Tuesday, July 10th 2018

Microsoft Announces the Surface Go Convertible at $399

Today, Microsoft announces Surface Go: the most portable and affordable Surface product yet. Many of us play different roles throughout the day, moving from work or school to home and everywhere in between. Our team designs every Surface to adapt to that dynamic lifestyle, to strike a balance between performance and versatility, form and function. Our products don't do just one thing because people don't do just one thing.

We pioneered categories like the 2:1 to provide the mobility of a tablet with the performance of a laptop, inspiring new ways of creating. As you pursue your passions, connect with friends and family, and work with your team, the products you're able to take on the go with you are the ones that can keep up with the huge range of things you want to accomplish.
That's the idea behind the design of Surface Go - our smallest, lightest, and most affordable Surface yet. When we designed this device, we had to ask ourselves what people want and need from a 10" Surface. The answers seem obvious - lightweight, productive, and accessible to more people. I'm pumped to introduce you to Surface Go, because it's all those things, and so much more.


Our smallest, lightest, and most affordable Surface yet
The power and connectivity in a device this small gives you the style and productivity Surface is known for in a more convenient package. At just 1.15 pounds and 8.3 mm thin, Surface Go packs portable performance into a 10" device. Starting at $399 MSRP, it represents a new entry point for the Surface family, while keeping the premium qualities that have come to define it.

Surface Go offers a stunning, custom-built high-resolution PixelSense Display that supports Surface Pen with 4096 levels of pressure sensitivity, low pen parallax, low latency, and precision for accurate note taking, drawing and computer-aided design. The custom calibrated 3:2 display is soft on your eyes while you're working and vibrantly high-contrast when you want to watch videos, create art, or edit photos.

In portrait mode, the screen was designed to render the page to the scale of most school textbooks, and in landscape mode, it can render pages side by side as if you were holding a paperback book in hand. At the approximate size of a composition notebook, writing on the screen feels natural and intuitive.

Since my two youngest daughters have started using Surface Go, I see them watching movies, reading, and drawing on it every day. It's the perfect device for them. And for me, whether I'm at home, in the office, or on a plane, putting my Surface Pen on the screen and letting my thoughts flow is a necessary step in my creative process. It's how I work. It's so easy to carry Surface Go with me so I can capture those moments, instantly.

Comforts of a laptop, convenience of a 10" tablet
Surface Go is small and mighty, giving you the performance you need to be productive. A device powered by the 7th Generation Intel Pentium Gold Processor 4415Y, in a fanless design, offering up to nine hours of battery. Our team worked closely with Intel to optimize power, performance, and battery for the most critical tasks people perform every day.

Being able to run Office apps on this device with its portability is one of the things that was critical to the experience we had in mind when we designed Surface Go - the productivity of having the apps you use for work and school with the flexibility to relax and read or watch a show on Netflix or Hulu.

Our new Surface Go Signature Type Cover is custom-made for Surface Go integrating design features that give the user the best typing experience possible, with ergonomic key pitch and exceptional key travel. It also has high precision tuning and Windows Precision Trackpad that supports five-point multi-finger gestures, and you can connect the new Surface Mobile Mouse to work the way that you want.

A built-in kickstand with full friction hinge that extends to 165 degrees helps you stay in your flow from tablet to studio mode, and a Windows Hello camera allows for familiar, quick, and secure sign-in using face recognition.

Surface Go also has the ports you need, including Surface Connect for charging and docking; USB-C 3.1 for data, video, and charging; a headphone jack; and a MicroSD card reader for storage expansion. All designed to help you be more productive whether you're studying in a library, working on a plane, or sharing your content in a boardroom on a 4K monitor.

Where do you want to Go?
Surface Go with Wi-Fi will be available for pre-order tomorrow, July 10 in select countries*, with products beginning to hit shelves on August 2. We're also happy to share that an LTE model will be arriving later this year.

For a family at home or on the move, an expert on the front line of a business interacting with customers, or a school that wants to provide its students with the most versatile tools for learning, this device offers a premium experience with incredible value.

