Microsoft Surface Laptop Go Review
Microsoft designed Surface Laptop Go to be the best-looking budget laptop. If you choose style and looks over the performance, then Microsoft Surface Laptop Go is a perfect device for you.
It is an almost complete package (just missing a few nifty features from its pricer version Surface Laptop 3). The laptop is intended as an affordable option to compete with Chromebooks and other affordable low-end laptops.
Surface Laptop Go is a lightweight, portable well-designed device with a 12.4-inch touchscreen, quad-core i5 10th generation processor, excellent battery, and adequate performance, all within a price that doesn’t put a dent in your limited budget. It is a perfect machine for students and lower-end users that need an affordable option for everyday tasks and that’s the reason why the surface laptop go is part of the laptop under $700 list .
Pros & Cons
 Affordable Gorgeous Design Comfortable keyboard Keyboard not backlit Subpar audio quality |  |
Design
Like all the other laptops in the Microsoft Surface series, Microsoft Surface Go comes with a sturdy build. It has a petite and svelte design, something you can’t ignore after just a glance. It is light and thin with only 2.44 pounds and dimensions of 9.27 x 12.19 x 1.93 inches.
The machine is highly portable, and you would love to carry it around without even feeling an extra burden.
Although the laptop’s bottom is plastic, the aluminum lid has a great premium feel to it. This kind of build quality is usually rare at this low price. The chassis is so genuinely made that you can just toss it in your bag and don’t worry about breaking it.
Most of the laptop manufacturers make plastic bodies to keep the prices at the lower end. Plastic has its perks as it is lightweight and good at handling heat. However, the laptop becomes vulnerable and won’t survive a fall.
On the other hand, Aluminum makes a solid build, but the machine’s price becomes out of control.
Microsoft with Surface Go has done a fine job of combining the two materials to their advantage. However, they call the plastic “Polycarbonate composite resin system with glass fiber”
Like all other laptops of the surface series, Surface Go is also available in three color options, Ice Blue, Sandstone, and Platinum.
Ports
Microsoft Surface Go comes with an adequate number of ports, keeping in regard its thin size.
The right side has only one port: The Surface Connect port, which you use with the charger.
But on the left side, you’ll find three ports, USB-A, USB-C, and a headphone jack.
The minds at Microsoft have focused more on making the Surface Go a thin device, and because of that the laptop misses an ethernet port and a Kensington port.
The ethernet port connects the laptop to a network for a stable internet connection. You’ll find this kind of port more valuable in gaming laptops. Since Surface Go doesn’t target gamers so you may not feel its absence
However, the Kensington lock is a must for a laptop that is marketed as a portable device. Kensington lock is vital for keeping your laptop safe in public places as you can wire lock your laptop to the table you’re working on. The lack of this port may cause security problems, and you better be on your toes all the time to keep your laptop safe.
Webcam and Speakers
The traces of low price become visible when you use the webcam and speakers of Surface Go. If you expect quality like surface 3, then you will be disappointed because the webcam is only 720p with a good quality image.
Since the pandemic broke, most of the jobs have shifted to work from home, the specs of the webcam needed an upgrade to 1080p. All in all, the built-in camera is sufficient for video conferencing in a decently lit room.
On the other hand, speakers disappoint you the most!
The bottom-firing speakers pour out a distorted sound. You better spend a few bucks on quality headphones to enjoy music while working on this laptop.
HDD/SSD and RAM
With 8 GB LPDDR4 RAM and 128 GB SSD, you’ll enjoy this fast booting device. Some may argue the values are low, but Surface Go’s audience is the low-end users.
Most modern machines opt for Solid State Drive due to their faster speed. Despite the fact that you cannot recover lost data, the absence of non-moving parts and low heat dissipation make a logical choice for Surface Go.
Keyboard and trackpad
The best thing about the Surface Go is its keyboard. The laptop would have become phenomenal with a backlit keyboard. The decision of lack of backlit keyboard is maybe to keep the price lower.
The keys are soft matte finish with a nice feel. The keys are well spaced and are comfortable to type for more extended periods.
The touchpad is 3.9 x 2.6-inch and something to really enjoy in Surface Go. The trackpad is responsive with a smooth feel.
Fingerprint Sensor
Microsoft Surface Go’s interesting feature is the power button with a one-touch sign-in fingerprint sensor. You are free of the hassle of typing a password every time you start windows.
2 in 1 laptop
Unfortunately, the laptop is not a 2 in 1 laptop, unlike its successor, Surface Go 2. The lid can turn only up to 135-140 degrees, let alone be detachable.
Display
Microsoft Surface Go’s display is just a bit less than full HD. It is a 12.4” PixelSense touchscreen display with a resolution of 1536 x 1024. The screen has a 3:2 ratio like the other laptops in the series. Surprisingly it looks roomy for such a small laptop. With this ratio, it becomes easier to work on your spreadsheets.
Surface Go produces average quality and covers 72% of the color gamut. Gamut means the full range of colors that the human eye can see. The glossy screen with a brightness of around 300 Nits (Nits being the unit of brightness) is a reasonable display. It is sub-1080, but considering the price range, it’s the best you can get.
Microsoft Surface Go comes with pixelSense touchscreen.
PixelSense touchscreens are capable of handling multi-touch gestures. It’s a feature common in all Surface laptops, from the lower-end Surface Go to the high-end Surface pro.
Performance
The most highlighted feature of this small, speedy laptop is its 10th generation quad-core i5 processor.
Some may argue that i5 is just above i3 and GPU is also not extraordinary.
But this laptop is not targeted towards gaming or heavy loads like video editing. For lighter works like web browsing or word processing workloads, it excels in its performance.
The colorful, bright display is more than enough for binge-watching in your downtime. Surface Go is designed for lighter loads, and you won’t have any complaints there with its performance.
One downside with Surface go is that it comes with windows 10 in S mode. The setup limits the choice of software you can install on the device, maybe much necessary to your work.
Well, it is not a serious problem. Be aware that once you move to windows home or any version of windows, you can’t go back to S mode. You can easily get rid of S mode by following videos from youtube or even Microsoft itself has an instruction manual on its store to end this limitation.
The laptop works well with other operating systems like Linux or ubuntu.
Since its size is small, the laptop has only one fan. You may hear this fan running quite noisily when you open more tabs than its capacity, i.e., 10-12 tabs at a time. The fan also shows its presence while doing a bit of a heavy workload.
Battery
Microsoft Surface Go is fitted with one Lithium Polymer battery.
Microsoft claims a battery life of 13 hours, but in reality, it is not the case. The manufacturers test the batteries in conditions that cannot be achieved in everyday conditions. So you will find the battery running for 6-7 hours of continuous use with a single charge. No doubt, this value is not over the top but quite adequate for daily use.
Buy it if
- You want something in budget with a slight compromise on quality
- You are looking for a good laptop to carry around all day.
- And finally, if your work requires a lot of writing.
Don’t buy it if
- You are a gamer, or you need it for heavy audio or video editing.
- You want a large screen.
Bottom line
Suppose you are looking for a device for everyday use, checking emails, web browsing, or taking online classes. In that case, the laptop must be on top of your purchasing list—it is a good-looking laptop with an affordable price and reasonable performance.