Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 12.4" 1ZZ-00001 Platinum 2021 Review

At just 1.11kg, the Surface Laptop Go is the 97th percentile for compactness, making it one of the lightest laptops we’ve ever tested. But you’re making huge sacrifices: the 128GB SSD and 8GB RAM are in the bottom tenth of our database. For under $300 refurbished, it’s a compelling secondary device, but don’t expect it to replace your main rig.

The Surface Laptop Go lands in the 97th percentile for compactness, making it one of the most portable laptops we've ever tested. At just 1.11kg, it slips into a bag like a tablet, and the anodized aluminum lid gives it a premium hand feel that belies its sub-$400 price tag. But that tiny footprint demands big sacrifices. The 128GB SSD and 8GB of RAM sit in the bottom tenth of our database, which means local storage vanishes fast and multitasking hits a wall sooner than later. For pure web browsing, Office, and streaming, though, the 10th-gen i5 feels capable enough.

The Core i5-1035G1 inside is a solid mid-pack performer, landing around the 69th percentile in our CPU benchmarks. It won’t set any speed records, but multiple browser tabs and video calls run without stuttering. The integrated Intel UHD Graphics pull a 45th percentile score, so while you can stream 4K video, any light gaming gets the fan whirring loudly and frame rates tank. That fan noise is a common gripe among owners, making this machine best for quiet, low-load work. Battery life isn’t stellar—many users report needing a top-up by late afternoon—but refurbished units often arrive with full battery health, which helps stretch a workday of mixed use.

At $250 to $388, this is one of the cheapest ways to get a genuine, premium-built laptop. The $138 spread across vendors means shopping around pays off; Amazon’s renewed listings often hit the low end. For a machine that feels this good in the hand, it’s an absolute steal if your workflow stays light. Just factor in the cost of cloud storage or an external drive, because that 128GB drive will feel tiny before you know it.

Stacked against the Apple MacBook Air, the Surface Laptop Go is the lighter, cheaper pick but loses badly on screen quality, storage, and RAM. A refurbished Air with a retina display and 256GB costs a couple hundred more. The Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge is in another stratosphere with its OLED screen and 16GB of memory but runs triple the price. Even the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i offers a sharper display and faster graphics for a moderate premium. The Surface Laptop Go’s real edge is its compactness: you simply can’t find a laptop this thin and premium under $350 anywhere else. It’s the ultimate secondary machine for on-the-go writing, browsing, and streaming.

If you need to store more than a handful of documents and apps, skip this. The 9th percentile 128GB drive is a dealbreaker for anyone working with media files or large software. Creatives should look elsewhere too, because that low-res screen and weak integrated graphics will disappoint. And if you plan to use this as your only computer for years, the 8GB of soldered RAM will become a bottleneck well before you’re ready to replace it.

The Surface Laptop Go is the ultraportable bargain of the year, but only if you walk in with eyes wide open. It’s best-in-class for compactness, the aluminum construction feels like a MacBook clone, and it handles basic tasks without complaint. However, the 9th percentile screen resolution, cramped storage, and non-upgradeable RAM make it a one-trick pony. If you can live within those boundaries, the refurbished price is undeniably attractive. For everyone else, it’s a really nice secondary laptop or a student machine that’ll last a couple years tops.