Original Link: https://www.anandtech.com/show/13864/the-microsoft-surface-go-lte-review-unmatched-mobility
The Microsoft Surface Go LTE Review: Unmatched Mobility
by Brett Howse on January 17, 2019 8:00 AM ESTMicrosoft’s Surface Pro lineup has been a design win for the company for several years now. The Surface Go was launched in July of 2018 as a lower-cost version of the Surface Pro, offering buyers a less expensive way to become a Surface customer, and by the nature of its smaller size compared to the Surface Pro, an even more portable convertible Surface tablet. When the device was initially announced, a model with LTE connectivity was also in the works, and the Surface Go LTE arrived in November 2018.
Featuring a 10-inch display, the Surface Go is quite a bit smaller than the Pro, and the obvious comparison to make would be against the Surface 3, which launched way back in 2015. In the three year gap between these models, Microsoft had seemed to abandon the idea of the smaller convertible tablet in their lineup. But thanks to the smaller price tag, it was always a popular model, and it is great to see them reintroduce the reduced size Surface again. Even though the Surface 3 launched way back in 2015, it still has a usage share higher than any Surface launched outside of the Pro models, and now the Surface Go.
Source: AdDuplex.com
Looking at numbers from AdDuplex from December 2018, it makes it clear why the Surface Go was launched. And despite it only being on the market for about five months, it’s clearly gained a lot of traction in the Surface market, with usage share outstripping that of every other non-Pro model ever launched. We never got a chance to review the original Surface Go, but Microsoft has sent us the Surface Go LTE model for a full review.
The Surface Go LTE offers the benefit of always-on connectivity – assuming you have cellular coverage of course – and this opens it up to an even wider audience of customers. Microsoft is clearly aiming the Surface Go LTE at business customers looking for a small device they can take on-site, with an even smaller footprint than the Surface Pro LTE, and a lighter form factor. As has been the case with the last couple of LTE variants for Surface, the Surface Go LTE utilizes a Qualcomm X16 modem.
The rest of the Surface Go is unchanged. It’s still powered by the dual-core Intel Pentium 4415Y processor, and has the same 10-inch 1800x1200 3:2 PixelSense display. The only real difference is that the LTE variant is only available with 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of SSD storage. The 4 GB / 64 GB eMMC model cannot be purchased with LTE.
Microsoft Surface Go | |||||
Surface Go Specifications | |||||
CPU | Intel Pentium Gold 4415Y (Kaby Lake-Y) 2 core, 4 thread, 1.6 GHz base frequency |
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GPU | Intel HD 615 24 EUs 850 MHz boost frequency |
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Display | 10-inch PixelSense 1800x1200 3:2 aspect 216 Pixels Per Inch 10-point Multitouch Surface Pen support |
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Dimensions | 245 x 175 x 8.3 mm 9.6 x 6.9 x 0.33 inches |
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Weight | 522 grams (WiFi) / 532 grams (LTE) 1.15 lbs (WiFi) / 1.17 lbs (LTE) |
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RAM | 4 or 8 GB LPDDR3-1866 | ||||
Storage | 64 GB eMMC 128 NVMe SSD optional 256 GB NVMe SSD (Commerical Option) |
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Wireless | 802.11ac with Bluetooth 4.1 Qualcomm Snapdragon X16 LTE Optional |
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Battery | Up to 9 hours of video playback 24W Charger |
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Cameras | Windows Hello IR camera 5 MP Front Camera with 1080p video 8 MP Rear Camera with 1080p video |
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Ports | USB Type-C 3.1 Gen 1 with power delivery Surface Connect MicroSD Headset |
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Price | 4GB/64GB $399 4GB/128GB $499 8GB/128GB $549 8GB/128 GB LTE $679 Windows 10 Pro $50 extra |
The Surface Go offers many of the same features as its larger siblings, including the Surface Connect port for charging and data. This is a big upgrade over the Surface 3, which only offered micro USB charging, and the Surface Go ships with a 24-Watt AC adapter. The advantage for business customers here is that the Surface Go will work with the same Surface Dock as the rest of the lineup, meaning it can easily be connected to power, displays, and Ethernet on the desk, and then with one magnetic connector, becomes instantly portable.
