The lead-up to the launch of Microsoft’s upcoming $400 Surface tablet has been filled with leaks and rumors, which all came to a head on Monday, July 9, when a report was published at Tom’s Hardware. The article let the cat out of the bag, revealing the both name and official specs for the Surface Go.
As was leaked on Reddit earlier, the $400 tablet will use the Pentium Gold Y-series CPUs. Leaked details of the specifications suggest that it could pack up to 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage space. The Surface Go will come with either 4GB or 8GB of RAM and up to 256GB of storage. Meanwhile, the $400 base model will come with 64GB of storage. Like what’s available with the Surface Pro, the leak reports that LTE versions of both these configurations will be released later, though pricing hasn’t been announced.
| Price | $400 |
| Processor | Intel Pentium Gold Processor 4415Y |
| Display | 1,800 x 1,200 PixelSense Display |
| RAM | 4 or 8GB 1866MHz LPDDR3 |
| Storage | 64GB eMMC, 128GB SSD, 256GB SSD |
| Connections | Surface Connect, USB-C, microSDXC, 3.5mm headphone jack |
| Dimensions | 9.6 x 6.9 x 0.3 inches |
| Weight | 1.2 pounds, 1.7 pounds with Type Cover |
Other details for the 10-inch device include a 0.3-inch thickness, 1.2 pounds (without the keyboard), nine hours of battery life, a USB-C port, and Windows 10 Home in S Mode. The Surface Go goes on sale on August 2.
Whichever configuration new Surface buyers opt for, they should get far more powerful hardware than the last Surface tablet, the Surface 3. Although we liked that 2015 convertible tablet with its Intel Atom CPU, the three-year-old hardware doesn’t hold up to the newer Pentium chips. The Atom and Pentium Silver chips have four cores, where the Gold chips have two (with support for hyperthreading), but the newer architectures are significantly more powerful in all scenarios than the older Atom chip and expanded memory options should give the new tablet a real performance edge.
That said, those hoping for real power will want to opt for heftier devices, as these chips are not designed to be workhorses. While perfectly capable for watching Netflix or writing up documents, more intense tasks will certainly stress the system. As Engadget points out, that is not a problem as Microsoft simply wants students and budget tablet users to consider these devices instead of the Apple alternative hardware.
For everyone else, there are plenty of fantastic laptops and 2-in-1s in the Surface line which sport industry-leading battery life and real performance hardware.
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