Alienware M17 R3 vs. Surface Go 3: Full specs comparison

The following is a comprehensive comparison of the Alienware M17 R3 and Surface Go 3 specifications, including details on CPU, memory, storage, battery life, display quality, and other features.

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Alienware M17 R3 image

Alienware M17 R3

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Surface Go 3

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Alienware M17 R3 Pros

Reasons that Alienware M17 R3 is better than Surface Go 3.

Much faster CPU performance

Intel Core i9-10980HK inside Alienware M17 R3 has a 346% better multi-core CPU performance score than the Intel Core i3-10100Y inside Surface Go 3.

Geekbench 5 multi-core score
Alienware M17 R3 - Intel Core i9-10980HK
7,013
Alienware M17 R3 - Intel Core i7-10750H
5,412
Alienware M17 R3 - Intel Core i5-10300H
3,747
Surface Go 3 - Intel Core i3-10100Y
1,570
Surface Go 3 - Intel Pentium Gold 6500Y
1,510
Supports larger memory

Alienware M17 R3 supports a larger memory capacity than the Surface Go 3. It supports up to 32GB versus 8GB of system memory on the Surface Go 3.

Max system memory size
Alienware M17 R3
32 GB
Surface Go 3
8 GB
Supports faster memory

Alienware M17 R3 supports a faster memory speed than the Surface Go 3. It supports up to 2666MHz versus 1866MHz of system memory on the Surface Go 3.

Memory type and speed
Alienware M17 R3 - DDR4
2,666 MHz
Surface Go 3 - LPDDR3
1,866 MHz
Supports discrete graphics

Configurable up to Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER 8GB GDDR6 with Max-Q vs. integrated

Upgradable storage

Alienware M17 R3 comes with two M.2 slots that you can easily upgrade and install an additional SSD to expand the storage on the device.

SlotsAlienware M17 R3Surface Go 3
M.2
Yes x2
Onboard
64% larger display

Alienware M17 R3 has a 17.3-inch screen size 64% larger than the 10.5-inch Surface Go 3.

Display size
Alienware M17 R3
17.3-inch
Surface Go 3
10.5-inch

Surface Go 3 Pros

Reasons that Surface Go 3 is better than Alienware M17 R3.

Newer manufacturing

2021 vs. 2020

About 82% lighter

Surface Go 3 weighed 1.2 pounds, 82% lighter than the 6.55 pounds Alienware M17 R3.

WeightAlienware M17 R3Surface Go 3
Pound
6.55 lbs.
1.2 lbs.
Kilogram
2.97 kg
0.54 kg

Prices

Here are the latest price updates and offers for both devices.

