Surface Go - A new low cost Surface Pro - Starts at only 399$

[GoodBytes]

It's now official, Microsoft releases a new version of its Surface Pro convertible tablet/laptop for those who are on a budget. Named the Surface Go, the system has all the features of the latest  Surface Pro, but is a bit smaller, features USB Type-C (yes, MS learned), as well as the Surface dock/power connector, but sadly no USB Type-A. It is fanless, and of course, feature a low price.

 

 

Speculation and Rumors suggested that the device will feature a Intel’s Pentium Silver CPU (Last gen Atom CPU), but that is NOT the case. It feature Intel’s Pentium Gold 4415Y CPU on the lowest and highest model. This CPU is a dual core 7th gen ultra low powered CPU, with Hyper-tHreading (2 core /4 thread). This current model features WiFi, but a LTE version is coming later in the year.

 

 

And yes, the touch pad is larger than the current latest Surface Pro, and the keyboard cover features the same keyboard as the Pro.

 

Quote

he Surface Go doesn’t change Microsoft’s Surface design philosophy one bit — it really just looks like a smaller version of the Surface Pro design that’s been around since 2014’s Surface Pro 3. It has a 3:2 aspect ratio display (1800 x 1200 pixel resolution), the signature built-in kickstand with unlimited positions, a front-facing camera with facial recognition login, and Microsoft’s proprietary Surface Connector port for charging and connecting to a desktop dock. Microsoft has added a USB-C 3.1 port, capable of charging the tablet or outputting video and data to external devices. It has also rounded the corners a bit compared to the latest Surface Pro, but overall, it’s the same familiar magnesium design Surface users have come to expect.

 

The system is equipped with:

• 10inch 3:2 IPS display - 1800 x 1200 - Color Calibrated at the manufacture
• Digitize pen support (pen sold separately like all Surface Pro's this generation)
• 10-point Multi-touch support
• Any angle kick-stand
• Magnesium-alloy body
• Camera Windows Hello support
• 5MP Front and 8MP Rear camera with 1080p video support
• 4GB or 8GB of RAM options (I believe it is LPDDR3, as the CPU does not support DDR4)
• Storage: 64GB eMMC / 128GB SSD (I recommend to get the SSD) - A 256 GB NVMe SD option is coming later in the year.
• MicroSD card (under kickstand) slot
• USB 3.1 Type-C with video/audio out support, and charging (system comes with Surface connector for power, so that USB Type-C is free when charging)
• 3.5mm headphone plug
• Built-in Mic
• Surface magnetic Power Connector for charging or connect a Surface dock
• Its CPU is a Intel’s Pentium Gold 4415Y (dual-core with HT support (4 thread) - 1.6GHz.- no Turbo Boost - Intel GPU support 4K 60Hz video output). This CPU is for all models.
• Fanless design
• Runs Windows 10 S, and features Windows 10 Home as a free upgrade that can be done at any time.
• Microsoft claims 9h of battery life.
• Weight is 1.15 lbs (a bit heavier than the iPad)

 

 

Surface Go next to the Surface Pro

 

 

Price?

• Only $399 US for the 4GB of RAM, 64GB SSD option
• And $549 US for the 8GB and 128GB SSD option

 

Pre-order starts July 10 (so tomorrow from the moment of typing), will be released in August just in time for school

 

• Keyboard cover has 2 series (sold separately from the device, as always). The fancy model which features Alcantara fabric like the Surface Laptop palm rest, available in: red, blue or silver ($129 US), and the cheaper version is just black ($99 US)
• Pen is the same Surface Pro pen. ($99 US)
• Surface Mouse, available in the same colors as the keyboard ($35)

 

 

Source: https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2018/7/9/17550252/microsofts-surface-go-tablet-10-inch-screen-399

 

A very nice little device for people who want a Surface Pro, but on a budget and don't need the performance. This system should handle Office, PDF viewing, surfing the web, and listening to music just fine, unlike the Surface 3 which had trouble multi-tasking, and really lack performance due to the Atom CPU it sported, and it didn't have the fancy unlimited angle kick-stand, and was starting at 599$ for 64GB slow ass eMMC storage. So this system is more compelling than before, and should be faster in just about every way.

 

I think this device can be a great competitor to the iPad in the school environment.

 

What do you think?

 

Update:

Microsoft video:

 

[vanished]

Good idea.  I've always liked the idea of these but thought they were rather overpriced, and additionally felt like a device like this should be passive anyway which isn't going to work with too hot of a chip.

[Java]

Looks neat I suppose, but it'll be interesting to see what the use cases will be for such a device.  Bummer about no Type-A USB support and that CPU seems pretty weak to do anything but web browsing. 

[captain_to_fire]

7 minutes ago, GoodBytes said:

Storage options are: 64GB or 128GB

I want to know how much free space is left on that 64GB model? Windows 10 is quite bloated and Windows 10S simply disables stuff like Power Shell and running programs outside of the Windows Store so I don’t think there’s a big difference when it comes to storage space consumption. 

[Nowak]

10 minutes ago, GoodBytes said:

This CPU is a dual core 7th gen ultra low powered CPU, it does not feature Hyper-Threading.

Wrong, ARK page shows it being 2c4t.

[GoodBytes]

3 minutes ago, NowakVulpix said:

Wrong, ARK page shows it being 2c4t.

Thank you for the correction.

[Nowak]

1 minute ago, GoodBytes said:

Thank you for the correction.

