Microsoft Surface Go 2 10.5 inches Touch-Screen Intel Pentium 4GB RAM, 64gb STV-00001 (Renewed)

Gave it three stars because the charging cable didn’t work after the second charge. Solid tablet overall.

I purchased this tablet for my mom and really like how it operates like a mini/portable PC. The setup was super easy and the touch screen and quality is really good. It comes with a charger which is good but I did actually purchased a keyboard to go with it. It makes for a great laptop/tablet experience. There were no imperfections like scratches/chips on the device. It looked brand new. Thought about purchasing one for myself but I already have an iPad; if it wasn’t for my iPad, I would have bought one for myself. So far it was an excellent buy.

I actually bought this to replace a kindle. I haven’t yet read any ebooks on it but I’m sure it’ll do fine for that purpose. To my surprise, this came with Windows 10 Pro and not Home on S-Mode, so that was a plus. Offbrand keyboard and pen work fine with it. I will probably get an official pen at some point for drawing because the offbrands don’t have very good pressure sensitivity. I’m not trying to run after effects or anything on this (not like it would fit with 64gb of space…) so I can’t really comment on processing power. I just needed a simple, basic tablet/laptop for when I’m on he go and this is it! The built in kickstand was a plus as well.

The surface tablet I purchased has exceeded my expectations and was in excellent condition. Works great and has great functionality and battery life. It’s like new

I’m a big fan of both the 12.3″ Surface Pro (note: current screens are a little larger) and of the mini-me Go lineup. I own one of each of the first three editions of the Go (Go 1 w/10.1″; and the 10.5″ Go 2 and Go 3). The latest Go 4 is sold through business channels only and hasn’t shown up on any used websites yet.

What I like (and don’t like) about all the Go’s:
* Killer screen resolution and quality, definitely Amazon Prime-worthy. In settings, I increase the normal display from 150% to 175% for easier reading. You will want to stick with 150% if you have sharp vision and want to split the screen into two windows (I treat my Go’s like an iPad, one full window at a time, and just switch windows to cut and paste or see another active program.
* Infrared and visible light (camera) combine for highly secure facial scan log-ins. Microsoft wisely recommends using a PIN, custom password for this device, or the facial login so peepers (visual surveillance in real time or through security cameras) can’t capture your Microsoft account log-in details. I find the system the the Surface uses to be the most trustworthy (imho equal to Apple facial recognition
and far superior to Android)
* Front firing stereo speakers with good clarity (out of tiny slits on the left and right upper corners). Much better than Apple iPad’s side-firing edge speakers.
* Centrally located front and rear cameras, a good location for video calls. However, in my experience, the iPad 9 and 10 have a far superior microprocessor that provides much better video quality without stuttering. This isn’t Microsoft’s fault, it’s Intel for falling so far behind Apple’s in-house design custom chips. At least Microsoft got the camera lens locations perfect from day one, compared to Apple’s awkward location on the middle of the side edge (until the iPad 10).
* Anti-fall recharging – Microsoft uses a magnetically clamping on power connector that won’t yank the table to the floor if you trip on the power cable. It also uses POGO conductive “dots” which means there is no “port” (plug hole) to get mangled over time and leave you unable to charge your tablet.
* The single USB C port WILL also charge the tablet; in fact the Apple 18 watt C and Anker 18 or 20 watt C, chargers will easily re-charge the Surface Go even while you use it.
* Screen shape is optimized for full-screen windows, with plenty of width for a normal typewriter page, and extra height compared to the wide angle screens on Android tablets and on most Windows and Chrome laptops. It is the same “aspect ratio” as it’s bigger brothers, the Surface Pro’s.
* THAT BUILT-IN KICKSTAND. I’ve been waiting for years for a kickstand on the iPads, which I also love. First, you don’t need an accessory case or cover so you can prop up the tablet on a desk or counter; all you need to do is fold out the kickstand. Second, if is VERY stable unlike an iPad screen cover folded to the rear into a little unstable triangle. And, unlike the iPad case covers and screen covers, you have a wide variety of viewing angles – continuously variable, not just a few clickable positions.
* The factor keyboard requires no charging. The factory keyboard is illuminated. No “pairing” is required because the hinge on the factory keyboard magnetically snaps on to the bottom edge of the tablet and directly connects via the conductive POGO dots on the tablet and spikes on the keyboard.
* There are more than 4 accessory keyboards to choose from. I have used Arteck, Inateck, and Omoton and they are all satisfactory – snap on magnetically just like the factory keyboard, but pair using Buetooth. The Omoton is preferred, in addition to being backlighted, it recharges with a C cable, instead of the now-obsolete Micro USB – so one less cable and perhaps one less charger (modern charges are C on both ends, the transition era of A on the charger and C on the cable end are over, although A=>C is how Amazon still ships their Fire tablets).
* The clip-on accessory keyboards also cover and protect the screen while in transit.
* On this Go TWO only (plus the later two models), the margins around the screen are narrower than on the Go 1, and the screen is .4″ bigger.
* The Go’s all accept Micro SD cards, and you can go into settings and change the default file locations from the small 64gb internal storage (typically 11gb-25gb available) to the Micro SD card; I use a 256gb Samsung at $18 from Amazon for this purpose (I can only recommend Samsung, Patriot, and Sandisk). I strongly recommend Samsung, just look for A1 or A2 class for better performance, it doesn’t run fast then slow down as it heats up, unlike some competitors.
* ONLY THE Go 2-Go 4 RUN WINDOWS 11. This is critical since Microsoft is discontinuing security updates for Windows 10 at the end of this year.
* Microsoft’s current support for Word’s online only version is superb; I no longer have to download either the shorter app version or longer full-version.
*eMMC vs SSD vs EFS – the Go 1-3 models with 64gb hard drives use eMMC storage, which is a souped up micro SD card system. The Go 1-3 models with 128gb and up hard drives use full laptop and desktop grade SSD’s. The Go 4 models, regardless of storage capacity, use UFS, which is super-souped up micro SD card system. Supposedly, EFS is almost as fast as a low-end SSD but uses less power and takes up less space. According to test reports, the Go 1-3 with SSD’s installed had way faster bulk file transfer speeds, and because they can read/write at the same time, better results in other key areas of performance. HOWEVER in typical use scenarios – YouTube, Spotify, writing – there was no subjective difference in performance.
* There are some good deals on Amazon Renewed Surface Go 2’s. A lot of companies and some schools use Go’s instead of iPads, and close them out on regular cycles. It’s not time for inexpensive Go 3’s yet. In most cases, if you purchase a used Go 2, it will be a business model and will boot into Pro Windows (although you will need to manually update (by clicking a button) to Windows 11).

