Microsoft has never quite nailed the balance between desktop and touchscreen interface, but this experience is the closest so far. The most substantial change on the Surface Go 3 isn’t the hardware, but the concurrent arrival of Windows 11. This is disappointing, but hey, the Surface Pen works fine and is a little cheaper than the Slim Pen. It’s still compatible as a wireless pen and can be paired with the tablet, but you’ll need to charge it via USB-C every once in a while. You can still magnetically stick older Surface Pen models to the side of the Go 3 for convenience and charging, but the newer Surface Slim Pen can’t be attached the same way. It has a MicroSD card reader tucked under the fold-out kickstand and a single USB-C port on the side next to the headphone jack. It maintains the same 10.5-inch display with Goldilocks bezels-small enough to feel minimal while still giving you a solid grip. Physically, the Surface Go 3 is also much like its predecessor.

That's something to keep in mind when deciding which model to buy. It never dipped into what I'd necessarily consider poor performance-except when using Chrome, but more on that later-I also had the best version of Surface Go 3’s hardware. I tested the Intel Core i3 model ($630) which comes with a 128-GB SSD and 8 GB of RAM, which occasionally strained a bit during a normal workday. The base model starts at 64 GB of internal storage and 4 GB of RAM, though you might want to spring for more of each. However, if raw power was your only concern, you’d still probably be better off looking at a comparably priced iPad. The new tablets run on 10th-generation Intel chips, which is a marked improvement over the eighth-generation processors used in the Surface Go 2. At first glance, it might not seem like the Surface Go 3 is that much different from its predecessor, but look under the hood and … well, there still isn’t much difference.

Surface go for business