The Surface Go also offers USB Type-C, which is a huge advantage for the Surface Go compared to the Surface Pro, since you can use any Type-C charger while on the road with the Surface Go. It does lose the USB Type-A port that is a key feature of the Surface Pro, but on a portable device like this, that is a worthwhile trade-off. If you need Type-A, you can of course get an adapter for Type-C, or use the Surface Dock.
It's been quite remarkable to see just how popular this device is in the market, despite it only being available for a few months. Let’s dig into the Surface Go LTE.
Design
There’s no mistaking the Surface Go for any other product. Microsoft has done a great job refining their tablet design over the years, and the Surface Go benefits from almost all of that refinement. It features the same silver magnesium finish as the rest of the lineup, and the distinctive chrome Microsoft logo on the rear. There’s a plastic strip at the top which lets the RF through, and the kickstand which has been the defining design element of all Surface tablets. The Surface Go features the same infinitely adjustable hinge as the Pro, and it opens wide enough to be used as a drawing surface.
The Surface Go features nicely rounded edges, which was a design feature Microsoft introduced with the Surface Pro 5 in 2017, and it gives the design a software in-hand feel compared to the previous models. The Surface Go is also slightly thinner than the Surface Pro 6, although almost imperceptibly so.
The one design feature that has unfortunately not made it into the Surface Go is the thinner display bezels found on many recent devices. By today’s standards, the bezels on the Surface Go are thick, and it would have been nice to see a larger display in this size of chassis. The bezels do give you somewhere to hang on if using the Go as a tablet, but they don’t need to be this large to achieve this result, and make the Go look like a somewhat dated design despite it being brand new. In reality the bezels are not much wider than the Surface Pro 6, but with the smaller display, the proportion of bezel to display is higher.
On the top bezel is the front facing camera, which also offers IR for Windows Hello facial recognition, and the Windows Hello is very accurate, even if it’s a touch slower to use on this model. For video conferencing, the Surface Go offers a 5 MP camera on the front which can do 1080p video. The rear camera is an 8 MP auto-focus unit. Unlike some of the more expensive Surface products, the Surface Go features just a single microphone, so it likely won’t be as good for long-range Cortana.
All of the ports are on the right side of the device, with the Surface Connect port at the bottom, and the USB Type-C and headset jack closer to the top. If there’s a Surface redesign, it would be nice to see the headset jack find a better location to avoid the cable being in such an awkward spot, although the Go does offer the headset jack quite a bit lower than the Pro does. There’s also a microSD slot under the kickstand on the right side.
The left side has only one opening, and that is for the nano SIM card.
Despite the Surface Go being a less-expensive model, it really feels like a smaller version of the Pro, with the same, fantastic kickstand design, and the same magnesium chassis. The only real knock against the Go’s design is the display bezels, which harken back to an earlier era. The real advantage for the Surface Go is the smaller size, and much lower weight than the Pro. A Surface Pro 6 is 770 grams for an i5 model, and the Go is just 515 grams, or 33% lighter. That makes for an extremely portable PC.
Accessories
As with all Surface tablets, the Surface Go isn’t really complete without some accessories.
Surface Go Type Cover
Microsoft offers several choices for the Type Cover, which is the one essential accessory for any Surface Go. Although there is sometimes some criticism about why this is a separate purchase, it gives the buyer the ability to customize their Surface Go’s color scheme. Some retailers also offer bundled purchases, so you can have it either way.
The base Type Cover is the standard black model, which offers a soft plastic cover around the built-in keyboard, and it retails for $99. Those that want a bit more color, and a bit more refinement, can go for a Signature Type Cover, which is wrapped in Alacantara just like on the Surface Pro, and is available in Burgundy, Platinum, or Cobalt Blue. The Signature Type Covers retail for $129, and for $30 are a worthwhile upgrade if you are in the market. The Alcantara gives a great feel, especially when the device is closed, and being a synthetic fabric, holds up pretty well over time.
The trackpad offered on the Type Cover is excellent, with a smooth glass top that offers great precision. If you recall the original, tiny trackpads Microsoft used to offer, this is perhaps the most obvious improvement. Despite the smaller dimensions of the Surface Go, the trackpad is well-sized.
