Microsoft Surface Go First Impressions: Great Screen, Short Battery Life

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Aug 2, 2018
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For such low spec Tablets , use IPAD PRO better .. it will run MS Office smoother (iOS version) , and will have better battery life , and the APPS are made Graphically to work in Good FPS on the internal GPU.

and more over , Full Photoshop is coming to the iOS in 2019 , not a mobile version , but a full one.

Apple is leading in the Tablet performance and Intel cant win there because their internal GPU is slow , and the windows software are made to work on desktops and not optimized for Tablets . Unlike IPAD.

 

tracyfearson

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As configured above with keyboard: $678.99
iPad Pro (only 64gb) with keyboard: $808.00
Surface GO = more storage and saves: $129.01

As for performance, we shall see.
 

TJ Hooker

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[strike]The 64 GB version is eMMC. Everything I read has pointed to the 128 GB being a proper SSD.[/strike]

Edit: Derp, misread the quoted sentence as saying the 128GB is not an SSD.
 

therealduckofdeath

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If I had only read this review I probably would have had second thoughts about getting one. Lucky me, I decided to browse around a bit in other tech and gadget sites.
For the price you're paying for this, this actually seems to be an extremely solid tablet (the 128 GB SSD version).
 

inanition02

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People complain about the prices on the Surfaces devices all the time (oh the keyboard should come with it, oh the pen is expensive..) - but the Surface Pen is the same price as the Apple Pencil ($99) and the Surface Go Type Cover is actually $60 cheaper than the Smart Keyboard ($99 vs $159 - provided you compare the Black Surface Go Cover to the Black Smart Keyboard).

So that gives you an out the door price of...

Microsoft - Surface Go (128GB), Type Cover, Pen - $748.98
Apple - iPad Pro (64GB), Smart Keyboard, Pencil - $961.42

So the Surface Go is then $212.44 cheaper, has double the storage, double the RAM (iPad Pro is 4GB) and a back lit keyboard. The iPad Pro does have a half inch bigger screen, so there's that, and a slightly more standard aspect ratio.

What will always bite Microsoft on the Surface Go? People compare the Surface Go to laptops and - because it's Windows and supports Windows applications, external monitors, the full range of hardware peripherals, a mouse, etc. - use it like such. Including things like running laptop designed battery tests and benchmarks on it. No one runs those things on an iPad Pro...because it's iOS and those things won't run. They compare the iPad Pro to a nice tablet - which it is - without a mouse and running tablet apps.

And maybe that's the answer - if you're an Apple person or you want a supercharged tablet that can sometimes do light productivity stuff, get the iPad Pro. If you're a Windows person or you want a (non-gaming) laptop replacement that can also be a supercharged tablet, get the Surface Go.


 
Wonder if you could attach a usb gps and install Ubuntu directly onto the laptop?

https://www.amazon.com/GlobalSat-BU-353-S4-USB-Receiver-Black/dp/B008200LHW
(I picture me attaching this to a hat of some kind for extra dorkyness)

https://community.giffgaff.com/t5/Blog/How-to-install-Android-onto-your-netbook-or-laptop/ba-p/3705361

Then driver/Niantic permitting you could play Pokemon Go on your Surface Go.

Even the 6 hours of battery life should be more than enough, although I would expect Android to have a longer battery life than Windows.

Probably overkill / pointless but would make a nice project.

Has anyone tried something similar to this?
 

bananaforscale

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Unless Niantic have reversed their position to not support x86 devices (which they may have, but it's not a significant slice of the Android market), no PoGo for Surface. Also it might not support external GPS receivers (I know that Ingress that preceded PoGo wouldn't work with external GPS receivers to combat cheating).
 

g-unit1111

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l have a Surface and it's noticeably heavier than my old IPad. But that is probably because the Surface has more hardware than an iPad does. The Surface and Surface Go are full PCs and have the ability to run full Windows. The iPad is a device that runs a mobile OS with mobile hardware. I think that's where the difference in weight lies.
 

g-unit1111

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This is *COMPLETELY* wrong on every level. The iPad is better because Photoshop is coming next year? Who cares! The Surface is a device that runs full Windows - it already has Photoshop! The Surface is a full PC that can run desktop applications. Comparing it to an iPad is comparing apples and oranges.
 

therealduckofdeath

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It is slightly heavier than similarly sized Android and Apple tablets. Microsoft doesn't seem to prioritise absolute lightness and thinness. They have the kickstand that essentially doubles the thickness of the rear. I think that's a worthwhile trade off as the kickstand actually is extremely useful even for a simple thing like finding a different one handed grip on the device, but obviously mostly because it's so easy to just set it down on a table and keep perfect view of what's on the tablet.
 
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