Microsoft Surface Go
Gloriously light and compact, the Go is more than just a tablet – but it’s too limited to serve as an everyday laptop
SCORE PRICE £385 (£462 inc VAT), Type Cover £75 (£90 inc VAT), from pcpro.link/300go
We last looked at the diminutive Surface Go back in issue 290, in a Labs test of high-end tablets; this month it slots comfortably into a group of mid-price laptops. That’s a testament to the flexibility of the Surface concept.
Truthfully, though, the Surface Go works better as a tablet than as a laptop. For a start, it doesn’t even come with a keyboard: you can use the onscreen keyboard to enter text, but if you want to do anything remotely serious then you’ll need to fork out an extra £90 for the optional Type Cover, pushing the effective price up to £552.
Its compactness is a double-edged sword, too. With its 10in screen, the Surface Go is the perfect size to throw in your bag and to hold in one hand while prodding and swiping with the other. It also looks amazing, with a contrast ratio of 1,195:1 and a fantastically bright backlight that goes up to 400cd/m2. Throw in a native resolution of 1,800 x 1,200, which equates to a beautifully clean and sharp pixel density of 216ppi, and the whole visual experience is simply stunning.
Unfortunately, Windows simply isn’t designed for such a small screen, and regular desktop apps tend to feel uncomfortably cramped and fiddly at this scale. It’s probably for this reason that Microsoft supplies Windows 10 Home in “S mode”, which only runs Store apps, but we suspect that the majority of users will quickly turn that off (which can be done for free with just a few clicks).
It’s a similar situation with performance. The Surface Go is fine for tablet-type duties, but next to a full-fat laptop it looks distinctly underpowered. Its Pentium 4415Y processor has only two physical cores and, with no Turbo Boost, it’s stuck at a clock speed of 1.6GHz. It was no surprise, therefore, to see the Surface Go come dead last in the benchmark stakes, with an overall score of just 17.
Another issue worth mentioning is storage. The Surface Go comes in two configurations, starting at a temptingly low £355. However, the cheaper model includes only 4GB of RAM and 64GB of slow eMMC storage: that might sound sufficient for a tablet, but when you’re running a full edition of Windows 10, it’s liable to hold you back. This model we tested comes with 8GB of RAM and a more spacious 128GB NVMe SSD; that’s still not exactly generous, but it performs pretty decently, achieving sequential read speeds of 890MB/sec that keep things snappy. You can add more storage via a microSD slot hidden away at the rear, although this will be far slower.
Your other option is to attach an external drive – but this might mean investing in an adapter, as the Surface Go’s sole data connector is a USB-C socket. To be fair, this standard will only become more commonplace as time goes on, but if you want to slot the Surface Go into a desktop role it’s another minor irritation.
While all of this may sound quite negative, it’s worth remembering that the Surface Go isn’t intended to
“The Surface Go is a terrific little machine that has a very creditable stab at going beyond a conventional tablet role”
LEFT To tap away comfortably on your commute, you’ll have to buy the Type Cover compete directly with the likes of the HP Pavilion x360. And credit where it’s due: for email and word processing duties, it hits the spot better than you might expect. That has a lot to do with the Type Cover: despite its small size and lightweight construction, the keys manage to feel both spacious and solid, and even the touchpad is a pleasure to use – your digits glide over it smoothly, and it sits flush with the palm rest so there’s no uncomfortable “wall” for your finger to bump into when you reach the edge. It may be pricey, but it’s a real triumph of design.
Gaming performance is also stronger than our desktop benchmarks would lead you to expect. With an average frame rate of 29fps in the 1080p Manhattan benchmark, you can have a bit of 3D fun, and the sidemounted speakers are surprisingly decent. Don’t expect to play all day, however, as our test machine conked out after a disappointing 6hrs 6mins of video playback.
In all, the Surface Go is a terrific little machine that has a very creditable stab at going beyond a conventional tablet role – and even once you’ve shelled out for the Type Cover the whole package is cheaper than all but one of this month’s contenders. Throw in a super-low weight of just 766g with the keyboard attached and there’s no doubt that the Go deserves the “Recommended” award it earned in our tablets Labs.
If you’re looking for a generalpurpose laptop, however, the Surface Go is just slightly too limited to recommend. It’s a nice idea, but if the duality of the Surface concept appeals, I’d strongly suggest you step up to the Surface Pro 6 – or bite the bullet and buy a “real” laptop.