so as you guys know I've been playing
around with a lot of computing devices
laptops of course the recent iPads I'm
interested in form factors when it comes
to computers because I mean stuff is
happening there and of course Microsoft
with their surface products they're
looking at something like this it's sort
of a tablet it's sort of a laptop when
you add the keyboard cover like this now
I've looked at surface products in the
past but nothing this small nothing this
portable this of course is the Microsoft
Surface go my recent experience with the
iPad pro I was kind of surprised at how
much I could get done on there of course
there were some walls that I bumped into
mostly software related which may not
pop up on something like this which is
running full out Windows is it a better
kind of stopgap towards this future of
computing is it a better hybrid of the
laptop and a tablet let's crack this one
open and get a sense for it an Intel
Pentium Gold processor 4415 Y so it's
nowhere near as powerful as the surface
pro 128 gigs of storage 8 gigs of ram
let's crack into it now the horse power
thing is an interesting discussion
because obviously this is not the most
powerful system out there but what are
most people doing on these systems can
it do the main functions well I talked a
lot about typing that's what many people
do on these systems email the basic
stuff USB type-c there's a headphone
jack face unlock likely I like this
finish there's a camera on the back as
well and then of course in the kickstand
here from the side here like this look
at that built right in no case necessary
no folio necessary just immediately
stand able pretty slender little power
brick of course with Microsoft's
magnetic charge connector in his slim
fashion as opposed to poking out too far
it's crazy thin look at how thin this
keyboard cover is and this is something
I really wish that Apple did with the
iPad pro keyboard because you still have
nice clicky like plastic like real
keyboard buttons but
not much form-factor at all look at that
how cool is that kind of what Google was
going for with the pixel slate well I
just think Microsoft from a hardware
perspective is a step ahead here so the
keyboard is not huge nonetheless it's
still way ahead in my opinion when
compared with the folio the keyboard
folio that you can get on the iPad this
is still so much better to type on I
mean I don't even turn the system on yet
and it's just a place that I would
rather be fold it up that's your form
factor that's your package it's fatter
than the iPad but the thing is the
keyboard cover is more slender than the
two-sided folio on the iPad so you can
have it down flat like that or fold it
up like that for a little angle to the
deck there is a look at the display you
can see they went with though the black
background minimizing the bezel effect
but yes the bezels are there you can you
can see them if you look at the
reflection I have to say I'm just a fan
of small computing devices like this
under the arm to be able to carry this
and only this it's the size of an actual
notebook always been a fan of
portability when it comes to devices
like this now this is the smallest one
that they've ever made it's the least
powerful one that they've ever made
so I kind of see this as a note-taking
machine a web browsing machine and email
machine in a package for a student or
someone who travels a lot maybe is
constantly using the tray table on an
airplane this form factor gives you
tremendous flexibility to work almost
anywhere I mean even if you're in a
coffee shop you can tell the footprint
is tiny now the other cool thing about
the surface products is just how far
this hinge can go back you can go all
the way down to there so even if I
didn't have the type cover I could bring
up an on-screen keyboard and I could go
ahead and type with a slight angle now
let's go ahead and test out some
multimedia I think some people are
obviously going to watch video on a
product like this I'm noticing it looks
like it has front-facing speakers here
in the left and the right now one thing
you're gonna notice is you're gonna have
black bars on the
top and bottom that's just to do with
the aspect ratio of the actual display
you can see this is video aspect ratio
in the center here so you do have some
black bars breathable noise okay the
speakers work they're not they're not
blowing me out of the water here no it's
it's nowhere near iPad pro territory
performance wise on audio it's passable
it's usable but if I really wanted to
get something pumping I would probably
use a Bluetooth speaker or even a
headphone jack since at least it still
has that this is 1800 by 1200 so not
quite 1920 by 1080 it's a bit of an
unusual resolution it's a pretty small
display so that's not such a huge deal
but I can't put it in the same category
as the 11 inch iPad pro of course that
one has the smooth motion it's a very
interactive feeling it's a great display
to work on where the iPad pro I think
really excels as a consumption device I
feel like this would probably be a nicer
place to type so it's a bit of a
trade-off there so what's our pricing on
this we'll it starts at 399 bucks which
is actually kind of amazing for
something that runs a full-out operating
system and you can add these types of
accessories to it but just keep this in
mind this thing is not a powerhouse the
proposition here is not to go edit a
bunch of videos on here or throw really
hard core tasks added it's more setup
for your day-to-day functionality and an
entry-level price point I think for a
student this thing is really cool and of
course if you wanted more power you
could step up to the surface pro that's
an option for you I would love to see
possibly more powerful components in
this trim down form factor more on par
with the surface pro I'm gonna use it a
little bit more I'm gonna keep it around
the office I may even switch over to it
for a little while so my thoughts will
probably evolve in this department
Microsoft is doing something here it'll
be the surface pro 6 that I look at next
but this one is kind of cool