New Surface Go 2 is perfectly portable, with a big 10.5” touchscreen, FHD resolution, and up to 10hr battery life designed to keep up with you and your family. Use it like a laptop or tablet for everyday tasks.
Note: These run Windows 10 Home in S mode
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/s-mode
Techradar review
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100%, work here trialled them. The 128gig SSD are a lot better.
People here complain when a deal is 1 cent higher than some previous deal years ago, and you wonder why they choose the budget option for a budget line of products?
I don't wonder, I know. They are sold a premium brand thinking that they are getting a good device that will perform reasonably well, sacrificing on screen size and some level of performance. This is exactly what they get with the SSD versions of the Surface Go. With the eMMC version, the performance is so poor that people would be better off not buying something else.
would be better off not buying something else.
Ok
That's like buying a BMW 118i and expecting it to perform like an M5. It doesn't work that way.
It's an entry level device, it's for entry level needs.
Note: These run Windows 10 Home in S mode
S mode is great for people that have no idea and to a degree locks down their chances of downloading / installing unwanted sh!t.
For everyone else click above.
Why are the overall reviews for these devices so low? Has anyone used one? What has been your experience?
Because people buy an entry level product and are shocked and angered that it has entry level performance.
These do OK for a "cheap" name brand Windows-based tablet
Garbage. The SSD (128GB) version is good enough for an entry level device. The eMMC version (64GB)is terrible and not what someone should expect (2-3 tabs at most of a browser). Have you used one?
Yes I have, have you?
Got the old Surface Go 128GB used it for 12mths as second device. Was perfect for Office apps, outlook, teams, skype etc, but I struggled with 10inch screen and matching keyboard was too small for my fat fingers.
I heard if you mash the keypad with your palm, they'll send you a special dialing wand
Owner of the top end Surface Go Gen 1.
It's a high quality device. It has an excellent form factor and the ability to run W10, O365, spotify, netflix and web is useful. The 4G and battery is also good.
Where the experience falls on its face is the performance.
Most people own a butter smooth flagship phone with no perceptible lag as well as a laptop or desktop that is quick, if not lightening. When you go from that to what you experience in a Go, you just wish you sprung for the surface pro or a chromebook, if native O365 is not important to you.
To put it in perspective, a windows update on a Go can take 30-mins+, whereas on my laptop, we're sub 5 minutes. CPU is almost always drained.
I had the 8GB RAM/128GB SSD version of the original. I bought it specifically to use as travel computer. For that purpose, it was fantastic. Very light, and a surprisingly usable keyboard despite its smaller-than-normal size (you have to pay extra for the keyboard).
I did a few work trips with the Surface Go and an iPad Pro 11. I used the iPad Pro as an extra display using the Duet app, and the iPad Pro for media consumption. the Surface Go as a tablet sucks pretty bad when you're used to the no lag simplicity of an iPad.
The Surface Go doesn't cope well with multiple apps open at the same time, but you really don't want to do that with this computer anyway, since the small screen size is so limiting. But if you have a Word document, browser with a few tabs, email open and running at the same, it works fine.
Unless you need to deal with huge spreadsheets, major photo or video editing, or other CPU/GPU intensive programs, the Surface Go is a nice little device.
Yes, the SSD version is certainly good enough.
BTW, battery life in the original was atrocious. Didn't matter too much for me as there weren't many times where I was away from a power outlet for long. with reasonable work load and 70-80% screen brightness, it wouldn't last over 3 hours in real life use, despite the marketing spiel of a 10 hour battery.
Now, I don't know how much better the new Surface Go 2 is in terms of battery, but I can't imagine it'd be that much better, especially with a slightly larger screen to drive.
Keep that in mind if you need all-day battery life!
hey OP
code: 92UOGMY15DSRNQ for further 5% off to $474.05.
worked for me. Brought the 128gb+4G model down to $911.05, and then you could use 5% off discounted egift cards to make it <$900. That's decent value now.
EDIT: Seems to no longer be available (note: I didn't buy)
It says redeemed…
I believe it may have been a targeted code which is no longer available… just realised as I was editing the deal!
Is this a targeted offer from JB? Tried to use it and "Coupon has already been redeemed"
sorry all, it was targeted. i was under the impression it wasnt
check emails if you're signed up for jb emails.
All good, checked my spam folder and found my code :)
I own an entry level OG Surface Go with eMMC storage.
It is a great device. I often have >10 tabs open plus office, no trouble.
Don’t be an idiot and use chrome, chrome is a terrible resource hog. Use the new (chromium) edge and you will be fine. All reviews talk about how many chrome tabs you can open at once for some reason, it makes no sense.
Taper your expectations - it is a small machine with a small screen and it should be your secondary. The Microsoft store still sucks. Having said that, I find myself reaching for it rather than my Surface Book 2 because it is small and simple and won’t doesn’t have weird docking/undocking issues like my SB2 still does…
Obviously the SSD version will be faster but don’t be too put off by what everyone is saying, most haven’t used it and have just read negative reviews that are usually based on the SSD models anyway.
Ps I probably get around 5h battery life in real world use
ah man we are in the same boat. SB2 owner, SG2 also in the house (and some other Surfaces!)
You also having docking/undocking issues… it's been driving me nuts lately, suddenly happening a lot. You got any resolution your end, or just living with it?
It was actually going okay until the last firmware update. Now it keeps on refusing to undock even when no apps are open, requiring a restart.
interesting. Mine is slightly different in that when I move the device, half the time now it thinks the screen has disconnected. Then 2 seconds later it thinks I've put it back in, so it's constantly switching between popping off and going back on, even though I haven't taken the clipboard off.
Yesterday it happened 4 times in about 15 seconds :(
Sounds like the consensus here is the 64 eMMC version is not good enough. But if I'm used to a cheap Chinese tablet like a "Chuwi" or a "Jumper" using the old Intel Atom CPU and about half the RAM, is the Surface Go then a significant improvement to be worth the extra spend?
I have a ultrabook already and tossing up between the go 2 or the ipad pro.
I think where the go 2 is useful is that if I only wanted to carry 1 device, then the go 2 can do that because of its full OS capability.
Ipad pro has more compromises due to its ios limitations.
I might try the m3 model from the microsoft store and test out the performance first.
The performance on gen 1 was pretty bad.
Do not buy the 64GB modem with eMMC. I can't believe MS went with eMMC storage again for the entry level model. The performance is absolutely horrendous.