 So, I review a lot of products and when I do I often think about who a thing is made for. So, take this Surface Go 2 right here. Who is this for? I have a bunch of guesses. I think it's for families that need a second computer for their kid who's now doing all of their schoolwork at home. I think it's for gadget heads who just want a tiny cool little computer. That's me by the way. But you know, I kind of hate breaking gadgets down like demographically. I hate saying if you want a touch screen and you want a tablet and if you need Windows and if you want a small computer or if you want to save money plus if you're a Virgo or if you're a Scorpio, look you get the idea. So, while I fit in the middle of one of those Venn diagrams for the Surface Go 2 because I love tiny computers and I know how to work within their many, many limitations, I don't think that the Go 2 works for the larger Venn diagram of you know, people who just want to use a computer. And I think I can explain why. So let's do that. Should we just get into it? We should just get into it. Let's get into it. Now, if you're unfamiliar with the Surface Go line, it is a tiny little tablet that is about the same size as an iPad or an iPad Air or an 11-inch iPad. It starts at $399 but nobody uses these things without a keyboard and the keyboards cost about $100 or you can spend $130 for the Alcantara version. So that's $500 for the base model with a keyboard which is about the same price as a basic iPad with a basic keyboard. And this thing is adorable. I love this hardware. Microsoft kept the exact same body size but they made the bezels on the screen a little bit smaller. They up the resolution a tad. It's now a 10.5-inch screen with a 1920 by 1280 resolution. There's still a kickstand on the back. There's a micro SD card slot. There's a couple of ports and there's a headphone jack. Hooray! Second to maybe the Surface Pro X, this is probably my favorite Microsoft hardware. Now the version I got here to review is the fancy pants version with a real Intel Core M3 processor instead of the Pentium Gold processor that comes on the base model. This has 8 gigs of RAM which really is what you want for Windows to not be a suffer fest. It also has a proper SSD while the base model has slower eMMC storage. Oh, also they threw LTE in this thing which means that all in with the keyboard, this model costs $860 which is just a little bit cheaper than an equivalently specced iPad Air with a keyboard. But look, it's still a lot of money for such a tiny computer. I keep bringing up the iPad because it's the same size as this but also because it's kind of the same idea. You get a tiny little portable tablet that can do a lot of things but not everything. There's always a compromise when you pay this little money and when you use a computer that's this little, you get stopped from doing what you want to do sometimes. Now with the iPad you're stopped from doing stuff mainly because either the apps aren't there or because the operating system just won't let you. But with the Surface Go 2 that's not a problem. You can install literally any Windows app that you want. Like here, I installed Photoshop. The full real Photoshop with every single Photoshop feature and I can just launch it. And well... See with the Surface Go 2, even my very fancy one here, the thing that stops you isn't the OS or the lack of apps, it's that it has a way lower ceiling for running multiple apps or very powerful apps. Another way of putting that is that it's slow but that's not exactly what I mean. See when you're just browsing with a few tabs or doing office app stuff or some email or watching Netflix and maybe not all that stuff all at once, then it's not a problem. At least on the Core M3 version of the Surface Go 2, it handles all of those tasks one by one just fine. Just you know, don't run Photoshop on this or edit video. I mean you can, I'm not looking at Photoshop right now but you really don't want to. But if you keep this thing within its limits, it is a super fun machine that gets the job done. But look, I still have a hard time with this little computer. Last year, I felt like that if Microsoft could fix three things with the original Surface Go, I could really buy into the idea of this device and even start recommending it. The first thing was screen size and that's fixed basically. I wish it got a little bit brighter and I wish the bezels were still even a little bit smaller but it's enough. The second thing is speed and that's sort of fixed as long as you're willing to spend the extra money on the Core M3 version. And the third thing was battery life. Right. So the