- Microsoft has a new tiny, little computer.
It's called the Surface Go, you may have heard of it,
and it's ready to take on the iPad
or maybe it's ready to take on Chromebooks
or maybe it's just a really little Surface Pro.
You know what?
Here's a question.
What is this thing designed to compete with?
All right, so this is the Surface Go
and as you can see, it looks quite a lot
like just a little, tiny, baby Surface Pro.
Now, they're not exactly the same of course
and I'm gonna get into the differences.
And before I get started,
I'm gonna say that this is not a review yet,
we've only had this thing for a couple of days,
but I do have some thoughts,
so let's start with the hardware.
Now, if you're familiar with the Surface Pro hardware,
you know exactly what to expect here,
it's just smaller, but some of the edges
are a little bit more curved,
which makes sense for how small this thing is.
It is a little bit thicker than an iPad Pro,
which is kind of a bummer but it makes sense.
This is a full PC after all.
The screen is 1800 by 1200,
and it's nice but it feels a little bit cramped
because the bezels are really huge
to make space for the Windows Hello camera
and also, they're just really huge.
The kickstand, it's great.
It's a standard Surface kickstand.
It works at pretty much any angle
and you can use it on your lap just fine.
In terms of ports, the big one,
the one I'm most excited about is USB-C.
Hurray.
If you use an Android phone,
you can use that charger to charge this thing,
although it won't charge super quick with that.
You're better off using the charger that comes with it,
which uses this little Surface Connector.
Now unfortunately, this doesn't have a standard USB A port
and the Surface Connector here
doesn't have one on it either,
unlike on the Surface Pro,
which is a little bit of a bummer,
but whatever, get a dongle.
There's also a microSD card slot for expanding the storage,
which I'm really happy about.
And, last but not least, there is a headphone jack.
Oh, sorry, there's one more connector
and that is the keyboard connector on the bottom
for connecting it to the Surface keyboard,
so we should talk about that.
As with the Surface Pro, there is a Surface type cover,
designed specifically for this computer.
You have to buy it separately though.
It's 130 bucks
and it's designed for this thing,
which means that it's really, really small
just like this computer, but Microsoft did a pretty good job
making the keys go edge to edge,
so although it is a little bit cramped,
I got used to typing on it in just a couple of hours.
It's actually pretty much fine.
It has really good key travel, much better than a MacBook.
And I like the touchpad.
It's not very big 'cause this computer's so small,
but it works really well
and I haven't had any problems with it.
Overall, I really like this hardware
but I have to admit that I have a soft spot
for tiny computers,
and this is just a tiny, little, cute computer.
So, you know, I kind of love it.
Build quality, though, it's really good.
The magnesium is solid
and it might be a little bit more plasticky in its finish
than the Surface Pro, but whatever,
it runs Windows 10, which means
that it can do more than a Chromebook
and you're probably able to be a little bit more productive
than you could be on an iPad.
It's a little Surface, so, cool, we're done here.
We're not done here.
No, we gotta talk about price and specs
because you know what?
That's where things get a little bit weird.
So the base model of the Surface Go cost 399
and for that, you get an Intel Gold 4415Y processor.
It's a relatively new processor
but it's also pretty low end,
so you're not gonna be able to do
super intensive stuff on this thing.
It also comes with 64 gigs of storage
and here's the issue, only four gigs of RAM,
which for most people isn't enough
to do the stuff that they wanna do on Windows.
Now, that RAM situation might not be that bad
if you leave this thing in its default state,
which is running Windows 10 S mode,
the version of Windows that can only run Windows Store apps,
but turning it off is really easy
and I think most people do
because you can't get the apps you want,
like Chrome, 1Password, and the Amazon Kindle app.
I have lots of feelings about S mode
and there's not time to get into 'em in this video.
Anyway, I think most people are gonna wanna get
the upgraded version, which costs 549
and comes with the same processor,
128 gigs of storage and eight gigs of RAM.
And that's the version I've been testing for the past day
and for basic stuff, it's actually been pretty fast
and that RAM means that I can have a bunch of stuff open.
But that brings me back to the price.
The right Surface Go, I think for most people,
is the upgraded model, which costs, again, 550 bucks
plus 130 for the keyboard.
That is $680.
Not accounting for the Surface Pen if you want that
which costs an extra hundred bucks.
I'm not saying that I think this thing is too expensive.
I mean, after all, an iPad Pro with a Smart Keyboard
starts at a little over 800 bucks
and at 680, you can get a pretty decent Windows laptop.
I feel like buying a computer in this price range,
it just turns out there's no easy answers.
The bottom line for me is buying this new kind of device
in this price category is surprisingly complicated.
As a new kind of device that's trying to do
a newish thing in computers,
I think the Surface Go is really intriguing, but I do wonder
if it kind of falls on this weird middle zone.
So, okay.
I'm a middle child, I don't know if you can tell
and being a middle child sometimes kind of sucks.
The big kids get to do all the cool stuff
and the little kids, they get all the attention
and the middle kids,
they just constantly have to prove themselves
and the Surface Go, it has to prove itself.
At the end of the day, I do think the Surface Go
falls in a very similar category to the iPad Pro.
It could serve as your main computer
but definitely not for everybody.
Hey, thanks so much for watching.
Like I said, I'm gonna be reviewing this thing,
so let me know in the comments what you'd like me to test
and I'll try and fit it into the review.
And one quick note, some time in the near future,
we're gonna take a break from making these episodes
'cause we're a little bit tired
but I promise you, we will be back.