The downside of moving to a smaller form factor in the Surface Go, compared to the Surface Pro, is that they keyboard is also shrunk to accommodate the smaller dimensions of the device. Although they keyboard offers the same edge-to-edge keys as the Pro, that edge-to-edge dimension is small enough that the keyboard is fairly cramped. If you have large hands, this is likely not the device for you because of this. If you don’t mind a smaller keyboard, the quality of the keyboard, and the key feel, coupled with the three levels of backlighting, make this a great keyboard, but the small size takes a lot of getting used to, and causes a lot of mis-types when adjusting.
Surface Pen
Although not necessarily as essential as the Type Cover, the same Surface Pen as the rest of the Surface lineup is also available for the Surface Go, and the pen can be magnetically attached to the left side for storage, although the rounded edges don’t make it quite as tight of a fit as on the Pro. The pen can also be purchased in the same color scheme as the type covers, which means black, burgundy, platinum, or cobalt blue are all available to color coordinate with the cover.
The Surface pen is one of the best writing devices available on a tablet, with 4096 pressure levels, tilt support, and very low latency. That coupled with the thin display stack, makes the Surface Go an excellent choice for notes, and the writing experience is really a great experience. The Surface Pen tips are also interchangeable, and you can purchase a set of tips with various thicknesses, and Microsoft continues to offer a great tip feel, where there’s just enough traction on the glass that it makes you feel like you’re connected to a real pen.
Surface Mobile Mouse
If you prefer to use a mouse over a trackpad, the Surface Mobile Mouse is a Bluetooth connected mouse with seamless scrolling, a compact form factor, and the same color options as the rest of the accessories to coordinate. It features the Microsoft BlueTrack technology and the battery life from the two AA batteries is rated for up to 12 months.
System Performance
The Surface Go is powered by the Intel Pentium Gold 4415Y processor, which unlike the Pentium Silver lineup, is in fact a Core architecture-based CPU. In this case, it’s Kaby Lake-Y based, and offers two cores, four threads, and a 1.6 GHz frequency. The Y series offers a 6-Watt TDP for fanless operation, but unlike the Core branded processors, the Pentium Gold does not offer any sort of boost at all, so the processor runs at a 1.6 GHz maximum clockspeed. Also, being Core based, there’s no support for LPDDR4 yet, so the Surface Go is offered with LPDDR3, in either 4 or 8 GB configurations in dual-channel mode. The LTE model is only available with 8 GB, and that’s what we are reviewing here.
When the Surface Go was first announced, it was nice to see Microsoft step up to Core on their smaller tablet, when the previous Surface 3 was powered by Intel’s Atom lineup, but the Pentium Gold 4415Y, thanks to the lack of any sort of Turbo, is going to be hampered quite a bit compared to even a Core m3 offering. Intel really likes to segment its product lineups, and they price anything named Core high enough that it’s difficult to find one in a low-cost product. The solution to that is competition in this space, and unfortunately, there’s still little competition in the notebook space for low-power processors. That may change in the future with both Qualcomm and AMD making strides here, but today, if you want reasonable performance and good battery life, Intel is still the name of the game.
The Surface Go was run through our standard testing suite. A selection of reviewed devices were chosen to give an idea where the performance stands with this model. Of note, the Surface 3 from 2015 was included to provide a glimpse of the gains that have been made switching away from Atom, and although we’ve not reviewed it yet, the Chuwi LapBook SE is included as well to see how the Pentium 4415Y compares against the latest Gemini Lake Atom featuring LPDDR4. The Surface Pro 4 was included since it was a dual-core i5 model, to give a comparison against a dual-core Core based processor, since today they are all quad-core.
PCMark
UL Benchmark’s PCMark is a complete system benchmark, with several workloads which stress various components in a PC, from the CPU, GPU, storage, and more. The latest PCMark 10 will be our standard going forward, but PCMark 8 has been included as well since we have a more comprehensive backlog of data for it including the Surface 3.
This isn’t a great start for the Surface Go. With a 1.6 GHz frequency, and no turbo capabilities, the dual-core Pentium 4415Y is well off of the latest Core U series we see in most laptops. Compared to Atom, the story is a bit more nuanced. The Core CPU, even at just 1.6 GHz, squeaks past the Gemini Lake based LapBook SE, and the GPU on the Pentium is quite a bit more powerful, as seen in the Digital Content Creation sub-score. It is also well ahead of the Surface 3’s Atom from 2015. This really comes down to Intel wanting to segment their products very clearly, and by eliminating any Turbo, the Pentium loses out on all of the work Intel has done to ramp up their frequencies quickly for burst workloads, which is a shame. If it even offered a slight Turbo, the results would be quite a bit stronger.
