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Surface Go—Microsoft's 10-inch, $399 tablet—launches today in 25 markets. Many publications around the Web have had a couple of days to review Microsoft's latest attempt at a cheap(ish) computer, and opinions are surprisingly varied.
Surface Go is a shrunk-down version of the Surface Pro, Microsoft's kickstand-equipped two-in-one tablet/laptop. It has a smaller screen (10-inches, 1800×1200), a weaker processor (an Intel Pentium Gold 4415Y, which is a two-core, four-thread Kaby Lake chip that was launched about 18 months ago), slower and smaller storage (64GB, using an eMMC interface), and reduced battery life (estimated at 9 hours). But it's cheaper. A lot cheaper: the base model is just $399, compared to $799 for the base Surface Pro.
[...] One thing almost every review agrees on is that the Go's processor is slow. The Pentium 4415Y is a 6W processor running at 1.6GHz (with no turbo boosting). As with other Intel chips, that power draw is configurable, and Microsoft has apparently cut it to 4.5W. It should still hit 1.6GHz, but the tighter power envelope means that it will cut back its speed even more aggressively to keep within its thermal budget.
[...] Several reviews also expressed concern over the 4GB model; even relatively light browsing workloads can push a machine past 4GB, and at any price point, we find it hard to recommend a 4GB machine in the year 2018.
[...] Engadget's reviewer felt, by contrast, that the keyboard "blows away any other tablet" keyboard and compared it particularly favorably to Apple's iPad Pro Smart Keyboard.
[...] The display was broadly liked; 400 nits of brightness was enough for some outdoor usage, with Engadget calling it "gorgeous" and Mashable praising its brightness and viewing angles.
[...] Build quality, the kickstand, the stylus support, the cameras (including Windows Hello facial recognition), and even the port selection (one USB Type-C port, one Surface Connect charging port, a 3.5mm headset jack, and a microSDXC reader) were universally liked.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 07 2018, @07:34AM (5 children)
The base model is under powered and may leave buyers with a bad taste in their mouth regarding MS's Surface product line. It's very telling that MS didn't provide base models for review.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Tuesday August 07 2018, @07:55AM (4 children)
It seems like anyone who wants to get real work done on a tablet (or at least something to justify the more expensive/powerful Core m3 line of chips) is going to add a keyboard. Which Microsoft wants to sell you for $100.
A $100 Chromebook might not compare so favorably to a $500 tablet PC. But a $200 Chromebook with 4 GB of RAM running full Linux or sandboxed applications might be good enough. And if you spend $400-500 on a real laptop (especially one on sale), you could destroy it on most fronts. Even the battery life might be good enough if it's a 15 W chip.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Arik on Tuesday August 07 2018, @10:41AM
Bingo. The single most important component of a PC, and it doesn't even have an 'emergency spare' included.
"Which Microsoft wants to sell you for $100."
But for that kind of money you could get something *good* instead.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by richtopia on Tuesday August 07 2018, @09:31PM (2 children)
I blame the OS for most issues. Two months ago I purchased an Acer Aspire 1 with the Celeron N3450 running 4 cores with 1.1GHz (boosts to 1.9). I immediately put Lubuntu on and it serves me well. I have never had problems with too many tabs open in Firefox and video streaming is problem free (I attribute this to Intel Quick Sync). You cannot game on the computer (Neverball would play but not fast enough to be fun), although I have played most of my Steam library thanks to the in-house streaming.
I understand my use case is not average, but for the 140USD I spent I am unsure what more could be asked for.
(Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Tuesday August 07 2018, @10:29PM (1 child)
How much memory does it have? That's been the limiting factor (at least since disabling Baloo) that I've run across. I've seen the CPU spike momentarily to its limit, but there are websites that shoot memory usage up to ridiculous levels for no reason that I would expect.
(Score: 2) by richtopia on Tuesday August 07 2018, @11:11PM
4GB, it was the deciding factor to pull the trigger. http://a.co/ciEbsoG [a.co]
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 07 2018, @07:53AM (1 child)
It performs 33% better than a 2013 80$ Bay Trail tablet with the same battery life: http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Pentium-Gold-4415Y-vs-Intel-Atom-Z3775/m549016vsm12464 [userbenchmark.com]
The following generation, Cherry Trail, performs even better with the same battery life and ended up costing 100$: https://www.fudzilla.com/news/notebooks/39037-cherry-trail-ends-up-in-99-tablets [fudzilla.com]
This product is a joke and the reviewers are either completely ignorant or just bold face lying.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 25 2018, @08:47AM
I played with one in the MS store. If i didn't already have a surface pro i would have bought it then and there. The pen, with erwser, works wonderfully if you have an actual use for it
(Score: 0, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 07 2018, @09:14AM (1 child)
Micro$oft, eh? Back in the game? No more blue screams of death, or total telemetry phoning home? If only we had an aristarchus submission, instead. Surface? Scum? On the Surface?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 08 2018, @05:40AM
I see the Micro$oft logo on something, and I get the same feeling as if I saw the "Mattel" logo on a big-rig.
Just another finicky thing for me to constantly cleaning up and relearning how to use it after any particular midnight update comes up? Stuff that worked yesterday no longer works, and I am on my own to figure out what the hell happened? I only live for so long and this is not the way I want to spend the hours of my life.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 07 2018, @09:46AM
... the 'Well I bought one for my daughter and she loves it'.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 07 2018, @10:27AM (2 children)
That alone is just sad. Not so much a defiency of the Surface device, but more the poor state of websites these days.
(Score: 2) by LoRdTAW on Tuesday August 07 2018, @11:37AM (1 child)
Ad's have come a long way since punch the monkey.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday August 07 2018, @01:43PM
I am still sad that I never got the prize, I definitely got him!
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Tuesday August 07 2018, @03:55PM
This is one of those instances where it's really easy to tell who is getting paid by Microsoft for their "impartial" reviews.
"Think of how stupid the average person is. Then realize half of 'em are stupider than that." - George Carlin