Microsoft’s Surface Go tablet to have Intel N200 inside

Microsoft is reportedly unveiling several new Surface products this fall, including new members of the Surface Laptop Studio, Surface Laptop Go, and Surface Go line-ups. The next-gen Surface Go will be the smallest, and most affordable of the bunch. It will also bring a big performance upgrade over the previous-gen Surface Go 3, thanks to the move to an Intel Processor N200 chip.

The Intel N200 is a 6-watt, 4-core, 4-thread processor based on Intel’s Alder Lake-N architecture, and going by its standards, it could bring a significant boost in single-core performance over the Pentium Gold 6500Y and Core i3-10100Y chips used for the Surface Go 3, and even bigger gains in multi-core performance. 

Alder Lake-N chips are positioned as low-power, low-cost chips for entry-level computers, so they are not expected to be competitive with the last 15+ watt chips from Intel or AMD. But it’s still a nice spec bump for Microsoft’s most affordable tablet line.  

Surface Go 3 prices currently range from $400 to $680 globally. 

Earlier this year, reports were rife that Intel was also working on a Surface Go model with an ARM-based processor, but that tablet appears to be on hold for the time being. It is now unclear if or when Microsoft will release it. 

Shipping a tablet with an Alder Lake-N chip is probably a safer bet, as it will ensure native compatibility with a wider range of software without the need for any CPU architecture emulation. As Microsoft is reportedly planning to market heavily toward business and education customers, they may not be ready to make the move to Windows on ARM.