Microsoft Surface Go
A surprise hit, the Surface Go is a brilliant machine for those who seek a highly portable work companion
SCORE PRICE 128GB, £424 (£509 inc VAT) from microsoft.co.uk
The Surface Go is a tablet like no other. Without the optional keyboard, it’s a 10in Windows tablet and you might wonder why anyone would buy it. But add the keyboard and it’s transformed – imagine a lazy Hollywood movie where the leading lady removes her glasses to reveal the beauty beneath and you won’t be too far wrong.
Let’s get some basics out of the way first. This is a 10in Windows tablet with a seventh-generation Pentium Gold 4415Y processor inside, and it comes in two configurations: one with 4GB of RAM and a 64GB eMMC drive, the other with 8GB of RAM and a 128GB SATA 3 SSD. These upgrades push the price from £379 to £509, but we wouldn’t recommend the lesser specification: when you’re running Windows 10, you need every ounce of performance you can get.
Even with the higher specs, it isn’t going to win any awards for speed. It scored 2,050 in the single-core Geekbench 4 test, rising to 4,026 in the multicore portion. That appears embarrassingly slow when compared to Apple’s iPad and iPad Pro devices, and is beaten by every comparable Android device, too. Nor did it shine in our Windows-based benchmarks, with an overall score of 20 being one of the slowest we’ve seen this year.
But benchmarks are just benchmarks. What we really care about is how well this machine performs in everyday use, and we have few complaints. Do web pages spring to life as quickly as on our main systems? No, but they’re not far behind. Likewise, it’s fine for tapping away in Word, rendering PDFs and editing the occasional photo. We wouldn’t edit a movie on the Surface Go, but for daily tasks, it’s fine.
Super screen
We should also mention that the 10in screen makes Windows feel cramped. Poking at icons on the taskbar is a little bit fiddly (you’ll end up using the generously sized trackpad on the keyboard most of the time), and this is one consistent area of superiority for iOS and Android: they’re actually designed for fingers. Sure, you can tell Windows 10 to switch into Tablet mode, but it still feels like applying sticking plaster to a gaping wound.
Luckily, the screen is terrific. In terms of image quality, it’s right up there with the iPad, even if it falls behind the iPad Pro and its 120Hz display. A resolution of 1,800 x 1,200 translates into a sharp 217ppi, and with a maximum brightness of 426cd/m2 it’s readable outside in all but the brightest conditions. We were pleasantly surprised by its colour accuracy, too: a respectable 90% sRGB gamut coverage was backed up by a superb average Delta E of 1.44.
Purely for academic reasons, we settled into a prolonged Netflix session. Here, we look for lost details in shadows and any other defects that might spoil viewing pleasure, but the Surface Go sailed through. It helps that the audio from the two speakers is surprisingly strong, with great handling of speech, but there’s a 3.5mm jack built into the tablet if you want to plug in headphones.
“Luckily, the screen is terrific. In terms of image quality, it’s right up there with the iPad, even if it falls behind the iPad Pro”
Windows 10 in S mode
You might have noticed that so far we’ve talked about Windows 10 rather than Windows 10 in S mode. While the Surface Go is pre-supplied in S mode – which means you can only install apps from the Microsoft Store, adding a layer of security but also restricting you to Edge rather than Chrome – it’s easy to switch to Windows 10 Home.
If other web browsers were included in S mode then we would be tempted to stick with it. We like the fundamental security it offers, even if Microsoft tells you to run antivirus software (whilst emphasising that Defender is absolutely fine). And the Microsoft Store is slowly improving, too. But if you’re hoping to search for a beloved program then you’ll likely be disappointed.
Note that previous versions of the Surface supplied in S mode upgraded to Windows 10 Pro, but that will be an extra £120 here. (And no, that’s not a typo.) Microsoft is also stingy with Office. Where previous Surface devices have come with a year’s subscription to Office 365 Personal, here you get a 30-day trial. You can buy it for £20 as part of a bundle at time of purchase, but that still sticks in the craw.
