Comparisons
Microsoft Surface Comparison: Don’t Buy The Wrong Laptop or Tablet
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If you’re looking for a Microsoft Surface, you might have a problem understanding the differences between the different models.
Fret not, here’s the quickest summary ever:
Surface Laptop Series Summarized
The Surface Laptop series is very similar to a traditional laptop with an attached keyboard.
Surface Laptop Studio: Most powerful, most expensive, has flexible screen configurations.
Surface Laptop Go:Laptop with a focus on portability. Smallest display among the Laptop series at 12”.
Surface Laptop:A laptop with a focus on long battery life and sleekness. Decent performance for everyday use.
Surface Go, Pro Series Summarized
The Surface Go and Pro series are tablets, but they are usually paired with a detachable keyboard, which allows them to function like a laptop. No Surface Go or Pro has an integrated graphics card.
Surface Go:Prioritizes compactness at the cost of performance. It comes with a 10-inch screen, but generally has less RAM, less memory and a weaker processor than its Surface peers.
Surface Pro (except Pro X and Pro 9 with SQ 3 processor): Powerful Surface tablet with good everyday capabilities.
Surface Pro X and Pro 9 with SQ 3 processor:Comes with the Microsoft SQ-series processor, which is based on the ARM architecture. Not recommended for people seeking a traditional Windows experience because of compatibility issues — scroll to the final section of this article for elaboration.
The Microsoft Surface Go 2 is a 10.5-inch Windows tablet with an optional keyboard cover and optional Surface Pen. It’s a great and very portable 2-in-1 device that runs full Windows 11 and has lots of great features. However, it’s a couple of years old now - the newest is the Surface Go 4. The Surface Go 2 can be a great buy, however, as long as you can find a great deal.
The Microsoft Surface Go 3 is a 10.5-inch Windows tablet with an Intel Pentium Gold chipset, 4GB of RAM and at least 64GB of internal storage. You can get it with a good keyboard cover and a fantastic Surface Pen. While we reviewed the predecessors, we never tried the Go 3 ourselves.
The Microsoft Surface Go 4 is an excellent choice if you’re looking for a 10-inch Windows tablet. It offers a pretty display, a high-quality design, an excellent Surface Pen and a good keyboard. The performance is very good, especially for office work, but I can’t recommend it as a gaming tablet or for graphic work. It’s also a shame that it’s quite expensive.
The Microsoft Surface Go 2 is a 10.5-inch Windows tablet with an optional keyboard cover and optional Surface Pen. It’s a great and very portable 2-in-1 device that runs full Windows 11 and has lots of great features. However, it’s a couple of years old now - the newest is the Surface Go 4. The Surface Go 2 can be a great buy, however, as long as you can find a great deal.
The Microsoft Surface Go 3 is a 10.5-inch Windows tablet with an Intel Pentium Gold chipset, 4GB of RAM and at least 64GB of internal storage. You can get it with a good keyboard cover and a fantastic Surface Pen. While we reviewed the predecessors, we never tried the Go 3 ourselves.
The Microsoft Surface Go 4 is an excellent choice if you’re looking for a 10-inch Windows tablet. It offers a pretty display, a high-quality design, an excellent Surface Pen and a good keyboard. The performance is very good, especially for office work, but I can’t recommend it as a gaming tablet or for graphic work. It’s also a shame that it’s quite expensive.
Surface Pro
This is a winner. The Surface Pro is a great computer for people who want to buy a one-size-fits-all Windows tablet.
Unlike the Surface Laptop series, you can also use the Surface Pro as a tablet. Making it convenient for watching movies and reading PDFs comfortably.
Trust me, if I weren’t such a sucker for the small size of the Surface Go, I’d already have the Surface Pro. Unlike the Surface Go, the Surface Pro opens apps up much faster because of its stronger hardware.
The Microsoft Surface Pro 9 is the best Windows tablet you can buy at the moment. It offers a premium built, newest Intel processors, a pretty 120Hz display, as well as fantastic accessoires with the Slim Pen 2 and Signature Keyboard. Sadly, the battery life is short and not much has changed compared to the Surface Pro 8.
We’ve reviewed the Surface Pro several times now, and it has proven to be a great, capable on-the-go computer due to its compact size and decent hardware. It’ll run Photoshop smoothly and can play games decently.
Note that with the Surface Pro 9, you have the option to buy the SQ-3 version which is an ARM chip. If you want a traditional Windows experience, you should buy the Intel version.
Read More:Surface Pro 9 Review
Surface Go
The Surface Go is one of the most compact Windows tablets you can buy from a major manufacturer.
It’s the closest equivalent to a netbook. Around 2010, there was a class of Windows computers that were specifically meant for very simple tasks, and they were built around Windows 7.
The Surface Go is very similar in terms of what it’s trying to achieve. You can browse the web, play simple games, create documents, play videos, etc.
But try to use Photoshop, watch 4K video or anything else, and you’ll start seeing why you should buy the Surface Pro. A good number of games aren’t playable either, andhere’s a list for your reference.
The beauty of the Surface Go is how compact it is. I bring it with me almost everywhere because I can easily put it in my bag. It’s lightweight and has a decent battery life for on-the-go work.
At the time of writing, individuals can still buy the Surface Go 3 from Microsoft. Its cheapest model is $439 which makes it a very affordable Microsoft tablet. Budget an extra $100 for the official keyboard. The Surface Go 4 is currently only available from Microsoft’s Small Business website and starts at $579.
