Microsoft Surface Go review: Great for lightweight work on-the-go

The return of the small Surface

Microsoft’s first stab of the budget Surface models ran on ARM-based NVIDIA processors and ran on Windows RT, a highly restricted version of Windows 8 geared for ARM devices. However, sales didn’t work out well for their ARM experiment, as users can only install programs via Windows Store and it lacked essential productivity programs. In 2015, Microsoft ditched ARM and fell back to traditional x86 compute architecture when they released the Surface 3, the little brother to the well-received Surface Pro 3. It ran on a full version of Windows 8.1 operating system (and later Windows 10), and with a sub-S$1000 pricing, it was popular. So much so, many enthusiasts felt the Surface notebook family was incomplete when Microsoft released the Surface Pro 4 and later the Surface Pro (2017) models without a successor to smaller and more portable Surface 3.

In 2018, they finally released a compact Surface, dubbed the Surface Go. While it has been available in retail since the last quarter of 2018, it wasn't until much more recently that we had review units made available, thus our current review.

This new entrant follows much of the design language established by the Surface Pro (2017); in many ways, it’s more like a minified, budget version of Surface Pro (2017). With that, how has it changed from the old Surface 3 and how different is it from the Surface Pro (2017)?

Before we dive in, here's a video overview from another colleague at HardwareZone:-

Note that Microsoft has released two variants of Surface Go: 4GB RAM with 64Gb eMMC storage, and 8GB RAM with a 128GB SSD. The set that I've at hand is the more powerful latter variant that should be more versatile to handle a wider set of tasks and expectations of a compact notebook.

Everything new and notable on the Surface Go

New processor

While many OEM budget convertible notebooks are still powered by Intel Atom processor variants, the Surface Go runs on an Intel Pentium Gold series processor. Pentium Gold is a new series of low-powered budget processors announced by Intel late in 2017. It’s based on the Kaby Lake micro-architecture, and is a 64-bit platform, thus marking the first 'budget' Surface from Microsoft that’s based on a modern desktop computing platform. It isn't cheap like the OEM budget convertibles, but you'll soon see that the Surface Go is a far more refined product in design and features than any of those budget options.

PixelSense display

The Surface Go comes with a 10-inch, 3:2 aspect ratio, PixelSense display (1,800 x 1,200 pixels resolution), complete with an extremely wide viewing angle. This makes reading on Surface Go in tablet mode comfortable. Given the high resolution of the screen, it's also much sharper and crisper than the Full HD screen of the old Surface 3.

Lighter, sleeker

The Surface Go itself weighs just 522 grams, much lighter than the already portable Surface 3. Together with the optional keyboard’s weight of 243 grams, that's a total of just 765 grams, possibly making Surface Go the lightest modern laptop in the world, performance notwithstanding. With the tablet’s thickness at just 8.3mm and the optional keyboard at 4.6mm, the combined thickness of 12.9mm is thinner than most ultraportable notebooks. The relatively small surface area of 24.5 x 17.5cm ensures that the Surface Go easily fits into small pouches or bags, making it very portable.

USB Type-C (and microSD card slot)

The old Surface 3 had too many ports; a micro-USB, a single USB Type-A, and a Mini Displayport. Taking cues from Apple to simplify connection options, Microsoft replaced all of the old ports with a single USB Type-C port. While this means you would have to shell out more money to buy dongles and adapters, it also means that these dongles can be reused with other USB-C devices, such as the iPad and various Android phones. Even Apple’s USB-C to HDMI Multiport Adapter works on the Surface Go.

The USB-C port also supports Power Delivery charging of up to 45W, giving users another option to charge other than the Surface Connector included. This greatly simplifies traveling needs as just one Power Delivery charger would be sufficient.

The Surface Go continues its trend of offering expandable storage via a microSD card slot that's tucked neatly behind the kickstand as seen here:-

New hinge

Just like Surface Pro, Surface Go offers a kickstand that can be tilted back up to 165 degrees. Microsoft calls this configuration “Studio Mode”, first implemented on the Surface Pro. Together with Surface Pen, Studio Mode allows users to use the tablet as a drawing board.

New Surface Pen

Just like the Surface Pro, new Surface Pen works on the Surface Go too. It can apply 4,096 different levels of pressure, with 1,024 levels of tilt. The Surface Go does not come packaged with a Surface Pen, and it must be purchased separately at S$148.

Surface Connect

The old Surface 3 was given the ‘mobile device’ treatment; it charged via micro-USB. Surface Go uses Surface Connect, the same power adapter used in the Surface Pro family.

