go 2 with 8GB ram (huge upgrade), SSD and Core m3 Processor is very usable. The Core m3-7Y30 is as fast as my old Surface Pro 5 with i5-7300U. Perfectly fine for business and viewing the web. I am guessing it is even better with the Surface Go 3 and 4 models. The only problem is the price for the upgrade.

thank you for actually looking at the low-end model! I've been really looking for a device that fits my specific purpose: writing, but make it super easy to carry with me everywhere. my regular laptop is... fine? I guess? but it's heavy and bulky. I've been trying to nail down something that can run libreoffice writer without freaking out, fit in a normal-ish sized crossbody bag, doesn't weigh much and has a taller aspect ratio. and has a keyboard that doesn't make me hate my life. the surface go 3 does a pretty great job hitting all the notes here. chromebook detachables been considered but I hate google drive and having to be connected to the internet defeats the entire purpose (of wanting to plop down to write while touching some grass) everyone ignores this one and the higher end models are outside of my price range, so thanks for really taking a serious look at it. I'm still angry the keyboard isn't included in the box, though. it really should be.

hey u really got superb skills in indtroducing something ! big talent

I have a Surface Go - Gold CPU, 4gb - Bought it in 2019. Original version. Still have it and use it almost daily. It's great to have a computer to carry around my house when I'm not on my desktop. I use it for simple tasks. But it actually can do 1080x60 video editing pretty well too on the go! Great for traveling and having downloaded shows and movies on flights or road trips. Charges with USB C as well so when traveling I can take less cords and power supplies (you do need a proper wall adapter plug to charge this, a cell phone charger won't).

Thank you so much for this review. My girlfriend was looking into this laptop while it was on sale, and she wanted advice on if it would be good for her.

Good review dude. I'm glad MS still makes the Surface Go and I really hope people give it a fair look if they want real computing with a tocuhscreen, something nice in quality, and not terribly expensive. I have the original SG and I've been using it as my home computer with a BT keyboard, mouse, and external monitor for almost 3 years now. Long story short, I think a Surface Go can satisfy most people's home computing needs. I feel people over-buy with a lot of tech-imbued things, but for general internet media consumption, drawing, writing, homework, it's worked beautifully. Sometimes apps slow when loading and some sites take a second or two to fully load, but those are worthy tradeoffs to not have to spend a ton on a 2-in-1. It's so cool to me that, what, not even 10 years ago, when people had a "family computer" it was a PC tower or a chunky laptop, but now those tasks and more can be done with MS's "weakest", cheapest 2-in-1 tablet thingy. ...although, it is annoying that RU-vid chugs when loading and then there was this one time Zoom crashed as the SG got hot during a 45 minute call 😅Sorry to ramble, felt like sharing after realizing how much I've come to rely on my SG for 3 entire years. I should start calling it oooooool' reliable LOL

I was just thinking that too! Seeing those guitars at the back of the room for some time now.. let's see what he can do?? Lol .. maybe a surprise video one of these days?? Interesting video.. we are pushed for the latest and greatest tech which in most cases is over kill!! You may need to install a Linux distro on it to improve performance.. 😊

I got the 8g ram and am super happy with the performance. No lag, programs run smooth and can have multiple tabs open . Outpreform my low end chromebook.

3:2 displays are underrated for sure

That's not as bad I thought it would be. Like I have at work desktop with widescreen monitor for CAD, email&web browsing and another 16:9 display pivoted for document reading or teams/file explorer. But if I would have to move around I'd pick Go 3 for on-the-go device as let's face it most use their laptops for email, excel and such quite trivial tasks. I would get the more RAM and maybe the core i3 model. But I think even this would suffice just fine and have insanely good portability. I've always been astound why many workers pick big laptops for their work. I understand it if one is always mobile or if it's the only device, but almost all have their own offices that they work most off the time. I'd like to see Go 4 with ARM option. That would be very interesting.

My Go 2 was nice. I went with the 128gig storage model with 8 gigs of ram. It got to the point though I needed something stronger because it chugged when just trying to draw. My money would have been better spent on a pro 7 base model.

Hi Shane - great review. As someone coming from an Intel Atom-based Surface 3 I really just want a cheap Surface that is a refresh of what I've got. This still seems an upgrade in the hardware compared to what I have - so I am wondering what your thoughts are? I mainly use Netflix, RU-vid, Mail and Xbox Gamepass Streaming. Many thanks.

Please stop telling me I can install web apps in Edge, I know that lol. As I said in the video, the issues is with Google products. I have two accounts that I use for different things and swapping accounts within Edge logs me out of tasks on the other account so I use two browsers on my other PCs. You're also missing my point which was that something that isn't an issue on other computers in my house is on this one because of the specs. Using a second profile in Edge also fixes this, shoutout to Sega Boy for that tip.

Thanks for the review Shane. Would you recommend the Surface Pro 7 i5 8gb 256 as a second hand purchase in 22(nearly 23🎉 happy new year). Would be used for browsing, note taking, Microsoft Office apps, second casual device tasks.

