Honest Review of New Microsoft Surface Go 2 [in 2021]

Microsoft is one of the top leading brands in the software industry, but now they are not only famous for their software, but they have a wide range of tablets, laptops, and smartphones that are gaining respect in the market day by day because of their high-quality performance.

Bill Gates is one of the founders of Microsoft, the name of another founder we didn’t remember, and it doesn’t matter either. There is a product in the market called Microsoft Surface Go 2. It is the most flexible and portable laptop that you can use. It has a separate keypad that allows you to use it as both a tablet and laptop. That is why it is also called 2 in 1.

This is the laptop that we are going to review today. If this product is better for you or not? So, let’s start the review.

Microsoft Surface Go 2

It is a very well-known American company that Bill Gates founded in 1975. The company was started in New Mexico, but then in 1986, it was moved to Washington. They are very famous for their digital services, but they have also launched some hardware and electronic products for their customers.

Specifications

• Brand: Microsoft
• Color: Silver
• Processor:  Intel Pentium Gold Processor 4425Y 8th Gen Intel Core m3 Processor
• Memory:  8GB, 4GB
• Storage:  128GB SSD, 64GB
• Graphics:  Intel HD Graphics 615
• Operating System: Windows 10 Home in S Mode
• Weight: 1.2 lbs
• Dimensions:  ‎0.33 x 9.65 x 6.9 inches

Price

We know Microsoft for its high-end premium products that are way expensive in the market, but this time Microsoft targeted students with its affordable entry-level laptop so everyone can buy. You can get this laptop in the price range of $400 through the keypad is omitted, and for that, you have to pay a bit extra $100.

This laptop comes in two versions of RAM, 4GB, and 6 GB, and both are pretty well. They are suitable for your day to daylight tasks, and this laptop has 64 GB of memory, which is not that much, but if you are a student who wants a laptop for daily writing notes and these kinds of things, this is the best one for you.

But for the person who is not into the entry-level things and wants some high-end tasks than for them, this might not be a good machine because this is a very entry-level machine that is made to grab the students market so, for the high-end users the Microsoft has some other powerful devices.

There are many customization offers that make sure that if you want to upgrade this a little bit for your needs, it can suit you. You can increase the RAM from 4GB to 6GB, and if your tasks required more storage, then you have the option to select the memory from 8GB to 128GB, but this also might higher the price of the laptop.

If you are from the UK and USA, then you have another choice that you can get an Intel Core M3 processor. I know that it is also not a very high-end processor, but still, it is an exemplary process for your daily smooth tasks. This processor is mostly used in mobiles.

There is an improved version of this laptop but that we can call tablet because that comes with the LTE connectivity; what that means is if you are not in your house or the range of wifi then you can use the SIM data for your work; this is a very cool feature which if you want in your laptop then you have to pay a little extra amount.

As this laptop is targeting the students, the students have to take notes while taking classes. The pen and notebook is not in trend so, there is a stylus pen that you can use with this laptop and write your notes, but the problem is that the stylus pen comes separately, and you have to pay an extra amount.

You have to buy the type cover with this laptop, but something is exciting for the people that have Microsoft devices, and that is you can use the type covers and other accessories with all previous model laptops.

Design and look

The laptop’s look is pretty small and premium; you can’t guess just by looking at if it is a premium laptop or some high-end laptop because of the premium touch on the designs. Otherwise, the design is a bit similar to the Microsoft Surface Go, which means it is also small and lightweight.

The lightweight and smaller designs allow you guys to move around with it, and as this is for the students, students have to study in the university cafe or grounds, so they need a laptop that is good for portability. If you have used the Ipad 11 pro, this device is very light small, and slightly inch thinner.

But when we are talking about this device with the iPhone iPad pro 11, you should also consider one more thing: that iPad is twice expensive as this device, and for students who are on a budget and can’t buy an iPad, they can go with this laptop.

If we compare the Microsoft Surface Go with the Surface go 2, some things are changed, like the latest version has a larger screen. The screen in this model is around 10.5 inches, while in the previous version, it is 10 inches. You might think that with the increase in screen, the brand might have lower the resolutions, but that is not the case; this 10.5 inches screen have a resolution of 1920 x 1280 pixels, while on the previous model, the resolution was 1800 x 1200 pixels so, you can see they have also improved the resolutions.

There is an audio jack in the laptop, and on the right side of the laptop, it has a USB-c port. Many people complain about the laptop’s ports that the cable doesn’t fit into it; that is why Microsoft has made the Magnetize port where the cable works perfectly. The best thing about this laptop is that you can charge the device with any mobile charger.