New Surface Go Type Cover Keyboard (and Alcantara versions)

Looking back at the old Surface 3 optional Type Cover keyboard, it was cramped, while the touchpad is rather small and off-center. It might have been acceptable in those days, but not anymore. Thankfully, the Surface Go's optional Type Cover keyboard is well spaced out, with a bigger touchpad and follows much of what's established on the Surface Pro's Type Cover as seen in this comparison:-

The key configuration is more ergonomic and closer to Apple’s top row of functional keys. The Surface Go keyboard also comes in Alcantara material, should you want a premium feel and look. As with most convertible notebooks, you can fold the keyboard all the way to the back and the user can hold the Surface Go like a tablet; any key presses on the keys will not register.

While the optional Type Cover of the Surface Go is much improved over its far older companion, take note that you'll still have to get used to the Surface Go if you're coming from a regular sized keyboard layout. Referring to the photo comparison above, note that both Type Covers add-on units retain almost all the keys. The only way you can retain all the keys and make the Type Cover compact enough to suit the Suface Go is by reducing the individual key sizes in addition to the alteration on the function key row.

Simply said, if you've always used regular sized notebooks and their keyboards, and you intend to get the Surface Go for full productivity needs, you will have to adapt to a more cramped key layout. However, if you're upgrading from the Surface 3, you will appreciate the new keyboard design tremendously. It's one of those things you have to strike a compromise with such compact notebooks - you can't have it all unless you're ready to lug around a regular sized Bluetooth keyboard.

The non-Alcantara black Surface Go Type cover costs S$138, while the Burgundy, Platinum and Cobalt  Blue Alcantara Type Covers will set you back S$188.

Windows 10 S

Surface Go runs Windows 10 S out of the box. In ‘S’ mode, many functions are limited, particularly installation of traditional applications. Instead, users can only install apps from the Windows Store. Microsoft claims that only by leaving Windows 10 in S mode, will Surface Go be able to achieve its potential and maximize battery life.

However, the selection of apps in Windows Store is seriously abysmal - even today. Due to very strict app submission policies, there are no other alternative browsers in the Windows Store for users to install, other than to use the default Microsoft Edge. You cannot even install many PC games. Major apps, such as 1Password and VLC, have stopped submitting updates to the Windows Store, preferring users to download directly from their websites instead. Yet, this will require users to exit S mode.

One would expect all major Microsoft products to run in S mode. Surprisingly for developers, neither Visual Studio, nor even its lightweight editor Visual Studio Code, can be installed in S mode. The only major Microsoft product that can run in S mode is its very own Microsoft Office suite.

Good news though: it is easy for users to exit S mode and experience full Windows. Just go to System, and find “change product key to Windows 10 Home/Pro”. Note that this is one way change; to go back S mode again, you will have to reset the device. (Bonus tip: you will not see the need to revert back.)

Performance Matters

The Surface Go runs on an Intel Pentium Gold 4415Y 1.6GHz processor, which is sort of a ‘not an Atom, not yet a Core’ kind of Intel processor. Given that this processor is geared towards ultra-low powered usage, it is somewhat hard to decide which devices to benchmark Surface Go against: should Surface Go be benchmarked against mobile devices like iPad, or actual ultraportables? Eventually, I decided that there is no meaningful outcome to run traditional benchmarks on Surface Go, as it sits in a tablet/laptop crossover category – especially when Surface Go is the only major device in the market that uses a Pentium Gold 4415Y processor. Instead, I will detail my real-world usage experience of the Surface Go.

Battery Life

Surface Go comes with a 26.1Wh battery, in which Microsoft claims that Surface Go can last up to 9 hours. In our usual battery life benchmark run; however, it is not even close to what Microsoft claims, lasting only over 5 hours on our battery life test. The relatively short battery life is not surprising, given that most other ultraportables have above 40Wh battery capacity.

To further determine whether exiting S mode adversely affects battery life per se, I ran the battery test both in S mode and after switching to Windows 10 Home mode. The outcome? Results differed only by 5 minutes, which implies that the only way S mode ‘maximizes’ battery life is to shut out many productivity apps and browsers. To give you an analogy, this is akin to banning cars and motorcycles out of roads and keeping only buses to keep roads clear.

Real life usage

In the two months of use, I brought my Surface Go along in every possible opportunity: lunch, shopping, and travel. This allows me to compute wherever and whenever without feeling the strain of carrying a notebook around. Unlike my previous ultraportables, such as the old MacBook Air, bringing the Surface Go around is a breeze due to its extremely light weight, as well as its compact size. Whenever I have an inspiration, be it coding or writing ideas, I will go to the nearest café or table, prop my Surface Go, and go. It certainly scores very high on portability and on-the-go computing with a full Windows OS that will allow you to run almost anything you require.

The only problem of Surface Go is that it cannot be used on the lap as Surface Go is supported by the kickstand and not the optional detachable keyboard. Due to the nature of the Type Cover's design, I am unable to use it on the sofa, and must find a hard and flat surface to put the Surface Go on.

