PC World - USA (2020-11)

NOVEMBER 2020 PCWorld 67

Battery life isn’t bad, especially if you’ll mostly use

the Surface Laptop Go at home.

LONGER BARS INDICATE BETTER PERFORMANCE

Lenovo Yoga C640-13IML(Core i3-10110U)

Lenovo Yoga C940-14 (Core i7-1065G7)

Lenovo C740-14IML (Core i5-10210U)

Acer Aspire A515-54-30BQ (Core i3-8145U)

Acer Spin 3 (Core i5-1035G1)

Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 (Ryzen 5 3580U SE)

Acer Swift 5(Core i7-1065G7)

Microsoft Surface Laptop Go (Core i5-1035G1)

Acer Swift 3 SF314-42-R9YN (Ryzen 7 4700U)

Acer Swift 3 SF314-57-57BN (Core i5-1035G1)

Acer Aspire 5 A515-55-56-VK (Core i5-1035G1)

Microsoft Surface Go 2 (Core m3-8100Y)

HP Pavilion x360 Convertible 14 dw0097nr (Core i5-1035G1)

Walmart Motile M142 (Ryzen 5 3500U)

784

985

585

654

502

539

495

498

464

490

441

453

398

424

Battery life

Minutes

performs competently, at 495 minutes (8
hours, 15 minutes) in Windows 10 Home. We
tested battery in Windows 10 S mode before
we switched, and it was a little better at 521
minutes (8 hours, 41 minutes). If that doesn’t
cut it, the Surface Laptop Go includes quick
charging, which Microsoft says will charge
the battery to about 80 percent in an hour.
Windows’ battery meter showed the Laptop
Go charging from 4 percent to 54 percent in
about an hour, and from 4 percent to 82
percent in about 90 minutes.

BOTTOM LINE

Microsoft’s Surface Laptop Go is a solid

budget laptop reaching for good rather

than great. Until Intel and its partners

manage to push its 11th-gen Tiger Lake

notebooks out the door, this really is the

time of AMD’s mobile Ryzen. A laptop like

our Editor’s Choice-winning $655 Acer

Swift 3-SF314-42-R9YN (go.pcworld.com/

asrv) is still available, and even some

grumbling about thermals on Amazon’s

product page (go.pcworld.com/asft)

In terms of graphics, the Surface Laptop Go
finishes in the middle of the pack.

LONGER BARS INDICATE BETTER PERFORMANCE

Acer Swift 3 SF314-42-R9YN (Radeon Graphics)

Lenovo Yoga C940-14 (iris Plu)

Microsoft Surface Laptop 3 (Ryzen 5 3580U SE)

Acer Swift 5(Iris Plus)

Walmart Motile M142 (Radeon Vega 8)

Acer Spin 3 (UHD Graphics)

Acer Swift 3 SF314-57-57BN (UHD620)

Microsoft Surface Laptop Go (UHD Graphics)

Acer Aspire 5 A515-55-56-VK (UHD Graphics)

HP Pavilion x360 Convertible 14 dw0097nr (UHD620)

Lenovo C740-14IML (UHD Graphics)

Lenovo YogaC640-13IML(UHD Graphics)

Acer Aspire A515-54-30BQ (UHD620)

Microsoft Surface Go 2 (UHD615)

8,995

10,877

8,242

8,382

6,261

6,932

5,901

6,226

4,921

5,012

4,285

4,574

3,425

3,451

3DMark Sky Diver

Graphics performance