Alienware M17 R3 Price
Dell m17 R3 17.3 inch FHD Gaming Laptop (Luna Light) Intel Core i7-10750H 10th Gen, 16GB DDR4 RAM, 1TB SSD, Nvidia Geforce RTX 2070 8GB GDDR6, Windows 10 Home
 Dell m17 R3 17.3 inch FHD Gaming Laptop (Luna Light) Intel Core i7-10750H 10th Gen, 16GB DDR4 RAM, 1TB SSD, Nvidia Geforce RTX 2070 8GB GDDR6, Windows 10 Home
By Dell
$1,230.00
See at Amazon
2020 Dell Alienware m17 R3 Laptop 17.3" - Intel Core i7 10th Gen - i7-10750H - Six Core 5Ghz - 256GB SSD + 256GB SSD - 20GB RAM - 1920x1080 FHD - Windows 10 Home (Renewed)
 2020 Dell Alienware m17 R3 Laptop 17.3" - Intel Core i7 10th Gen - i7-10750H - Six Core 5Ghz - 256GB SSD + 256GB SSD - 20GB RAM - 1920x1080 FHD - Windows 10 Home (Renewed)
By Dell
$1,592.99
See at Amazon
2020 Dell Alienware m17 R3 Laptop 17.3" - Intel Core i7 10th Gen - i7-10750H - Six Core 5Ghz - 256GB SSD + 256GB SSD - 16GB RAM - Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 - 1920x1080 FHD - Windows 10 Home (Renewed)
 2020 Dell Alienware m17 R3 Laptop 17.3" - Intel Core i7 10th Gen - i7-10750H - Six Core 5Ghz - 256GB SSD + 256GB SSD - 16GB RAM - Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 - 1920x1080 FHD - Windows 10 Home (Renewed)
By Dell
$1,592.99
See at Amazon
Microsoft Surface Go 3 - 10.5” Price
Microsoft Surface Go 3 - 10.5" Touchscreen - Intel® Core™ i3 - 8GB Memory - 128GB SSD - Device Only - Platinum (Latest Model)
 Microsoft Surface Go 3 - 10.5" Touchscreen - Intel® Core™ i3 - 8GB Memory - 128GB SSD - Device Only - Platinum (Latest Model)
By Microsoft
$510.25
$629.99 19% OFF
See at Amazon
Microsoft Surface Go 3 - 10.5" Touchscreen - Intel® Core™ i3 - 8GB Memory - 128GB SSD - Device Only - Black (Latest Model)
 Microsoft Surface Go 3 - 10.5" Touchscreen - Intel® Core™ i3 - 8GB Memory - 128GB SSD - Device Only - Black (Latest Model)
By Microsoft
$540.00
$629.99 14% OFF
See at Amazon
Microsoft Surface Go 3 - 10.5" Touchscreen - Intel® Pentium® Gold - 4GB Memory - 64GB eMMC - Device Only - Platinum (Latest Model)
 Microsoft Surface Go 3 - 10.5" Touchscreen - Intel® Pentium® Gold - 4GB Memory - 64GB eMMC - Device Only - Platinum (Latest Model)
By Microsoft
$379.22
$399.99 5% OFF
See at Amazon

Specs Comparison

Availability

Alienware M17 R3Surface Go 3
Released20202021
Release Date
  • Available on May 2020
  • Introduced: September 22, 2021
  • Pre-ordered: September 22, 2021
  • Released: October 5, 2021
PricingStarting at $1,549.99
  • $399 
    Gold 6500Y 4 GB 64 GB WiFi
  • $549
    Gold 6500Y 8 GB 128 GB WiFi
  • $629
    i3-10100Y 8 GB 128 GB WiFi
Generations

Exterior

Alienware M17 R3Surface Go 3
Dimensions15.74 x 11.59 x 0.89 in (399.80 x 294.30 x 22.50 mm)
  • Width: 15.74 in. (399.80 mm)
  • Depth: 11.59 in. (294.30 mm)
  • Height: 0.89 in. (22.50 mm)
9.65” x 6.9” x 0.33” (245 mm x 175  mm x 8.3 mm)
Width: 9.65” (245 mm)
Height: 6.9” (175 mm)
Thickness: 0.33” (8.3 mm)
WeightStarting at 6.55 lb (2.97 kg)
  • Surface Go 3: 1.2 lbs (544 g)
  • Surface Go 3 Keyboard: 0.55 lbs (249 g)
Colors
  • Lunar Light with High Endurance Clear Coat
  • Dark Side of the Moon with High Endurance Clear Coat
Platinum
Keyboard and Trackpad
  • Keyboard
    • Type:
      • Alienware mSeries 4-Zone AlienFX RGB keyboard
      • Alienware mSeries keyboard with per-key RGB LED AlienFX lighting
    • Includes anti-ghosting and N-key rollover technology
    • 1.7 mm key travel and alphanumeric keys
    • 0.2 mm-dish concave key design
  • Touchpad
    • Size: 4.13” x 3.15” (105 mm x 80 mm)
    • Premium Precision-Point glass touchpad
  • Surface Go Type Cover
    • Not included
  • Keyboard:
    • Full-size mechanical backlit keyset with 1 mm of key travel.
  • Trackpad:
    • Precision glass trackpad.
    • Trackpad size: 101 mm x 56 mm
    • Supports a five-finger multitouch gesture.

