I bought my #Microsoft Surface Go at #MSIgnite in September this year, and I reckoned it’s a good time to give you some feedback. I’m a #BikerChick which means I carry everything on my back, so yes, size matters. Let’s see how this baby has behaved herself:

Let’s first create some awareness. I have way to many awesome men in my life that I want to be around when I grow old.

More about Movember:

STOP MEN DYING TOO YOUNG

Sign up to raise funds and awareness for all the dads, brothers, sons and friends in your life. Together we can make a difference for men’s health – in prostate cancer, testicular cancer, mental health and suicide prevention. Click here to learn more or register (ZA link, should reroute to your region).

My Microsoft Surface Go:

Of course I’m the biggest Microsoft Fan, but I’ll be fair when it comes to my laptops. The last non-Microsoft laptop I worked on that I really loved was an Asus. Very sexy “Mac-looking” thing.  I do have a Macbook and I still have the Surface Pro 4 as well as the Surface Laptop and I LOVE them both.

My Surface Go is the 8Gb RAM, 128Gb SSD, which I reckon makes all the difference. I knew this was not going to be a high performance machine so I decided to go for the top of the range model.

I did not buy this machine for a toy, to watch Netflix or for reading emails on the plane. This is a working machine. As I ride motorcycles most days to clients, and the rest of the time is spent on planes travelling the world, I wanted a machine that was small, light and did the job.

And so she does…

I’ve already traveled to Paris for the #MWCP18 conference and did not only finalize my presentation, but also presented from my Go.

For the last 4 weeks I’ve been travelling all over SA training at Colleges, on my Go. My training is on Office 365, cloud and desktop apps, so no virtual machines or crazy resources necessary. And it really has been a pleasure.

What you should know:

Operating System – I upgraded from the Windows 10 S to normal Windows 10 with no issues regarding performance. I prefer the full Windows as I have control over the apps I want to use. Which includes Microsoft Teams which I couldn’t install on the 10 S.

USB-C – so you’ll need an adapter, see below.

Battery Life – It’s shorter than stated in the specs, I get about 3 to 4 hours power training and multi-tasking.

Size – She’s about as big as 3 smartphones – that’s pretty awesome and weighs nearly nothing. At 520 grams it’s not much more than my phone that I carry around in my hand every day (180 grams).

Display – Of course the screen is small, and for training and conferences it’s perfect as I’m hooked up to projectors. Have to admit though, I’m writing this post now on the Go, and I’m not struggling at all with the screen or keyboard size.

Power Supply – It has an interesting “American” collapsible charger, so you’ll need an adapter if you don’t use the same plugs. It’s a fixed unit so you can’t just change the butterfly power cord section as I did with my other surface power supplies.

See below the USB-C Multiport and Power Adapter:

Hope this helped you make a decision. I still have powerful machines at home, but in the end, I absolutely love my Microsoft Go as my travel and train machine!! 🙂

Here’s the Technical Specifications to get you interested:

Dimensions 9.65” x 6.9” x 0.33” (245 mm x 175 mm x 8.3 mm)
Display Screen: 10” PixelSense™ Display
Resolution: 1800 x 1200 (217 PPI) resolution
Aspect ratio: 3:2
Contrast ratio: 1500:1
Touch: 10 point multi-touch
Corning®Gorilla® Glass 3
Memory 4GB or 8GB RAM
Processor Intel®Pentium® Gold Processor 4415Y
Security TPM 2.0 for enterprise security
Enterprise-grade protection with Windows Hello face sign-in
Software Windows 10 Home in S mode
Microsoft Office 365 Home 30-day trial
Sensors Ambient light sensor
Accelerometer
Gyroscope
Magnetometer
What’s in the box Surface Go
Power Supply
Quick Start Guide
Safety and warranty documents
Weight Wi-Fi: Starting at 1.15 lbs (522 g), not including Type Cover*
LTE Advanced5: Starting at 1.17 lbs (532g), not including Type Cover*
Network (LTE Advanced models)5 Nano SIM Tray
4G LTE Advanced (Bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 13, 17, 19, 20, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 38, 39, 40, 41, 66)
GPS/GLONASS: Standalone and assisted GNSS, accuracy up to 3 meters
Storage eMMC drive: 64GB
Solid-state drive (SSD): 128GB
Battery life Wi-Fi: Up to 9 hours of video playback
LTE Advanced5: Up to 8.5 hours of battery life for local video playback1
Graphics Intel® HD Graphics 615
Connections 1 x USB-C
3.5 mm headphone jack
1 x Surface Connect port
Surface Type Cover Port4
MicroSDXC Card Reader
Compatible with Surface Dial*
Cameras, video, and audio Windows Hello face authentication camera (front-facing)
5.0MP front-facing camera with 1080p Skype HD video
8.0MP rear-facing autofocus camera with 1080p HD video
Single microphone
2W stereo speakers with Dolby® Audio™ Premium
Wireless Wi-Fi: IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac compatible
Bluetooth Wireless 4.1 technology
Exterior Casing: Magnesium
Color: Silver
Physical buttons: Volume, Power
Warranty 1-year limited hardware warranty
Best-in-class support from Microsoft Store 30-day return policy
90 days of free technical phone support
12 months in-store support and technical assistance
1 free training session to transfer data and optimize performance

Resources:

I’ll be speaking at The European SharePoint, Office 365 & Azure Conference in Copenhagen, 26 – 29th of November. #ESPC18 @EuropeanSP Also honored to be a community reporter at the event. Hoping to see you there!

“You can also find me contributing to REgarding 365. I’m a member of a group of enthusiasts, sharing their stories, thoughts and opinions about Microsoft 365. Catch us at https://regarding365.com | @regarding365 on Twitter and regarding365 on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/regarding365 ”

Disclaimer:  I create content about Office / Microsoft 365. Content is accurate at time of publication, however updates and new additions happen daily which could change the accuracy or relevance. Please keep this in mind when using my blogs as guidelines.

New Initiative:

Every couple of months I’m going to travel to a new country, rent a motorcycle, and travel to as many communities as possible, for 15.2 days. Purpose would be to create awareness around Digital Literacy and give users an overview of Office 365 Apps and Services and how it can transform their lives. I’ll do video and written blogs to capture and share my journey and experiences.

Feedback would be crucial, and I’ll be using Microsoft Forms & Flow to gather valuable feedback for myself and Microsoft. I will be inviting other community members to join me on my journey when I’m in their respective areas.

Of course it wouldn’t be possible without sponsorship to help support this cause. Reach out if you’re interested on getting involved in any way, here’s a link to a Microsoft Form that can be completed:  https://bit.ly/2LaQBRQ