Surface Go

S4 is using an older SD835 cpu. Could always look at the Galaxy Book 10 if you want wacom, Samsung and windows in one package, or 2in1 Chromebook. Also the option of installing Android via bluestack for Kindle.

 

I travel often on business, about twice a month in the Apec region.

My travel load consists of a Surface 3, a dual SIM Nokia 2 and an old Kindle (4?) with around 500 books loaded.

Nothing beats eink display for ebooks, imo. I found over the years that after spending hours staring at backlights screens for work, when I just wanna have abit of personal reading, eink is my preferred display.

 

399? Is it the U.S only version? I need me one asap. What coupon are you referring to?


Sent from mTalk

 

Thanks for the input. I think I maybe suffering from some hardware lust vs. what's really useful. I played with the s4 some more last night and have cooled a bit. Biggest seeming to be the differences in OS. I do think Android is a bit more table/hand friendly, but using it to work on my normal stuff, it seems to be lacking (like no trackpad) which means a lot more screen touches and some missing but important features in excel and word (macros) on the android version that while I can live without, I have gotten used to them.

I wish I could find somewhere that had the galaxy book locally, but nobody around me sells it so I would have to buy one and then return it if I didn't like it. I'm trying not be one of those guys.

I am realizing that MS still has a ways to go on the tablet friendliness of windows 10. My daughter has offered to loan me her s4 for the weekend so i'm going to try more side by side usage

 

Mini-review

Construction:

The device feels amazing. All the talk about the bezels being too big is ridiculous when you hold the device in one hand, and take notes with the stylus. It’s not as comfortable as with my iPad when I have to cradle, and write. I love the bezels.

The weight is amazing, and the Go is beautifully balanced.

Keyboard feels nice, and has excellent travel. I have slight separation of the fabric around the touchpad. I’ve seen this on a few Go keyboards.

Performance:

For individual tasks (even multiple browser tabs) this device runs smoothly. And really even with multiple applications open it runs ok. But you will see delays, and stuttering. Most of my daily apps run fine from Affinity Designer to Photoshop.

Gaming:

Yes. This will game. I played a few ranked games of League of Legends with all settings at high. I maintained 40 FPS throughout the game. It’s not a gaming machine, but it CAN do it. Tip: Enable game mode...it does effect performance. I had a 10 FPS difference.

Stylus:

OneNote is a dream to write in. Really nothing compares to it on any platform I’ve used. I’ve read a lot of criticism of the stylus, but I personally love it. The default tip has a near perfect amount of friction to make it not slip around on the screen. I’ve read reviews of incorrect marks, and the like...and I don’t see it. I don’t doubt that issues exist, but in my opinion any errors are extremely minor. I take a lot of notes throughout the day, and it was comfortable to write.

Compared to the iPad Pro and Wacom (default tip) I get much less slippage, and the stylus itself feels very comfortable in hand. The magnet holding it to the Go kept it secure in my bag all week.

I do a great deal of Wireframing, Whiteboard, etc. on my devices and the Go accomplished that with no issues. OneNote and Concepts were used. Be aware Concepts is much more limited compared to its iOS counterpart. The tilt feels so much more natural than the Apple Pencil which required me to tweak tweak tweak brushes in my apps to get natural shading.

Inking really does feel a core part of Windows.

Why I’m returning it:

It’s not powerful enough for my needs. I had high hopes for power in a tiny package. And my initial impressions were that it was capable. And for 90% of my work it’s perfect. But I use an app called Figma, and it performs horribly. It’s a web app with a desktop (based on Electron) app and the Go can’t handle it.

I’ll be sad to say goodbye. It’s really an amazing device. I might change my mind and keep it anyway as a secondary device. But I’m working my way to less and not more. Keeping it would not follow that goal.

 

Yeah, it's sort of app dependent. I bought it for a few old XP apps, that are light on resources, so it's fine, although at first there were issues even with this, do to setup I think.

It's not a powerhouse, but it's capable. I like it for < or = $400. The S3 didn't cut it, unfortunately, but this has a better chance.