Reminds me of the surface tablet 2. Microsoft displays are typically very pleasant, even the OG Surface 1 in 720p. Full disclosure, my 1&2 are not at all usable. My current is a Surface Laptop 3. One day I’ll upgrade.

would you prefer the surface go 3 or the surface pro x?

My laptop has Pentium Gold 5405U which is a bit less powerful than 6500Y. But the problem with the performance on Surface Go 3 is that it comes with eMMC storage, instead of SSD. Most eMMCs are too slow compared to SSDs

thx for the updated review , i wanted to buy to travel.. for small laptop quick email. or movies skype should be okay ... ^^

Maybe I'll get dinkum and try it on my surface go 2 core M3 model 👍

I have a surface go gen 1 with windows 11 loaded on it. on gen 1 you are able to overclock the screen which i did to 90hz. It nice to read reddit and other websites.I also have a chrome os duet. I usually use that one to watch videos and media watching kills my surface battery even faster.I would like to use the surface as my only tablet but that battery life makes that very uncomfortable

For the algorithm. ✊

Hey Shane, where is this tablet made - is it made in China ?

Long comment, sorry in advance: 1. Imagine an Android tablet in this body, with Samsung’s speakers. 2. Give me an ARM version of this with a USB-A port opposite the USB-C and I am so down. 3. Microsoft should just make a custom flavor or ChromeOS with Edge and Android app support. 4. Make sure you use the Dolby app with the Go 3, makes a real difference. 5. New to your channel, really like the content.

I'm gaming on this thing fairly nicely -- I'm just playing the games that I tested to play fine on it. For example, Skyrim works kinda okayish, but Oblivion is perfect on it. There will always be gazillions of games you can still play from a few years back, and sure, it won't be Animal Crossing, but Stardew Valley is perfect on this thing.

I can not tell what makes this new compared to a Surface Go 2.

I want to hear you play guitar

Sorry to spam the comments, but I wanted to offer this tip. I use webapps in the same way that you do, only through Edge. I use the "Install the website as an app" feature. You're doing this in Chrome because you have separate Google accounts than the ones you use in your default Edge instance. Solution: Create a second Edge profile. This will allow you to do things like 1) install RU-vid as a webapp more than once. You can call one "RU-vid Shane Craig" and another "RU-vid Personal". This way, you will only need Edge.

Can stream HDR in internal display?

Could you please install chrome is flex in it? I’m just wondering how it wil run🤞🤞

Surface Go product get no love for cases :( I wish they had magnetic cases like the iPads. I have the Go 3 with the 6500Y with 8GB ram it works great for media consumption and some productivity stuff when away from office computer.

If only they made a beefier expandable variant, the size, build quality and portability are top notch. It even has an audio i/o jack. My only other gripe is if it only had one full sized USB along with its USB C. I'm not even interested in the latest model now that they eliminated all but one of the ports. No audio jack? Really? That thing was capable of being a digital audio work station.

Edge supports Web Apps, so you could use Edge for your browser and your apps. I actually use RU-vid and Gmail that way.

The bad CPUs and pre-modern Windows 11 have hampered the Surface Go line. Hopefully the Surface Go 4 comes equipped with the Intel i3-N305 to get the pros of using an x86 CPU while also operating as cool and fanless like a ARM CPU even when out of S-mode alongside a 16GB of RAM variant for at most $800.

I'm hungry for a new Surface Go, wtf is SG4?

I think the issue with the base model is that it uses EMMC storage. Better to get a 128GB model as they use SSD. I run Fedora 37 Linux on my Surface Go gen 1 and it runs quite well. I also have a SG2 128GB running Windows, and it's OK to use. The cheaper Chromebooks mentioned do not have back-lit keyboards.

Newer Windows uses as much memory as possible, it keeps a lot of things in memory just in case you need it again. Only if you run out of memory does it start to clean up the memory. So the Windows memory usage can be a bit deceiving

Its the heat throttling your performance and dropping cpu clock speeds

13:14 You're wrong, the ram is THE problem. Windows (and any modern OS) will never use 100% physical memory. It will compress and/or evict active pages which lowers task manager's metrics. Due to the low ram, Windows has to do many swap operations which is the main reason the CPU is pegged at 100%. Not to mention the lack of "Free" ram prevents windows from retaining memory mapped files in standby. This means none of the frequently accessed files are cached in ram which slows app loads. What's worse is there's barely any cache for writes which causes stutters and freezes thanks to the abysmally slow emmc drive. For a better understanding of how memory works in Windows watch "Mysteries of Memory Management Revealed,with Mark Russinovich"

Il problema di questi notebook Windows sono le emmc. Vale per tutti HP Asus Acer Microsoft. È inspiegabile il motivo del loro uso da parte delle aziende.

you can play old retro games just fine.insted of trying to show what it cant do why dont you show what it can do. i play doom1 doom2 ridge racer ,sonic,all sega games etc this little surface go is a beast when you give it what it can handle. Handles office 365 fine ,plus you didn't talk about the connectivity.