Wherever the day takes you, and whatever unique tasks await you along the way, Surface Go moves with you.

Surface Go will be available for pre-order beginning on July 10 in the following markets, US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Poland, Italy, Portugal, and Spain.

In the coming weeks, Surface Go will be available for pre-order in Japan, Singapore, Korea, Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, and in China with more markets to follow.
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40 Comments on Microsoft Announces the Surface Go Convertible at $399

#26
Arjai
It seems,all they would need to sell a bunch of them is....Anyone?
RGB!!
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#27
Fateriis
Everything looks fine, but BEZELSSSSS
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#28
Valantar
FateriisEverything looks fine, but BEZELSSSSS
It's a tablet... Where would you hold it if not for bezels?
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#29
IceShroom
ValantarThe core m3-7y30 has a listed tray price of $281 - 74% higher than the $161 of the 4415Y. While MS is likely to get some serious rebates on chips compared to tray list prices, there's no way they'd get the m3 into a $399 tablet.

As for the 4415Y, it's a Kaby Lake part, not Atom based at all. That's Pentium Silver you're thinking of, not Gold. The m3 would no doubt be faster (1GHz higher turbo, twice the cache), but also significantly more expensive. I'd rather take the cheaper tablet, thank you. Besides, MS already uses the m3 in the entry-level Surface Pro, and it would be an odd choice to put the same CPU in a tablet at half the price of that with the same parts. If anything, that would force the price for the entry-level Surface Pro down by at least $200, which is definitely not what MS wants (as that would tank sales once they launch an upgraded model at what would then be an effective $200 price increase).
Very confusing name. Pentium Gold are Kaby Lake based and Silver are Atom based!!!!!:kookoo::confused:. Is Platinum are Itanium based?
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#30
NC37
Funny how often things are done for battery life yet they stick small batteries in them so that they get no better battery life than higher powered machines. Bout the only great battery life I've seen has been in my Zenbook. It's got a 4/8 i5 + nVidia graphics and it just runs and runs. Course it's got one heck of a massive battery.
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#31
Valantar
IceShroomVery confusing name. Pentium Gold are Kaby Lake based and Silver are Atom based!!!!!:kookoo::confused:. Is Platinum are Itanium based?
Confusing? Sure, a bit. But far better than before, when there was an Atom Pentium line and a Core Pentium line with no discernible distinction beyond the model name - i.e. you had to know if the specific cpu in question was Atom or Core. At least now they tell us, and it's pretty easy to remember that gold is good and silver is worse.
NC37Funny how often things are done for battery life yet they stick small batteries in them so that they get no better battery life than higher powered machines. Bout the only great battery life I've seen has been in my Zenbook. It's got a 4/8 i5 + nVidia graphics and it just runs and runs. Course it's got one heck of a massive battery.
Kind of true, but for a tablet, would you really want it to be any heavier? Battery life matters little if you're not actually able to use your device, after all. For a 10" tablet you have to keep the weight down, which means shrinking the battery, which again means using power-sipping parts to balance it all out (while keeping thickness, ergonomics, performance and build quality/durability all balanced too). I don't think this is quite as easy as you make it out to be. And remember, laptops are far more forgiving than tablets when it comes to weight savings through thin and flimsy chassis designs. When you're constantly handling the chassis, it needs to be durable.
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#32
cadaveca
My name is Dave
Easy RhinoAll Surface products to date are poor performers and build quality leaves something to be desired. Not to mention it is running windows...
I've been using a Surface 3 Pro for many years, bought it when I went back to school and took HVAC. It gets more use than my PC does these days, as it is more than adequate for almost all uses except gaming, and its battery life lasted me a full day and then some of taking notes at school and recording video and taking pics of labs and such... and the fact it uses the full version of windows means it offers everything most any user might need... except gaming. However, I can still play light titles like Diablo III and Minecraft with ease. I mean, I was doing all my autoCAD projects on it too... and I'm also typing this post from it. :D
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#33
Easy Rhino
Linux Advocate
