Microsoft has officially confirmed the release of the Surface Go, its new budget 2-in-1 device aimed at students and those looking for an ultra-portable and versatile device.
Long-rumoured, recent weeks have seen leaks on Reddit and reported filings with the FCC, suggesting the appearance of a new tablet was imminent. A release date of Friday 13 July had been rumoured, although perhaps thanks to the leaks, Microsoft has now officially announced the tablet, and preorders will begin later today in both the UK and US.
No preorder links have yet gone live at the Microsoft Store, but we will be updating this post when they do. The Surface Go will be priced at $399 in the US and £379 in the UK.
All well and good, but what exactly is the Surface Go? Luckily we have all the details about Microsoft’s new affordable tablet and have summed it all up for you just below. Read on to learn all about the new Microsoft Surface Go.
Microsoft Surface Go: Everything you need to know
Microsoft Surface Go UK release date: When’s it coming out?
Microsoft will start taking preorders for the Surface Go in the UK, US and 19 other countries today, with the tablet shipping in August. Initial rumours had claimed that the release date would be Friday 13 July but ended up a few days wide of the mark.
Preorder links weren't yet live on the UK Microsoft Store at the time of writing, but we will be updating this post when they do.
Microsoft Surface Go price: How much will it cost?
The big draw for the new tablet is the price. The most affordable model comes in at £379 ($399 in the US), and there’s also a more expensive version at $549 (UK price to be confirmed), which comes with more RAM and storage. That’s significantly cheaper than the rest of the £650+ Surface Pro range.
It isn’t the first time Microsoft has sold a cheaper version of the Surface. Its last budget effort was the Surface 3, a product you can still buy in some places, but which Microsoft ceased production of at the end of 2016.
Accessories have also been announced, with the Surface Pen stylus coming in at $99, and the Surface Mobile Mouse for $35. There’s also the Surface Type Cover – the keyboard. A black version will cost you $99, while a Signature Type Cover in Alcantara, red, blue or silver comes in at $129.
As with the tablets themselves, expect the accessory prices to be slightly less than one to one, meaning around £89 or possibly £79 for the Surface Pen stylus and so on.
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Microsoft Surface Go specifications: What’s inside?
The Microsoft Surface Go has a 10in screen with a 3:2 aspect ratio display and a resolution of 1,800 x 1,200, which is the same as the Surface Pro. It’s smaller than the Surface Pro, though, at 244 x 8.3 x 175mm (WDH), and it’s lighter too, weighing 521g.
As for connectivity, the Surface Go has a USB Type-C 3.1 port, microSD card support and a 3.5mm microphone jack, and an LTE model will be arriving later in the year. An 8-megapixel rear camera is also included.
Two versions of the Go are initially available. The cheaper £379 model has 4GB of RAM and 64GB of eMMC storage, while the more expensive one has 8GB of RAM and 128GB of faster SSD storage.
Both models employ Intel’s seventh-generation Pentium Gold 4415Y CPU, a low-power chip that allows the Go to be fanless and offer a claimed nine hours of battery life. The tablet runs Microsoft’s restricted Windows 10 S operating system by default, which is no surprise since the company’s more expensive Surface Laptop does the same, although users will be able to switch to the full version if desired.
Microsoft Surface Go design: What does it look like?
The long and short of it is that it looks much like Microsoft’s other Surface devices. It’s the same shape as the Surface Pro, just smaller, and the keyboard and stylus both look similar as well. Otherwise, there’s no radical redesign of Microsoft’s existing offerings here.
Microsoft Surface Go features: What does it do?
As expected, it does a lot of the same stuff as its bigger brother, the Surface Pro, albeit in a smaller package. It’s a smaller, cheaper Windows 10 Surface device that can run all the same full-blown applications as its larger sibling, assuming you take advantage of the free upgrade of course.
You’ll be able to run Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator, browse the web or watch Netflix, just as you can with the bigger devices. The only worry we have is over the raw power – or lack of it – on offer from the Pentium processor. Other devices we’ve tested with Pentium CPUs have not been the most responsive or nippy.
We’ll report back in more detail when we get our hands on a review sample, but don’t expect to be able to run hefty multitasking jobs or edit 1080p video on this thing.
Microsoft Surface Go: Early verdict
The Surface Go certainly seems to fill a gap in the range for Microsoft and we were fans of the Surface 3, not least because it offered many of the advantages of Microsoft’s brilliant 2-in-1 design from the full-blown Surface Pro.
The only surprise is that it’s taken the company two years to refresh the design and the only worry is that the specifications look very basic indeed, especially that Pentium CPU.