Surface Go 3 vs. M1 MacBook Air: Which is better?
Here is a side by side comparison between Surface Go 3 and M1 MacBook Air specs including CPU, RAM, storage, battery, display, and more.
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Surface Go 3 Pros
Reasons that Surface Go 3 is better than M1 MacBook Air.
2021 vs. 2020
Surface Go 3 weighed 1.2 pounds, 58% lighter than the 2.8 pounds M1 MacBook Air.
Weight | Surface Go 3 | M1 MacBook Air |
---|---|---|
Pound | 1.2 lbs. | 2.8 lbs. |
Kilogram | 0.54 kg | 1.27 kg |
Surface Go 3 has more ports and slots count than the M1 MacBook Air. It has five versus three amount of ports and slots on the M1 MacBook Air.
Ports | Surface Go 3 | M1 MacBook Air |
---|---|---|
headphone jack | Yes | Yes |
microSD card slot | Yes | No |
Surface Connect | Yes | No |
Surface Go Type Cover Connector | Yes | No |
Thunderbolt 3 | No | Yes x2 |
USB-C | Yes | No |
Total | 5 | 3 |
Surface Go 3 has better versatile I/O connectivity than the M1 MacBook Air. It has three versus two commonly used ports and slots on the M1 MacBook Air.
Ports | Surface Go 3 | M1 MacBook Air |
---|---|---|
headphone jack | Yes | Yes |
microSD card slot | Yes | No |
Thunderbolt 3 | No | Yes |
USB-C | Yes | No |
M1 MacBook Air Pros
Reasons that M1 MacBook Air is better than Surface Go 3.
Apple M1 (8C, 8G) inside M1 MacBook Air has a 372% better multi-core CPU performance score than the Intel Core i3-10100Y inside Surface Go 3.
M1 MacBook Air supports a larger memory capacity than the Surface Go 3. It supports up to 16GB versus 8GB of system memory on the Surface Go 3.
M1 MacBook Air has a 13.3-inch screen size 26% larger than the 10.5-inch Surface Go 3.
Prices
Here are the latest price updates and offers for both devices.
Microsoft Surface Go 3 - 10.5” Price | ||
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Microsoft Surface Go 3 - 10.5" Touchscreen - Intel® Core™ i3 - 8GB Memory - 128GB SSD - Device Only - Platinum (Latest Model) By Microsoft $518.03 $629.99 18% OFF | ||
Microsoft Surface Go 3 - 10.5" Touchscreen - Intel® Core™ i3 - 8GB Memory - 128GB SSD - Device Only - Black (Latest Model) By Microsoft $514.89 $629.99 18% OFF | ||
Microsoft Surface Go 3 - 10.5" Touchscreen - Intel® Pentium® Gold - 4GB Memory - 64GB eMMC - Device Only - Platinum (Latest Model) By Microsoft $399.03 | ||
M1 MacBook Air Price | ||
Late 2020 Apple MacBook Air with Apple M1 Chip (13.3 inch, 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD) Space Gray (Renewed) By Apple $648.14 | ||
Late 2020 Apple MacBook Air with Apple M1 Chip (13.3 inch, 8GB RAM, 128GB SSD) Space Gray (Renewed) By Apple $609.99 | ||
Late 2020 Apple MacBook Air with Apple M1 Chip (13.3 inch, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD) Space Gray (Renewed) By Apple $779.99 |
Availability | Surface Go 3 | M1 MacBook Air |
Released | 2021 | 2020 |
Release Date |
| Announced on November 10th, 2020 |
Pricing |
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Generations |
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Exterior | Surface Go 3 | M1 MacBook Air |
Dimensions | 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) |
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Weight |
| Starting at 2.8 pounds (1.29 kg) |
Colors | Platinum | Gold Space Gray Silver |
Keyboard and Trackpad |
| Backlit Magic Keyboard with:
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Display | Surface Go 3 | M1 MacBook Air |
Size | 10.5 Inches | 13.3 Inches |
Info |
| Retina display
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Ports | Surface Go 3 | M1 MacBook Air |
Right (3)
Bottom (1)
Under Kickstand (1)
| Left (2)
Right (1)
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Internal Specs | Surface Go 3 | M1 MacBook Air |
Processor |
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Integrated Graphics |