cadavecaI've been using a Surface 3 Pro for many years, bought it when I went back to school and took HVAC. It gets more use than my PC does these days, as it is more than adequate for almost all uses except gaming, and its battery life lasted me a full day and then some of taking notes at school and recording video and taking pics of labs and such... and the fact it uses the full version of windows means it offers everything most any user might need... except gaming. However, I can still play light titles like Diablo III and Minecraft with ease. I mean, I was doing all my autoCAD projects on it too... and I'm also typing this post from it. :D
That is good to know. I have used the original surface and surface 2 pro as well and they both throttled so badly it made them unsuable after 20 minutes. Also, windows OS for mobile 3 years ago was poop so I am sure it is much better now.
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#34
cadaveca
My name is Dave
I could definitely see how earlier models might be problematic for sure as I see what I got as kind of a minimum spec for a convertible tablet. Newer models can give more grunt within the same power envelope now, so Surface devices are a decent option these days and have good battery life since like 75% of the tablet’s volume is battery since the pro3. I was totally shocked when I was able to use mine for a couple of days of classes without a charge and since I can type faster than I can write, getting all my notes from class on it really helped me a lot. As a school device, with a proper full version of office with OneNote, it really made going back to school so much easier than if I had not had it. The only complaint I have is that the cameras are not as good as I would like, and at the time I was still not a cell phone user so I didn’t have any Device in my pocket like most would so having that portable functionality was extremely useful to me.
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#35
remixedcat
Easy RhinoAll Surface products to date are poor performers and build quality leaves something to be desired. Not to mention it is running windows...
Tested a few of the surfaces and surface books and holy crap they have baaaad displays. ugly barf yellows that can't be fixed, terrible viewing angles, touch accuracy was worse than a crappy 30 dollar burner phone, and strange rainbow effect with certain lighting.
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#36
Valantar
remixedcatTested a few of the surfaces and surface books and holy crap they have baaaad displays. ugly barf yellows that can't be fixed, terrible viewing angles, touch accuracy was worse than a crappy 30 dollar burner phone, and strange rainbow effect with certain lighting.
Wait, what? I've never used a Surface extensively, but I've been around enough of them to be completely baffled by your impression. I remember the yellow-tint issue from a few generations back (SP3?), but every other Surface I've seen, interacted with and/or used has had an excellent display. Reviews with in-depth display testing (such as AnandTech's reviews) corroborate this.
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#37
remixedcat
In normal house lighting you notice very easy. and not that fake "normal household" type that you see in commercials. This is where the rainbow effect is bad as well. Most reviewers for displays test them in very mono light source tests where they test in a office with fluorescent lighting or outside. and not many places in between. their houses are also sterile and office like so not much difference.
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#38
Valantar
remixedcatIn normal house lighting you notice very easy. and not that fake "normal household" type that you see in commercials. This is where the rainbow effect is bad as well. Most reviewers for displays test them in very mono light source tests where they test in a office with fluorescent lighting or outside. and not many places in between. their houses are also sterile and office like so not much difference.
Hm, that's interesting. Come to think of it, I've never been around a Surface in a home/residential setting, just various offices, meeting rooms, lecture halls, labs and the like. Mainly fluorescent lighting for sure, or LEDs at times.

I'm interested to know where you've gained your intimate knowledge of all tech reviewers' homes, though. In the (very, very) few pictures I've seen I've always been surprised by the level of messiness and "typical American home" look of it (i.e. brown leather couches and chairs, carpet floors, relatively dim lighting - it stands out due to being very different from the average Norwegian home). Oh well. I'm considering a Surface for my next laptop, so I suppose I'll find out quickly enough if I decide to go that direction.
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#39
remixedcat
I follow a bunch on social media and a lot of youtubers use professional lighting all the time.
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#40
Valantar
remixedcatI follow a bunch on social media and a lot of youtubers use professional lighting all the time.
Ah. I generally don't count youtubers as serious reviewers. I often watch LTT and the like, but for serious information and informed opinions, I keep to more serious sites (that are less dependent on flash and style to stay alive).
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