Display

Alienware M17 R3Surface Go 3
Size17.3 Inches10.5 Inches
InfoFull HD with 144Hz refresh rate
  • 1920 x 1080, 141 PPI, 9ms response time, 300 nits, 16:9, 72% NTSC  color gamut, 600:1 contrast ratio, Anti-glare.
Full HD with 144Hz refresh rate
  • 1920 x 1080, 141 PPI, 9ms response time, 300 nits, 16:9, 72% NTSC color gamut with NVIDIA G-SYNC Technology, 600:1 contrast ratio, Anti-glare.
Full HD with 300Hz refresh rate
  • 1920 x 1080, 141 PPI, 3ms response time, 300 nits, 16:9, 100% sRGB color gamut, 700:1 contrast ratio, Anti-glare.
Ultra HD with 60Hz refresh rate
  • 3180 x 2160, 282 PPI, 25ms response time, 500 nits, 16:9, 100% sRGB color gamut, 1,200:1 contrast ratio, 12W max power consumption
  • Tobii Eyetracking technology
All options
  • Wide Viewing Angles on all displays with 85 degrees viewing from all directions
  • Resolution: 1920 x 1280 (2.45M Pixels)
  • Density: 220 PPI
  • PixelSense™ Display
  • Contrast ratio: 1500:1
  • Aspect ratio: 3:2
  • Inking: designed together with Surface Pen
  • Touch: 10 points multi-touch
  • Corning® Gorilla® Glass 3

Ports

Alienware M17 R3Surface Go 3
Alienware M17 R3 Ports
Image Source: Dell
  • 1 x Power/DC-in Port
  • 1 x RJ-45 Killer™ Ethernet E3100 10/100/1000Mbps/2.5Gbps Port
  • 2 x Type-A USB 3.1 Gen 1 Port
  • 1 x Type-A USB 3.1 Gen 1 port with PowerShare technology
  • 1 x Thunderbolt™ 3 Port (USB Type-C™ with support for USB 3.1 Gen 2 10Gbps, 40Gbps Thunderbolt, and DisplayPort 1.2)
  • 1 x Alienware Graphics Amplifier Port
  • 1 x HDMI 2.0b with HDCP 2.2 Output Port
  • 1 x Mini-Display Port 1.4 (certified) Output Port
  • 1 x Audio Out 0.125" Ports (Compatible with inline mic headset)
  • 1 x Wedge-shaped lock slot (cable and lock sold separately)
  • 1 x microSD 5.1, UHD-II HD312 Card Reader
Surface Go 3 Ports
Image Source: Microsoft
Right (3)
  • 1 x USB-C
    USB 3.1 Gen 1 (5 Gbps), DisplayPort, Power Delivery
  • 1 x Surface Connect
    Charging, Docking
  • 1 x headphone jack
    Headphone/Microphone
Bottom (1)
  • 1 x Surface Go Type Cover Connector
Under Kickstand (1)
  • 1 x microSD card slot

