Microsoft Surface Go 2 in review

Microsoft is launching the second version of its dwarf convertible with useful innovations such as a more powerful processor. The most noticeable change is the switch to a 0.5-inch larger display with a higher resolution. This not only brings the image closer to the edge of the device, it can now also display Full HD films natively thanks to 1920 × 1280 pixels.

Notebooks

Microsoft Surface Go 2

10.50", Intel Core M3-8100Y, 8 GB, 128 GB

35

Notebooks

Microsoft Surface Go 2

10.50", Intel Core M3-8100Y, 8 GB, 128 GB

35

The specs of the Microsoft Surface Go 2:

• Intel Core m3-8100Y
• Integrated graphics processor: Intel UHD Graphics 615
• 8 GB RAM (SanMax K3QF4F40BM-AGCF, LPDDR3-1866, 2 x 4 GB)
• 128 GB SSD (Toshiba KBG40ZPZ128G, M.2 1620 PCIe 3 x2)
• 10.5" IPS multi-touch display (PixelSense display) with 1920 × 1280 pixels (3:2 aspect ratio, 220 ppi, glossy, supports pen input)
• 1 x USB 3.1 Type-C, microSDXC slot, nano SIM slot, 3.5 mm headphone jack, connections for Type Cover and power
• Wi-Fi 6, 4G LTE, Bluetooth 5.0
• 2 W stereo speakers with Dolby Audio, dual studio microphones
• 5-megapixel front camera and 8-megapixel rear camera (both can record 1080p videos)
• Environmental light sensor, accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, NFC, Windows Hello camera (facial recognition)
• Lithium-ion battery with 27 Wh
• Windows 10 Home in S mode (switch to "Windows 10 Home" possible free of charge)
• Dimensions: 245 × 175 × 8.3 mm, 553 g

As usual with Microsoft, neither a keyboard nor a pen are included with the purchase of the tablet. If you also want to use it as a notebook or take handwritten notes on it, you will have to pay extra. There are no new accessories, by the way. The tried-and-tested Signature Type Cover from the first version is also compatible with the Go 2.

Keyboard

Microsoft Surface Go Signature Type Cover

DE, Docking

6

Styluses

EUR94,25

Microsoft Surface Pen

518

Aside from the top model tested here, the Surface Go 2 is also available in two less powerful configurations:

Notebooks

Microsoft Surface Go 2

10.50", Intel Pentium Gold 4425Y, 8 GB, 128 GB

51

Notebooks

Microsoft Surface Go 2

10.50", Intel Pentium Gold 4425Y, 4 GB, 64 GB

44

Before you really get started: Set up and switch to normal Windows

I usually enjoy working with Windows. However, this can be spoilt by imaginary shackles. For example, Windows 10 Home in S mode. This is active when the Surface Go 2 is delivered. With ulterior motives: Only software from the Microsoft shop can be installed in S mode. This can provide security. Especially for Microsoft's Marketing. If you want to regain control over what you are allowed to install, you can do so by following these steps. Switching to normal Windows is free.

With S mode, I am sure that practically no user will want it. The situation is perhaps slightly different when it comes to the topic of offline accounts. Anyone who wanted to opt for such an account when setting up Windows for the first time may have been scratching their head for a few months. Because at first glance, the option no longer exists. However, it is still hidden: It appears if you choose not to connect the device to a network during setup.

Design and connections

The magnesium alloy feels just as good as on the first Surface Go. It looks the same and, at 24.5 × 17.5 × 0.83 cm, has the same dimensions as its predecessor. But what makes it look even better are the thinner display edges. I measured 1 cm on the sides and 1.2 cm at the top and bottom.

The stand is also of the usual high quality. Not only does it allow the tablet to be set up at an angle of up to 165 degrees, its hinges can also take a beating. If you accidentally or deliberately lean on the device with your entire body weight when the stand is open and bend the stand by up to 180 degrees, it will withstand this and not sustain any damage.

