In our previous article, we’ve benchmarked the Surface Go charging speed using the original charger, which uses the Surface Connect port. But Surface Go has another option that allows you to charge via USB-C port. Generally, charging over USB-C on a modern portable computer required a charger and cable that supports USB Power Delivery or USB-PD technology to deliver more power throughput for fast charging.

However, in a situation that you don’t have a USB-PD charger or you didn’t take it while on the go, can you use a standard USB charger to charge your Surface Go instead? In this article, we will benchmark the Surface Go charging speed using a standard USB charger.

Standard USB Charger Specification In this test, we chose the original charger for the Sony Xperia XA which is included in the phone box. It’s a simple charger with only 1500mA power output and has no Quick Charge or Power Delivery support at all. Charger Sony Standard USB Charger Input [email protected] Output 7.5W ([email protected]) Interface Full Size USB-A to USB-C

Standard USB Charging Speed on Surface Go What we can see from the testing, the charger can charge Surface Go not only while it’s off but also in use. But it takes quite a long time (about 6 hours) to charge Surface Go from 20% to 100% in our test scenario. The following table summarizes the speed, duration, and charging rate of the charger. Note The following results are measured using a certain condition which is specified in the Experiment Condition section of this article. Battery Capacity (%) Average Charging Rate (W) Duration (Minutes) 20% - 80% 3.68 W 265 Minutes 80% - 90% 3.50 W 47 Minutes 90% - 95% 3.42 W 23 Minutes 95% - 100% 3.18 W 25 Minutes 20% - 100% 3.68 W - 3.18 W 6 Hours or 360 Minutes And below is a graph detailing the charging behavior using standard USB charger over USB-A to USB-C port: For a quick comparison, below is the graph of Surface Go charging speed using the original charger over Surface Connect port. Don’t forget to check our comparison between three USB-C PD chargers here: Recommended Read Surface Go USB-C Charging: We tested 3 USB-C PD chargers for comparison