Education sector, it seems. Though it’s really not all that cheap once you factor in the keyboard and stylus.
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Microsoft Takes on Apple's Entry-Level iPad With 10-inch 'Surface Go' Starting at $399
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Education sector, it seems. Though it’s really not all that cheap once you factor in the keyboard and stylus.
You are right, this is a laptop being advertised as a tablet. I had the Surface 3 (not the Pro), and it performed poorly. This one may be better, with a better keyboard, at least, and probably a somewhat better processor. 64 GB is still too low for a laptop. But the screen should be great at least.
So, this is it. Microsoft is avertising a laptop (the Surface Go) as a tablet, and Apple is advertising a tablet (the iPad Pro) as a laptop. Both overpriced for what they do, and probably unable to keep up to expectations.
If people really want to light a fire under Apple, buy this Surface Go instead of an iPad. THAT speaks far louder then sending Tim Cook an email.
Hoping Microsoft does a trade-in offer so I can get rid of my iPad which is severely limited in comparison.
You can upgrade from Windows S to Windows HOME for free. Windows 10 PRO is indeed a bit more expensive.
I am concerned about the speed of the Pentium processor, and the eMMC memory. And the price is not USD 399 as Microsoft announces. It will give you a Surface with 4 GB RAM and 64 eMMC storage. If you want the "premium" model, which has 8 GB RAM and 128 GB eMMC storage (which should be the practical minimum to run Windows 10), you will spend USD 549. If you add the keyboard (which seems to be a must-have), you will get to USD 649 (if you choose the cheaper option). The optional mouse and pen will take the price to USD 783.
The cheapest iPad of course costs much less at USD 329, but it also does a lot less. The Surface Go should compare to the 10-inch iPad Pro. The 64 GB iPad Pro costs USD 649 (and you can actually live with this configuration, since you are not running Windows). Add the keyboard and it will get you to USD 808. The pencil will take it to USD 907. And it does not support a mouse.
So, the Surface Go should be considerably cheaper than a "comparable" iPad Pro. Both Microsoft and Apple seem to be trying to convince you that you really need a laptop/tablet hybrid. But even if you do, these are two expensive choices. considering what is available in the market (for instance, the Matebook X is selling for less than USD 600, keyboard included).
But if what you want is the power of a laptop, and you do not really need the tablet form, then the choices are multiple, and much better at this price point.
Microsoft fans. Of which there are more than you might realise, especially working in corporate and education IT departments.
But this is not a tablet, it's a mini PC with a removable keyboard. It works best with a mouse and trackpad, same as a laptop, because there's still very little optimisation of Windows software for 'real tablet' usage. You would not buy this to use for typical 'tablet' use cases - that's why they always market it with images showing the keyboard, trackpad and mouse, often with the traditional Windows desktop (complete with tiny taskbar icons).
So it's more of a Chromebook competitor than an iPad competitor, if anything (but it still has the same disadvantages vs Chrome OS which are the main reason why so many schools moved to Chromebooks in the first place, which is not just about the cost of the device itself).
I use Windows every day, and there some things about Windows I like; and I used a Windows Phone for over 2 years. I keep hearing the arguments from Microsoft fans about: 'how many apps do you need?', 'all the important apps are there', 'all you need is a browser' and 'with Windows you can use millions of legacy PC apps'. It's all hogwash, FUD and fake news. There's a reason why apps optimised for a touchscreen are important, and why this is central to the success of iOS and Android.
Not just optimised for touch, either, but optimised for the size and design of the screen (hence iPad success compared to Android tablets). So many apps in the Windows Store are basically zombie apps, updated infrequently and years behind Android and iOS equivalents. And many are not there at all.
That pentium is basically an i3 chip. Also the “free upgrade” to windows 10 full means the windows 10S isn’t an issue.
This is doomed. I'll copy and paste what I wrote in another post:
Hmm, I just read through the Wired article. So $399 gets you 4gb RAM and 64gb storage. The 4gb RAM kind of sucks for legacy windows, but this has windows S out of the gate so I'd say it's more than ok if you are not planning to upgrade to full windows. The 64gb storage is atrocious, NO ONE in 2018 should be releasing a laptop or tablet with 64gb storage, that's just unacceptable, especially with the large install size of full windows. No keyboard or pen included as I predicted, bad bad bad, although at least it does have pen support. MS needs to undercut Apple here, and providing at least the keyboard would help it do that. Not to mention chromebooks already come with a hardware keyboard, so this adds an extra $129 to the price, or whatever they price the keyboards at.
Let's see, 9 hours of battery life?!? Terrible, awful. The 2017 SP is rated for 13.5 hours. Keep in mind that in real life, at least in personal experience, you should cut MS' battery estimates in half, so 6 or so hours is more accurate for a 2017 surface pro when doing light computer work. So by sacrificing the core processor and having a smaller screen the GO actually gets less battery life?!!?
The CPU still concerns me. Panos goes to great lengths to describe how all the software was tuned to run smoothly. This concerns me, is the CPU that bad that the software needs to be tuned to it? What hopes do we have of running full windows and legacy programs with that CPU? He says it is graphically 20-30% better than the surface 3. I'm not sure I'd be proud of those numbers against something released 3 years ago. It's a shame because windows has made such incredible strides in those 3 years and now is a phenomenal touch/tablet OS.
I predicted RT would die the day of its release, this seems like RT 2.0 and I predict that it will also die. The surface pro 3 at least had a running chance with full windows support, but even that died. You just can't out ipad the ipad at this point with watered down windows, especially with having poor battery life. My prediction: DOA.
