The Microsoft Surface family just got a little larger.
Microsoft unveiled a 10-inch tablet-laptop hybrid—the Surface Go—that will arrive in stores in August at a starting price of $400.
That’s the lowest-ever price for a Microsoft Surface device, and puts it in the same ballpark as Apple’s $330 iPad. This marks something of a change for Microsoft, which for several years now has produced Surface devices with a premium fit and finish—and a matching premium price.
"Microsoft has done a great job of reinvigorating the premium end of the PC market, but the premium end is too expensive for many people," says Avi Greengart, research director of platforms and devices at the GlobalData research firm. "What this really does is open up the Surface to people who are looking to buy a $650 laptop, which is a full $300 below where Surface has been in the past."
Available for preorder now and shipping Aug. 2, the Surface Go is available in two configurations. The $400 model features an Intel Pentium processor, 64 gigabytes of flash storage, and 4GB of memory. For $550, you get the same Pentium processor, a faster type of storage (128GB), and 8GB of memory.
The Surface Go as a Tablet
At 10 inches and 1.15 pounds, the $400 Surface Go is small enough to tuck into a bag on your way to class or a nearby café. And it has the specs to perform everyday activities such as web browsing and streaming video.
If that’s all you’re looking to do, however, you might be better off considering Amazon’s Kindle Fire line of tablets, which cost a fraction of the price, with some models starting as low as $50. And given that Amazon’s Prime Day sale is fast approaching, you might be able to snag one for even less.
Then there’s the matter of app selection. While Apple’s App Store is well-stocked with quality options, the Windows App Store doesn’t yet have that same sterling reputation. "If you’re really going to do a head-to-head with an iPad, well, the iPad just has better software," Greengart says. "There’s just a lot more tablet-specific, finger-driven app experiences for iOS than there are for Windows."
The Surface Go as a Laptop
Here’s where you get to the true appeal of a Microsoft Surface device: the ability to use it not only as a tablet but also as a laptop—provided you’re willing to spend an extra $100 to get the Surface Type Cover (which doubles as a keyboard).
With this configuration, you can do all sorts of tablet-y things—watch Netflix in bed, take digital notes with the stylus ($100 more), etc.—and also get "real" work done, using apps such as Microsoft Office and Adobe Lightroom.
It’s unclear, however, just how well the Surface Go will perform in that latter role, particularly the lower-end model, which uses embedded Multimedia Card (eMMC) storage instead of solid state storage. Companies such as Samsung produce solid state drives with speeds as high as 3,500 megabits per second. By contrast, the eMMC standard tops out at 400 Mbps.
The lower-end Intel Pentium processor may present another concern, performing a little more sluggishly than you’d expect during labor-intensive tasks (think scrolling through hundreds of rows in Excel or thousands of photos in Lightroom). We won’t know for sure until we get it into our labs.
"The Surface models that we’ve tested have ranked very well," says Antonette Asedillo, who oversees laptop and tablet testing for Consumer Reports. But they’ve all had more premium specs.
Durability may also be a concern. Consumer Reports removed its recommendation from Microsoft laptops and tablets last August because of poor predicted reliability in comparison with most other brands. Studies conducted by the Consumer Reports National Research Center estimated that 25 percent of Microsoft laptops and tablets would present their owners with problems by the end of the second year of ownership.
Bottom Line
When you factor all that in, a traditional laptop may offer a better value. If you spring for the more expensive Surface Go model and add the keyboard, you’re looking at a total cost of around $650, a price that brings you close to laptops created by Acer, Dell, and Lenovo.
And some of those laptops have advantages over the Surface Go. The $250 Acer Spin 1 provides more than 14 hours’ worth of battery life vs. the Surface Go’s claimed 9 hours, for example, while the $700 Dell Inspiron clocks in at more than 12.
