The Microsoft Surface Go LTE Review: Unmatched Mobility
by Brett Howse on January 17, 2019 8:00 AM ESTDisplay Analysis
One area where Microsoft consistently leads all other PC makers is in the display department. The Surface Go offers a 10-inch 1800x1200 display, which of course offers the same 3:2 aspect ratio as the rest of the Surface lineup, and the extra height makes for a better tablet experience, as well as some more vertical space for getting things done.
Even though the resolution isn’t as high as some of their other devices, the pixels-per-inch of the display are still reasonable at 216 ppi. It’s not the crispest display around, but it gets the job done without being a burden on the battery.
The Surface Go offers 10-point multitouch, and the display is compatible with the Surface Pen.
Microsoft is the one company in the PC space that color calibrates all its displays, and this trend started with the Surface 3 back in 2015. This is a nice benefit to all Surface customers, who can rest assured that anything they view on the display is going to be accurately portrayed.
If Microsoft was going to tackle the Next Big Thing on their displays, they should perhaps investigate better anti-reflective coatings, since they are still well behind Apple in this regard. Since the Surface Go focuses on mobility, being able to use it outdoors without as much glare would be a benefit.
To test the display, we use SpectraCal’s CalMAN software suite with a custom workflow, along with an X-Rite i1Display Pro colorimeter for brightness and contrast readings, and an X-Rite i1Pro2 spectrophotometer for color accuracy results.
Brightness and Contrast
The display isn’t the brightest device around, at just 380 nits, but it does offer fantastic black levels and therefore good contrast. It’s not industry leading, but for a device that starts at $399, it’s quite good. For those that want to use it in the dark, it also goes all the way down to 6 nits so it should be easy to use in a very dark room without searing your eyeballs.
Grayscale
Overall, the grayscale results on the Surface Go are fantastic, with an average well under 2.0. There’s a couple of peaks that are just above 3.0, but the whites are more or less accurate. The color balance of the red, green, and blue, shows a slight drop in green, but this is well ahead of any other PC in its price range. Gamma is also quite good hitting the 2.2 average that is being targeted.
Gamut
The Surface Go targets the sRGB gamut, and almost perfectly hits it. You would be hard pressed to find another PC with this level of sRGB accuracy for this price. One thing to note is that unlike the Surface Pro lineup, there’s no extra color profiles here to go with a more vivid color scheme, so you only get true sRGB.
Saturation
We do a full 4-bit step on the saturation sweeps of the primary and secondary colors, and the Surface Go is almost perfect here. Blue is slightly off the axis, but only just, and the average error level of 1.21 is a great result.
Gretag Macbeth
The Gretag Macbeth is the most comprehensive test, testing colors not only on the primary and secondary axis, but also colors in between, including the important skin tones. Here, a couple of color tests peak above 3.0, but the majority are close enough to the target color that the error would be almost imperceptible to the eye.
Colorchecker
This image is a relative color comparator, with the target color on the bottom, and the measured color on the top. The Surface Go offers color accuracy that is second to none in this price range of the PC market.
Display Conclusion
Microsoft has done it again. The Surface lineup is the one true accurate display lineup in the PC industry, with the only other company doing color calibration across its product lineup being Apple. The Surface Go is likely not the place for Microsoft to start to compete against other technologies Apple leverages, but if we do see a redesigned Surface Pro in the future it would be nice to see them go after Apple’s other advantages, such as the 120 Hz variable refresh display in the iPad Pro, wide color support, or even just the anti-reflective coatings which Apple has a large lead with.
Still, for a PC that starts at $399, no other laptop or tablet running Windows comes close to the display accuracy of the Surface Go. The contrast is also good, and the pixel density is high enough that everything is sharp. The Surface Go keeps with the Surface tradition of offering a display that punches above its weight.
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TheinsanegamerN - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link
Check out the ifixit teardown:https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Microsoft+Surface+...
The batteries make up less then half the interior volume, Compared to something like 80-90% for the ipad 6
https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/iPad+6+Teardown/10...
It appears that not only is the chip much larger, butthe needs for a laptop style heatpipe cooling system eats up a TON of room, not to mention the PCB itself just seems far too large for the minimal components and ports. Perhaps MS's design efficiency leaves a LOT to be desired?
Either way, this is why windows on ARM is so exciting, and why I wish it was a lot further along. It seems ARM packaging is just way more efficient, allowing for far larger batteries. Combined with ARM's greater efficiencies, and x86 tablets like the go wind up with pathetic battery life numbers.
HStewart - Saturday, January 19, 2019 - link
I have never really cared about IFixIt's repair scores - I have had a Surface Pro 1 - since the beginning and it never need repair - only thing I can say able Apple iPad's and iPhone - after a couple of years there battery died.I think MS did a good job on this Surface GO.
TheinsanegamerN - Saturday, January 19, 2019 - link
I'm not referring to the scores. Look at the pictures, at the sheer amount of room in the Go VS the ipad.I cant see how having such poor battery life can be considered good. The OG surface pro had around the same usable life with a more power hungry chip and a compromised battery size.
dontlistentome - Friday, January 18, 2019 - link
Have one of these - 8GB/256GB/LTE/W10pro (and an SP4, Thinkpad X1 Carbon 5 and a Dell 7370).It's fine - it runs all the business apps I need (including some local database work, Python etc). Not perfect but feels much snappier in use that the Surface 3. Happy to take it when I travel knowing I can (bearably) run all I need to do work should the need arise. My 7370 also has LTE and is small, but this is a lot smaller/lighter - to the extent I can dump it in the wife's bag if we're out for the evening, something I never could with the dell.
Is it perfect? No, the Dell is also fanless but manages to cram in a m7 that turbos to 3.5GHz, something I guess I miss when a few processes are busy right after bootup.
As a pointer to the future, I'm happy - a few years from now when the performance distinction will be more based on core count, a Go2 or Go3 with a two core 10th gen fanless chip and decent RAM/SSD combo (which this already has for what most people need). Suspect when I do buy a Go3 though, it'll be Qualcomm inside, not intel.
HStewart - Saturday, January 19, 2019 - link
I doubt the GO3 will have a Qualcomm, by that time Intel will Perfect Sunny Cove - with more power than and battery life than Qualcomm.It is very interesting to me that Qualcomm got Microsoft to create Windows for ARM ( or can we say Windows for Qualcomm ) and yet Microsoft has release single product with it. It seams to me Microsoft does not trust it own OS. They would know better.
KPOM - Sunday, January 20, 2019 - link
It will be interesting if and when Apple either converts the 12” MacBook to the Ax series (A14X is my guess) and/or opens up iOS for iPad. I think ARM has a lot of capabilities and Microsoft is equally aware of them and could optimize Windows for ARM, at least for new applications. However, they are wedded to a lot of legacy x86 code and ARM hasn’t proven very adept at running Win32.Evil Mr M - Saturday, February 2, 2019 - link
FWIW, Costco members in the US can get a Surface Go bundle with 4GB/128SSD plus keyboard for $449.99. That appears NOT to be a sale price, but is limited to Costco members.At that price, it really does challenge an iPad...