Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 2 has been officially revealed, and it has the same low-cost design and quality appearance as its predecessor, but with upgraded internals and a better webcam, which should alleviate some of our concerns about the first model’s performance.
Preorders for the new model are presently being taken. It costs $600 and is available in four colours, including a new greenish Sage variant. The laptop’s size, weight, and port options are all unchanged, as is the 12.4-inch, 1536-1024 touchscreen.
Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 2 price and release date
Pre-orders for the Surface Laptop Go 2 are now open, with deliveries beginning on June 7. The entry-level model costs $599.99 and comes with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage.
The price rises to $699.99 when you add 8GB of RAM and $799.99 when you add 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.
These costs are not only less expensive than the Surface Laptop Studio but also less expensive than Apple’s $999 MacBook Air with 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD.
Design of the New Microsoft Surface Laptop
The Surface Laptop Go 2 hasn’t been given much of a makeover, and it still looks a lot like the original. It uses the same 12.4-inch (1,536 x 1,024 pixel) touchscreen as the original Laptop Go, so it’s not quite 1080p.
It’s also the same size, and weight as the original Surface Laptop Go (10.95 x 8.1 x 0.62 inches, 2.48 pounds) and has the same pair of ports (one USB-C and also one USB-A port for connection, a headphone jack port, and a Surface Connection port).
It also has the look of a luxury machine with its aluminium top, keyboard deck, and narrow bezels.
Its overall performance was sufficient for basic multitasking, and its port choices were a good mix of modern and legacy ports.
The machine’s sub-full HD display, however, was not impressive.
What are the specifications?
The Next-Gen Intel processor
The Surface Laptop Go 2 runs Windows 11 and is powered by an Intel® Core i5-1135G7 processor, which is an upgrade over the 10th Gen i5 that powered its predecessor. It’s still not cutting edge, though, because Intel’s 12th Gen Alder Lake CPUs have been redefining our expectations of laptop power efficiency.
This processor is optimised for standard productivity applications, such as Microsoft Office and web browsers. Microsoft claims that the Surface Go 2 can handle some gaming, but for the most strenuous PC games and workloads, such as video editing, a gaming laptop is still recommended.
Improved security and telecommuting features
This is the first Surface Laptop to use a secured-core Intel processor. A protected core isolates specific components, such as memory to guard against cyber threats like hacking. This is designed for jobs that require managing sensitive personal information, such as healthcare, and it improves the laptop’s mobile office capabilities.
Updates to the camera and sound are also available for telecommuters. However, the camera is still a 720p HD model with an f2.0 aperture lens.
Easy repairs and more colors
The Laptop Go 2 is also easier to fix than the prior model. The keyboard and trackpad, as well as the display and battery, are all meant to be changeable in addition to the SSD (though technically only by Microsoft-certified personnel and not necessarily end users).
The SSD is a replaceable component, much like it was on the original Surface Laptop Go. However, the keyboard, trackpad, display, and battery (as well as some cabling) may now be replaced more readily for more convenient repairs.
Even better, the laptop now comes in a fourth colour: a metallic sage green. Ice Blue (light blue), Sandstone (metallic pink), and Platinum are the other colours available (silver).