Let’s hit some negatives:
* 64gb can end up with 11gb or so left for working space, if you go through all the updates after purchase (including updating to Windows 11). While the operating system is set to erase no-longer needed files monthly, I go into Settings=>Sytem=> Storage and click on Temporary Files and manually delete “Prior Windows Installations” to get my available storage back up to 25-30gb.
* Multiple browsers eat up storage. I use just Edge and DuckDuckGo browsers; Edge is pre-installed, DuckDuckGo is either on the Microsoft Store or web.
* I recommend charging separately. If I charge while using it, it develops a hot spot all the way across the top half. Intel really has some catching up to do with Apple and Android/ARM/Chromebooks on ARM in terms of heat and battery life.
* Battery life is as little as 4 hours while watching YouTube or streaming services (as much as 7 hours on Google Docs or Microsoft Word online).
* There’s no such thing as a simple screen cover. It’s keyboard cover, or hit the road jack.

Recommendations.
+ If you find the right size Dockem, a simple but very useful envelope style protetive cover, they work very well. You have to oversize them properly to allow for the keyboard cover. I suggest measuring things but add .5″ to the size Dockem specs show; or get the next size up from iPad Pro 11 size. Of course you can cheap out and use an Amazon shipping bubble envelope instead, which is more low key through TSA and has your name and address on it for I.D.
+ It’s a touch screen, but even for videos I use the trackpad on the keyboard so I’m not always get finger print smudges.
+ If it’s only $30-50 more, 128gb is a more relaxed way to go.
+ The built-in security software is very good imho; in 20 years I’ve stuck with it. However go into Security Settings and make sure Device Security is turned on in hardware options, and make sure you have Enhanced Hardware Security active.
+ Don’t give up if the initial setup and security updates and upgrade to Windows 11 seems to take forever; it does. Just do it on the kitchen counter while you do other stuff and otherwise respond to its occasional pleas for inputs from you. It is NOT as efficient as updating an iPad. But only the first experience is so bad it hurts. Thereafter, pretty painless
+ Your reward is the most compatible operating system on the planet. With iPads and even Chromebooks, sometimes I want to pull my hair out with weird webpage glitches. Never with Windows.