Thank you for watching! If needed, you can expand this pinned comment to find some timestamps that I've typed up for your convenience. Timestamps can be found in the description as well. Note: Intro is pretty long. Actual review starts at 2:00. Also, the CPU part at 9:31 is the longest section of this whole review, so prepare yourself. Little details make a big difference. ••• Chapters • 0:08 Introduction • 0:45 Introduction: Leading Thoughts • 0:56 Introduction: Recap of the 2018 Surface Go Experience • 1:45 Introduction: Thesis Statement • 2:00 Display • 3:36 Bezels • 4:48 Surface Go 2 Accessories • 6:04 Surface Go Type Cover: Keyboard • 6:28 Surface Go Type Cover: Trackpad • 7:14 Surface Go Type Cover: Better on the Surface Go 2 • 8:15 Build Quality • 8:28 Ports • 9:31 CPU • 9:55 CPU: GeekBench 5 Scores (Three-Way Benchmark) • 10:10 CPU: GeekBench 5 Scores (2018 Surface Go vs. 2020 Surface Go 2) • 12:52 CPU: Wait, what about that Intel Core m3 configuration? • 13:36 CPU: Quick Rant on Microsoft's "Processors of Choice" for the Surface Go 2 • 14:38 Storage (Three-Way Benchmark) • 15:09 Battery Life • 16:01 Webcam Quality • 17:09 Final Assessment ••• I've been working hard on this review since May (three months ago), so I really hope you guys enjoy my review and find it somewhat helpful. As always, feedback is very much appreciated!
hey I have the Asus Zenbook duo and was looking for a tablet to use for more hands one work such as equations and similar things, in my opinion, looks like a good choice but I have one question, dose the Asus smartpen work on the Go 2's screen or will I need to get the surface pen as well
Better cut of media consumption 3:02, as a "plus" on 3 : 2 display as 3 : 2 are not better for media, like movies streaming etc. Many people think a 3 : 2 display is a win-win, but it ain't. I love Laptop books (detachable) and having a big windows tablet like +13" that is still thin at just +7mm, and like an Ipad Pro 12.9" just in windows.. is great, not least now that Android apps are somewhat supported with WSA.. and got 3 books myself.. 2x Porsche Books and 1x Surface Book2 the Porsche Books 3K 13.3" is 16:9 or 16 : 10, - and Surface Book2 is 3K 13.5" and even though the Surface Book2 is bigger on paper than the 13.3" on the Porsche Book, I'm still losing -1cm in horizontal width on the Surface Book2 13.5" display versus the Porsche Book 13.3" display, though I gain -2.2cm in vertical height on the Surface Book2 3 : 2 display. so for movies/media, the Porsche book display is preferred as you get quite a bigger picture, even though the display on paper is 0.2" smaller than Surface Book2 13.5", and then the color accuracy is also better, and +500nits brightness does make movies look gorgeous. // And I don't agree with the general narrative in the pursue of even smaller bezels on big tablets, personally, I don't want them smaller on my Surface Book2. On my Porsche Books, I only got like 5mm at the sides when using the tablet in landscape, and for an adult male here in Scandinavia that got normal northern male size hands, it simply ain't comfortable to hold it onehanded and keep avoiding that your holding hand is getting into the display and it is very fragile products so you don't wanna drop it, as screen repair, etc.. are not easy. On my Ipad pro 12.9" 2020 it is getting on the verge of being too small if you planning to use it as a stand-alone tablet that you can easily hold onehanded while using the other hand for navigation. Sure on mobiles, or monitors, or TVs, or just normal laptops (non-detachable) I'm all in for making the bezels be a saga of the past, but huge +13" and above tablets.. that are very expensive... it simply ain't comfortable if their bezels get to small, - so a certain amount of bezels is a good thing on tablets. Curious to see how Samsung will do with the bezels on its Samsung Tab S8ultra with +14" tablet, but it's likely also very thin and 5.5mm to 6mm so that can help to a certain extent with smaller bezels.. the lighter it is., I kept hearing reviewers criticizing the Surface Book3 for not making the bezels smaller, and they kept referring to fx high-end Dell laptops, with very minor bezels as the norm. and it's like these reviewers & influencers completely missed the mark, that it's also a huge 13.5" or 15" windows tablet.. try using such a big tablet-like Surface Book3 15" that is like +800g and hold it onehanded with close to no bezels.. it undermines the tablet use-case with too small bezels.... you need bezels on huge tablets if you plan on using it as a tablet, that can be held one-handed and interacted with the other hand... at least in my experience. Thx for the vid.
