After months of leaks, the Microsoft Surface Go 2 is official. As expected, the new tablet is getting a faster processor and a larger display. But since the screen is surrounded by slimmer bezels, which means Microsoft’s latest entry-level tablet has the same physical dimensions as its predecessor and should work with first-gen accessories.
Other new features in the Surface Go 2 include a bigger battery and longer battery life and Microsoft Studio Mics (dual microphones for improved voice quality).
Prices start at $399 and the Surface Go 2 will be available to purchase starting May 12, 2020.
The new tablet has a 10.5 inch, 1920 x 1280 pixel display, which is a light bump up from the 10 inch, 1800 x 1200 pixel screen in the original Surface Go.
And Microsoft has replaced the original tablet’s 7th-gen Intel Pentium 4415Y Kaby Lake processor with a choice of 8th-gen Pentium 4425Y or Core m3-8100Y Amber Lake processors for up to 64-percent performance boost.
While the $399 starting price is attractive, keep in mind that what you get for that price is a model entry-level specs. The price goes up pretty quickly once you start adding extra memory, storage, a faster processor, or support for 4G LTE. .
Here’s a run-down on pricing/configurations available at launch:
- Pentium 4425Y/4GB/64GB for $400
- Pentium 4425Y/8GB/128GB for $550
- Core m3-8100Y/8GB/128GB for $630
- Core m3-8100Y/8GB/128GB/4G LTE for $730
Like all Surface tablets, the Surface Go 2 supports optional accessories including Type Covers and Surface Pens. But those will also cost you extra.
Microsoft also announced the new Surface Book 3 will be available starting May 21, 2020 for $1600 and up. Available in 13.5 inch or 15 inch sizes, the 2-in-1 laptop is powered by a 10th-gen Intel Core Ice Lake processor, NVIDIA GeForce GTX or RTX graphics, and supports up to 32GB of RAM and 2TB of solid state storage.
I pre-ordered the commercial version with m3-8100Y, LTE and 256 GB SSD. Looking forward to it.
It would have been nice if they had an option for more than 8 GB RAM. With all these resource intensive COVID-19 charts and sites I’m loading simultaneously now, I’ve been seeing more memory paging to disk on my Go LTE. This is without me having any VMs open. 🙂
I hope they make buying the LTE version easier. For some time, the Go LTE can only be bought via commercial channels.
I wonder how much better the Surface Go 2 with the m3-8y30 processor will be than my Samsung Galaxy Book 10.6 with its m3-7y30 processor? The Surface is lighter. I wonder how noticeable that weight difference will be.
I also wonder how much better the Surface Go 2 with the Pentium processor will be than the Chuwi Hi10x with its N4100 processor. The Chuwi is half the price, even less with accessories.
BTW, I’ve loved my three Surfaces – an RT, Pro 3 and 3.
Not much better like day and night difference. The 8100Y is also old and showing its age. I have a Huawei matebook E (i5-7y54) and it’s about the same performance, and I got mine in 2018.
It’s safe to wait for the next iteration or two if money is tight.
Is the current Go’s Type Cover compatible with the Go 2? That’ll save me some money when upgrading to it.
It is
That’s good to hear. Thanks.
Will the LTE version also be available on May 12? For the Go 1, the LTE version took about half a year to be available.
I plan on getting the m3-8100Y + LTE version. I hope it’s available at the same time.
It should, since reviewers already have it
Oh, any links? I wonder if they posted any initial impressions on LTE performance.
I found one reviewer with the LTE model: https://www.windowscentral.com/surface-go-2-core-m3-benchmarks
I’ve bookmarked the site. Hopefully, there are other reviewers with the LTE model who will take time to test it.
I’m also interested in who these reviewers with the Go 2 LTE are.
I’d like to know who the reviewers with LTE units are as well.
Don’t leave us hanging. Who are these reviewers? I’m hoping a few of them at least bother testing LTE (on Verizon).
Planning on getting the LTE model as well.