To gauge just how much oomph you’re getting for your money, we benchmarked the two configurations of the Surface Go and compared the results against competing budget laptops and the entry-level iPad. The starting $399 Surface Go features a Intel Pentium Gold 4415Y processor, 4GB of RAM and 64GB of eMMC storage, while the $549 model offers the same CPU but bumps up the RAM to 8GB and comes with a 128GB SSD. Here’s the results so far.
Geekbench 4
Geeekbench 4 is a benchmark that measures overall performance, and on this test, the $399 Surface Go scored 3,749. The $549 8GB model hit a slightly-higher 3,9oo. The average budget laptop or 2-in-1 that’s under $400 scores 3,159 on Geekbench 4, so both Surface Go models are above average. The $349 Asus E403NA, which features an Intel Pentium N4200 CPU, 4GB of RAM and 128GB of eMMC storage, scored in the middle of the two Surface Go units at 3,849. The Lenovo Flex 6 11, a budget 2-in-1 with an Intel Celeron N4000 CPU, 2GB of RAM and 64GB of eMMC storage, notched a lower 3,072. What about the iPad Pro and iPad? The A10X Fusion processor inside the 10.5-inch iPad Pro ($649) reached a sky-high 9,233 on Geekbench 4. The A10 Fusion-powered iPad, which starts at $329, also outperformed the Surface Go with a mark of 5,983.
3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited (Graphics)
If you want to play games between meetings or classes, the Surface Go offers nearly double the graphics performance of the typical budget laptop or 2-in-1, but the iPad is even more powerful. On 3DMark Ice Store Unlimited, the 4GB and 8GB versions of Microsoft’s tablet were neck and neck at 41,060 and 41,552, so you shouldn’t notice much of a difference between the two configurations. The average budget laptop score is a lowly 21,516. The iPad is the champ here, as it scored over 10,000 points higher than the Surface Go, but at least the Surface Go was much faster than its Windows brethren.
Productivity (Excel)
For our productivity test, we use a macro to match 65,000 names and addresses in Excel, and both Surface Go devices performed well. The 4GB and 8GB models finished within a few seconds of each other at 4 minutes and 45 seconds and 4:42, respectively. The iPad doesn’t run this test, but the Surface Go was considerably faster than the Flex 6 11 and the budget laptop average.
Storage (File Copy)
If you’re wondering whether the 128GB drive in the more premium Surface Go is any faster than the 64GB of eMMC storage in the entry-level model, you may be disappointed to learn that they offer the same file copy rate of 87.74 megabytes per second. This is based on our file copy test, in which we duplicate 4.97 GB worth of files on the system. On the plus side, the Surface Go was nearly three times as fast as competing Windows laptops, and it’s about twice as speedy as the average budget laptop.
Display: Brightness and Color Gamut
There’s the Surface Go and iPad, and then there’s everything else. The displays on Microsoft’s and Apple’s tablets are in their own league compared to the budget Windows competition. At 404 nits, the Surface Go’s panel is very bright, even though it falls behind the iPad’s 489 nits. The panels on the Asus E403NA (213 nits) and Flex 6 11 (206 nits) are very dim by comparison. When it comes to color reproduction, the Surface Go is tops, as it registered 129.2 percent of the sRGB spectrum. That beats the iPad (119 percent) and wipes the floor with the Asus and Lenovo, which were both near 70 percent.
Bottom Line
Overall, the Surface Go is faster than competing budget Windows laptops on most tests, especially graphics and its storage. However, the iPad is even more powerful on some tests. Where the Surface Go really separates itself from the value-priced Windows pack is its bright and colorful display. Just don’t think about using the Surface Go for heavy-duty tasks like video editing. We don’t typically run our demanding video test on budget systems but just to see how it would perform we used the Surface Go to transcode a 4K video to 1080p, and it took nearly an hour. A powerful ultraportable like the Dell XPS 13 takes just 16 minutes to do the same task. So, assuming if you can live with a relatively small 10-inch screen, the Surface Go should give you the pep you need for everyday tasks along with a great-looking screen.