This review is amazing. It doesnt feel rushed like other reviews. So I can take my time watching it, and its been super enjoyable. Go 2 design is beautiful (Even though I got an ipad pro, I still fancy the go design. Wish it has better specs and pen).
Plus, look at how clean this man's house is. The audio and video quality is superb. I hope he makes a lot of money from these videos, because this was one of the most enjoyable review videos I've ever seen.
I watch a lot of tech reviews, and rarely take the time to comment or like. I think you've done an exceptional job with this review. The side-by-side testing with the other models were especially helpful. Superb editing and videography. Well done.
You have a very soothing voice! Thank you so much for your review. You packed so much information in one beautiful video. I just purchased the Surface Go 2 for university.
Great video. I feel like you did it all by yourself while it looks like there was a team behind it. Offtop. Totally envy your hair. Balding is a b** xD
First, your video production is very well done. Second, great review. The extra technical details on the SD speeds, cable management, and type cover added information not usually provided by reviewers (many who seem to swap computers every two weeks). Third, your musings concerning the Surface Pro X and the Surface Go 2 chips were spot on.
Good review. I wanted a secondary laptop to my well equipped ThinkPad X1. I was a little skeptical about what kind of performance I would get out of the Surface Go 2 but purchased one anyway. I got the M3 core model without the LTE. I must say I am pleasantly surprised at how zippy and lag free it is. It runs very nice with office, web browsing and all the most common tasks. I actually love the thing and always look forward to using it. And I actually think it works well as a tablet. The keyboard is just excellent and now that I am used to the size I am typing fast with few errors. My wife liked mine so much that she wanted one. So the M3 Core non LTE went on sale at Bestbuy for $550, $80 less than what I paid, and we picked her up one. She is having fun with it. While I am glad the entry level model is better than people think I will echo your sentiment that the M3 Core is well worth the price. I do not believe the device is overpriced. And the small form factor is so convenient and lots of fun.
@@edbenzino I set it next to my work computer to use to check home email, do phone texting, listen to podcast youtube music etc while working. If I start with full battery unplugged at like 8 in the morning I am usually not tempted to plug it in until like 2. So all day use on battery if intermittent use. Depends on how hard you push it.
Surface Go 2 has changed what it means for a traveller who needs laptop functionality. No longer lugging around a 14" Thinkpad. Now I can now go hiking and provide support, remote desktop, MSSQL etc. Thumb and sub to you. Great review of a very useful piece of kit.
The overall issue I have with the entry level Surface Go 2 is the amount of RAM, in my opinion. I think it is just insufficient for today's standards, It'd be nice if it were 6 GBs of RAM. Other than that, great review and I like the Surface Go 2 even with Intel Pentium Gold.
Absolutely. If MS thinks to use ARM, which it clearly touts it's going to and likely in future it's absolutely essential to support it or Windows likely will die away. Anyway I digress. Surface Go devices absolutely should be the devices that pilot ARM chips. The perfect devices where to hone up their optimizations in usage cases, where 95% of user base wouldn't likely never suffer from x86 "emulation". Just got Mac Mini M1 and it's doing Intel emulation really well, albeit there's really odd quirks here and there. As nerd I couldn't use it as only computer, but I gotta hand out Apple, they've done pretty good job in M1 systems.
