Apple MacBook Pro 16 (2019) vs Microsoft Surface Go 3 (2021) Side-by-Side Laptop Comparison

Matte Black - Pentium Gold 6500Y/8GB/128GB

Surface Go 3 (8VA-00016)

Space Gray - i7-9750H/Radeon Pro 5300M/16GB/512GB

MacBook Pro 16 (MVVJ2LL/A)

Matte Black - i3-10100Y/8GB/128GB

Surface Go 3 (8VC-00016)

Space Gray - i9-9880H/Radeon Pro 5500M/16GB/1TB

MacBook Pro 16 (‎MVVK2LL/A)

Matte Black - i3-10100Y/8GB/128GB

Surface Go 3 (8VH-00015)

Platinum - Pentium Gold 6500Y/4GB/64GB

Surface Go 3 (8V6-00001)

Platinum - Pentium Gold 6500Y/8GB/128GB

Surface Go 3 (8VA-00001)

Platinum - i3-10100Y/8GB/128GB

Surface Go 3 (8VC-00001)

Platinum - i3-10100Y/8GB/128GB

Surface Go 3 (8VH-00001)

Main Differences for
School

Threshold

0.10

School

7.9

7.3

Portability

7.7

9.6

Battery

7.2

5.8

Touchpad

9.7

7.0

Ports

6.5

2.5

Geekbench 5 (Synthetics)

8.5

4.5

Build Quality

9.5

8.0

Full Comparison

School

7.9

7.3

Gaming

6.3

4.1

Multimedia

7.9

7.8

Workstation

7.8

4.3

Business

7.7

6.4

Design

Style

Style Photo

Form Factor

Traditional (Clamshell)

Tablet

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Build Quality

9.5

8.0

Build Quality Photo

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Hinge

9.1

6.9

Hinge Photo

Range

134°

170°

Stability

Good

One Finger Lift

Yes

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Portability

7.7

9.6

Dimensions Photo

Size

16"

10.5"

Thickness

0.6" (1.6 cm)

0.5" (1.3 cm)

Width

14.1" (35.8 cm)

9.8" (25.0 cm)

Depth

9.7" (24.7 cm)

7.2" (18.2 cm)

Volume

86.2 in³ (1,411.9 cm³)

36.1 in³ (591.5 cm³)

Weight

4.3 lbs (2.0 kg)

1.7 lbs (0.8 kg)

Charger Size

11.3 in³ (185.6 cm³)

5.3 in³ (87.0 cm³)

Charger Weight

0.8 lbs (0.4 kg)

0.3 lbs (0.1 kg)

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Serviceability

2.8

0.0

Internals Photo

Ease Of Access

5.5

RAM Slots

Storage Slots

Replaceable Battery

Replaceable Wireless Adapter

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In The Box

In The Box Photo

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Display

Screen Specs

Display Photo

Resolution

3072 x 1920

1920 x 1280

Aspect Ratio

16:10

3:2

Pixel Density

226 PPI

220 PPI

Panel Type

IPS

Touch Screen

Yes

Screen-To-Body Ratio

87%

76%

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Refresh Rate

5.9

Motion Blur

Refresh Rate

60 Hz

Variable Refresh Rate

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Contrast

7.6

7.4

Contrast Photo

Native Contrast

1,496 : 1

1,388 : 1

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Brightness

8.7

7.6

Maximum Brightness

496 cd/m²

349 cd/m²

Minimum Brightness

5 cd/m²

4 cd/m²

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Reflections

8.9

7.1

Reflections Photo Off

Reflections Photo Max

Screen Finish

Glossy

Total Reflections

1.69%

4.54%

Indirect Reflections

0.17%

0.59%

Calculated Direct Reflections

1.52%

3.96%

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Black Uniformity

8.3

9.5

Black Uniformity Photo

Uniformity (Std. Dev.)

0.777%

0.551%

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Horizontal Viewing Angle

6.8

6.5

Horizontal Viewing Angle Video

Horizontal Chroma Picture

Color Washout From Left

25°

24°

Color Washout From Right

27°

Horizontal Hue Picture

Color Shift From Left

40°

28°

Color Shift From Right

44°

35°

Horizontal Lightness Picture

Brightness Loss From Left

29°

27°

Brightness Loss From Right

28°

29°

Black Level Raise From Left

60°

Black Level Raise From Right

60°

Gamma Shift From Left

33°

26°

Gamma Shift From Right

35°

28°

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Vertical Viewing Angle

6.6

7.2

Vertical Viewing Angle Video

Vertical Chroma Picture

Color Washout From Below

24°

25°

Color Washout From Above

26°

29°

Vertical Hue Picture

Color Shift From Below

37°

45°

Color Shift From Above

44°

45°

Vertical Lightness Picture

Brightness Loss From Below

28°

29°

Brightness Loss From Above

30°

32°

Black Level Raise From Below

45°

Black Level Raise From Above

45°

Gamma Shift From Below

28°

25°

Gamma Shift From Above

25°

30°

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Out-Of-The-Box Color Accuracy

