The Surface Go is a 2-in-1 detachable in the

Microsoft Surface Microsoft Surface is a family of touchscreen-based personal computer, tablet, and interactive whiteboard hardware products designed and developed by Microsoft. The majority of them run the Windows operating system and use Intel processors. ...

series that was released on August 2, 2018. It was unveiled by

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

on July 10, 2018.Microsoft Devices Blog Surface Go article
/ref> It was the first generation of the Surface Go. In May 2020, the Surface Go was superseded by the Surface Go 2. The device runs Windows 10 Home in S-Mode and features a 5MP front facing camera, an infrared camera, 8 MP

rear camera A backup camera (also called a reversing camera or rear-view camera) is a video camera specifically designed to be attached to the rear of a vehicle to aid in reversing and reduce the rear blind spot. The rear blind spot has been described as a ...

, a NFC chip and a kickstand supporting an angle of up to 165°. The screen is a 3:2 optically-bonded PixelSense 1800×1200 display with a

density Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the ratio of a substance's mass to its volume. The symbol most often used for density is ''ρ'' (the lower case Greek letter rho), although the Latin letter ''D'' (or ''d'') can also be u ...

of 217 PPI and a full 180 degree viewing angle. The

Surface A surface, as the term is most generally used, is the outermost or uppermost layer of a physical object or space. It is the portion or region of the object that can first be perceived by an observer using the senses of sight and touch, and is ...

Go starts at US$399 and does not include a Type Cover or

Surface Pen The Surface Pen is an active stylus and digital pen developed by Microsoft for its series of Surface computing devices. It is designed to showcase the pen computing capabilities of Microsoft's Windows 8/ 8.1, Windows 10 and Windows 11 operatin ...

, which must be purchased separately. The Type Cover is offered in black, plus three options with Alcantara fabric—Burgundy, Cobalt Blue, and Platinum. The Type Cover also uses an 8-pin connection instead of the 6-pin connection featured in past Surfaces, breaking compatibility with other models.

Configuration

Features

* Surface Go has an

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and Delaware General Corporation Law, incorporated in Delaware. Intel designs, manufactures, and sells computer compo ...

Pentium Pentium is a series of x86 architecture-compatible microprocessors produced by Intel from 1993 to 2023. The Pentium (original), original Pentium was Intel's fifth generation processor, succeeding the i486; Pentium was Intel's flagship proce ...

Gold Processor 4415Y and Intel HD Graphics 615 GPU. Storage options are 64 GB, 128 GB, and 256 GB. * Surface Go can fully charge its battery in 2 hours. * Surface Go comes with a

headphone jack A phone connector is a family of cylindrically-shaped electrical connectors primarily for analog audio signals. Invented in the late 19th century for tele''phone'' switchboards, the phone connector remains in use for interfacing wired a ...

, a USB-C port, and a

microSD Secure Digital (SD) is a proprietary hardware, proprietary, non-volatile memory, non-volatile, flash memory card format developed by the SD Association (SDA). Owing to their compact size, SD cards have been widely adopted in a variety of port ...

card slot. * All configurations are also available with

Windows 10 Pro Windows 10 has several editions, all with varying feature sets, use cases, or intended devices. Certain editions are distributed only on devices directly from an original equipment manufacturer (OEM), while editions such as ''Enterprise'' and '' ...

for an additional US$50. * The 8.3 mm thick tablet weighs . *The Surface Go has either 4 GB or 8 GB of

RAM Ram, ram, or RAM most commonly refers to: * A male sheep * Random-access memory, computer memory * Ram Trucks, US, since 2009 ** List of vehicles named Dodge Ram, trucks and vans ** Ram Pickup, produced by Ram Trucks Ram, ram, or RAM may also ref ...

Hardware

The Surface Go is the 4th addition to small

lineup featuring a full-body magnesium alloy construction. The Surface Go is aimed toward children, students and schools. The device features a fanless Intel Pentium Gold processor inside.ARK , Intel Pentium Gold 4415Y Processor (2M Cache)
Ark.intel.com. Retrieved on 2018-07-09. For the first time, the device contains USB C port with power delivery, the first Surface device to support such port and a ''Surface Connect'' port. The front-facing camera contains an infrared sensor that supports login using

Windows Hello Windows 10 is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. The successor to Windows 8.1, it was released to manufacturing on July 15, 2015, and later to retail on July 29, 2015. Windows 10 was made available for download vi ...

.$499 4GB/128GB model perpetually out of stock?
/ref> The detachable keyboard, which is sold separately, uses an 8-pin connection which is compatible with the newer model.

Software

Surface Go comes pre-installed with Windows 10 Home in S Mode and a 30-day

trial In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribunal, w ...

Office 365 Microsoft 365 (previously called Office 365) is a product family of productivity software, collaboration and cloud-based services owned by Microsoft. It encompasses online services such as Outlook.com, OneDrive, Microsoft Teams, programs form ...

. With S Mode, users may only install software from

Windows Store The Microsoft Store (formerly known as the Windows Store) is a digital distribution platform operated by Microsoft. It was created as an app store for Windows 8 as the primary means of distributing Universal Windows Platform apps. With ...

. S Mode of the OS can be upgraded to Windows 10 Home for free or Windows 10 Pro for a fee. Windows 10 comes pre-installed with Mail, Calendar, People,

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand that consists of four main home video game console lines, as well as application software, applications (games), the streaming media, streaming service Xbox Cloud Gaming, and online services such as the Xbox networ ...

, Photos, Movies and TV, Groove,

Office An office is a space where the employees of an organization perform Business administration, administrative Work (human activity), work in order to support and realize the various goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a po ...

and

Edge Edge or EDGE may refer to: Technology Computing * Edge computing, a network load-balancing system * Edge device, an entry point to a computer network * Adobe Edge, a graphical development application * Microsoft Edge, a web browser developed by ...

. The device also supports

biometric Biometrics are body measurements and calculations related to human characteristics and features. Biometric authentication (or realistic authentication) is used in computer science as a form of identification and access control. It is also used t ...

facial recognition Facial recognition or face recognition may refer to: *Face detection, often a step done before facial recognition *Face perception, the process by which the human brain understands and interprets the face *Pareidolia, which involves, in part, seein ...

Timeline

References

External links

* * {{Microsoft Microsoft Surface Tablet computers introduced in 2018 2-in-1 PCs