Hmm, I just read through the Wired article. So $399 gets you 4gb RAM and 64gb storage. The 4gb RAM kind of sucks for legacy windows, but this has windows S out of the gate so I'd say it's more than ok if you are not planning to upgrade to full windows. The 64gb storage is atrocious, NO ONE in 2018 should be releasing a laptop or tablet with 64gb storage, that's just unacceptable, especially with the large install size of full windows. No keyboard or pen included as I predicted, bad bad bad, although at least it does have pen support. MS needs to undercut Apple here, and providing at least the keyboard would help it do that. Not to mention chromebooks already come with a hardware keyboard, so this adds an extra $129 to the price, or whatever they price the keyboards at.
Let's see, 9 hours of battery life?!? Terrible, awful. The 2017 SP is rated for 13.5 hours. Keep in mind that in real life, at least in personal experience, you should cut MS' battery estimates in half, so 6 or so hours is more accurate for a 2017 surface pro when doing light computer work. So by sacrificing the core processor and having a smaller screen the GO actually gets less battery life?!!?
The CPU still concerns me. Panos goes to great lengths to describe how all the software was tuned to run smoothly. This concerns me, is the CPU that bad that the software needs to be tuned to it? What hopes do we have of running full windows and legacy programs with that CPU? He says it is graphically 20-30% better than the surface 3. I'm not sure I'd be proud of those numbers against something released 3 years ago. It's a shame because windows has made such incredible strides in those 3 years and now is a phenomenal touch/tablet OS.
I predicted RT would die the day of its release, this seems like RT 2.0 and I predict that it will also die. The surface pro 3 at least had a running chance with full windows support, but even that died. You just can't out ipad the ipad at this point with watered down windows, especially with having poor battery life. My prediction: DOA.
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Free upgrade to Windows 10 Regular (i.e. Home version)
$50 add'l ($449) for Windows 10 PRO
Agree 100% with this. It's a laptop advertised as a tablet, same as Apple is over-selling the iPad when they describe it as a laptop replacement.
Thank you for this post. You nailed it. I'm sorry that the forum software only allows me to give you one thumbs up.
I think it (and the rest of the Surface "tablet" line) would be better received if Microsoft overtly marketed it as a mini PC. But as it is, it generates a lot of buzz and discussion.
SCHOOL. As in the education market. Schools wants the extra control over apps on the devices is the main target. A competitive ipad price point is just a side benefit.
Not to mention that it’s eMMC, which is far slower than the storage in the Pro model, and even what is in iOS devices.
An iPad price cut would be nice, but the two are different enough that we may not see it. I’ve been wanting an iPad Pro for a while, and a base model price drop would really help me along in that regard.
Funny you mention it, but I’m moving soon and packed up my iMac, so I only have my 2018 iPad at my disposal. So far, I’ve been able to handle all communication and document signing matters from the iPad, including printing and scanning. We have never been able to get Windows to reliably print over WiFi, when all our Apple stuff works perfectly. We’ve resigned to just printing over USB on my wife’s Lenovo. And this printer I bought specifically to work with Windows, since I had a Surface 2 (RT) when I bought it.
This is a compelling product, but I’ve never really been happy with any Surface I’ve owned. They are just buggy, especially sleep. The keyboard and SDcard didn’t always mount after wake, and almost weekly the device either wouldn’t wake at all, or it would have drained half the battery overnight.
On an anecdotal note, a family member recently bought a Surface Pro, and when I asked her about it, she said she loved it. Then she tried to launch the camera, which launched, then crashed and wouldn’t reopen. She said she would just need to restart it, like this happened before, and she only owned the device for a few weeks. I was a bit surprised that something so simple was not working as expected, but it was very reflective of my Surface experiences—you want to love the device because the form factor is unique and potentially useful, but eventually the bugs will drive you nuts.
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I use it at work. It’s OK. But no way I’d want to use it on a 10 inch multi-touch screen.Those who want to experience the pain of Windows 10 in a more portable and affordable form-factor.
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I use Windows every day too but I would never want to use it on a 10 inch multitouch screen with a keyboard like that.
So get the larger storage model???
I mean these mirror ipad storage sizes and price points. So are you going to lament the small storage ipads next?
I mean I get it. You are upset that this is not made by Apple and therefore can't be good but at least come up with an actual flaw.
Yeah a 64GB tablet is for everyone. Neither is a 8GB iPhone. And yet they sell tons of both.
Remember these 64-256 GB models are targeting children that could also get away with using an iPad for homework. Microsoft already has the Surface Pro for Adults.
The teachers at my high school loved their Surface Tablets. Windows 10 comes with a Compact OS option and it tends to be enabled on devices with less storage. I was able to get 4 GB of space savings when using Boot Camp.
https://www.anandtech.com/show/9676/windows-10-feature-focus-compactos
https://www.anandtech.com/show/9676/windows-10-feature-focus-compactos
It has mouse support because it's a laptop. An iPad is a tablet that uses touch as it's primary input.
I agree 100%. I was a WP user for a long time as well. I’ve also owned multiple Surfaces over the years. MS just has too many quality and usability issues when it comes to Windows, especially when it comes to tablet use. Apple by far offers the best true tablet experience. Android just never got the developer support on tablets like iOS has seen.
Did you ever use a tablet without bezels? Where did you put your thumbs? All the iPads have bezels too. All tablets need bezels for ergonomic reasons. The tech press knows that. That's why the tech press does not complain about bezels on tablets.
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