9.4

7.2

White Balance Screencap

Gamma Curve Screencap

Color Screencap

Avg. White Balance dE

2.0274

3.85

Avg. Gamma

2.1628

2.22

Avg. Color dE

1.3813

2.64

Avg. Color Temperature

6,899.1 K

6,328 K

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Color Gamut

9.5

8.5

Gamut SDR

sRGB xy

99.99%

99.84%

sRGB uv

99.99%

99.66%

Adobe RGB xy

88.38%

75.53%

Adobe RGB uv

93.57%

86.08%

Gamut HDR

DCI P3 xy

99.88%

76.78%

DCI P3 uv

99.82%

83.31%

Rec. 2020 xy

73.42%

55.1%

Rec. 2020 uv

76.37%

60.76%

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Flicker

4.5

Flicker Graph

Flicker-Free

Yes

Flicker Frequency

No Flicker

200Hz

Flicker Active Below

99%

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Interface

Keyboard

6.9

7.7

Keyboard Photo

Typing Quality

6.5

7.5

Numpad

Backlighting

Adjustable

Key Switch Actuation Graph

Operating Force

62 gf

68 gf

Actuation Force

44 gf

49 gf

Pre-Travel

0.82 mm

0.90 mm

Total Travel

1.09 mm

1.22 mm

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Touchpad

9.7

7.0

Touchpad Photo

Tracking Quality

9.5

7.5

Size

24.8 in² (160.0 cm²)

8.4 in² (54.4 cm²)

Material

Glass

Dedicated Buttons

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Speakers

8.9

7.4

Frequency Response Plot

Max Volume

82 dB SPL

69 dB SPL

Standard Error @ Normal Vol. (65 dB)

5.9 dB

4.8 dB

Slope @ Normal Vol. (65 dB)

2.2

1.0

Bass Extension (Low-Frequency Ext.)

155 Hz

233 Hz

Treble Extension (High-Frequency Ext.)

20 kHz

11 kHz

Dynamic Range Compression @ Max Vol.

2.1 dB

0.8 dB

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Webcam & Microphone

8.2

8.7

Webcam Video Sample

Video Quality

8.5

9.0

Resolution

720p

1080p

Position

Top Center

Privacy Cover

Face Unlock

Yes

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Connectivity

Ports

6.5

2.5

Ports Photo

USB-A Ports

USB-C Ports

Thunderbolt

Thunderbolt 3

USB-C Charging

Yes

USB-C Display Out

Yes

HDMI

DisplayPort

3.5mm Jack

Combo mic/headphone

Card Reader

MicroSD UHS 2

Ethernet

Proprietary Port

Surface Connect

Security Lock

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Wireless Communication

Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac)

Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax)

Bluetooth

5.0

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Configuration

CPU

Brand

Intel

Model

Core i9-9880H

Core i3-10100Y

Core Count

Thread Count

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GPU

Brand

AMD

Intel

Model

Radeon Pro 5500M

UHD Graphics 615

Dedicated/Integrated

Dedicated

Integrated

VRAM Size

4 GB

N/A

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RAM

Capacity

16 GB

8 GB

Modules

2 (Soldered)

Type

DDR4

LP-DDR3

Speed

2,667 MHz

1,866 MHz

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Storage

Advertised Capacity

1,000 GB

128 GB

Usable Capacity

983 GB

86 GB

Drive 1

Apple SSD AP1024N

KBG40ZPZ128G TOSHIBA MEMORY

Drive 1 Type

SSD

Drive 2

No 2nd Drive

Drive 2 Type

No 2nd Drive

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Performance

Geekbench 5 (Synthetics)

8.5

4.5

Geekbench Image

CPU Single-Thread

1,164 points

876 points

CPU Multi-Thread

6,795 points

1,448 points

GPU Compute

28,987 points

3,799 points

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Cinebench R23 (CPU Rendering)

8.9

3.9

Cinebench R23 Photo

Single-Thread

1,191 points

650 points

Multi-Thread

8,792 points

1,249 points

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Blender (3D Rendering)