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Memory | 4GB 8GB 1866 MHz LPDDR3 RAM |
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Storage |
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Connectivity | Surface Go 3 | M1 MacBook Air |
Wi-Fi | Wi-Fi 6: IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax compatible. |
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Bluetooth | Bluetooth Wireless 5.0 technology | Bluetooth 5.0 wireless technology |
More | LTE version coming soon. | - |
Battery | Surface Go 3 | M1 MacBook Air |
Size |
| 49.9 Wh lithium‑polymer battery |
Battery Life | Up to 11 hours of typical device usage |
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Power Supply | 24W proprietary Surface Connect power supply | 30W USB‑C Power Adapter |
Software | Surface Go 3 | M1 MacBook Air |
OS | Windows 11 Home in S-mode | Shipped with macOS Big Sur |
Built-in Apps |
| Photos iMovie GarageBand Pages Numbers Keynote Siri Safari Mail FaceTime Messages Maps News Stocks Home Voice Memos Notes Calendar Contacts Reminders Photo Booth Preview Music Podcasts TV Books App Store Time Machine Find My QuickTime Player |
Camera & Audio | Surface Go 3 | M1 MacBook Air |
Camera |
| 720p FaceTime HD camera |
Audio |
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Misc | Surface Go 3 | M1 MacBook Air |
Inking | Supports Microsoft Pen Protocol (MPP) 4096 levels of pressure Tilt sensing Best in class latency Paper feel magnetic storage | - |
Sensors |
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Security |
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In the box |
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Warranty |
| Your MacBook Air comes with 90 days of complimentary technical support and a one-year limited warranty. Purchase AppleCare+ to extend your coverage to three years from your AppleCare+ purchase date and add up to two incidents of accidental damage coverage, each subject to a service fee of $99 for screen damage or external enclosure damage, or $299 for other repairable damage, plus applicable tax. |
More |
| Video Support
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Key Features | Surface Go 3 | M1 MacBook Air |
At Glance |
Comparison Summary
Microsoft has released the Surface Go 3, a 10.5-inch machine, in late-2021. It is powered by up to a dual-core Intel Core i3-10100Y with a boost clock speed up to 3.90 GHz. The laptop has an integrated graphics option up to Intel® UHD Graphics 615 (24 Execution Units, 300 → 1000 MHz).
On the other hand, we have the 13.3-inch M1 MacBook Air was introduced by Apple about a year earlier in late-2020. It comes with up to an octa-core Apple M1 (8C, 8G). It has an integrated graphics option up to Apple M1 iGPU (8 Graphics Cores, 1280 MHz).
Geekbench 5 Single Core
Geekbench 5 Multi Core
The Surface Go 3 has a 10.5-inch display which is considerably smaller than the 13.3-inch M1 MacBook Air. In addition, The Surface Go 3 weighs 1.2 lbs. about 133% lighter than the 2.8 lbs. M1 MacBook Air. Moreover, measured at 9.65” x 6.9” x 0.33”, the Surface Go 3 is much more portable than the M1 MacBook Air at 11.97” x 8.36” x 0.63”.
There are a toal number of 5 ports and slots available on Surface Go 3. That includes a USB-C port, a Surface Connect, a headphone jack, a Surface Go Type Cover Connector, and a microSD card slot. With that said, it has two ports and slots more than the M1 MacBook Air that has only two Thunderbolt 3 ports, a headphone jack.
Moving over to upgradability, you can't make any upgrades on both devices. All major components including memory and storage are soldered on to the motherboard. So make sure you get the specs that work best for your current and future workload.
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