

Instead, most people should opt for the configuration reviewed here, which costs an extra $150, doubles the memory, and replaces the flash storage drive with a 128GB solid-state drive (SSD) that is both more capacious and more capable than the eMMC base option.


(The Windows 10 operating system alone can take up 20GB or more.) We recommend stepping up from this configuration, if you can, since those amounts are paltry in today’s world of ever-increasing program sizes. The $549.99 entry-level configuration of the laptop nets you 4GB of memory and a 64GB eMMC flash storage drive. There’s a single processor option, an Intel Core i5, a clear indication that this laptop is not suited for power users. On the inside, the Surface Laptop Go keeps things simple. By comparison, the 13.5-inch Surface Laptop 3 is 0.57 by 12.1 by 8.8 inches and 2.83 pounds, while the Apple MacBook Air is 0.63 by 11.97 by 8.5 inches and 2.8 pounds. Those numbers put it at the svelte end of the ultraportable class of laptops. It measures 0.62 by 10.95 by 8.1 inches (HWD), and it weighs just 2.45 pounds. In addition to being easy on your budget, the Surface Laptop Go will also please your shoulders when you carry it around. In brief, as its hybrid of a name implies, it's a classic clamshell model like the Surface Laptops, but smaller and cheaper, like the Surface Go models. It's not to be confused with the Surface Go (Microsoft's budget-minded detachable 2-in-1, now on the Surface Go 2 generation), the Surface Pro (the "original" Surface 2-in-1, now on the Surface Pro 7), the Surface Book (the company's top-shelf detachable laptop), or the various Surface Laptop 3 models. The Surface Laptop Go is a new flavor of Surface. It takes the laptop out of the “cheap” range and isn't quite as impressive on raw performance as similarly priced competitors with AMD Ryzen processors, but it’s still a fine value for what it offers.įirst, a word about the Surface Laptop Go name, and where this laptop fits into the grand, confusing scheme of Microsoft's Surface line. The $699 configuration reviewed here is the best one for most people. With streamlined component configurations and the omission of some of the more futuristic Surface Laptop 3 features, the new Surface Laptop Go will appeal to price-sensitive buyers who need a sensible workhorse laptop for light computing tasks.

Microsoft’s Surface lineup, long a showcase for the most advanced hardware design ideas in the Windows ecosystem, now welcomes a $549.99 laptop for the rest of us.