The 3.5 mm headphone socket, USB-C port and power connection (Surface Connect) are located on the right-hand side. Hidden under the stand is also a microSDXC slot - a good thing, because the 128 GB SSD won't last forever.

The power button and volume rocker can also be found at the top left. On the left side is the Nano SIM slot and at the bottom of the tablet is the magnetic Surface Type Cover connector, which allows the keyboard to be attached.

PixelSense display with more resolution

Instead of 1800 × 1200 pixels like its predecessor, there are now 1920 × 1280 pixels. With 0.5 inches more display size, the pixel density increases from 217 to 220 ppi. All in all, the picture looks just as sharp, but is a little larger and can finally display native 1080p material.

To find out how well the 2:3 display is illuminated and reproduces colours, I measure it with the x-rite i1Display Pro Plus:

I measured an average brightness of 413 cd/m², which is a decent value. This means you can work almost anywhere. Of course, reflections should be avoided due to the high-gloss coating. The good uniformity of the illumination is striking. The biggest drop is from the centre to the bottom right edge and is only 22 cd/m² difference.

In terms of colour space coverage, I measured 97.7% for sRGB, 69.6% for Adobe RGB and 72.6% for DCI P3. Unfortunately, I cannot calculate a contrast due to an endlessly repeating programme error when measuring the black level. However, I find the contrasts of the picture to be crisp. This display definitely puts you in a good mood.

Type Cover (keyboard and trackpad)

The magnetic plug-in keyboard with trackpad weighs 244 grams and turns your Surface Go 2 into a notebook. As there are no new accessories, I refer you to the tested Surface Go at this point. In the review of its predecessor, I took a closer look at the Type Cover.

Nice little speakers

Despite the tiny notebook speakers, the sound of the Surface products always sounds comparatively good. The Go 2 impresses with relatively clean highs and mids, paired with a sparse bass that will make your stomach tingle. The stereo effect is also great - the sound sounds much wider or more room-filling than the distance between the individual speakers actually is.

Battery performance: Minimally better than its predecessor

The capacity of the lithium-ion battery is shown as 27 Wh in the system analysis with SiSoft Sandra. This means that there is no energy boost, at least in physical terms. In the first version of the Go, the capacity was specified as 26.12 Wh. I test how well the new hardware performs in terms of energy management when continuously streaming YouTube videos, at maximum performance and during office work.

Continuous YouTube streaming

Before starting the test, I set the display brightness to 150 cd/m² - not because I want to watch videos in the dark, but so that I can compare it with other notebooks. Then I run music videos on YouTube until the juice runs out. After 6 hours and 32 minutes, it's over and the Go 2 shuts down automatically.

Unfortunately, I don't have the comparative values of its predecessor for this test, as I didn't do this in reviews two years ago. But there are other devices available: The 13-inch Surface Pro X, for example, achieves 8 hours and 31 minutes with a low-power ARM processor and 38.2 Wh. With the 12.3-inch Surface Pro 7, 5 hours and 16 minutes are possible with a tenth-generation i5 and 45 Wh capacity.

Battery life under maximum performance

To push all the hardware to its limits, I ran the HeavyLoad and FurMark stress tests simultaneously with the screen set to maximum brightness. The Surface Go 2 switches off after 2 hours and 4 minutes.

But what is really interesting about this test is the behaviour of the CPU. It only runs at full power for about five minutes. After that, the passively cooled device gets too hot and reduces the processor performance to 43 per cent. After around 30 minutes, the performance jumps between 43 and 37 per cent before remaining at 37 per cent after 50 minutes. The same effect occurs with every passively cooled device - the Surface Pro 7 with a passively cooled i5 processor throttled down to 44 per cent performance after a few minutes when tested.

Battery life for office work

When I use the convertible as a mobile office, I get between seven and a half and eight and a half hours of battery life, depending on the work and number of video calls. That's around thirty minutes more than its predecessor. So the Go 2's more powerful processor doesn't detract from the runtime.

