Microsoft Surface Go 2 vs Microsoft Surface Go – the little one has a new screen

Laptop or a tablet? Sometimes you just want to throw away the keyboard because it adds weight and thickness when you have to carry your device. Well, Microsoft Surface Go 2 is a versatile machine that can do all these transformations – it’s a clamshell laptop when you want it this way, or you can use it without a keyboard too in a “tent” mode. When you want to have some fun or perhaps you want to create something on the screen, you can use it as a normal tablet.

Surface Go 2 comes with a new bigger screen, this time there are a bit more powerful CPU options like the Amber Lake Intel Core m3-8100Y, and the connectivity is boosted by the latest Wi-Fi standard.

You can check the prices and configurations of the Microsoft Surface Go 2 devices in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/microsoft-surface-go-2/

You can check the prices and configurations of the Microsoft Surface Go devices in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/microsoft-surface-go/

Contents


Design: if it ain’t broke don’t fix it

Nothing new here, the screen is a bit bigger and that’s an almost unnoticeable change. The body is made of magnesium alloy which is good in terms of weight and rigidity. The profile is just 8.3mm, the small machine weighs a little bit over 0.5 kg, and the whole look is sleek and modern, so no complaints here.

Microsoft Surface Go 2 | Microsoft Surface Go

 

Display: 10.5″ 3:2 screen

Nothing more to say about it. You get a bumped screen size from 10″ to 10.5″ and this time the aspect ratio is 3:2 with a 1920 x 1280 resolution – the predecessor’s screen supports 1800 x 1200 resolution.

Microsoft Surface Go 2 | Microsoft Surface Go

 

Hardware: Amber Lake and iGPUs only

No monster hardware, it’s almost a tablet, so battery life is very important. That’s why you can choose between some Amber Lake and Amber lake-Y CPUs like the Intel Core m3-8100Y and Intel Pentium Gold 4425Y. These processors have TDPs from 5W to 6W so don’t expect miracles from them in terms of performance. Of course, you can watch 4K movies, maybe you can play a casual game, and you can browse the Web with a lot of opened browser tabs at the same time (especially if you configure your device with 8GB of RAM) – that’s all but it seems enough for the usual daily tasks.

Expectedly, the graphics options consist of iGPUs only – Intel HD Graphics 615 and UHD Graphics 615. It seems fine for a machine that has to be power-efficient.

 

Connectivity and ports: normal port selection for a tablet

Well, no plethora of ports in a device like that. The Microsoft Surface Go 2 is equipped with essential ports only – one USB Type-C port, a headphone jack, a Surface Connect port, and a MicroSD Card Reader.

Storage and other specs: SSD for storage, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.0, and LTE support

The device offers two storage options – an eMMC drive with 64GB of space and up to 128GB SSD. You can use Wi-Fi 6 for faster wireless connection and Bluetooth 5.0 which offers more stability and wider range. If you don’t have access to a hot-spot or a router, you can use an internet connection through LTE (ergo, you can use your SIM card with a data plan).


Specs Comparison

Microsoft Surface Go 2Microsoft Surface Go
Display10.5″ , Full HD (1920 x 1280), IPS10.0”, 1800 x 1200, IPS
GPUIntel HD Graphics 615, Intel UHD Graphics 615Intel HD Graphics 615
CPUIntel Core m3-8100Y, Intel Pentium Gold 4425YIntel Pentium 4415Y
MemoryLPDDR3LPDDR3
StorageSSDSSD
Gigabit WiFi802.11ax802.11ax
Battery
Thickness8.3 mm8.2 mm
Weight0.540 kg0.520 kg
Review

Prices and Configurations

Microsoft Surface Go 2 configurations:

Microsoft Surface Go configurations:

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