Internal Specs

Alienware M17 R3Surface Go 3
Processor
  1. 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-10300H
    4 cores, 8 threads, 2.50 → 4.50 GHz, 8MB SmartCache, 45W
  2. 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-10750H
    6 cores, 12 threads, 2.60 → 5.00 GHz, 12MB SmartCache, 45W
  3. 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i9-10980HK
    8 cores, 16 threads, 2.40 → 5.30 GHz, 16MB SmartCache, 45W
  1. 10th Gen Intel® Pentium® Gold 6500Y
    2 cores, 4 threads, 1.10 → 3.40 GHz, 4MB SmartCache, 5W
  2. 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i3-10100Y
    2 cores, 4 threads, 1.30 → 3.90 GHz, 4MB SmartCache, 5W
Integrated Graphics
  1. 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-10300H
    Intel® UHD Graphics 630
    24 Execution Units, 350 → 1050 MHz
  2. 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-10750H
    Intel® UHD Graphics 630
    24 Execution Units, 350 → 1150 MHz
  3. 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i9-10980HK
    Intel® UHD Graphics 630
    24 Execution Units, 350 → 1250 MHz
  1. 10th Gen Intel® Pentium® Gold 6500Y
    Intel® UHD Graphics 615
    23 Execution Units, 300 → 900 MHz
  2. 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i3-10100Y
    Intel® UHD Graphics 615
    24 Execution Units, 300 → 1000 MHz
Memory
  • 8 GB 16 GB 32 GB
    • 2666 MHz Dual-channel DDR4 RAM.
    • Soldered-on.
4GB 8GB
1866 MHz LPDDR3 RAM
Discrete Graphics
  • NVIDIA® GeForce GTX® 1650 Ti (4GB GDDR6)
  • NVIDIA® GeForce GTX® 1660 Ti (6GB GDDR6)
  • NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 2060 (6GB GDDR6) OC Ready
  • NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 2070 (8GB GDDR6)
  • NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 2070 SUPER (8GB GDDR6)
  • NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 2080 SUPER (8GB GDDR6) with Max-Q Design
  • AMD RX5500M (4GB GDDR6)
-
StorageAvailable Slots
  • One M.2 2230 slot (Up to 512GB)
  • Two M.2 2230/2280 slots (Up to 2TB each)
Single Drive
  • 256 GB PCIe M.2 SSD
  • 512 GB PCIe M.2 SSD
  • 1 TB PCIe M.2 SSD
  • 2 TB PCIe M.2 SSD
RAID-0
  • 512GB (2x256 PCIe M.2 SSD) RAID0
  • 1TB (2x 512 PCIe M.2 SSD) RAID0
  • 2TB (2x 1TB PCIe M.2 SSD) RAID0
  • 4TB (2x 2TB PCIe M.2 SSD) RAID0
RAID-0 Plus
  • 1TB (2x 512GB PCIe M.2 SSD) RAID0 [Boot] + 512GB PCIe M.2 SSD [Storage]
  • 2TB (2x 1TB PCIe M.2 SSD) RAID0 [Boot] + 512GB PCIe M.2 SSD [Storage]
  • 4TB (2x 2TB PCIe M.2 SSD) RAID0 [Boot] + 512GB PCIe M.2 SSD [Storage]
  • 64GB
    eMMC
  • 128GB
    SSD

Connectivity

Alienware M17 R3Surface Go 3
Wi-Fi
  • Rivet Killer Wi-Fi 6 AX1650
    Dual Band 2.4 GHz/5 GHz up to 2400 Mbps, WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax.
Wi-Fi 6: IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax compatible.
Bluetooth
  • Rivet Killer Wi-Fi 6 AX1650 › Bluetooth 5.1
Bluetooth Wireless 5.0 technology
Ethernet
  • Killer™ Ethernet E3000 PCI-e Gigabit ethernet controller
    Transfer rate: 10/100/1000/2500 Mbps
-
More-LTE version coming soon.

Battery

Alienware M17 R3Surface Go 3
Size
  • 56 WHr, 3-cell smart lithium-ion
  • 86 WHr, 6-cell smart lithium-ion
  • 28Wh 
    Nominal battery capacity.
  • 26.8Wh 
    Minimum battery capacity.
Battery Life-Up to 11 hours of typical device usage
Power Supply
  • 130W (19.50 VDC/6.70A)
  • 180W (19.50 VDC/9.23A)
  • 240W (19.50 VDC/12.31A)
  • 330W (19.50 VDC/16.92A)
24W proprietary Surface Connect power supply

Software

Alienware M17 R3Surface Go 3
OS
Windows 10 Home Windows 10 Pro
Upgradable to Windows 11
Windows 11 Home in S-mode
Built-in Apps
  • Alienware Command Center
  • Alienware Adrenalin
  • Alienware Mobile Connect
  • Microsoft Office 365 (30-day trial)
  • Xbox Game Pass Ultimate one month trial
  • Microsoft 365 Family one month trial