Great Review! Yea I was contemplating on the Surface Go 2 or the Lenovo Duet 3i, However decided to go with the Lenovo Duet 3i because the keyboard and Pen was included in the box and it was a couple of hundred dollars cheaper than the Surface Go 2 with the keyboard and pen included. Model I got is the N5030 Pentium Processor with 8GB of RAM and 256gb of storage.
Haha, I honestly really like my hair, but I filmed so many ugly angles of myself for this review. Wish I had somebody around to help me film. 😂 Anyway, thank you for watching!
Thank you, I enjoyed watching/listening to your review. Something I noticed: Your voice is very soothing, really so much more pleasant to listen to than the usual artificially-excited-sounding reviewer.
Awesome review. Thorough, articulate, paced, and just as an aside your editing is great too. Perfect reference of relevant real world examples and tech specs to help me compare with how I'll be using it. I've spent the past 3 hours researching a handful of tablets using comparisons and reviews across all platforms and formats and wish I'd found your video much sooner. This is the the one I'll be purchasing thanks to you. Best wishes with your channel!
I’m keeping my eye on this lil guy for university purposes, mainly using software like lockdown browser for tests. I have the 2020 iPad Pro and it can definitely run lockdown browser but my university is too stubborn to enable tests via iPads which is super frustrating.
Thank you for doing such a great review. Yes, the cheap Go isn't going to be running Photoshop or Premiere and expecting it to do so is foolish. It works great with Office 365 and web apps under Edge Chromium.
I have been watching you since the end of 2019 and when you posted vid on pro x I decided that I'll sub you when you'll post your next vid and man you made me wait!! Your editing is also awesome, I don't generally watch 15min+ vids but I watched your pro x's video 3 times just because I enjoyed it so much! Also one question: I am a commerce student and currently learning programming, my aim is to build a chess software along, so what would be your recommendation for me, I am currently thinking of Surface Book 3 13.5 with i7 but what's your opinion?
Your review was great! I would have only added one thing: real-time/real-world performance examples longer than a few seconds. I'm on the seesawing between getting one of these since I already have a SP3 to use as a secondary laptop/tablet but it heats up sometimes. Would have loved to see how the low end intel chip performs in various scenarios where it's not heavily taxed but def put to work. Best of luck to you channel!
hey! I just got an entry level surface go 2 yesterday, and i've been on zoom nearly all day today with multiple documents and tabs open, and it handled it all effortlessly! definitely worth a buy!
I actually just ordered a refurbished version of this entry level surface go to on amazon. I am legally blind and use accessibility software to navigate my Android smartphones and other devices. I use narrator on my desktop Windows computer but, it is often hard to use without a touch screen monitor. To that end, I am planning on experimenting with this tablet because with narrator turned on and the accessibility features engaged I hope to navigate with far more ease. It is my hope that using a touch screen like a normal tablet or smartphone will be far more effective and less frustrating then using the tab key and the arrow keys to navigate. In addition, I am certain that it will be far easier than hunting and pecking with the mouse. I have high hopes for this experiment. I teach at the University level and I'm hoping this will be an effective supplement that is easier to use than my chromebook. Thank you for the informative video.
I believe the Surface Go line is MS's version of the Chromebook. It's meant to be a portal to a Microsoft 365 subscription. You see a lot of these machines leased out to businesses and then dumped onto the secondary market.
The magnesium alloy they use on these Surface tablets is actually really soft. Over time, the Surface Connect will chip away at it and where the two magnets are, making the port look really gross.
Absolute PERFECTION! We don't have access to the surface line here in Brazil, so, as I'm thinking about importing it, I needed a very good review. And this one is brilliant! Thanks a lot!