battery on the Surface Go 2 is like 0.7 watt hours bigger than on the original Surface Go and that has meant point nothing in terms of longer battery life. It wasn't great last year and this year I'm barely getting through a whole workday. I'm talking like five or maybe six hours of battery life and I am not pushing it to get those five or six hours. I think that an ultra portable device should get ultra portable battery life and this just isn't. But say you could live with that. Should you? I keep coming back to that Venn diagram and all the or, ifs, ands, and who's and stuff. So say you want an inexpensive computer for your kids to use for school. That's kind of what Microsoft is pushing into commercials for this device. Okay but for 500 bucks you can get a Chromebook with really good specs that just flies. Would Chrome OS work for you? Or say your main thing is you want a really small tablet. Okay but an iPad is honestly going to be faster and have better battery life. Would iPad OS work for you? I mean how badly do you really need Windows? Okay say you really need Windows. I totally get that. But then how badly do you need a device that's this size? Because if you spend the 750 ish bucks for the faster Core M3 version of the Surface Go 2 with a keyboard, well you can get a used or a refurb Surface Pro 6 or 7 that's going to be way faster and have a bigger screen for basically the same amount of money and just a little bit more. So this thing is great but you need to ask yourself why you need this instead of a faster Chromebook, an iPad that works better as a tablet, a Surface Pro, or even an inexpensive Windows laptop from Dell or Lenovo or whoever. If you have good answers for why you don't want any of those things then hey, welcome to the center of the Venn diagram with me. We're going to make t-shirts and stuff. If you want a small tablet and it has to run Windows then lucky for you the Surface Go 2 does those two things fairly well. It is a nice tiny tablet but I think it only makes sense for a tiny number of people. I also think it's for gadget heads who just want a tiny cool... What am I doing?
 So, I review a lot of products and when I do I often think about who a thing is made
 for.
 So, take this Surface Go 2 right here.
 Who is this for?
 I have a bunch of guesses.
 I think it's for families that need a second computer for their kid who's now doing all
 of their schoolwork at home.
 I think it's for gadget heads who just want a tiny cool little computer.
 That's me by the way.
 But you know, I kind of hate breaking gadgets down like demographically.
 I hate saying if you want a touch screen and you want a tablet and if you need Windows
 and if you want a small computer or if you want to save money plus if you're a Virgo
 or if you're a Scorpio, look you get the idea.
 So, while I fit in the middle of one of those Venn diagrams for the Surface Go 2 because
 I love tiny computers and I know how to work within their many, many limitations, I don't
 think that the Go 2 works for the larger Venn diagram of you know, people who just want
 to use a computer.
 And I think I can explain why.
 So let's do that.
 Should we just get into it?
 We should just get into it.
 Let's get into it.
 Now, if you're unfamiliar with the Surface Go line, it is a tiny little tablet that is
 about the same size as an iPad or an iPad Air or an 11-inch iPad.
 It starts at $399 but nobody uses these things without a keyboard and the keyboards cost
 about $100 or you can spend $130 for the Alcantara version.
 So that's $500 for the base model with a keyboard which is about the same price as a basic iPad
 with a basic keyboard.
 And this thing is adorable.
 I love this hardware.
 Microsoft kept the exact same body size but they made the bezels on the screen a little
 bit smaller.
 They up the resolution a tad.
 It's now a 10.5-inch screen with a 1920 by 1280 resolution.
 There's still a kickstand on the back.
 There's a micro SD card slot.
 There's a couple of ports and there's a headphone jack.
 Hooray!
 Second to maybe the Surface Pro X, this is probably my favorite Microsoft hardware.
 Now the version I got here to review is the fancy pants version with a real Intel Core
 M3 processor instead of the Pentium Gold processor that comes on the base model.
 This has 8 gigs of RAM which really is what you want for Windows to not be a suffer fest.
 It also has a proper SSD while the base model has slower eMMC storage.
 Oh, also they threw LTE in this thing which means that all in with the keyboard, this
 model costs $860 which is just a little bit cheaper than an equivalently specced iPad Air
 with a keyboard.