Camera & Audio

Alienware M17 R3Surface Go 3
Camera
  • Front-facing camera
    Alienware FHD (1920x1080 resolution) camera.
  • Windows Hello face authentication camera (front-facing)
  • 5.0MP front-facing camera with 1080p Skype HD video
  • 8.0MP rear-facing autofocus camera with 1080p full HD video
Audio
  • Controller: Realtek ALC3281-CG
    • 7.1 Digital Audio out using HDMI out connection
    • Alienware Sound Center via Alienware Command Center
  • Speakers:
    • 2-Way Stereo Speaker Design
    • Output: 4-5W
  • Microphone:
    • Digital-array microphones in the camera assembly
  • Enhanced dual far-field Studio Mics
  • 2W stereo speakers with Dolby® Audio™

Misc

Alienware M17 R3Surface Go 3
Inking-Supports Microsoft Pen Protocol (MPP)
4096 levels of pressure
Tilt sensing
Best in class latency
Paper feel
magnetic storage
Sensors
  • Tobii Eye Tracking (Optional)
  • Ambient light sensor
  • Accelerometer
  • Gyroscope
  • Magnetometer
Security
  • Wedge-shaped lock slot
  • HW TPM 2.0 chip for enterprise security
  • Enterprise-grade protection with Windows Hello face sign-in
In the box-
  • Surface Go 3
  • Power supply
  • Quick Start Guide
  • Safety and warranty documents
Warranty-
  • One-year limited hardware warranty
MoreCHASIS
  • AlienFX Lighting Zones
    • Programmable with up to 16.8 million distinct colors
  • Exterior Chassis Materials
    • Magnesium Alloy exterior shell
    • Copper Alloy thermal structures
  • Customized Features
    • AlienFX Lighting Detail
    • Programmable with up to 16.8 million distinct colors
    • Alienware Command Center
    • AlienFX Lighting Technology
    • Game Library with auto-tune game profile functionality
    • Fusion (Includes support for Overclock, Thermal, Power, Audio, and Audio Recon profiles)
  • Thermal
    • Cryo-Tech Cooling Technology
    • Dual-Intake, Dual-Exhaust Airflow Design
    • High-Voltage Driving Fans
    • Load-balancing Heat Pipes
    • Dense Copper Fin Stacks
  • Mechanical features: Signature unibody magnesium design with hidden perimeter venting
  • Kickstand with a full-friction multiposition hinge to 165 degrees
  • Magnetic attach for keyboard fold stability
  • Physical buttons: volumes, power
  • Casing: Magnesium

Key Features

Alienware M17 R3Surface Go 3
At Glance
Released in Mid
2020
16:9 FHD
17.3”
1080p 300Hz
Weight
6.55 lb
2.97 kg
Up to
Intel Core i9-10980HK
8C/16T, 2.40 → 5.30 GHz
Geekbench 5
1,223
Single Core
Geekbench 5
7,013
Multi-Core
With integrated
Intel® UHD Graphics 630
24 Execution Units, 350 → 1250 MHz
Configurable up to
32GB
2666 MHz DDR4
Alienware M17 R3 Ports
Nvidia GeForce
RTX 2080 SUPER
8GB GDDR6 with Max-Q
Released in Late
2021
3:2 FHD+
10.5”
1280p 60Hz
Weight
1.2 lb
0.54 kg
Up to
Intel Core i3-10100Y
2C/4T, 1.30 → 3.90 GHz
Geekbench 5
799
Single Core
Geekbench 5
1,570
Multi-Core
With integrated
Intel® UHD Graphics 615
24 Execution Units, 300 → 1000 MHz
Configurable up to
8GB
1866 MHz LPDDR3
Surface Go 3 Ports
Starting at
$399
Gold 6500Y, 4GB, 64GB eMMC
Supports
Surface Pen
4096 Levels, Tilt sensing, Magnetic Storage.
Up to
11 Hours
Battery Life
Built-in
IR Camera
For Face Unlock
Optional
4G LTE
Wi-Fi 6

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