Microsoft has revealed a new third-generation model of its Surface Laptop Go line during its Surface event today. The company’s new notebook will launch on October 3rd, have “up to 15 hours of battery,” and command a starting price of $799.
The new Surface Laptop Go 3 is not to be confused with the non-laptop Surface Go, a smaller and less performant version of the popular main Surface tablet line. The 12.4-inch Surface Laptop Go 3 is the company’s latest cheap and light notebook offering for those who aren’t looking for a powerhouse but like the Surface style.
Just as the WinFuture leak suggested, Microsoft’s latest Laptop Go release looks similar to the previous Surface Laptop Go 2 but has some new internal upgrades. The previous models touted Intel’s 11th Gen chips; it now comes with 12th Gen Intel Core i5 chips that help make the laptop “88 percent faster.” You can configure the Laptop Go 3 with up to 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, and the base still has a paltry 8GB of RAM.
Besides the performance bumps mentioned, the new Surface Laptop Go 3 remains largely identical to the previous model. It has a similar 3:2 aspect ratio PixelSense touchscreen as both the previous model and the first one that was released in 2020. The screen still has a meager resolution of 1536 x 1024. The new model comes in four colors (platinum, sage, sandstone, and ice blue) and weighs under 2.5 pounds.
You’re also getting the same port selection from last year, which includes one USB-A port, one USB-C, a headphone jack on the left, and the proprietary Surface Connect port on the right side. A fingerprint scanner is available on the new Laptop Go 3. Additional features include Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.1, and removable SSD modules where you can swap in up to 512GB of storage. The laptop has a 720p webcam with “studio mics” and includes Omnisonic speakers with Dolby Audio support.
In our review of the previous Surface Laptop Go 2 from August 2022, we weren’t fans of the lousy port selection, lack of backlight keys, and the not-very-good battery life. Microsoft has, on the surface, done little to change that here. But once we get our hands on one to review, we’ll find out if this is a worthwhile upgrade and if it can sustain the newly advertised “all-day battery life.”
https://www.theverge.com/2023/9/21/23881978/microsoft-surface-laptop-go-3-price-release-date