
Microsoft Surface Go 2 review - makaroni1
https://techcrunch.com/2020/05/08/microsoft-surface-go-2-review/
======
tastyminerals
I feel like MS laptops are getting bashed left and right by various online
experts these days without a decent reason. Apple products are not less
cheaper and follow the same "100EUR for a charger" scheme. If you calculate
the totals, MS laptop is no more experiensive than the Apple one. Except with
MS products you also get a true mobile experience if that is what you are
after.

The only drawback is Windows and its tooling. Which you can still circumvent
with WLS. I wish Surface lineup was 100% Linux compatible, alas.

~~~
phrz
(Not specific to Surface Go 2) I assure you there is sometimes a reason, which
in my mind can be generalized as lack of attention to detail: I deployed
Surface Laptop 3’s to my SMB and now hairline screen cracking [1] is popping
up left and right. Why? Because MS opted not to put a rubber gasket around
their screens so when they changed from fabric to metal wrist rests, the
imperfect closure fit led to pieces of sand etc. obliterating screens.

When I account for my lost time dealing with support, and the occasional cost
of replacing devices/accessories that support will not, MS devices are far
more expensive than Macs.

[1] [https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/8/21252634/microsoft-
surface...](https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/8/21252634/microsoft-surface-
laptop-3-screen-crack-free-repair)

~~~
AshamedCaptain
The build quality in Surface devices is terrible, ABSOLUTELY terrible.

I have a Surface Pro 2 where the (in)famous "VaporMG" coating layer was
completely gone by the first year, leaving a pinkish-blueish-silverish
combination of colors that makes the device look as if it was on ground zero
at Hiroshima. The power button is flaky and no longer reliably turns the
device on, the keyboard cover connector is flaky and covers periodically stop
to work, etc. All of these are common issues.

Ironically I bought a Surface Pro 3 later on where the LCD connector died
within warranty, so I just returned it and forgot about the Surface line
altogether.

I have a dirt-cheap Acer laptop that has also been with more for a _decade_
now and it still looks better than the Surface Pro 2.

~~~
NicoJuicy
Weird, at my work there hasn't been a single problem with the Surface Pro
devices in 2 years.

------
cosmodisk
What I really don't get is how companies get away with shipping any model that
has 4GB of RAM. I mean,come on, it's 2020. The OS running idle probably needs
more than that,not even mentioning opening a few tabs in Chrome.

~~~
numlock86
IIRC Windows 10 is able to run with as few as 256 MB of RAM these days.

~~~
chrisan
It depends on the use case

[https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-
hardware/design/min...](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-
hardware/design/minimum/minimum-hardware-requirements-overview)

256MB for IoT without display, 512MB with display

For Mobile or desktop editions they say to have 1GB or higher for 32 bit
(which I assume is the use case for a Surface)

~~~
numlock86
[https://www.tomshardware.com/news/windows-10-192mb-
ram](https://www.tomshardware.com/news/windows-10-192mb-ram)

------
lentil_soup
You reckon these kind of tablet/laptops would be able to handle remote desktop
smoothly?

Since the quarantine started I've been using my laptop to remote desktop to my
PC in the office (I need a pretty hefty machine so a laptop doesn't cut it).
I've been surprised how well it works and opens a world of possibilities for
me. I'd imagine I'm not the only one realizing this.

~~~
mattlondon
I wondered a similar thing regarding remote development using VS Code's
remote-dev plugins (for SSH and/or Containers).

I've done this workflow (i.e. used a local VS Code to develop on code hosted
on a remote machine) quite a lot, but always using fairly well specced laptops
(Core i7s, 16+gb ram etc) to connect to the remote and the experience has
largely been seamless.

Anyone got any experience of this?

Looking at my local VS Code now as I am connected to a remote SSH host working
on a very small python workspace it is using a couple of hundred meg of ram
and fluctuating from 0-2% CPU on a i7 quad core. I don't have a large
workspace in something more demanding (i.e. something where the IDE _can do
something useful_ unlike with python where it is a glorified notepad) to test
with right now though :(