Cinebench
Cinebench is a purely CPU based task, and it offers a single-threaded mode which lets us look at the underlying CPU architecture’s performance, as well as a multi-threaded workload that performs much better on the multi-core devices being offered today.
The gap to Core is once again huge, with even the dual-core i5 Skylake from the Surface Pro 4 well ahead. Cinebench loves higher frequencies, and the 1.6 GHz of the Pentium 4415Y is seriously outclassed here. The Surface Pro 4 with a dual-core Skylake Core i5 scores about twice as high.
Comparing the Surface Go to the Surface 3 though shows a nice performance gain compared to the previous small Surface with the move to a Core based processor. But, compared to the latest Gemini Lake in the LapBook SE, the Atom based N4100 actually outperforms the Core based Pentium 4415Y in both the single threaded, and multi-threaded results.
x264
Much like Cinebench, x264 is a purely CPU based test, but without the ability to choose a single-threaded workload. As such, more cores and lots of frequency tend to result in higher frames per second in this video conversion test. And, much like Cinebench, we can see the Pentium 4415Y is quite held back at just a 1.6 GHz frequency compared to any of the U series notebooks. Compared to Gemini Lake, the Pentium is slightly ahead in the first pass, but slightly behind in the second pass. So, despite Microsoft choosing a Core based processor for this iteration of their smallest Surface, it really only just competes with Atom on the CPU side.
Web Results
Web performance is important, but also tends to be the least reliable method of testing system performance since the underlying browser carries such a dramatic impact on the performance of web scripting. To keep results as even as we can, Microsoft Edge is used as the browser for all of our testing, but it of course gets updated over time too so even sticking with a single browser isn’t ideal.
Speaking of not being ideal, locking a Core CPU to a single frequency roughly halves the performance on standard testing, but web testing is likely the biggest beneficiary of Intel’s aggressive Turbo modes, and here we see results well under half the performance of a dual-core Skylake based Surface Pro 4. It does have a small improvement compared to the Surface 3, but compared to the Gemini Lake N4100, it’s also more or less just even.
Performance Conclusion
We’ve seen Intel produce some impressive products based on their Core architecture, and even when they offer Core branded products with the same lowered TDPs of this Y series Pentium, they still include aggressive Turbo modes that will boost performance for a short workload, without breaking the power budget. That’s not the case with the Pentium Y series though. It just runs at a straight 1.6 GHz whether it’s busy or not, and by intentionally holding back performance, they’ve produced a Core based CPU which can be beaten by their latest Atom processor in CPU tasks. That’s not an ideal situation for Intel, nor it is an ideal situation for their customers.
The performance of Surface Go is slightly higher than the Surface 3 which more or less filled the same spot in Microsoft’s lineup, but it’s somewhat amazing that the latest Atom processor can offer higher single-threaded performance, and since it offers up to four cores, higher multi-threaded performance as well.
The performance gap to even just dual-core Skylake or Kaby Lake U series Core i5 processors is dramatic, and of course the latest laptops and Surface Pro models feature quad-core Kaby-Lake Refresh or Whiskey Lake now, which ramps up the performance levels even further.
Unfortunately, the Surface Go offers middling performance, and with the prices that Intel demands for their Core branded processors, there’s no way Microsoft would have been able to offer the entry price they have with Core. Until we see some real competition in this part of the market, whether with AMD getting their power usage in check, or with Qualcomm dramatically improving their performance, we are likely stuck with this.
GPU Performance
The Surface Go features the integrated Intel HD Graphics 615 GPU, and here the advantage of going with a Core based Pentium over an Atom based model in the N Series of processors is more dramatic. The Intel HD 615 features the same 24 execution units as a standard U series Core product, but with a slightly lowered maximum GPU frequency of 850 Mhz compared to something like a Kaby Lake based Core i5 which would be around 1.1 GHz. Intel’s Mobile N Series offers only half the execution units in the Celeron models, and 18 in the Pentium Silver N5000.
We already saw some of this performance delta in the system tests, where PCMark showed somewhat dramatic swings comparing the Pentium Gold 4415Y with the Celeron N4100. Tasks which heavily favored the CPU were somewhat close, but those that leveraged the GPU for gaming or content creation showed a pretty large gain with the Pentium Gold.