The form factor
Microsoft doesn’t supply the Surface Go with a keyboard, so your first choice is which one to buy. There are four different colours, with the “Signature” keyboards costing £125 and coming in blue, burgundy and silver. For most people, though, the £100 default keyboard is surely the way to go: it still looks stylish and matches the black bezels of the tablet.
It’s also – to our surprise – extremely enjoyable to type on. The main keys are large enough that you shouldn’t hit their neighbours by mistake, and while it is small compared to a “proper” keyboard, we had no difficulties hitting the same level of touch-typing speeds as normal. There’s also a reasonable amount of travel on the keys and they don’t make much noise when you type –always a positive for a machine designed for use on your travels.
Naturally, the Surface Go uses a kickstand to support the screen in laptop mode, but this is one area where its size helps: even if you have relatively short legs, you should find it possible to rest the Go on your lap and keep typing (although it’s a more pleasant experience on a table). We’re fans of the large, responsive touchpad, while the backlit keys mean it’s still usable in dark conditions.
Bereft of keyboard, there’s nothing special about the Surface Go’s design at all. At first glance, it’s almost indistinguishable from an iPad, with chunky black bezels surrounding the screen. There’s no Home button, though, with just a power button and volume up/down rockers on the right-hand side.
Microsoft again goes its own route with its choice of connectors. Along with the proprietary connector for the keyboard, there’s a microSD slot, Surface Connect and USB-C port. Here, the USB-C port can be used as a display output or for storage, and as ever we recommend you consider stowing a third-party USB-C port replicator in your bag.
Sadly, you can’t use the USB-C port to charge the Surface Go. That’s a pain because it means you must sling the 170g proprietary power supply into your bag if think you’ll run low on battery during your travels.
Nor should you expect miraculous battery life. Windows 10 is a more power-intensive OS to run than iOS or Android, and because you have a full x86 processor inside (rather than ARM) it consumes more electricity than the ARM chips inside its rivals. To be fair to Intel, the gap is closing – the Pentium Gold 4415Y has a maximum TDP of 6W – but the Go still gets warm if you push it.
How does that translate into real-world battery life? Microsoft claims up to nine hours, but that’s optimistic: it only lasted for 6hrs 44mins in our video rundown test. That looks bad compared to, say, the iPad Pro, but as ever it depends on your needs. If you’re going to be in meetings all day and occasionally taking notes on the keyboard (or using the Surface Pen), that level of battery life is fine. If you’re sitting in economy class and want to alternate between work and watching movies for that flight, you’ll be a mite disappointed.
Should you Go or stay?
“While it is small compared to a ‘proper’ keyboard, we had no difficulties hitting the same level of touchtyping speeds as normal”
So where does this leave the Surface Go? In a unique position, which has its pluses and negatives. On the negative side, you will never get the same range of keenly priced tablet-focused apps as on iOS. The apps you can buy from Microsoft Store are mostly repackaged pieces of software designed for Windows with a mouse and keyboard, not to be used with touch.
You also can’t buy the same range of third-party accessories, so you will be paying through the nose for the Surface Pen (£100), Surface Go Keyboard (£100 to £125) and Dial (£90). Likewise for power supplies, where a second Surface Go adapter costs £35.
We must also reiterate that we’ve reviewed the high-end model with 8GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD. We’d steer clear of the 4GB/64GB Surface Go for numerous reasons: our 128GB machine had around 110GB of usable storage, so you’d only get 45GB of space with the lesser spec. But even more annoying, it will feel much more sluggish in use – 4GB of RAM is right at the limit of Windows 10’s usability, while an eMMC drive is a poor choice in a Windows machine.
With that caveat in place, there are numerous positives that earn the Surface Go PC Pro’s Recommended award. The keyboard is truly excellent, and turns this machine into a fully fledged laptop when you need it. The screen is among the very best, making this a great tablet for watching videos. And it’s more versatile than any of its rivals – even the iPad Pro.
If you’re the sort of person who has been frustrated by tablets before, because they can’t do all the things you want, then we urge you to take a look at the Surface Go. It really is a tablet like no other.