Tag / Mobile Life

by Karsten Samaschke

Kauflust (IV): Surface Go (English edition)

A smaller Surface Pro? Powerful enough to master all everyday office- and business-applications? Starting around 449,– EUR? Give me that Surface Go!

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Surface Go with Type Cover, Surface Pen and mug of coffee

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by Karsten Samaschke

Kauflust (III): Microsoft Surface Book 15 inch

I have to admit: I made a mistake!

Situation: I wanted to buy a Surface Book 2, since I was able to find a buyer for my Surface Book with Performance Base and I was offered a really good price for the SB2. So, I went and ordered the replacement unit. I was terribly tired and did not check the order receipt.

Next day, I went to the shop to collect my shiny new Surface Book 2.

But I was confronted with a larger box than expected and it read “Surface Book 15-inch, 256 GB storage”.

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I immediately checked the receipt and figured: Yes, I actually ordered the 15-inch variant. I did not notice since the 15-inch and the 13.5-inch variants differed not by price but by SSD-size (and I did not check this one). They were presented side-by-side online, and obviously, I was too tired to realize.

So, I had two options: Don’t accept the device or go with the bigger one having the smaller SSD. Very surprisingly(?), I went with the latter option and now I own a Surface Book 15-inch.

Well, no.

I don’t own it. I love it.

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It immediately replaced my 2017 MacBook Pro 15.4-inch, which is on sale right now. And it replaced the 13.5-inch Surface Book with Performance Base, since the differences in size and weight are acceptable. It is – for now – accompanied by the 12.5-inch ThinkPad X260 and – for another two months – by an Apple iPad Pro 10.5 (which will be replaced by a Surface Go later this year).

If you wonder, why I love this device so much, here are some reasons:

  • Gorgeous keyboard. I mean, really gorgeous. On the older-MacBooks- and older-ThinkPads-Level. That gorgeous.
  • Fantastic display. 15 inch, 3×2-ratio. Nice colors. Nice viewing angles. Touch. Close enough to a MacBooks-display.
  • Battery time. 5 hrs of watching videos – around 50% of battery left. Several hours of writing and surfing, again with a modest battery drain. Compare this to a MacBook Pro 15.4 inch, whose battery is empty after 4 hours, regardless of what you do.
  • USB-A-ports. Not only USB-C/Thunderbold-ports.
  • Lightweight device, less than 2kg for a 15-inch device.
  • Versatility: You can use it as Laptop, as Tablet, as anything in between.
  • The Pen. Just nice.
  • That Graphics Adapter. 6 GB RAM, GeForce GTX 1060. Play highly demanding games in natural resolution!

So, in summary, there is a lot to love here.

And I am glad I made such a mistake.

I will keep this device as my daily driver.