Let’s not get ahead of ourselves though. Despite offering twice the execution units as an Atom based processor, this is still an integrated Intel GPU, and therefore it’s going to be slow. It just won’t be quite as slow as an Atom.
Since this is a very low-end GPU, we’ve only run it through our synthetic tests.
3DMark
3DMark offers several tests with varying levels of scene complexity, with Fire Strike as the most complex one we run on laptops, followed by Sky Diver, Cloud Gate, and then finally Ice Storm Unlimited which is a test that can also be run on smartphones and tablets.
What’s most interesting is in Fire Strike, if you compare the Kaby Lake based Surface Go with the Skylake based Surface Pro 4, the results are actually quite close. With such a complex scene, the GPU is really the limiting factor more than the CPU, and with both featuring a similar GPU with 24 EUs, the results are really similar, but once the scenes get less complex, the CPU is a larger portion of the task, and the performance drops off fairly dramatically. Ice Storm Unlimited is broken down into the GPU score and the Physics score, with the Physics score being more or less a CPU task, and as we saw on the previous page, the Core i5-6300U is about twice as fast.
Comparing these results to Atom though shows that even though Gemini Lake offers a processor which can meet or beat the Pentium Gold 4415Y, on the GPU side, the meager 12 EUs on Atom are a severe hinderance.
GFXBench
We’re moving over to the latest GFXBench version from Kishonti, which moves away from the OpenGL based tests they offered on Windows, to DirectX 12 with the Aztec Ruins scene. As such, our data is limited, but the results show that the GPU found in the Surface Go is more or less as good as those in higher priced Core offerings, with performance only slightly behind the Surface Pro 6, or even the Y series Apple MacBook Air.
GPU Conclusion
Although the CPU takes a beating when comparing Pentium Gold to Core, the GPU doesn’t suffer the same fate. With the same 24 EUs available as most of the U and Y series Core processors, performance is not hampered quite as much as it is on the CPU side. The overall boost frequency of the GPU is slightly lower compared to a Core i5-6300U, but don’t forget the Pentium Gold 4415Y is also a 6-Watt TDP, so that makes sense. Whereas comparisons on the CPU side with Intel’s latest Atom actually favor the Atom, on the GPU side the Core based Pentium in the Surface Go is much more powerful.
Storage Performance
Microsoft offers two storage offerings in the Surface Go, with the base model being just 64 GB of storage, and the higher tier model features 128 GB. The base model is also eMMC, compared to a true PCIe SSD in the 128 GB model, with the review unit featuring a Toshiba BG3 series. Microsoft moved to a BGA SSD on the Surface Pro in the last couple of models, and the Surface Go also goes with a BGA SSD. That does mean the PCIe interface is just two lanes, which will restrict maximum performance compared to a four-lane model.
The BGA SSD offers good read performance, but write performance with such a small drive takes a big hit. It would be interesting to see this compared to the eMMC version, but we’ve not had a change to test that one. Odds are it would be significantly less performant.
Display Analysis
One area where Microsoft consistently leads all other PC makers is in the display department. The Surface Go offers a 10-inch 1800x1200 display, which of course offers the same 3:2 aspect ratio as the rest of the Surface lineup, and the extra height makes for a better tablet experience, as well as some more vertical space for getting things done.
Even though the resolution isn’t as high as some of their other devices, the pixels-per-inch of the display are still reasonable at 216 ppi. It’s not the crispest display around, but it gets the job done without being a burden on the battery.
The Surface Go offers 10-point multitouch, and the display is compatible with the Surface Pen.
Microsoft is the one company in the PC space that color calibrates all its displays, and this trend started with the Surface 3 back in 2015. This is a nice benefit to all Surface customers, who can rest assured that anything they view on the display is going to be accurately portrayed.
If Microsoft was going to tackle the Next Big Thing on their displays, they should perhaps investigate better anti-reflective coatings, since they are still well behind Apple in this regard. Since the Surface Go focuses on mobility, being able to use it outdoors without as much glare would be a benefit.
To test the display, we use SpectraCal’s CalMAN software suite with a custom workflow, along with an X-Rite i1Display Pro colorimeter for brightness and contrast readings, and an X-Rite i1Pro2 spectrophotometer for color accuracy results.
