Surface Go with LTE review: A solid device despite poor battery life and a high price

The Surface Go with LTE is finally bachelor, and with information technology comes a steep toll for the feel.

But how is the $679 Surface Become with LTE Advanced overall? I spent the terminal few weeks with one, and while it'south fifty-fifty more than fun to use, the overall lackluster battery life keeps it from being truly not bad.

LTE wherever yous go

Surface Go with LTE

From $679

Bottom line: The Microsoft Surface Go is fifty-fifty more useful and fun with LTE, but the battery life and high price hold it back.

Pros:

• Outstanding build quality.
• Reliable and fast unlocked 4G LTE.
• Great audio.
• A mini Surface Pro.

Cons:

• No eSIM support.
• Bombardment life could be meliorate.
• $130 extra for LTE drives down value.

What's new with Surface Get with LTE Advanced?

If you want the full details of the Surface Go as a daily Windows laptop run across my previous review, which covers the display, operation, design and more.

For the Surface Go with LTE Avant-garde, Microsoft offers the nimble laptop in one configuration for consumers with a Pentium Pentium Gold 4415Y processor with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage for $679. The same version without an LTE modem is also available for $549. This version ships with Windows 10 Domicile in Southward mode.

Category	Surface Go with LTE (consumer)
OS	Window 10 Home in Southward style
Display	10-inch iii: 2 aspect 1800 x 1200 with affect 216 ppi
Processor	Intel Pentium Gold 4415Y (1.6GHz) Fanless
Graphics	Intel Hard disk 615
RAM	8GB 1866MHz LPDDR3
Storage	128GB or 256GB SSD
Security	TPM two.0
Ports	1x USB-C 3.1 (aux. accuse, video out, data), microSD (up to 1TB), Surface Connect, headphone jack
Surface Pen	4,096 levels of pressure, tilt support
Camera	5MP forepart-facing with Windows Hello 8MP rear auto-focus
Connectivity	Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/north/air-conditioning Bluetooth 4.1
LTE Advanced	Nano SIM Tray 4G LTE Advanced (22 Bands: 1, ii, iii, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 13, 17, 19, 20, 25, 26, 28, 29, xxx, 38, 39, 40, 41, 66) GPS/GLONASS: Standalone and Assisted GNSS, accurateness up to 3 meters
Audio	Dual forepart-facing speakers Dolby Audio Premium
Dimensions	9.6 in ten 6.ix in x 0.33 in (245 mm x 175 mm x 8.3 mm)
Weight	1.17 lbs (532g) without keyboard 1.7lbs (770 kg) west/keyboard
Colors	Magnesium
Power	24 W power supply
Battery life	8.five hours (video loop)
Price	Starts at $679 Keyboard $99 or $129 (Alcantara)

Because Surface Get with LTE Advanced is besides aimed at businesses that need a device for get-go-line workers (FLWs) and field operators, there is a version with 256GB of storage that tin be configured with Windows 10 Pro in Due south way or without S manner. That version is substantially higher priced at $829 due to the Pro license and more storage.

The only divergence with these models and the non-cellular version is a Qualcomm Atheros LTE-Advanced modem and a nano-SIM slot on the left-hand side of the device.

Surface Go LTE Avant-garde mode

The Qualcomm Atheros modem used in Surface Go with LTE Advanced is quite a performer. It is SIM-unlocked so you can drop in any SIM from any carrier and it should work with one of the 22 LTE bands available.

However, i expanse that is lacking is support for embedded-SIM (eSIM) tech. Many of the ARM-based Windows 10 devices like the Lenovo Yoga C630 ship with both physical SIM and eSIM letting users switch dynamically between the two. Having eSIM ways you could besides buy data in ane-time chunks versus a monthly recurring SIM plan.

Information speeds with AT&T hands hit 60 Mbps to fourscore Mbps with only a few bars, and uploads speed easily maxed at what is offered in my area.

Microsoft does an excellent job with the reception and antenna placement on its devices. While the Surface Go doesn't become the subconscious antenna tech treatment like the more expensive Surface Pro with LTE, it still works quite well and is reliable.

Windows 10 handles a cellular connexion also with ease, simply switching when Wi-Fi is inadequate or unavailable. Users can configure this behavior to "never switch" and fifty-fifty on a per-app ground for exceptional granularity. There is an option to toggle cellular off to prevent all possible data usage, but the Os is smart enough to handle things on its own without user management.

Battery life is the killer

Perchance the biggest flaw with Surface Get and the Surface Go with LTE Advanced is battery life. Battery life is pegged at viii hours for the not-LTE version and vii.5 hours with a 4G modem. Those are idealized video-loop tests, though, and existent-world usage for both versions is closer to 5 to seven.v hours of real-world usage depending on the tasks completed.

