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.

Surface Go 3 Pros

Reasons that Surface Go 3 is better than M1 MacBook Air.

Newer manufacturing

2021 vs. 2020

About 58% lighter

Surface Go 3 weighed 1.2 pounds, 58% lighter than the 2.8 pounds M1 MacBook Air.

WeightSurface Go 3M1 MacBook Air
Pound
1.2 lbs.
2.8 lbs.
Kilogram
0.54 kg
1.27 kg
Has two more ports and slots

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.

PortsSurface Go 3M1 MacBook Air
headphone jackYesYes
microSD card slotYesNo
Surface ConnectYesNo
Surface Go Type Cover ConnectorYesNo
Thunderbolt 3NoYes x2
USB-CYesNo
Total53
Slightly more versatile connectivity

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.

PortsSurface Go 3M1 MacBook Air
headphone jackYesYes
microSD card slotYesNo
Thunderbolt 3NoYes
USB-CYesNo

M1 MacBook Air Pros

Reasons that M1 MacBook Air is better than Surface Go 3.

Much faster CPU performance

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.

Geekbench 5 multi-core score
M1 MacBook Air - Apple M1 (8C, 7G)
7,414
M1 MacBook Air - Apple M1 (8C, 8G)
7,414
Surface Go 3 - Intel Core i3-10100Y
1,570
Surface Go 3 - Intel Pentium Gold 6500Y
1,510
Supports larger memory

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.

Max system memory size
M1 MacBook Air
16 GB
Surface Go 3
8 GB
26% larger display

M1 MacBook Air has a 13.3-inch screen size 26% larger than the 10.5-inch Surface Go 3.

Display size
M1 MacBook Air
13.3-inch
Surface Go 3
10.5-inch

Prices

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

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
$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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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 3M1 MacBook Air
Released20212020
Release Date
  • Introduced: September 22, 2021
  • Pre-ordered: September 22, 2021
  • Released: October 5, 2021
Announced on November 10th, 2020
Pricing
  • $399 
    Gold 6500Y 4 GB 64 GB WiFi
  • $549
    Gold 6500Y 8 GB 128 GB WiFi
  • $629
    i3-10100Y 8 GB 128 GB WiFi
  • $999
    Apple M1 Chip (7 cores GPU) | 8GB RAM | 256GB SSD
  • $1,249
    Apple M1 Chip (8 cores GPU) | 8GB RAM | 512GB SSD
Generations

Exterior

Surface Go 3M1 MacBook Air
Dimensions9.65” 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)
  • Width: 11.97 inches (30.41 cm)
  • Depth: 8.36 inches (21.24 cm)
  • Height: 0.16–0.63 inch (0.41–1.61 cm)
Weight
  • Surface Go 3: 1.2 lbs (544 g)
  • Surface Go 3 Keyboard: 0.55 lbs (249 g)
Starting at 2.8 pounds (1.29 kg)
Colors
Platinum
Gold Space Gray Silver
Keyboard and Trackpad
  • 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.
Backlit Magic Keyboard with:
  • 78 (U.S.) or 79 (ISO) keys including 12 function keys and 4 arrow keys in an inverted-T arrangement
  • Ambient light sensor
  • Force Touch trackpad for precise cursor control and pressure-sensing capabilities; enables Force clicks, accelerators, pressure-sensitive drawing, and Multi-Touch gestures

Display

Surface Go 3M1 MacBook Air
Size10.5 Inches13.3 Inches
Info
  • 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
Retina display
  • 13.3-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit display with IPS technology; 2560-by-1600 native resolution at 227 pixels per inch with support for millions of colors
  • Supported scaled resolutions:
    • 1680 by 1050
    • 1440 by 900
    • 1024 by 640
  • 16:10 aspect ratio
  • 400 nits brightness
  • Supports wide color (P3)
  • True Tone technology

Ports

Surface Go 3M1 MacBook Air
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
M1 MacBook Air Ports
Image Source: Apple
Left (2)
  • 2 x Thunderbolt 3
    40 Gpbs, USB 4.0 (40 Gbps), Charging, DisplayPort
Right (1)
  • 1 x headphone jack
    Headphone/Microphone