Brightness and Contrast
The display isn’t the brightest device around, at just 380 nits, but it does offer fantastic black levels and therefore good contrast. It’s not industry leading, but for a device that starts at $399, it’s quite good. For those that want to use it in the dark, it also goes all the way down to 6 nits so it should be easy to use in a very dark room without searing your eyeballs.
Grayscale
Overall, the grayscale results on the Surface Go are fantastic, with an average well under 2.0. There’s a couple of peaks that are just above 3.0, but the whites are more or less accurate. The color balance of the red, green, and blue, shows a slight drop in green, but this is well ahead of any other PC in its price range. Gamma is also quite good hitting the 2.2 average that is being targeted.
Gamut
The Surface Go targets the sRGB gamut, and almost perfectly hits it. You would be hard pressed to find another PC with this level of sRGB accuracy for this price. One thing to note is that unlike the Surface Pro lineup, there’s no extra color profiles here to go with a more vivid color scheme, so you only get true sRGB.
Saturation
We do a full 4-bit step on the saturation sweeps of the primary and secondary colors, and the Surface Go is almost perfect here. Blue is slightly off the axis, but only just, and the average error level of 1.21 is a great result.
Gretag Macbeth
The Gretag Macbeth is the most comprehensive test, testing colors not only on the primary and secondary axis, but also colors in between, including the important skin tones. Here, a couple of color tests peak above 3.0, but the majority are close enough to the target color that the error would be almost imperceptible to the eye.
Colorchecker
This image is a relative color comparator, with the target color on the bottom, and the measured color on the top. The Surface Go offers color accuracy that is second to none in this price range of the PC market.
Display Conclusion
Microsoft has done it again. The Surface lineup is the one true accurate display lineup in the PC industry, with the only other company doing color calibration across its product lineup being Apple. The Surface Go is likely not the place for Microsoft to start to compete against other technologies Apple leverages, but if we do see a redesigned Surface Pro in the future it would be nice to see them go after Apple’s other advantages, such as the 120 Hz variable refresh display in the iPad Pro, wide color support, or even just the anti-reflective coatings which Apple has a large lead with.
Still, for a PC that starts at $399, no other laptop or tablet running Windows comes close to the display accuracy of the Surface Go. The contrast is also good, and the pixel density is high enough that everything is sharp. The Surface Go keeps with the Surface tradition of offering a display that punches above its weight.
Battery Life
The Surface Go offers just a 27 Wh battery capacity, which is about half the size of a typical Ultrabook released in the last year. It’s also 40% smaller than the battery offered in the Surface Pro 6 which is the longest life Pro released yet. On the plus side, the smaller display has a lower pixel density, which should help, and the processor doesn’t offer any Turbo modes which would move the power draw of the CPU higher.
As with all of our battery testing, the display is set to 200 nits brightness, to provide an even playing field for all devices. We run several different tests of varying intensity with our 2016 Web test being the most demanding.
2013 Light Web
Our lightest test is our oldest, and the Surface Go isn’t off to a great start. At under eight hours on this test, the battery life is much less than a current generation Ultrabook, and well back of the latest model Surface Pro as well. A couple of years ago, this would have been reasonable battery life. In fact, the Surface Go almost matches the Surface Pro 3 in terms of runtime on this test, but the goal posts have definitely moved.
2016 Web
As with the previous test, the Surface Go struggles to keep up to the latest devices in this test as well. The Surface Pro 6 with a Core i5 offers 2.5 hours more battery life in this more demanding workload, which isn’t an insignificant amount of time. The tiny battery capacity hampers the Surface Go significantly here compared to other devices we’ve tested.
Movie Playback
Movie playback is generally one of the best-case scenarios for modern devices since the media playback can be offloaded to the video decode unit, allowing the rest of the processor to go to sleep for much of the time. The Surface Go is still shy of the impressive results seen in the latest Surface Pro, but does get awfully near the 10-hour mark that Microsoft advertises for this device.
In terms of how many movies can you watch before the device runs out of juice, the Surface Go is pretty stout in this regard, with well over four runnings of The Avengers worth of battery life.
