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 in October. 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.

Update: I got the go-ahead from the rest of the household to wipe it and reinstall Windows 10. I used a recovery image specific to the tablet, which wanted the device serial number. Fortunately that’s still legible in the right lighting. Now that it’s done installing the Windows 10 updates, it’s fast again! And while I was planning to spend $30 for the extra year of security updates, it turns out I don’t have to: The fact that app settings had previously been backed up to the cloud means it qualifies for free.

I may still put Linux on it eventually. Apparently most of the hardware is well-supported except for the camera, which is still a work in progress. (Thanks to @intrepidhero for pointing me to that link!) A lightweight distro is going to run faster than Windows 10, and will keep this out of e-waste even longer.