Microsoft Announces the Surface Go Convertible at $399

[Valantar]

Hence the need for active cooling! Anyone who's worked with Windows knows that without a certain level of CPU horsepower, Windows will bring the system to it's knees if you're not careful with the kind of work you do on Atom level devices. I know it's KBL based but still passively cooled & 2c4t Pentium.

Pentium in this case only means "somewhat slower than an i3". Not a big deal, really, mostly it's an ultra-low-power i3 (of the old kind, that is, that didn't turbo) with slightly less cache than most. Sure, it won't be blazing fast, but for text editing, reading not-too-large PDFs and web use, it should be perfectly passable. My old ThinkPad X201 was still when I sold it half a year ago, and that was with an i5-520m. According to Passmark, the two should be very much comparable (though their database doesn't yet have the 4415Y, hence the 4410Y for comparison).

 

[Arjai]

It seems,all they would need to sell a bunch of them is....Anyone?
RGB!!

 

[Fateriis]

Everything looks fine, but

BEZELSSSSS

 

[Valantar]

Everything looks fine, but

BEZELSSSSS

It's a tablet... Where would you hold it if not for bezels?

 

[IceShroom]

The 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!!!!!. Is Platinum are Itanium based?

 

[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.

 

[Valantar]

Very confusing name. Pentium Gold are Kaby Lake based and Silver are Atom based!!!!!. 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.

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.

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.

 

[cadaveca]

All 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.

 

[Easy Rhino]

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.

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.

 

[cadaveca]

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.

 

[remixedcat]

All 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.

 

[Valantar]

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.

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.

 

[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.

 

[Valantar]

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.

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.

 

[remixedcat]

I follow a bunch on social media and a lot of youtubers use professional lighting all the time.

 

[Valantar]

I 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).