Normalized Results
By removing the battery capacity from the equation, we can see how many minutes a device can last per Watt-Hour capacity of the battery. The Surface Go, mostly thanks to the display, does quite well in terms of efficiency. Put another way, on our 2016 Web test, the Surface Go averages 4.1 Watts of power draw with the display at 200 nits, and a Surface Pro 6 draws just a hair under 5 Watts during the same workload. So really, the less than amazing battery life really just comes down to not being able to fit more capacity in the Surface Go. The device is one of the most efficient we’ve tested.
Charge Time
The previous small form factor convertible tablet from Microsoft was the Surface 3, and it took a very long time to charge. Microsoft had outfitted it with a Micro USB port for charging, and then shipped it with just a 13 Watt AC adapter. It seems the company has learned its lesson there, and the Surface Go now offers the same Surface Connect port as the rest of the Surface lineup. It also ships with a 24 Watt adapter.
The result is a much better charge time than the Surface 3, and thanks to the smaller capacity battery, better than the Pro as well.
In addition, the Surface Go offers a USB-C port which will also do charging. This is a huge benefit for portable device such as this, since it would let you leave the main charger at home or work, and then use the same charger you use for your phone to top up the Surface Go. Microsoft seems to have an animosity towards USB-C, but this is the perfect device for them to offer it on.
Wireless
Microsoft has relied on the Marvell AVASTAR wireless card for pretty much the entirety of their Surface lineup, so it was a bit surprising to see the Surface Go LTE come with a Qualcomm wireless solution in the QCA6174A product. This is a 2x2:2 MU-MIMO 802.11ac chip, with integrated Bluetooth 4.2. Likely the Qualcomm Wi-Fi is being used because Microsoft has also incorporated the Qualcomm Snapdragon X16 LTE modem in this product.
If the Surface lineup had a particular fault, it would be on the wireless performance, and despite the Surface Go offering a different Wi-Fi solution than the typical Marvell we see in Surface devices, the Surface Go still has the same mediocre wireless performance as the rest of the lineup. It is really something the company needs to address.
As far as the cellular, we won’t do bandwidth testing on this for the same reason we don’t do it on phones. The disparity in cellular connection speeds and supported standards is just too varied to provide an accurate result.
The addition to cellular in this device is pretty interesting though, and really opens it up to a much wider audience. Microsoft is clearly targeting business with the Surface Go LTE, although there’s definitely going to be consumer interest as well in having a device that is always connected. Not only will remote workers have a more reliable connection to the corporate network, but it will make it easier for IT to manage as well. It’s nice to see Microsoft pushing the Always Connected PC with their own products. For those that need more performance, the Surface Pro can be had with LTE, but for those that need mobility, Microsoft now offers a product in that category as well, since it’s been a few years since the Surface 3 LTE was made available.
Audio
The Surface Go continues with the design tricks of the Pro by hiding the speaker grilles in the black part of the display bezel. This makes them almost hidden, but provides the benefit of firing the drivers forwards, and providing good stereo separation.
The speakers in the Surface Go sound like a typical small PC though, with not much low end, but these ones are even quieter than most devices, averaging around 71 dB(A) measured an inch over the trackpad.
Thermals
If only all other devices were able to run as cool and quiet as a Surface Go, but alas, they are after performance. With just a 6-Watt TDP, and a 4.8-Watt SDP, the Intel Pentium Gold 4415Y can be easily cooled in a fanless design, so despite trying to see if the meager 1.6 GHz frequency would droop over time, it does not, and the Surface Go never gets very warm. This is the dream. We just need to tie some performance to it.
Software
The Surface Go comes with Windows 10 Home in S Mode, although businesses can also purchase it with Pro if they don’t have an Enterprise agreement. The S Mode is something Microsoft has been hoping would take off for some time, but if you do need to install apps that are not in the store, you can turn it off, although it must be noted that is a one-way switch. To go back to S Mode you would have to recover the device.
As with all Surface models, there’s a clean image to work with. The only real addition is a couple of apps, such as the Surface App where you can configure the pen, check the battery life of Microsoft accessories, or go for support. Most Surface devices tend to ship with a few other additions like Sketchable for use with the pen, and a couple of others, but nothing that can’t be removed with a couple of clicks.
Overall, it’s a clean image, and it needs to be since the base model ships with just 64 GB of storage.