~~~
Macha
A Surface Go has been computationally sufficient for remote SSH dev use for VS
Code with Rust with my (admittedly small) projects. I no longer bring my XPS
15 when visiting parents for extended visits. The 10" screen/keyboard is a
drawback, obviously, but performance hasn't been since it's the remote machine
doing the heavy lifting.

~~~
Macha
Since the edit timer has expired, I will point out that it's the 8GB/SSD model
I have experience with. Total RAM usage is over 4GB and I'd expect the eMMC
model to be just generally a bad time.

------
als0
I really hate how Microsoft replaced the Sketch app with their Whiteboard app.
It was perfect on the Go. The Whiteboard app now requires you to login in to
cloud services just to draw a squiggles. I'd rather not have my notes forced
into the cloud.

~~~
AshamedCaptain
The sketch app would also start within microseconds of me pressing the pen
button (ignoring BTLE connection latency).

The Whiteboard app first takes seconds to start, then it stays some additional
seconds showing an empty screen until it decides to start the login process,
then it needs a couple more seconds until you can actually sketch down your
note. By which time I have already forgotten about whatever I was going to
write down.

Setting the pen button to launch OneNote is now literally faster than
Whiteboard and that's just ridiculous considering the idea of not putting
OneNote in there in the first place was to have something quick & snappy to
take quick notes.

The "just press the pen button and jot your ideas now" idea was broken the day
they shipped Whiteboard. The "new" Microsoft is just as ridiculous as Google.
They kill their own usecases as fast as they create them.

------
ibdf
Completely related to the article but completely unrelated to surface....
what's going on with those product pictures? The blur is all messed up... on
the last picture the left side of the surface is gone.

~~~
dangoor
Yeah, that's weird. If I had to guess, that's some sort of computational blur
(like Apple's Portrait Mode, but who knows which implementation. Maybe the
photo still has EXIF data to tell what the camera was.)

------
giantrobot
I've got a Surface Go 1 and it's kind of just "ok". It's not a great tablet or
laptop. It's useful in that it can run Windows-only stuff in a portable form
factor but I tend to avoid using it for daily tasks.

I've gone through several Surface tablets going back to the Pro 1. I'd hoped
they would be nice portable Windows machines for tasks I need Windows for but
small enough they would be easy to tote around or put away on a shelf.

Due to their size they are (for me) shitty tablets. The Pro 1 and 3 were just
too bulky to use for more than a few minutes as a tablet and the keyboard
covers are just finger trampolines and make terrible laptops. So they were
just crappy desktops I could fold up. The Surface 3 was a little better as a
tablet but a shitty laptop. Finally the Surface Go was a decent tablet, still
a shitty laptop and foldable desktop but more capable as a tablet.

The Go is my last Surface though. It turned out to be my best deal since I got
it on some clear-the-channel sale so got the 8GB model for like $250.

Last fall I bit the bullet and just got a cheap gaming laptop on a Black
Friday sale. I was able to stuff in 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. It's at least a
good laptop and a decent desktop and I can still put it on a shelf. It beats
all the Surfaces I've owned for Windows-only tasks.

The Surfaces _look_ nice and have some of the best Windows pen interfaces
you'll find but they are just too compromised. Their attempt to be tablets
makes them shitty laptops and then they're pretty poor tablets.

------
soapdog
I really like my Surface Go 1[0] and am looking forward to upgrading to the Go
2. I have a Surface Pro X as well but the Go 1 is more pleasant to use in my
opinion.

[0]: [https://andregarzia.com/2020/01/a-year-with-the-surface-
go.h...](https://andregarzia.com/2020/01/a-year-with-the-surface-go.html)

------
Obsnold
I bought a Go for my wife for Christmas as I had heard good things about them.
To us it seemed like a rubbish tablet combined with an awful laptop with the
terrible windows 10 on it. In the end she has just gone back to using her 8
year old laptop with Ubuntu. Does any one have any suggestions for similar
devices running Linux?

