The 12.45-inch display is likely to be the most controversial aspect of the device. While that beat the Surface Go 2, the Acer Swift 3, with AMD’s most recent Radeon graphics, was far better (2,848).

The Surface Laptop Go 2 earned a score of 1,229 on 3DMark Fire Strike. While the Intel Core i5-1035G1 is built on Intel’s 10th Gen “Ice Lake” architecture, it doesn’t get the graphics benefits that the higher-end chips offer. By run 4, the CPU had stabilized in the mid 800s.ĭuring the Cinebench test, the CPU hit an average clock speed of just under 1.5 GHz and an average temperature of 66.7 degrees Celsius (152.1 degrees Fahrenheit). The Surface Laptop Go had an expected drop after its first run of 1,005.2, down into the 700’s. That’s a bit faster than the MacBook Air (27:10) and far faster than the Surface Go 2 (48:14).Īs a stress test, we run Cinebench R20 30 times on a loop and check for heat and stability. It took 25 minutes and 55 seconds for the Surface Laptop Go to transcode a 4K resolution video to 1080p resolution with Handbrake. That’s faster than the Surface Go 2 (181.8 MBps) but far slower than both the Swift (462.7 MBps) and MacBook Air (508.9 MBps). Microsoft’s petite laptop transferred 5GB of files at a rate of 278.4 MBps.

The Swift 3 with Ryzen 7 did better (4,862), but the MacBook Air fared worse (2,738). The fact that it beat the Surface Go 2 (1,563), with its older processor meant for fanless designs wasn’t surprising. On Geekbench 5.0, the Surface Laptop Go notched a multi-core score of 3,117. Our review unit paired that with 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD.įor our productivity tests, we’re comparing it to Microsoft’s other latest Go product, the Surface Laptop Go 2, released earlier this year with an older Intel Core m3-8100Y, the Acer Swift 3 with AMD’s Ryzen 7 4700U, and the Apple MacBook Air, with another 10th Gen Intel processor, the Core i5-1030NG7. The Surface Laptop Go is powered by an Intel Core i5-1035G1, no matter which configuration you choose. Windows 10 Home in S Mode (Tested with Windows 10 Home)ġ1 x 8.1 x 0.6 inches /278.2 mm x 206.2 mm x 15.7 mm

USB Type-C, USB Type-A, 3.5 mm headphone jack, Surface Connect port

Microsoft laptop go review