Microsoft Surface Go 2

★★★★☆

A couple of years ago I needed an ultra-portable computer, and bought a refurbished Surface Go 2. It’s a 10" tablet with optional stylus and keyboard/trackpad cover, and can be used as a pure tablet or as a tiny laptop. At the time, I could choose between Windows 10 and Windows 11, and decided to stick with Windows 10. (This turned out to be a good decision.)

It’s been surprisingly good! The detachable keyboard is not just the best tablet keyboard I’ve used, it’s actually a good keyboard. It’s way less annoying than the mid-2010s MacBook keyboards, and it’s a lot more reliable than the Samsung Chromebook I’ve used. The trackpad’s still reliable after getting carried around in backpacks a lot (which makes it more reliable than the Chromebook’s trackpads started out). The stylus draws great, and the touchscreen’s responsive too!

There’s not a whole lot of storage or RAM, and it’s not exactly fast, but it served well as a really portable Windows machine for office-type apps, web surfing with a desktop browser, videos, some light coding and…well, a little light gaming, if nothing that needs serious graphics.

It’s Intel-based, so it uses more power than an ARM system, but that also means there are fewer compatibility hurdles. Admittedly, that was more of a concern in 2023 than it is today. I keep losing the proprietary charger (which has a nice, trip-safe magnetic connector), but it can also charge by USB-C.

Planned Obsolescence

This year I made the mistake of upgrading it to Windows 11, figuring I’d get ahead of the forced upgrade. It’s so much slower now. The device optionally shipped with this OS – it should be able to handle it. But I guess Windows 11 of two years ago isn’t the Windows 11 of today.

I’ve seriously been thinking about reinstalling Windows 10 even though it’s being discontinued next month. (I might even spend the $30 for an extra year of security updates.) Update: I have been given an enthusiastic go-ahead on this plan by the rest of the household.

I’ve also been thinking about looking up the state of Linux driver support for it. Because a lightweight Linux distro is definitely going to run faster even than Windows 10 did, and might keep this useful (and out of e-waste) even longer.