I will not use for art I own the intel r 8gb with windows 11 and it control how to dedicate ram so it limits the performance on high demanding program catch a lot but for a regular use yes amazing
better cut of media consumption 3:02, as a "plus" on 3 : 2 display as 3 : 2 are not better for media, like movies streaming etc. Many people think a 3 : 2 display is a win-win, but it ain't. I love Laptop books (detachable) and having a big windows tablet like +13" that is still thin at just +7mm, and like an Ipad Pro 12.9" just in windows.. is great, not least now that Android apps are somewhat supported with WSA.. and got 3 books myself.. 2x Porsche Books and 1x Surface Book2 the Porsche Books 3K 13.3" is 16:9 or 16 : 10, - and Surface Book2 is 3K 13.5" and even though the Surface Book2 is bigger on paper than the 13.3" on the Porsche Book, I'm still losing -1cm in horizontal width on the Surface Book2 13.5" display versus the Porsche Book 13.3" display, though I gain -2.2cm in vertical height on the Surface Book2 3 : 2 display. so for movies/media, the Porsche book display is preferred as you get quite a bigger picture, even though the display on paper is 0.2" smaller than Surface Book2 13.5", and then the color accuracy is also better, and +500nits brightness does make movies look gorgeous. // And I don't agree with the general narrative in the pursue of even smaller bezels on big tablets, personally, I don't want them smaller on my Surface Book2. On my Porsche Books, I only got like 5mm at the sides when using the tablet in landscape, and for an adult male here in Scandinavia that got normal northern male size hands, it simply ain't comfortable to hold it onehanded and keep avoiding that your holding hand is getting into the display and it is very fragile products so you don't wanna drop it, as screen repair, etc.. are not easy. On my Ipad pro 12.9" 2020 it is getting on the verge of being too small if you planning to use it as a stand-alone tablet that you can easily hold onehanded while using the other hand for navigation. Sure on mobiles, or monitors, or TVs, or just normal laptops (non-detachable) I'm all in for making the bezels be a saga of the past, but huge +13" and above tablets.. that are very expensive... it simply ain't comfortable if their bezels get to small, - so a certain amount of bezels is a good thing on tablets. Curious to see how Samsung will do with the bezels on its Samsung Tab S8ultra with +14" tablet, but it's likely also very thin and 5.5mm to 6mm so that can help to a certain extent with smaller bezels.. the lighter it is., I kept hearing reviewers criticizing the Surface Book3 for not making the bezels smaller, and they kept referring to fx high-end Dell laptops, with very minor bezels as the norm. and it's like these reviewers & influencers completely missed the mark, that it's also a huge 13.5" or 15" windows tablet.. try using such a big tablet-like Surface Book3 15" that is like +800g and hold it onehanded with close to no bezels.. it undermines the tablet use-case with too small bezels.... you need bezels on huge tablets if you plan on using it as a tablet, that can be held one-handed and interacted with the other hand... at least in my experience. Thx for the vid.
For the record: Geekbench 5 SG2 m3 chip = 866 2020 base model MBA i3 = 983 Cinebench R20 SG2 m3 chip = 460 2020 bsse model MBA i3 =620 Cost SG2 m3 chip = $629US (add $40-$50 keyboard/pen $40-$50 pen at Amazon) 2020 base model MBA i3 = $949US (no pen, touch screen, microSD)
The first gen looks like the FIRST iPad! Who ever wants to buy a Surface go, when Apple is so far ahead? Everything what you can do better with Windows, the Surface Go is to slow for. Just buy the entry-level iPad and when you want the Logitech combo touch keyboard case. It’s so much better.
I upgraded the 4415y/4gb/64gb version and go 2 its a big improvement with 4425y/8gb/128g the ssd is 6x times faster and twice ram memory makes a big difference also Wi-Fi and bluetooth is better screen is bigger its lag free for web and BASIC the old model is not bad but the 64gb is too slow.
Most of the video applies to the now current Surface Go 3. It only has beefed up hardware inside and everything else stayed as it is. It's a lovely ultramobile office Laptablet. However it does _not_ support the "paper feel feedback" of the Slim Pen 2. Just...has anyone else issues with crackling speakers?
Thanks for an excellent review. Based on your reviews of the SG1 and SG2, I purchased the SG3. Subscribed as well. Maybe you can review the Surface Duo or Duo 2. Thank you.