No prob ^^

[knightslugger]

no turbobost though, huh? dang. muh spreadsheets...

[Guest]

This looks really nice I will 100% not be buying this and instead using my phone and laptop. Call me old fashioned but I really do not have a use for a tablet like this. It's a great product but no use that I haven't already got something for. 

[GoodBytes]

Correction. 64GB will use eMMC (no info on version), and the 128GB will be an SSD.

Camera is 5MP Front, and 8MP for the back, both features 1080p video support

[GDRRiley]

2 minutes ago, GoodBytes said:

Correction. 64GB will use eMMC (no info on version), and the 128GB will be an SSD

fun, god eMMC is slow, 

[PlayStation 2]

Surface No.

On another, more serious note, that screen resolution, damn.

25 minutes ago, gabrielcarvfer said:

Meh, a Snapdragon 660 would have been a better choice for casual and office use (not for x86 virtualization, of course).

On one end I see where you come from, but on another end, one of the selling points of the Surface series in general is that it's basically a tablet that can run whatever typical Windows program you can.

New question. Why the hell do these come with Windows 10 S?

[Arika]

5 minutes ago, Dan Castellaneta said:

New question. Why the hell do these come with Windows 10 S?

 

Quote

and feature Windows 10 Pro as a free upgrade

makes even less sense. i wonder who these are supposed to be marketed for.

 

I'm glad they made a budget option, but im not sure what it's purpose is...

[DrMacintosh]

Why would they even ship it with Windows 10 S and then make it a free upgrade? 

 

Btw this is how much the MacBook should cost. Not $1,000+

[Dabombinable]

1 hour ago, GoodBytes said:

Correction. 64GB will use eMMC (no info on version), and the 128GB will be an SSD.

Camera is 5MP Front, and 8MP for the back, both features 1080p video support

I feel sorry for anyone who gets the eMMC version. If its anything at all like the eMMC in my Asus TF201, it will severely limit the useful life of the tablet due to the extremely slow read speeds.

[DrMacintosh]

37 minutes ago, gabrielcarvfer said:

The not so new MacBook shouldn't even be sold. 

I’ll agree with ya there

[Zodiark1593]

1 hour ago, GDRRiley said:

fun, god eMMC is slow, 

Still faster than the 5400 rpm laptop drives that are used with the work PC. My $100 tablet thing runs rings around the work computers, presumably because IT has set the antivirus to be particularly aggressive.

 

2 hours ago, captain_to_fire said:

I want to know how much free space is left on that 64GB model? Windows 10 is quite bloated and Windows 10S simply disables stuff like Power Shell and running programs outside of the Windows Store so I don’t think there’s a big difference when it comes to storage space consumption. 

On my 32 GB tablet, there was about 12-14 GB to work with out of the box. Presumably add 32 GB to that estimate.

[captain_to_fire]

1 hour ago, gabrielcarvfer said:

Meh, a Snapdragon 660 would have been a better choice for casual and office use (not for x86 virtualization, of course).

Until it’s realized that even the Snapdragon 835 sucks for Windows 10S 

That’s why next year Qualcomm will partner with PC OEMs to ship laptops/tablet convertibles with Snapdragon 1000 with 12W TDP 

 

[AskTJ]

Looks nice, but the mouse is too curved for me. I will stick to old Dell laptops for now.

[Christophe Corazza]

Yeah on paper this sounds great but in reality this tablet costs as much as a good Windows 10 laptop (or a very good one if OK with refurbished). I based this on the $ 400 base price + $ 100 for keyboard + $ 50 to upgrade to Windows 10 home (S-mode comes as default) = $ 550.

~$ 650 if go for spacious RAM and storage space. In short its not worth it. 

About the only plus I can give this is at least MS has finally learned that the 2 GB RAM and 32 GB storage option is unacceptable in the Windows 10 era and all those sub $ 200 devices that don’t splurge for the extra $ 10 to upgrade to a minimum of 4 GB RAM / 64 GB storage are being extra special douches counting on buyers not knowing better.

 

(Really do not buy anything at 32 GB regardless of price. You spend way to much time on space management and dealing with Windows 10 updates failing due to lack of space.)

 

[captain_to_fire]

39 minutes ago, gabrielcarvfer said:

12W processor defeats the purpose of using an ARM processor. Whoever had this brilliant idea is probably doing heavy drugs.

Well the SD1000 chip is not aimed for phones anyway but for laptops/2-in-1 convertibles which basically means Qualcomm is planning to encroach on Intel's territory of ultrabooks. 

[Suika]

Actually, versus other budget laptops available on the market, this seems like a really competitive and premium option. I'd have to feel first hand how well that little Pentium will do only at 1.6GHz, because that seems like a stretch for low to moderately intensive web browsing and Office use.

 

Still, this seems like it has the potential to be a quick and decent suggestion for a cheap, premium Windows machine.

[Dabombinable]

21 minutes ago, gabrielcarvfer said:

Still think that they should focus on ARM for casual/office use and keep x86 for heavy workloads.

MS tried that with the Surface RT (Tegra 4), and it really didn't work out well for them. Though its perfect for my grandmother, who only needs to use it for; photos, office and web browsing when she is travelling.

[bananabryan]

Typo in title, 'Surface' not 'Surafce'

 

DDR3...It hurts

[Dabombinable]

11 minutes ago, bananabryan said:

Typo in title, 'Surface' not 'Surafce'

 

DDR3...It hurts

eMMC storage hurts far more. At least it starts with 4GB DDR3.