Microsoft does not make tablets. The company could have largely created the 2-in-1 trend and made some interesting attempts at a tablet, but Microsoft doesn’t actually make tablets – it makes Windows machines that fold pretty well but work better with a touchpad and keyboard instead. your finger. the Surface go 2 is a refinerIt’s not the cheapest 2-in-1 from Microsoft, and while it’s a wonderful machine that’s almost perfect in many ways, it also suffers brutally from Apple Syndrome.
You know what I’m talking about. With Apple hardware, we all tell ourselves it’s okay to spend a lot more money because we’re getting a device that “just works” and is designed much better tThey have anything with superior speed but a similar price. The same goes for Surface Go 2 – you’ll find yourself paying more for aesthetics and build quality than performance. But in an uncertain world where financial difficulties often take overIt’s just around the corner, justifying the price of luxury is a challenge. When that luxury is positioned at a price as low as the Surface Go 2, it becomes almost impossible to ignore price versus power.
This may sound rich coming from me. Last year I reviewed Surface Go and just loved it. For $ 500 (a $ 400 Go plus a $ 100 keyboard case) I got a touch of premium luxury completely absent from any other laptop sold for the price. It’s a great product, and the Surface Go 2 is just as beautiful. The bezels are smaller and the mic is a little nicer, but for the most part, the only real difference between Go and Go 2 is what’s inside. The Go 2, also starting at $ 400, has movementd up to an Intel Pentium Gold 4425Y processor, but it kept the same offensively small amount of RAM and storage – just 4GB of RAM and a 64GB eMMC drive. When you can get a traditional laptop like the Dell Inspiron 14 5000 With a faster processor, a bigger screen, and more storage space for a bit more, the Go 2’s luxurious build doesn’t seem quite as valuable.
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And this is where I have a theory. While I know Microsoft praises the Surface Go 2 as an affordable device for students, I don’t think that’s really the audience, really not (and Dell will outlast them). I think Surface Go 2 is meant to be a secondary device for people who want a fun, smaller computer to use when they’re not at work. Or maybe it’s for people who don’t need a computer most of the time because all of their work can be done on a phone.
That sounds like a tablet, right? But it really isn’t, because Windows 10 isn’t really a very good tablet operating system. Because the Surface Go 2 is clearly not meant to compete with budget laptops like that Dell Inspiron 14 5000, it’s not fair to pit them against each other. In addition to build quality and display quality, Surface Go 2 is going to lose that battle on all fronts, kind of like an iPad.
I think it is the best product to compare it. Priced at $ 400, the Surface Go 2 base is a great match for the $ 330 iPad. Logitech’s new keyboard, the iPad will cost you $ 480 for a laptop-like experience, while you’ll have to spend $ 500 to get the same experience on Surface Go 2. Unfortunately, I have the much more powerful and expensive variant of Surface Go 2, which will It offers an 8th generation Intel Core m3 processor, 8GB of RAM, and a 128GB SSD for $ 630.
I love that it feels fast enough for the things I want to do on a device like Surface Go 2. I can work in Slack and the web browser (the main tool for us journalists), and also make lots of games in the cloud. After a long day looking at my computer, it’s good to mix it up and spend long nights finally playing Red Dead Redemption 2 via Stadia.
The specified Surface Go 2 is also faster than a Chromebook. I have a large document of almost 200 pages, complete with hundreds of editor’s notes, that Google Docs is unable to handle. It always blocks my browser when I try to open it in Chrome or Chrome OS. However, Microsoft Word, which has been optimized to work with weaker processors like the Pentium and Core M3 found in Go 2, handles it well. There is no delay or hiccups, just the ability to do my job.
But the Surface’s versatility doesn’t extend to battery life, which is low compared to most things in the price range. The Surface Go 2 lasted 7 hours and 19 minutes in our battery test. Our favorite $ 1,000 Chromebook, the $ 570 Asus Chromebook flip c434, lasted 8 hours and 24 minutes. the $ 800 iPad Pro It lasted more than 12 hours. The Go 2 feels pretty weak in comparison.
But then again, the Surface Go 2 is a full Windows 10 laptop, albeit a slow one. It is handling many more processes and, in theory, it can do much more than an iPad or Chromebook. But I keep all three in my department and use them for the same kinds of things: farting the internet, reading comics (I have a dedicated e-reader for books), making video calls, using Slack, and doing some light word processing. When I am in work mode, I am drifting towards the Go 2. Its front camera is not awkwardly positioned like those of the iPad and iPad Pro, and it offers a good clear image with plenty of light, even when I have shadows. drawn It also allows me to use multiple browsers (unlike the Chromebook) and is not dependent on web and mobile apps for things like Slack and Airtable. It is not my daily controller, but I am not frustrated when I use it to work as I do when I am on my iPad or Chromebook.
And this is where we have to start talking about the price again. Because the Go 2, Chromebooks, and all but the most expensive iPads are designed to do the same. They are supposed to be devices that allow you to get plus of your work done.
All of this setup is meant to undermine the big, bulky, and often ugly inexpensive laptops you can find with Windows 10 that generally have equally embarrassing specs. The Surface Go 2 is supposed to stack on sleek Chromebooks like the $ 650 Pixelbook Go (which can’t even be used in tablet mode), and I’m guessing it’s meant to compete with the iPad, which starts at $ 330 with 32GB of storage or $ 430 for 128GB of storage, and still requires another $ 160 for a Smart Keyboard case / keyboard. But you are paying a lot more for the quality of craftsmanship when you pick up a Go 2.
If you’re looking for a single inexpensive device to handle your work needs from home, I’ll be wary of the Surface Go 2. It’s a good device, but you’ll get more use from that Dell. But if you’re looking for a nifty budget device to handle the needs of your secondary computer (a machine to support your job computer instead of replacing it), the Surface Go 2 is a great choice. It can be a little expensive, but if you have the money to spend, go for it.
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- The $ 500 version is probably the one you should buy, but the $ 640 m3 version is the smarter option if you can afford it.
- This is truly a lovely device that most people don’t need.
- Battery life could be better.
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