Following the release of the Surface Duo, Microsoft is circling back around to a more “traditional” computing form factor with the release of a new Surface Laptop Go.
As evident with its Surface Go and Surface Go 2, the term “Go” appears to be a company-given euphemism for small, and it’s now being applied to a new 12.4-inch Surface Laptop.
The new Surface Laptop Go is a scaled-down version of the flagship Surface Laptop 3, offering the 10th gen Intel i5 Quad-Core processor powering a 12.4 PixelSense touchscreen display, with both a USB-A a USB-C port, 3.5mm headphone jack, 720p HD camera, studio mics, Omni sonic speakers (under the keyboard) with Dolby Audio support.
Microsoft will still be loading the Surface Laptop Go with the fan-favorite full-size Surface keyboard with 1.3mm key travel as well as a large precision trackpad.
Customers will be able to configure their new slimmer Surface laptops with up to 16GBs of RAM and up to 256GB of solid-state storage while choosing between either a Blue, Sandstone, or Platinum color option. Microsoft is also claiming customers will get up 13 hours of battery life when utilizing fast charging through the proprietary Surface power port.
While Microsoft offers the Surface Go and Surface Go 2, as well as 4GB options of its Pro and premier Laptop line up, the new Surface Laptop Go now represents the company’s entry-level computing offering. Despite the timing, the Surface Laptop Go is an ideal personal device for students, SMBs and road warriors (if that ever becomes a thing again).
The Surface Laptop Go will start at the relatively low price of $549, presumably for the 4GB offering but when all is said and done, a fully functional version with top specs should still fall in line with Apple’s latest MacBook Air, Dell’s cheapest XPS 15 and several Lenovo Yoga and Ideapad options.