Read More:Surface Go 4 vs Surface Go 3
Surface Pro X
Microsoft is back again with an ARM-powered computer. However, this system really isn’t most ideal for everyone.
Let me ask you: have you ever used a Windows app on your Android phone (which probably has an ARM chip)?
Now there’s your problem!
The benefit of using an ARM processor over an Intel chip comes down to longer battery life due to its higher energy efficiency. Despite having a pretty big screen, it still manages to get 13 hours of battery life which is pretty amazing.
An ARM chip is a bit different from an Intel processor. So, some software might not run at all, such as Adobe’s software like Photoshop, Lightroom and other software in the Creative Cloud suite.
You might be able to run those software through an emulator that bridges the gap between the ARM chip and an intel chip.
Which leads to the question… why not just buy another Surface model with an Intel chip? Especially considering the prices are neck-and-neck.
Read:Our Microsoft Surface Pro X Review
Surface Laptop Studio
The Surface Laptop Studio is blazingly powerful which also explains why its price starts at $1,999.99 and can go over $3,000.
Not only will you have the latest 13th-generation Intel processor on all models, but you can upgrade and get the Nvidia RTX 4050, 4060 or 2000 Ada graphics chips.
You also get an Intel Movidius neural processing unit that’s meant to enhance AI processing speed.
That’s three dedicated chips in the Laptop Studio, but to be fair, the use for the Movidius AI chip is still limited.
The Surface Laptop Studio folds in a unique way. Imagine having a Surface Pro but your kickstand is mounted on a base where the keyboard is.
This gives you two points of rotation. You can adjust the screen as you would a normal laptop. This gives you the traditional “L” shape laptop. However, you can also use the kickstand to bring the screen closer to you, hence giving you a triangular shape.
Surface Laptop
If you want a plain old laptop, then the Surface Laptop might fit the bill.
The Surface Laptop is great because has great specs and a nice 13.5″ or 15″ screen, making it a good desktop replacement. It has a great design and is highly portable, weighing in at 2.86 lbs (1.297 kg) for the lightest model. Plus, battery life is quoted at 17-18 hours, which is pretty incredible, even if in real-world usage, you only get half to three-quarters of that.
However, when you buy a Surface Laptop, you might be thinking, “Why don’t I look at other manufacturers?”
If you look at specs only, you might be able to get a better deal elsewhere, while Microsoft’s products are great, they command a premium. The Surface Laptop has huge competition because it’s basically just a laptop. There are a bunch of manufacturers out there who make a very similar product, such as Dell’s XPS range with a focus on portability.
The starting price for the 15″ is $1,099, but you do not get a dedicated graphics card. If you want to play new games and render videos, then you might consider spending that money on a gaming PC instead. At $1,000, you can get an entry-level Nvidia or AMD Radeon graphics card. Of course, with gaming PCs, portability and battery life aren’t the biggest priorities.
Read:Our Beginners Guide To Using A Windows Tablet
Microsoft Surface Laptop Go
It’s an ultraportable laptop, weighing in at 2.49 lbs (1.1 kg) and with a small 12.4-inch screen.
The Surface Laptop Go 3 has a few important upgrades compared to its predecessor, such as getting rid of the 4GB RAM configuration. That really sucks in today’s use — I know first-hand because I am typing this on a 4GB Surface. It also has a useful fingerprint sensor, which I’d rather have over facial recognition logins (it’s slow and finicky).
My thoughts here aren’t too far off from what I wrote about the Surface Laptop. It faces steep competition from other brands. In fact, the first thing I wondered is… what do I get if I bought a Surface Go tablet instead?
Let’s take a look.
I conclude that you get much less bang for buck in terms of specifications with the Surface Go 3. A weaker processor and less storage come to mind immediately. And $100 for the official keyboard makes me scream — that’s about a quarter of the value of the base-model Surface Go 3.
However, the Surface Go 3 wins in terms of its portability, being lighter and smaller. Plus, you can use it as a tablet by detaching the keyboard. It also has a higher resolution screen than the Surface Laptop Go 3.
What is the Surface Pen and Should You Buy It?
When you buy a Surface Pro or Go tablet, you will be asked if you want to buy the keyboard. You should be able to judge whether you need a keyboard, so I’ll leave that to you.
However, another accessory that you might be considering is the Surface Pen.The Surface Pen really comes to life when you have appsthat accompany and enhance the experience of using a pen.
Some features that are immediately obvious are painting, drawing or Photoshop editing, when you need to be able to use pen pressure to adjust the stroke and opacity of your drawing tool. I enjoyed using the Surface Pen on the Surface’s display because I could see exactly where I was drawing on. It’s much more intuitive than using an off-screen graphics tablet, which I use on my main computer. That took a bit of training.
Notetaking apps are also particularly helpful because they allow you to have an endless supply of paper on your Surface. No more piles of notebooks! I found it useful when learning to write a new alphabet or Chinese/Japanese characters. Practicing penmanship takes a lot of paper.
Unfortunately, I believe the downside involves how weird it is to write on glass. Take a pencil and write on your window, because that’s how it feels. To be fair, the Surface Slim Pen 2 has haptic feedback which can helpmimic the feeling of writing on paper— as long as your app and Surface support it.
ARM vs Intel Processors
Microsoft’s moves into integrating ARM processors again might spur your curiosity on why Microsoft would create a product that seems so niche.
Microsoft hasa whole page explaining the pros and cons. Here are the main points, summarized.
And here’s why you shouldn’t get an ARM-based Surface.
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