Without using LTE at all and just leaving the cellular radio on, there is non much of a hit on bombardment, which is why Microsoft estimates a 30-infinitesimal difference. In my tests, that seems to hold, as I did not detect any difference betwixt the two versions.

In that location's a flipside to all of this: Considering of LTE, you tin utilize the Surface Go in more places, more than often than without. Waiting in line at your local diner? Burn down upwards the Surface Get as a tablet and read the news or cheque Twitter. At the airport and Wi-Fi quality is terrible? No worries, yous have LTE.

But information technology's because you can use the Surface Become with LTE more often that this mediocre bombardment life catches up quick. This problem is where the argument for always-connected Windows ten PCs powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon processors come into play. Had the Surface Go with LTE used a Snapdragon 850, you perchance get 12 hours of bombardment life instead of 7.

Microsoft is in a bit of a hard place hither. Intel'southward Pentium delivers decent performance just also only a pure Windows experience with no compromises. Windows 10 on Snapdragon (ARM) can run Microsoft Shop apps only fine, but it falters when you veer towards "classic" Win32 desktop apps. The issues with Qualcomm will be stock-still through software, but it's all about 9 months too early on for the general public. So, Intel information technology is, and with it comes that boilerplate battery life.

Where can y'all buy Surface Go with LTE?

The Surface Get with LTE is at present available in the U.S. and other countries. Somewhen, Microsoft will be selling this model in all the same markets every bit the regular Surface Get. A full list of currently availability is below.

• U.s.
• Canada
• Australia
• New Zealand
• Hong Kong
• UK
• Ireland
• France
• Deutschland
• Austria
• Belgium
• Grand duchy of luxembourg
• Netherlands
• Switzerland
• Denmark
• Finland
• Norway
• Sweden
• Poland
• Taiwan
• Italy
• Portugal
• Kingdom of spain
• Malaysia
• Thailand

Areas in the Middle E and India are liking coming in later months.

So should y'all buy Surface Go with LTE?

Using the Surface Go with LTE is even more fun than without having 4G connected. I've said this well-nigh previous Windows devices with LTE, and they become significantly more useful when yous have an e'er-connected feel.

The Surface Get fits into that mold, only it too stands out because it'south and then diminutive. That pocket-size size makes you want to take it everywhere, as the one.7 lbs feels like nothing in a minor bag. With decent standby battery times and the ability to hop onto the cyberspace past merely turning it on, the Surface Go is truly a useful and productive machine. At that place's simply no other Windows 10 option on the market place like the Surface Become with LTE.

In that location are ii issues though with Surface Become with LTE Advanced: cost and battery life. Pricing is $679, but that is without the keyboard ($99 to $130) or optional Surface Pen ($99). Were yous to get all three items, the toll nears $900. That's a high toll point for something that volition fall short of eight hours of bombardment life. For $100 more, you tin can pick up the Samsung Galaxy Book2, and for $100 less y'all could get the Lenovo Yoga C630 – both of which volition nearly double the battery life of the Surface Go. Users could fifty-fifty pick upwardly a Samsung Chromebook Plus with LTE for $599; sure, information technology has a Celeron processor and simply 4GB of RAM, but that price is easier to swallow with those compromises. Even a 128GB iPad ix.7 with LTE is "but" $560 beating the Surface Go by nigh $120.

The thought backside Surface Go is excellent, and the execution of that idea is nearly perfect. But for $900 with somewhat ungainly bezels, a merely OK processor, and bombardment life beneath eight hours, it gets increasingly hard to justify. That'south a shame, because using the Surface Go with LTE Avant-garde is fun for personal utilize, and it could be nigh essential for some workers.

The uptick is that Type-C port makes it easy to charge on the go with an external bombardment pack or fifty-fifty a phone charger. Merely, ideally, this is not something people should have to think near or plan for when heading out.

In other words, if you can live with the compromises and don't mind shelling out the greenbacks, the Surface Become with LTE Advanced brings an all-new experience to the world of computing. Merely for about consumers, the era of a truly e'er-connected, always-on nimble Surface is just not hither yet.

Truly portable

Surface Get with LTE

Always continued.

The Surface Become gets a discrete 4G LTE modem that'southward unlocked and works well, but the then-so battery life and $130 extra for the privilege is disappointing.

Related reading and tips

• Surface Go total review
• Surface Go: How to switch out of Windows ten in S mode
• How to reinstall Windows 10 Dwelling house in Southward mode on your Surface Go
• Microsoft Surface Go with 64GB eMMC storage – How much slower is the $399 model?

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Source: https://www.windowscentral.com/surface-go-lte

Posted by: rossarman1993.blogspot.com

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