Throughout the months, I have used Surface Go in the following scenarios:

 

Productivity

Surface Go has Microsoft Office installed out of the box. Despite Surface Go’s apparent small size, productivity work on Surface Go is achievable. The keyboard is well designed for fast and smooth typing, and albeit smaller than a full sized notebook keyboard, it can even handle my fat fingers, making typing very much enjoyable. In fact, I typed most of the draft of this review on my Surface Go in various cafés.

When focusing on purely productivity work (e.g., word processing), battery life can last about 4 hours+ before I feel it requires a charge due to low battery.

 

Development/Coding

Since Surface Go is running on an Intel x64 architecture (which means it is powered by Intel and runs on full 64-bit Windows), a developer can theoretically install any program he or she wants. It fully supports Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), which is geek-speak for being able to run some simple Linux programs in a controlled environment within Windows.

Ultimately, Surface Go is still limited by hardware, and so the kind of development tools that can be installed are limited as well. Lightweight editors, such as Visual Studio Code or Atom have no problems running on Surface Go. Web and backend developers will find Surface Go a good to-go machine to bring along anywhere they go as much of their work is tested and executed on the cloud, and they will just use the Surface Go for quick editing and lightweight testing. I have done quite a bit of server-side coding on the Surface Go in the last two months I've had it.

However, the Surface Go stresses under heavy editors, such as Visual Studio and JetBrain’s range of editors, including Android Studio. Due to the limitations of Pentium Gold processor and the amount of RAM, typing on Android Studio has latency. With that, a developer should shake the thought of running even an emulator on Surface Go.

It must be noted that the Surface Go is not capable of running some machine learning frameworks out of the box, as certain instruction sets necessary for these frameworks are not present in the Pentium Gold processor, but are available in Core series, including Core M. One such framework is Tensorflow; I have to install an ancient version of Tensorflow that does not require such instruction sets.

With the usage of only lightweight editors and light prototype testing, the battery life of the Surface Go also amounted to about 4 hours+ plus before I felt the need to save my work and get the device charged. Also, I'm unable to smoothly use heavy editors like Android Studio for a long durations without feeling frustrated since the processing subsystem isn't quite powerful enough.

 

Gaming

The Pentium Gold processor comes with an integrated Intel HD Graphics 615. Interestingly, there are not many issues running certain games in Surface Go. For example, it can run Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, World of Warcraft, and even more surprisingly, Overwatch. The downside is that loading times are much longer than running on an Intel Core series notebook counterpart. Overwatch takes around 70 seconds to get to the loading screen, which would have taken mere seconds on an Intel Core i3 machine.

A suggestion: Play games while plugged in, for games consume battery charge very fast. Even while plugged into a fully-charged 13500 mAh powerbank (yes, you can charge the Surface Go using power banks), just 15 minutes of Overwatch took out 40% of the powerbank’s charge!

 

Media Editing

Due to the Pentium Gold processor, the limitations faced in development applies to media editing as well. It is simply not possible to do even moderate video editing on the Surface Go. The best one can expect to do is just crop and stitch videos together. Same goes for photo editing: simple RAW processing using Lightroom is doable, but moderate Photoshop work will be slow.

Conclusion

There is significant competition in this new space of mobile-tablet/laptop ‘crossover' breed, in which the exact terms of what defines a tablet/laptop crossover is still being hotly contested by the manufacturers of the very devices competing in this space. On the one hand, there is the iPad, trying to promote Apple’s accessories to transform it into a ‘laptop.’ On the other hand, there is Microsoft’s Surface Go, which is already marketed as an ultraportable compact laptop, to begin with. While iPad’s definition of a tablet/laptop crossover is that of a device providing smooth buttery experience with a rather narrow use case (e.g., developers cannot code on it without lots of circumvention and money), it is the Surface Go that truly provides essentially the whole PC experience – at the cost of smooth experience, due to its low-powered processor.

Together with a recommended retail price of S$828 (for the 8GB RAM and 128GB storage model) and the Surface Go keyboard starting at $138, forking out a total of 'just' S$966 makes Surface Go an attractive option for an incredibly portable, full-fledged computing device – that is unless you are into rich digital media or a native mobile developer.

We don't recommend the S$618 edition that only has 4GB RAM and 64GB storage as you'll quickly end up being frustrated - unless all you do is surf the web and manage simple documents.

If you require more power, then step up to the Surface Pro notebook, which doesn't cost a lot more, but it won't be as portable and convenient as the Surface Go - and that is its true ace. The Surface Go will not satisfy everyone, but it is a capable sidekick when you know what you're getting in to, and you appreciate its extreme portability that doesn't quite have an immediate equal - at least not from a major player.

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