I took a look at the new Pro and it's very nice. They keep improving these things. I would pick up a Pro, but I need a TB3 port, which I would guess we will see soon (a great standard, the new USB-C and TB3).

 

I'm jumping into this thread very late (and haven't read all the history) so forgive me if this is asked and answered, but does anyone understand why MS insists on cutting off the cpu at the "Golden Pentium" rather than taking the approach of the nSP and offering a wide array of cpus to accommodate a wide array of users/use cases? The places the Go appears to fit in the perceptual map seem to include:

1) Cheap
2) Small and light
3) Full Windows 10
4) (future) decent inking (based largely on the wonderful review of @surfaceproartist ; I can't believe they won't fix this with software, though missing the Pixel Sense Accelerator asic limits this)

Because it's not an either/or proposition, I don't see the logic behind giving up the likely sizable market segment that wants 2) - 4), above, and is willing to sacrifice 1) (Cheap) to have the other 3. With the upgrades already baked in for the fall, the maximum price will exceed $900, so what's the big deal over putting in options for the best Core i cpus that won't require a hardware redesign. It will still likely price out at or below the iPad Pro 10.5 and will deliver so much more (yes, and less, but not in ways that this segment would value) so why not have an offering in that space? An obvious (but wrong, IMO) retort would be: if you need more power, move up to the nSP. Sorry, but size and weight matter - more and more for some users - and unless it moving into at least the 4.5w core i class - much less the i3/i5 fanless - would force a redesign of the hardware, more weight, etc, why not offer it? Seems like leaving lots of market share on the table for no good reason. EDIT: Sorry, there is a very good reason for MS not to do this: solidify their reputation as among the worst consumer products companies in tech. Whereas Apple's marketing strategy is: "if we don't make it that way, you don't need it that way," Microsoft's is equally arrogant but even stupider: "we make it the way we make it and we don't really care if it meets your needs."

 

US - ATT but there were some unlocked - coupon was PRONTO15 - doesn’t work with Best Buy eBay store

 

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I think the lack of CPU options in the Go is an effort to control costs. No question that I would have preferred an option for an M3 and would have paid a premium for it, but I would guess it is less expensive to limit choices in the product chain and I am not the target market for the Go. Microsoft apparently does not want to position the Go as potentially a premium 10" tablet. If that was the case, the fanless I5 would be interesting.

I don't mind the renamed Pentium power. The bigger omission IMO is the lack of a Pixel accelerator. I can't believe that there's not enough space to accommodate one. It too must be a cost control effort.

 

Just to be sure I'm understanding, are you saying that the overall production costs of the entire model line, even at the low end with the Pentium, would be higher if the base tablet was designed to accommodate more powerful cpus? Is that what you mean by "limiting choices in the product chain?" I don't know enough about hardware architecture to appreciate the cost factors involved in that kind of design issue, but I remain a bit suspicious that MS is either being lazy or fears making an SG model that might top out over $1,000 and for all I know in the marketing world that could matter, but it still seems to me that more choice is always better than less. Another explanation: cannibalizing nSP sales at higher margins. Sounds more at home in a MS product marketing meeting than the likelihood that the base model will cost much more to produce if the same chassis has to accommodate low/mid core I cpus.

I do completely agree with you about the Pixel accelerator, but that doesn't likely lend itself to being an optional upgrade, so it would increase the price for every option in the SG line. Fwiw, I have a SB1, which also lacks the PixelSense Accelerator, but I scored a great deal ($55) for an SB2/nSP pen and in A/B comparisons to the SB1/SP4 pen there was no comparison and I find note taking to be the best experience I've had outside the EMR world. That said, I don't know how that pen will do with the SG's digitizer nor whether its magnet placement lines up well with the screen of the SG. I haven't seen anyone try that pen with the SG but would be curious to see if it would "solve" the current inking problems with the SG's dedicated pen. Seems to me that discerning users are going to do better making an a la carte choice of pen given the array of MMP options as well as third party, eg Wacom Bamboo, etc.