~~~
sergiosgc
I would go with a Thinkpad X1 Yoga. I don't have experience with the Yoga
variant, but I've owned X1s since the original 1st gen. Nothing but good
experiences running Linux on them. Apart from the awful idea of a touch strip
for Fn keys on the 5th(?) gen, nothing but good stuff to say on the hardware
side of things. They're not cheap, though.

~~~
lorenzhs
I think it was the 2nd gen that had the awful touch strip (if you haven't seen
it, think of it as a shitty implementation of the touch bar). I have the 5th
gen (2017) and it's a fantastic machine that works really well with Linux. The
6th gen had some issues with Linux, however, those were mostly Intel's fault
iirc.

~~~
sergiosgc
My memory is lousy. You are most probably right about the generation, or
somewhere near. If I had a 1st gen, I certainly skipped at least one
generation, so I'd put it at least 3rd generation. Not as late as 5th though.

------
jl6
My Surface Pro 4 just died this weekend to the “screen scramble” issue. As I
bought it more than 3 years ago, Microsoft are asking me to pay >$700 for a
replacement. OK, I understand it’s out of warranty, and I’d accept its fate if
this were genuine wear and tear, but this is an admitted manufacturing defect
so it feels very raw.

I was a happy user while the thing worked, but I can’t bring myself to
recommend any Surface model now, and I’ll be putting that $700 towards a
replacement from a different vendor.

~~~
emsy
Microsoft lost any trust I had in them for building hardware. Of the 5 people
I know with a Surface, only 1 doesn't have any issues. The other 4 have
problems with the touch input, boot loops and loud fans on low CPU load.
Software issues that go for month and years unfixed. These issues only occur
slightly out of warranty (I don't assume planned obsolescence, just bad
engineering).

~~~
mkl
I trust them, as they've dealt with issues better than any other company I've
had to do it with. My Surface Pro 4's battery started swelling out of
warranty, and MS replaced it right away with one that had a different kind of
battery (better battery life than ever). The first (reconditioned) replacement
had a screen issue right away, which sucked, but they sent another
immediately.

My work Surface Book 2 hasn't had any issues at all.

~~~
Zenbit_UX
Samsung made sure that no company wants exploding battery press. I'm not
sutprised they replaced your swelling battery.

~~~
ValentineC
Apple would charge people for a replacement battery just the same.

(I had to pay to replace the top case of my 2013 MacBook Pro last year because
the keyboard stopped working, possibly from battery bloat.)

------
nfoz
Off-topic, but I wish they would make a "Surface Laptop Pro". The Surface
Laptop is more like an "air" with its limited connectivity (ports). Whereas
the more capable Surface Book is a bit awkward as a laptop.

~~~
tastyminerals
I have surface book 2 and have been using it both for development via WLS + VS
code and as a tablet for drawing, taking meeting notes etc. I would never come
back to Mac or any Linux compatible laptop because I got used to its
versatility.

I simply cannot comprehend how a laptop with detachable screen, which is
powered by GTX1060 and has by far the longest battery life on the market can
be awkward. Couple this with better than mac keyboard, good 4k display and
corpus that never overheats like Mac. It is also more silent. Please tell me
which laptop currently has all these features?

~~~
orif
I own a Surface Book 2 as well. At work I use MBP 16. And before that I used
ThinkPad W520 for 6 years. SB2 is the best laptop. There are issues like
glossy screen or not repairable/sturdy/modular like ThinkPad, but ergonomics
and performance is just too good.

------
poisonborz
For anyone contemplating on doing remote development on these otherwise
underpowered devices, I just discovered Parsec (no affiliation) that is a free
remote desktop solution with seamless mode and 60fps throughput. I wouldn't
say that it is without problems (artifacting heavily on flaky connections,
some hotkeys not being captured) but it opens interesting possibilities.

------
elliotpage
I've been a big fan of my Surface Go since getting it - the graphics are
surprisingly robust on such a small tablet!