Final Words
The Surface Go sits in a somewhat interesting segment of the market. The base model has a price that’s low enough to be considered a value proposition, but like all value devices, there’s compromise to get there. The $399 starting price includes just 4 GB of RAM, and 64 GB of eMMC storage, which is outright the bare minimum that would even be usable with Windows 10. Microsoft now offers a 4 GB model with the 128 GB SSD for $499, which is already a price that’s creeping out of the value segment. 8 GB of RAM is $549, which is a lot for a low-end device. If you want to add LTE, the price starts at $679 with 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage, and business customers will be able to purchase a 256 GB model as well. Then you must add in the price of the Type Cover, which starts at $99, and is realistically a required accessory.
A model with 8 GB of RAM and the Type Cover is therefore about $650, or a bit more if you choose a Signature Type Cover. That’s a lot more than the $399 get-you-in-the-door price, and really moves the Surface Go up a couple of rungs on the pricing ladder.
But the Surface Go does have some very good qualities going for it. The build quality is certainly a step above anything else in this price range on the PC side, with a fantastic magnesium body, a built-in kickstand which is every bit as good as the Surface Pro’s, and a very light weight. Even with the Type Cover attached, the device still only weighs 767 grams, or about 1.7 lbs, and coupled with the small size, makes the Surface Go extremely portable. Add in the fact that it works with the Surface Pen, and you can see an easy use case in a small, but expensive, note taking machine.
Microsoft also color calibrates all of its displays, and you would be hard pressed to find anything else in the PC space at this price range with as accurate of a display. The Go’s display isn’t the highest density one around, but at 216 pixels-per-inch, it still offers great clarity, and good contrast as well. Microsoft offers better displays on some of its other devices, but this is still a high quality display and very pleasing to use.
However, there’s some drawbacks as well. At the introductory price of $399, the underwhelming performance fits in with much of the competition, where Intel’s Atom is the name of the game. Despite Microsoft moving to a Core-based Pentium in the Surface Go, it’s disappointing to see where it stacks up: more or less even in terms of CPU performance with Intel’s latest Atom processor. At $399, that’s kind of expected, but since most people should buy the model with 8 GB of RAM, and a Type Cover, all of a sudden the Pentium Gold kind of looks out of place in a $650 PC. The performance is well above the previous non-Pro Surface 3 tablet, but the expectations have also progressed.
We’ve already touched on this, but this is a tough spot in the market for companies to try to launch quality devices for less money. Intel has a stranglehold on the market, and has taken the stance that Core branded products are sacred. Its margins must be protected. AMD doesn’t really offer anything that would compete in terms of power usage, and Qualcomm doesn’t offer anything in terms of performance. If Intel offered even a modest amount of Turbo on the Pentium Gold range, it would help tremendously, but they don’t. It’s an unfortunate spot to be in today.
The other real drawback is the battery life, which really comes down to battery capacity. At 27 Wh, there’s just no way the Surface Go can ever really be expected to provide a full day of work out of a single charge, and on a device this portable, that’s a drawback. This is why it is great to see USB-C on the Surface Go. Microsoft has never really supported this connector, but if there was a single device where it makes sense, it is this one. The Surface Connect charger is a convenient method of magnetically connecting a charger on your desk, but being able to charge off of a USB-C charger slightly mitigates the battery concerns, and would even allow a power back to be attached if necessary.
What was a great move though was coming out with this LTE model. Yes, you can always tether a laptop to a phone’s cellular connection over Wi-Fi, but for those that need something that’s always connected, that’s not the ideal solution. Having built-in LTE really expands the use cases for the Surface Go, especially in business. Having employees being able to be mobile, but still being able to manage their PCs, is an appealing draw. This is definitely not a feature everyone needs, and the $130 price increase, plus the monthly data fee, strikes that point home. But for those that need it, this is invaluable.
Source: AdDuplex.com
Despite the performance and battery life, Surface Go looks to be a bit of a hit, with a usage share already higher than many Surface devices that have been on the market longer. Clearly the small size and good build quality is something people are looking for. Adding LTE to that increases the mobility further, and although Microsoft likely won’t sell more LTE models than WI-FI, it definitely increases the potential market. And, despite the Surface Go being priced at a premium for a small form factor convertible tablet, it is still priced well under the entry level Surface Pro 6. The Pro 6 offers much higher performance, a bigger, nicer display, better battery life, and a keyboard that doesn’t feel cramped. But the Surface Go is smaller, lighter, and less expensive. With already 12% of the Surface usage share, that appears to be a winning formula.