Intel Core m3-8100Y and UHD Graphics 615

The Intel Core m3-8100Y is an economical 64-bit dual-core SoC for passively cooled devices that is based on the Amber Lake architecture and was launched on the market in the third quarter of 2018. The eighth-generation CPU is manufactured using the 14 nm+ process and offers four threads thanks to Hyper-Threading. The two processor cores clock at 1.1 to 3.4 GHz with a TDP of 5 watts (configurable by the manufacturer between 4.5 and 8 watts).

The chip also includes Intel's UHD Graphics 615, which has a clock rate of 300 to 950 MHz and is also capable of decoding the H.265/HEVC and VP9 codecs with 10-bit colour depth.

Performance: How much better is the new processor?

If I don't overdo it with the browser tabs open, smooth employees are no problem with either the Go or the Go 2. But with the second version, everything is a tad faster. I use benchmarks to find out exactly how much this tick is.

Cinebench R15 and R20

With Cinebench from Maxon, you can test how your PC or processor performs when rendering Cinema 4D content. For better comparability with previous reviews, I ran the old and new version.

This is how the Surface Go 2 performs in Cinebench - the results of its predecessor are also listed for comparison:

The Go 2 performs 31 per cent better than the Go in Cinebench R15 using all two cores and four threads. In the single-core benchmark, the performance is even 42 per cent better. The GPU recorded an increase of 25 per cent.

Performance: Geekbench 4 and 5

I also test Geekbench twice, as there has been a new version of the cross-platform benchmark since the release of the first Go. Geekbench runs on Windows, MacOS, Linux, Android and iOS. In addition to simulated real-world scenarios with which the CPU is tested (single-core and multi-core), Geekbench can also determine GPU performance in the areas of image processing and machine vision. You can also compare the results with other systems thanks to the Geekbench browser.

Comparing an m3-8100Y with a current i5 processor doesn't necessarily make sense. But it does show how little potential an SoC designed for passively cooled devices has. In addition to the predecessor, I therefore also list the current siblings, the Surface Pro 7 and the ARM-based Surface Pro X, in the following results table:

If I compare Geekbench 4 with the Go, the second version performs 62 per cent better in the multi-core benchmark. In the single core benchmark, the performance almost doubled. The GPU works 18 per cent faster.

Performance: PCMark 10

Thanks to PCMark 10 from 3DMark, PCs and notebooks can be tested for the various tasks at a workplace. It is an office benchmark and is suitable for all devices for which a gaming benchmark makes no sense due to weak hardware.

The Surface Go 2 achieves 2716 points in this benchmark. If you compare the result on the 3DMark homepage, you can see that this device performs around 40 per cent worse than an office laptop with a tenth-generation i7.

The Surface Go 2 scores 2716 points in this benchmark.

Conclusion: I'm about to buy it

The first version of the Microsoft Surface Go already had me hooked. And the second version does it even more. When I'm not sitting at a large monitor at home or at work, a small lightweight device that can be both a tablet and a notebook is perfect. Nevertheless, I haven't bought one yet and use an old Android tablet or my ancient Lenovo ThinkPad X220 notebook when I don't have a test device.

But now it's hard to resist buying one. The revised version comes with a better processor, 4G LTE and a larger multi-touch display, which not only impresses thanks to good colour reproduction, regular illumination and a brightness of 413 cd/m², but also finally has a resolution of 1920 × 1280 pixels.

Not much bad can be said about this device. Except that it might be difficult to repair in the event of a defect, has somewhat few connections - Thunderbolt would be nice - and is delivered in S mode. But once you're free of that, you can really work with this device, unlike most other tablets. Because everything can be installed on it. Normal Photoshop and co. run smoothly thanks to normal Windows 10 Home. Thumbs up, this thing is better than any iPad!