 But look, it's still a lot of money for such a tiny computer.
 I keep bringing up the iPad because it's the same size as this but also because it's kind
 of the same idea.
 You get a tiny little portable tablet that can do a lot of things but not everything.
 There's always a compromise when you pay this little money and when you use a computer that's
 this little, you get stopped from doing what you want to do sometimes.
 Now with the iPad you're stopped from doing stuff mainly because either the apps aren't
 there or because the operating system just won't let you.
 But with the Surface Go 2 that's not a problem.
 You can install literally any Windows app that you want.
 Like here, I installed Photoshop.
 The full real Photoshop with every single Photoshop feature and I can just launch it.
 And well...
 See with the Surface Go 2, even my very fancy one here, the thing that stops you isn't the
 OS or the lack of apps, it's that it has a way lower ceiling for running multiple apps
 or very powerful apps.
 Another way of putting that is that it's slow but that's not exactly what I mean.
 See when you're just browsing with a few tabs or doing office app stuff or some email or
 watching Netflix and maybe not all that stuff all at once, then it's not a problem.
 At least on the Core M3 version of the Surface Go 2, it handles all of those tasks one by
 one just fine.
 Just you know, don't run Photoshop on this or edit video.
 I mean you can, I'm not looking at Photoshop right now but you really don't want to.
 But if you keep this thing within its limits, it is a super fun machine that gets the job
 done.
 But look, I still have a hard time with this little computer.
 Last year, I felt like that if Microsoft could fix three things with the original Surface
 Go, I could really buy into the idea of this device and even start recommending it.
 The first thing was screen size and that's fixed basically.
 I wish it got a little bit brighter and I wish the bezels were still even a little bit
 smaller but it's enough.
 The second thing is speed and that's sort of fixed as long as you're willing to spend
 the extra money on the Core M3 version.
 And the third thing was battery life.
 Right.
 So the battery on the Surface Go 2 is like 0.7 watt hours bigger than on the original
 Surface Go and that has meant point nothing in terms of longer battery life.
 It wasn't great last year and this year I'm barely getting through a whole workday.
 I'm talking like five or maybe six hours of battery life and I am not pushing it to get
 those five or six hours.
 I think that an ultra portable device should get ultra portable battery life and this just
 isn't.
 But say you could live with that.
 Should you?
 I keep coming back to that Venn diagram and all the or, ifs, ands, and who's and stuff.
 So say you want an inexpensive computer for your kids to use for school.
 That's kind of what Microsoft is pushing into commercials for this device.
 Okay but for 500 bucks you can get a Chromebook with really good specs that just flies.
 Would Chrome OS work for you?
 Or say your main thing is you want a really small tablet.
 Okay but an iPad is honestly going to be faster and have better battery life.
 Would iPad OS work for you?
 I mean how badly do you really need Windows?
 Okay say you really need Windows.
 I totally get that.
 But then how badly do you need a device that's this size?
 Because if you spend the 750 ish bucks for the faster Core M3 version of the Surface
 Go 2 with a keyboard, well you can get a used or a refurb Surface Pro 6 or 7 that's going
 to be way faster and have a bigger screen for basically the same amount of money and
 just a little bit more.
 So this thing is great but you need to ask yourself why you need this instead of a faster
 Chromebook, an iPad that works better as a tablet, a Surface Pro, or even an inexpensive
 Windows laptop from Dell or Lenovo or whoever.
 If you have good answers for why you don't want any of those things then hey, welcome
 to the center of the Venn diagram with me.
 We're going to make t-shirts and stuff.
 If you want a small tablet and it has to run Windows then lucky for you the Surface Go
 2 does those two things fairly well.
 It is a nice tiny tablet but I think it only makes sense for a tiny number of people.
 I also think it's for gadget heads who just want a tiny cool...
 What am I doing?