------
retrofuturism
Look at that faux-bokeh effect on the product photos. They're so laughably bad
that I'm baffled they included them with the article.

~~~
matsemann
Yes, I was wondering why the left side of the Surface looks completely
morphed. Like here [https://techcrunch.com/wp-
content/uploads/2020/05/00100trPOR...](https://techcrunch.com/wp-
content/uploads/2020/05/00100trPORTRAIT_00100_BURST20200507165409306_COVER.jpg?resize=1536,1152)

~~~
ljm
I wondered if there was something in the reflection they didn't want readers
to see, coz it looks like someone just dragged a smear brush all over that
side of the picture to hide it. Like they were smudging ink on a canvas.

------
skocznymroczny
Too bad they're sticking with the kickstand design. Makes the device so
unusable on the lap (as mentioned in the review). I have the original Go and I
can't actually complain about the performance, but it's very hard to use
without a flat surface. It's also unusable in your hand, e.g. to show
something to someone while standing up.

~~~
ABS
I have the exact opposite complaint :-) the kickstand is not a problem but
performance is so abysmal I can basically keep only one application open at
the time.

I often wondered what I was doing wrong since many people are reasonably happy
with its performance but never found an answer, even after disabling
everything that can be disabled.

~~~
syllogism
Did you check the heat? Maybe you got a lemon and it was constantly being CPU
throttled.

~~~
ABS
thanks, it's slow as soon as it starts while everything looks normal (CPU,
temp, etc).

And I got the higher spec Go so proper SSD, max RAM, etc

------
no_gravity
Is there a tablet that can run one of the major Linux distributions?

I am surprised that there is not a single commercial Linux tablet on the
market. Given how many developers use Linux, one would think the market is big
enough for at least one product?

And it seems no major distribution supports any of the tablets out there.

~~~
als0
The first Surface Go can run Ubuntu pretty well. The Pentium Gold processor is
a bit of a let down, though.

~~~
no_gravity
Do you have a link where someone describes how he got Ubuntu to run on the Go
natively without installing software from outside of the repos? The user
reports I saw did not get WiFi to work with what is in the Ubuntu repos.

~~~
KitDuncan
[https://github.com/linux-surface/linux-
surface/wiki/Supporte...](https://github.com/linux-surface/linux-
surface/wiki/Supported-Devices-and-Features)

Wifi should work out of the box.

~~~
no_gravity
This seems to be a compatibility list of Surface devices with a special kernel
made by someone. I don't see how it is related to what is in the Ubuntu repos?

If anything, the exsitence of this kernel seems to be an indication that the
major distributions do _not_ cope well with the Surface and do _not_ work out
of the box.

~~~
tastyminerals2
They don't and I would not advise you to. I had Archlinux installed on Surface
Book 2 and was dual booting for some time but the Linux experience was pretty
bad. Camera is not working and never will. Touchscreen works as an alternative
to mouse pointer, no multi-touch. You can't detach it. Battery life is worse
and you can't use GPU and integrated card in parallel (it's an ever-present
Linux issue for all laptops with two GPU cards). On top of that when you have
Linux and 4k screen Surface integrated GPU card starts to suffocate and you
notice a lag when programming in some IDE. It's just not worth the effort.
Just use WLS with VS Code.

------
Gravityloss
Wonder if Techcrunch ever observed a drop in visitors since GDPR? They really
don't have any usable opt out interface.

~~~
lioeters
I've stopped reading TechCrunch since they've put up the data collection
popup. It may technically be GDPR-compliant, but definitely violates the
spirit of the law. That dark pattern of providing no opt-out for a "consent"
form is insulting.

Probably, most people just click "Agree" without bothering with it.

~~~
tpxl
It definitely is not GDPR-compliant, which is also why I don't read
techchrunch anymore.

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GEBBL
Damn, why are TechCrunch hijacking the browsers back button behaviour? I had
to close down my browser instance complete and then open a new one to come
back to this thread. Awful.

~~~
nfoz
I blame browsers for implementing such an obnoxious anti-feature.

~~~
eknkc
It is a great feature. Idiots doing this is at fault.