7.8

0.0

Blender Image

CPU Render Time

4.4 min

28.9 min

GPU Render Time

N/A

GPU Render Time (Optix)

N/A

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Basemark GPU (Game Scene)

6.9

1.6

Basemark Image

Overall Score

37,312

3,522

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Storage Drive Performance

9.5

8.3

Storage Performance Image

Sequential Write Speed

1,886.2 MB/s

497.8 MB/s

Sequential Read Speed

2,820.4 MB/s

1,335.0 MB/s

Random Write Speed

97.1 MB/s

41.4 MB/s

Random Read Speed

68.2 MB/s

34.0 MB/s

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Battery

7.2

5.8

Capacity

100 Wh

27 Wh

Battery Life (Web Browsing)

9.6 hrs

7.2 hrs

Battery Life (Video Playback)

6.5 hrs

3.6 hrs

Battery Life (Gaming)

1.0 hrs

1.8 hrs

Charge Time

2.5 hrs

2.3 hrs

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Borderlands 3

1.1

0.0

Borderlands 3 Graph

Avg. FPS

7 fps

N/A

1% Low

1 fps

N/A

0.1% Low

1 fps

N/A

1% Low Delta

534 ms

N/A

0.1% Low Delta

946 ms

N/A

Avg. FPS On Very Low

30 fps

5 fps

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Civilization VI

5.3

0.4

Civilization VI Graph

Avg. FPS

43 fps

3 fps

1% Low

23 fps

2 fps

0.1% Low

22 fps

2 fps

1% Low Delta

20 ms

134 ms

0.1% Low Delta

22 ms

198 ms

Avg. FPS On Minimum

80 fps

14 fps

Avg. Turn Time

10.77 s

28.34 s

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Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

8.8

2.1

CS:GO graph

Avg. FPS

110 fps

13 fps

1% Low

N/A

3 fps

0.1% Low

N/A

1 fps

1% Low Delta

N/A

246 ms

0.1% Low Delta

N/A

941 ms

Avg. FPS On Low

143 fps

23 fps

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Shadow Of The Tomb Raider

6.0

0.0

SOTTR Graph

Avg. FPS

49 fps

N/A

1% Low

31 fps

N/A

0.1% Low

16 fps

N/A

1% Low Delta

12 ms

N/A

0.1% Low Delta

44 ms

N/A

Avg. FPS On Lowest

71 fps

N/A

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Thermals And Noise

6.4

9.7

Keyboard Temps Picture

Keyboard Temp While Idle

29 °C (85 °F)

29 °C (83 °F)

Keyboard Temp Under Load

50 °C (123 °F)

29 °C (83 °F)

Fan Noise While Idle

25.0 dBA

N/A

Fan Noise Under Load

50.0 dBA

N/A

Power & Fan Control App

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Performance Over Time

7.4

Performance Over Time Image

CPU Temp (Cinebench)

96 °C

68 °C

CPU Perf. Loss (Cinebench)

0% loss

1% loss

GPU Temp (Heaven)

75 °C

64 °C

GPU Perf. Loss (Heaven)

0% loss

17% loss

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Additional Features And Software

Software

Operating System

macOS

Windows 11

Additional Software

None

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Extra Features

RGB Illumination

Touch Pen

Secondary Display

Yes

Biometrics

Fingerprint Sensor

Face Recognition

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Check Price

Silver - i9-9880H/Radeon Pro 5500M/16GB/1TB

MacBook Pro 16 (‎MVVM2L/A)

Matte Black - Pentium Gold 6500Y/8GB/128GB

Surface Go 3 (8VA-00016)

Space Gray - i7-9750H/Radeon Pro 5300M/16GB/512GB

MacBook Pro 16 (MVVJ2LL/A)

Matte Black - i3-10100Y/8GB/128GB

Surface Go 3 (8VC-00016)

Space Gray - i9-9880H/Radeon Pro 5500M/16GB/1TB

MacBook Pro 16 (‎MVVK2LL/A)

Matte Black - i3-10100Y/8GB/128GB

Surface Go 3 (8VH-00015)

Platinum - Pentium Gold 6500Y/4GB/64GB

Surface Go 3 (8V6-00001)

Platinum - Pentium Gold 6500Y/8GB/128GB

Surface Go 3 (8VA-00001)

Platinum - i3-10100Y/8GB/128GB

Surface Go 3 (8VC-00001)

Platinum - i3-10100Y/8GB/128GB

Surface Go 3 (8VH-00001)