Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 3 review – A Portable Powerhouse with a Few Caveats

Design and construction

The look of the Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 3 kind of reminds us of some Apple Air machines. The design is simplistic and clean with a small MS logo on the center of the lid. The latter is made of aluminum and has an anodized finish that doesn’t attract a lot of fingerprints. The material for the base is a mixture of metal, polycarbonate, and glass fiber. The dimensions are pretty good – just a 15.7 mm profile thickness. The notebook stops the scales at 1.13 kilos.

The rubber feet on the base provide a good amount of grip and the device isn’t sliding around on the desk when you want to open the lid with a single hand. The unit is also stable thanks to the Gorilla Glass 3 protection that fully covers the screen.

The base rigidity is also good. We observed a bit of flex between the touchpad and the Space key but that’s not an issue during typing. The bezels that surround the 3:2 display are on the thin side except for the “chin”. Above the panel is placed a dual-mic 720p Web camera.

The Omnisonic speakers are hidden below the keyboard that lack a backlight. The board itself has big keycaps with generous space between them. If you take a close look at the chassis, you’ll spot that the keys sit a bit higher than the deck. This results in a surprisingly long key travel, the feedback is also pleasantly clicky. The power button doubles as a fingerprint reader. The touchpad could be bigger but that’s its only con. The pad surface feels rubberized to the touch, and the smoothness and accuracy during work are spot on.

The bottom panel houses two long rubber feet. The heat is guided via a vent on the back of the laptop that aims at the hinge cover below the panel. The lower part of the display feels a bit warm during max CPU loads.

Ports

On the left, there is a USB Type-A 3.1 (Gen. 1) port, a USB Type-C 3.2 (Gen. 2) port with DisplayPort and charging capabilities, and an Audio jack. On the right, you can see the Surface Connect port for charging or Surface Dock 2 if you want to plug in more external displays.

Author: Nikolay Palaozov

Author: eng. Kroum NikolovHead of Engineering at LaptopMedia.com, inventor and innovator with 40+ years of experience in electronics and high technology.

Subscribe

Notify of

new follow-up commentsnew replies to my comments

I allow to use my email address and send notification about new comments and replies (you can unsubscribe at any time).

Label

{} [+]

Name*

Email*

By commenting, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.

Label

{} [+]

Name*

Email*

By commenting, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.

0 Comments