Internal Specs

Surface Go 3M1 MacBook Air
Processor
  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
  1. Apple M1 (7 GPU Cores)
    8 cores, 8 threads, 3.20 GHz, 10W
  2. Apple M1
    8 cores, 8 threads, 3.20 GHz, 10W
Integrated Graphics
  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
  1. Apple M1 (7 GPU Cores)
    Apple M1 iGPU
    7 Graphics Cores, 1280 MHz
  2. Apple M1
    Apple M1 iGPU
    8 Graphics Cores, 1280 MHz
Memory
4GB 8GB
1866 MHz LPDDR3 RAM
  • 8GB
    unified memory
  • Configurable to 16GB
Storage
  • 64GB
    eMMC
  • 128GB
    SSD
  • 256GB 512GB
    SSD
  • Configurable to 1TB or 2TB

Connectivity

Surface Go 3M1 MacBook Air
Wi-FiWi-Fi 6: IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax compatible.
  • 802.11ax Wi‑Fi 6 wireless networking
  • IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac compatible
BluetoothBluetooth Wireless 5.0 technologyBluetooth 5.0 wireless technology
MoreLTE version coming soon.-

Battery

Surface Go 3M1 MacBook Air
Size
  • 28Wh 
    Nominal battery capacity.
  • 26.8Wh 
    Minimum battery capacity.
49.9 Wh lithium‑polymer battery
Battery LifeUp to 11 hours of typical device usage
  • Up to 15 hours wireless web
  • Up to 18 hours Apple TV app movie playback
Power Supply24W proprietary Surface Connect power supply30W USB‑C Power Adapter

Software

Surface Go 3M1 MacBook Air
OSWindows 11 Home in S-modeShipped with macOS Big Sur
Built-in Apps
  • Xbox Game Pass Ultimate one month trial
  • Microsoft 365 Family one month trial
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 3M1 MacBook Air
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
720p FaceTime HD camera
Audio
  • Enhanced dual far-field Studio Mics
  • 2W stereo speakers with Dolby® Audio™
  • Stereo speakers
  • Wide stereo sound
  • Support for Dolby Atmos playback
  • Three-mic array with directional beamforming
  • 3.5 mm headphone jack

Misc

Surface Go 3M1 MacBook Air
InkingSupports Microsoft Pen Protocol (MPP)
4096 levels of pressure
Tilt sensing
Best in class latency
Paper feel
magnetic storage
-
Sensors
  • Ambient light sensor
  • Accelerometer
  • Gyroscope
  • Magnetometer
  • Touch ID sensor
  • Ambient light sensor
Security
  • HW TPM 2.0 chip for enterprise security
  • Enterprise-grade protection with Windows Hello face sign-in
  • Touch ID sensor
  • Apple T2 Security Chip
In the box
  • Surface Go 3
  • Power supply
  • Quick Start Guide
  • Safety and warranty documents
  • MacBook Air
  • 30W USB‑C Power Adapter
  • USB-C Charge Cable (2 m)
Warranty
  • One-year limited hardware 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
  • 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
Video Support
  • Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display at millions of colors and:
    • One external display with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz
  • Thunderbolt 3 digital video output
    • Native DisplayPort output over USB‑C
    • VGA, HDMI, DVI, and Thunderbolt 2 output supported using adapters (sold separately)

Key Features

Surface Go 3M1 MacBook Air
At Glance
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
Released in Late
2020
16:10 QHD
13.3”
1600p 60Hz
Weight
2.8 lb
1.27 kg
Up to
Apple M1 (8C, 8G)
8C/8T, 3.20 GHz
Geekbench 5
1,705
Single Core
Geekbench 5
7,414
Multi-Core
With integrated
Apple M1 iGPU
8 Graphics Cores, 1280 MHz
Configurable up to
16GB
Unified Memory
M1 MacBook Air Ports
Starting at
$999
M1 (7 GPU Cores), 8GB, 256GB SSD
Up to
18 Hours
Battery Life
Built-in
Touch ID
With T2 Chip
Dual
USB-C
USB4 & Thunderbolt 3
Wi-Fi 6
Bluetooth 5.0

Comparison Summary

Surface Go 3 vs. M1 MacBook Air

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

Surface Go 31
10th Gen Intel® Pentium® Gold 6500Y77845.63%
2
10th Gen Intel® Core™ i3-10100Y79946.86%
M1 MacBook Air1
Apple M1 (7 GPU Cores)1,705100.00%
2
Apple M11,705100.00%
01,705

Geekbench 5 Multi Core

Surface Go 31
10th Gen Intel® Pentium® Gold 6500Y1,51020.37%
2
10th Gen Intel® Core™ i3-10100Y1,57021.18%
M1 MacBook Air1
Apple M1 (7 GPU Cores)7,414100.00%
2
Apple M17,414100.00%
07,414

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”.

Surface Go 3M1 MacBook Air

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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