Surface Go announced – Get pricing, specs, and details

Microsoft announced the newest member of the Surface line of computers- the Surface Go.

After many weeks of rumors, speculation, and leaks, it’s about time that the tech giant went ahead and confirm the news. The latest attempt before the Surface Go was the Surface 3, which was a budget tablet but didn’t really take off. The Surface Go is likely what the Surface 4 would’ve been if the same branding was used.

Let’s talk specs.

The Surface Go features a smaller screen compared to the Surface Pro. It has a 10” 1800 x 1200 display and an Intel Pentium Gold 4415Y (two core, four thread Kaby Lake CPU). It also has only 64GB of storage via eMMC. It’s pretty much a weaker version of the Pro. It’s even got a reduced battery runtime at 9 hours.

But all this makes it a lot more affordable- it’s priced at $399 for the base model versus $799 for the base Surface Pro.

Besides the specs, it still has all the same Surface design elements. It’s got the variable kickstand, 8MP rear 5MP front cameras, Windows Hellow facial recognition, Surface Connect magnetic charging dock and port, 10-finger multitouch display with Surfcae Pen support. It even still has the microSDXC card reader and 3.5mm headset jack with a USB 3.1 gen 1 Type-C port. Because it has a samll size, it’ll accompany new smaller Type Covers and won’t work with the Surface Pro fittings. A new Surfaece Mobile Mouse will be launched for it if you need an external pointer.

The target demograhpic remains the same- professionals ans students. With a more affordable model of hte Surface line, it can compete with mid-priced laptops and gain more exposure for the Surface products.

Preorders for the Go will offer two hardware variants at four price points available in the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Switzerland, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Poland, Taiwan, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Malaysia, and Thailand.

At $399, you get the base model which has 4GB RAM/64GB eMMC storage and Windows 10 Home. For an extra $50, you get Windows 10 Pro. For $150 etra, you get 8GB RAM/ 128GB SSD.

The Surface Go Type Covers are also available at $99 or $129 for the fabric-covered Alcantara materials. The pointer is $24.99. Hardware is due on August 2, 2018.

Later on, the Surface Go will include LTE and 256GB SSDs. It seems like Microsoft is trying to expand to the educational market with the lower price point- making it easier for students to afford the device and utilize its capabilities to the fullest. It’d be a shame to let it go to waste at this price point.

Image via Microsoft.

Source: ArsTechnica.