Cameras

Let’s talk about the cameras of this laptop; there are 5 megapixels of the front camera, which is perfect for this laptop. Nowadays, when the study is moved online, you have to be a good camera because you have to take the online classes and zoom meeting, but you might be thinking that the camera would be like all other webcams in the market.

But let me tell you this: this has the best camera compared to all the devices in the market and your teacher or client can see every detail about you very clearly this is a perfect camera in this price range. The camera and laptop both are suitable for nowadays studies when we are stuck in the pandemic.

This laptop has an 8 megapixel back camera, which is also good, and if you have to submit any project, you can take pictures with this device and shows you the perfect textures and colors. Overall this device has the best cameras for the students to click their photos and attend the live meeting sessions and classes on the zoom and Google meetings.

Sound

The sound is also very important for the laptop because not only for the movies and music, but you have to attend the classes and zoom meetings so, at that time the speakers play a very important role. If they are not suitable, you have to face embarrassment and can’t understand what the other side says.

So, to avoid this issue, this device has two stereo-type speakers that support Dolby Audio Premium audio which produces very high-quality sound. These speakers might not be good for the party, but they produce enough sound that you can listen to what your teacher is saying wherever you are in your room.

Keypad

This device does not have the typical keyboard like all the other laptops, but it has a detachable keypad that does not come with the laptop, but you have to buy it separately. If we talk about the laptop’s look, we have the Platinium color, and it was made of very soft stuff, which is very good to touch.

But there is a small problem: the keypad is tiny, and the buttons are very close to each other, and that might affect the accuracy score while typing; otherwise, the look and feel of the keypad is really great will love to type on this keypad. If you are typing on the mechanical keyboard, then it would take some time to adjust your fingers on this keypad.

I am not a very big fan of touchpad I even don’t like to use it, but I prefer to connect the mouse with the laptop, but if you are interested in the touchpad, then this machine has a good small touchpad of 3.8 x 2.2 inches which would give you a speedy and smooth scrolling effect that you might enjoy, but for me, this is not the case so, I would prefer my gaming mouse.

Decent performance

It is a very entry-level laptop so, what do you expect in the performance. It has a very basic level processer in combination with the  8GB RAM and 128 GB storage which looks decent in my view and would do your daily tasks very easily without any problem, but the problem comes when you go for the 4GB RAM and 64 GB storage that might not give you a decent performance.

Some students might think that they would buy this device and play games in their leisure time, but one thing is clear that by looking at the specifications, you can’t play games on this device, and even you can’t add some video editing apps in this device because they are heavy and won’t work in this machine.

As everyone knows, this is a budget device, and by buying this device, you have this in mind, so this would show you very decent performance in all other daily life tasks. If you are a student, you can write your notes, do some research on the web, read and download PDF books very smoothly on this device.

You can also stream music, videos, and music in your free time, but when you are trying to play the games, then this device will tell you that I am not a gaming device you bring me for study. There are two modes one is the basic S model of Microsoft, and the other is windows 10. The switch to Windows 10 is very easy, but you can’t go back to the S mode once you switch.

Battery 

If we have to give the full numbers to this device at any point, then this is where I would give it full numbers because it has great battery timing compared to the other machines or this range and especially as a budget phone. The brand claimed battery for more than 10 hours, but we didn’t believe the brand and decided to test it ourselves.

We charged this device fully and then after that we used this whole device day full online video streaming and web surfing and watched movies after this kind of use this device gives us the battery timing of 8 hours which in our view very impressive and that is why this laptop has the outstanding battery, and this is its key feature.

With more than 8 hours of battery timing, this device beats all its previous devices, and not only this; many other premium brands cannot beat the battery timing of this device, and this is the one reason we recommend this device because the students don’t have to web surfing all day, but they have other tasks too so, for them the battery timing would be more than 10 to 12 hours.

Verdict

It is an excellent affordable entry-level phone with a large screen with an improved resolution of 1920×1280 pixels with the very high-quality 5 megapixels webcam that would present your clear picture to the person who is in front of you, and we can’t see this kind of webcam in any other this kind of tablet. It also has an 8 megapixel back camera with a battery timing of more than 8 hours.

The performance of this device is not very good, but if you are a student who just needs to read documents, do some research and click pictures, then this is the way to go for you because at this price in my view you won’t get any other lightweight and portable laptop in the market.

FAQ’s