Thanks for that great video. I was wondering if you had an opinion on using Windows 10/11 in S Mode vs. turning it off. It's sad that many apps are just not available for S Mode, e.g. Kindle or Chrome (which forces me to use the Edge PW-Manager just for this device) ... just to name some problems I ran into.
A bit confused by the keyboard comment... 1: My og Go can take the keyboard backwards and 2: Why would you want to? It turns off if you flip it behind the screen anyways..
I am a humanities early modern professor. My greatest need is to do large Word files, often with Hebrew, Greek, and Latin Fonts, as well as numerous large early English book scans. Is the Go 2 a better option than the Surface Pro 7? Will the smaller keyboard cause problems in editing of large Word files?
Looking into getting this from three as I'm fed up of poor performance and damn right useless android tablets I've gotten previous (nexus 9 HTC junk and this Samsung sm-t515 that constantly crashes apps and reboots randomly) And your review has sold it no fancy just good discriptions
It is about $80 to much to compete. I am buying a tablet this week, I cannot justify this over apple. The specs are fine but the apps make ms not good for tablets.
"Entry Level" ... I always laugh when I see that stupid expression. It's a total "snobbery based wank". It implies that it's for "beginner computer users" who will eventually "upgrade" to a "non entry level" machine for "experienced users", which is a load of rubbish. LOL
They put ARM CPUs in the first 2 generations of Surface, and everyone hated them. So they took them out. Now MS is trying again, but they should've stuck to their guns, because if they had, we'd have 5th generation ARM Surfaces that would be much more polished, and customers that would have grown used to them.
All i want is basically a tablet for watching youtube and netflix etc, then the ability to use a spreadsheet or a word document, is this good enough and fast enough for that?
Thanks buddy. It's never occurred to me to flip the keyboard around. I totally agree that the ARM chip would have been great on the Surface Go. I bought the Samsung Galaxy Book S but am going to give it to my parents because I use my Go for all those mobile tasks. For big stuff I've got my Suface Laptop 3. You're totally right, people wouldn't notice the limitations on ARM on a tablet. The Surface Pro X is a super premium price device that doesn't deliver the functional you'd expect for that price. Alternately, for the Surface Go 3 they could use the Lakefield intel processors.
What if you use an app that’s used for keyboard/mouse, and you don’t got a keyboard on it, does it turn to a mobile like app? Like for example games, if you play it without keyboard/mouse, does it just block you from playing?
Enjoying the video style, soft bg music and simple edits, its refreshing (and different) for a Tech Review on RU-vid, keep it going, and u deserve more viewers/subscribers.
how does this do for using microsoft office and watching shows as well as youtube browsing on chrome? heard that google chrome is very badly optimized for this tablet and we are better off with microsoft edge.
You have pleasant voice and good presentation , keep making videos .. just subbed you . One more thing , if you are going to talk about sponsorship in future, ie square space, ifix .... either do at beginning or at end of video ...
I enjoyed the review. The part about the microphones was a pleasant surprise. However, I must have missed the part about the speakers. That is no surprise as I almost always miss the part about the speakers in mobile device (including smartphones) reviews. I guess I need to pay more attention to these reviews. 😊
I would spring for the Surface Book 2 if they had the LTE version (out of stock right now) which would make it perfect for longer train trips or commutes.
Thank you for your support! My plan is to cover the pen experience (and other things) in a future video. However, I do want to apologize for not covering the pen experience in this review. It has come to my attention that many of my viewers were expecting me to cover the pen experience (among other things) in one single review. Hopefully I do not disappoint with future reviews.
@@EJYu thanks for your reply. I want yout review all about your surface devices. for example, surface book 1st, surface pro x, surface pro 7, surface go 1, go 2, etc... as hard note-taker EJ. Keep going for good review, and also watch out for thr coronavirus.
tonnes of business users are buying the Go 2, both for first-line workers, and also for Office workers who connect to a larger screen. That's why they didn't use the SX1 chip.
Would you recommend the top model of surface go 2 or huawei matepad pro? i gonna use it for word writing my studies, watch netflix, spotify and general app and web surfing. Kin Regards Kent