The bottleneck is not the CPU, but RAM. I have used the same Pentium SG3 but with 8 GB RAM and 128GB NVMe, and it was decent experience. With 4 GB RAM, the CPU is constantly caching RAM in and out of virtual memory and hence it is maxing out. The Pentium in SG3 is at least as powerful as a 5th or 6th Gen i5. Put Linux on it and its a productivity beast.

I've got a Go3 and it's ok if you just want to run a single app at a time. At half the price of a decent iPad then I guess you get what you pay for. I'd love for MS to cram the surface pro into that form factor.

honestly ms should just give you the keyboard at this point. they charge way too much for it separately they could easily just give you one.

Just install the web apps in edge. That's what I do on my go 2.

With an I3 and 4GB of memory this thing sounds like a very expensive Chromebook except its running Windows.

It seems that after 15 years of tablets we still struggle to do just the basic stuff -browsing, opening documents , watching movies or RU-vid. It’s seems all that hardware development, all that processor and ram speed is meaningless. Basically just e-waste.

Is it compatible with slim pen 2? I’ve seen conflicting info online. It obviously can’t charge it

I have the pricy M3 GO 2, and I consider that to be unusable. My wife has a GO 1 with Pentium Gold and she can't even run Windows 11. Don't buy a GO. Just get a Samsung tablet or iPad with a keyboard.

Windows users: 8GB of RAM on Mac is such a ripoff Microsoft: here is 4gb of ram

Even other brands like acer starts selling their cheapest with 8gb and microsoft creator of OS itself still sells 4gb lol config

Totally agree with this guy I don't believe its the RAM I must be doing something wrong then because this device is the worse item I have ever purchased seriously I have the mid 8gb gold CPU its dreadful absolutely I wasn't expecting a MacBook pro but this is slower than slow it over heats the battery well what can I say 11 hours quoted what are Microsoft smoking 11 minutes more like it will loose near 20% in 11 minutes the thing drains and sucks battery like me guzzling a cold latte on a hot summers day. I'm probably getting old but the 150% screen scaling is far too small !! I find this unusable I'm thinking of giving it to my 11 year old daughter to watch you tube thats all its good for .

I apologize for my rude comments to that spammer I hope I did not offend you

Hi

0:22

intel is killing microsoft products ... microsoft should find apple m1 or m2 chip alternative fast

Dual core Intel is pure crap, my old Chuwi HI8 is probably faster than gold cpu, lol it's quad core, and run latest win 10 update on it, but has 2gb ram only lol still runs fine. Microsoft needs to rip out Intel crap and start shove in ARM SOC asap whether people want it or not. X86 is antiquated. Need to move on people come out of stone age, to ARM age, like Most Servers, which are already ARM, why 1, save power, 3, more performance for less power. Wake up people stuck on x86 and learn something new.

Never - ever try to run Windows 10/11 on less than 8GB of RAM - NEVER

This was a great review but I use mine as an emulator, I get my Nintendo ds games on here and I can play pokemon and other games where ever I am, so it's good for emulation.

Of course this thing sucks at multitasking. Can it run RU-vid on its own? Web browsers aren't meant to be run simultaneously. The Surface Go is probably as close as Microsoft wants to get to a Chromebook, which I'm on at this very moment. This Chromebook is wonderful compared to a Surface Go but it doesn't run Windows. Oh look. You're loading up a game on Steam. Almost all video games today are bloated and meant to run on current hardware, whether it's a phone or PC. The Surface Go isn't mid-range. It's low-end. Why did you make this? Why am I watching this? You seem a little out of touch with the kind of people who might be concerned about performance on the Surface Go, because they are definitely not the type that expect it to run games off Steam well. 16:24 Actually, that game is in 3D and uses very complex graphics compared to what's actually needed for gameplay. Of course, it isn't Tomb Raider, but that game certainly wasn't made to be as simple as reasonably possible. Those 3D graphics are for looks. The same game on the SNES wouldn't have had 3D graphics at all because of how stupidly it would gobble up system resources. If you want to see another example of a game, a mobile game, that uses 3D-like graphics and takes up stupid system resources, check out Hunt Royale. Or Archero. Or Mr Autofire. Or most games by VOODOO such as Mob Control. Or Casual Azur Games. You picked an Indie game, which was likely not nearly as optimized as a game from a bigger studio. Microsoft (and I'm not a fan of Microsoft or their products) made the Surface Go to appease people who want something that works without spending as much money. People with lower standards and needs based on those lower standards. I wish all computers today were snappy and I could get the cheapest one and still run everything well. It's a lot more complicated than that. For example, Microsoft and Windows seem to want their users to use the Edge browser and do everything they can to force it on their users. They don't deserve to exist for that very fact and the same goes for the people who put up with that. It's a mistake to tolerate badly behaved people and the companies whose existence depends on them.