Microsoft announces Surface Laptop Go 2

Microsoft has refreshed its budget-friendly Surface Laptop Go to the second generation. The Surface Laptop Go 2 now comes with an upgraded processor and a slightly higher price.

Some call it boring and some call it clean, but the Surface Laptop Go 2 skips all the fancy decals and delivers a down-to-earth clamshell design. Like the generation before it, the Surface Laptop Go 2 is still crafted using premium materials –aluminum, polycarbonate composite resin, and post-consumer recycled content–and is as solid as a rock, according to Microsoft. And with a compact 12.4-inch PixelSense touch display and weighing a mere 1.13 kilograms, it makes for a great travel productivity device.

Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 2 specifications

While the Surface Laptop Go 2 continues the minimalist tradition, it still comes with a USB-C port, a USB-A port, a 3.5mm headphone jack (wow), and a Surface Connect port. For users who need HDMI and other essential ports, Microsoft offers the Surface Dock that connects to the Surface port. If the dock’s high price is unappealing, then there are many USB-C dongles available.

The big upgrade in this generation is the processor. The Surface Laptop Go 2 now uses Intel’s 11th gen Core i5-1135G7 mobile processor, replacing the 10th gen Intel Core i5-1035G1 in the previous generation. In addition to using the faster Willow Cove core architecture, the 11th gen processor also comes with the newer Intel Iris Xe graphics. Since it’s designed as an everyday device, the Surface Laptop Go 2 still isn’t going to blaze through triple-A games, but its upgraded hardware will run Minecraft a little smoother.

Another notable change is that Microsoft has finally increased the base storage from the anemic 64GB eMMC on the previous generation to a 128GB SSD. This is an absolutely welcoming change. It’s 2022 and 64GB simply doesn’t cut it for anything anymore. For memory, the consumer version maxes out at 8GB of LPDDR4 memory. Enterprise customers, however, can bump that to 16GB.

For security, the Surface Laptop Go 2 boasts “enterprise-grade” protection, with Windows Hello sign-in, One Touch sign-in with a fingerprint power button, and a discrete hardware TPM for the commercial variant.

Supporting remote work is a 720p webcam and two excellent far-field studio mics. Microsoft also quotes the battery life at 13.5 hours on a single charge. It says the device can be charged to 80 per cent battery capacity in about an hour.

Consumer versions of the laptop come with Windows 11 Home. Commercial devices have the option of either Windows 11 Pro or Windows 10 Pro.

The Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 2 will be available on June 7 on Microsoft Store starting at C$740, C$50 more than the starting price of the previous generation. The higher starting price is justified by the faster and roomier storage as well as the increased performance.