Microsoft Surface Laptop Go

Price: £899 (inc VAT) from fave.co/3ll5NPj

The Surface Laptop Go is Microsoft’s second try at an affordable Surface, and it hits the mark better than the original Surface Go tablet did. It still offers compromises, with strategic cuts to keep the price competitive with a Chromebook. Still, they’re mostly smart decisions – even a sub-1080p display and Windows 10 in S Mode didn’t turn us off. Although the Surface Laptop Go lacks the easy expansion of some competing laptops, it’s otherwise a solid budget offering.

Still, be picky in what you consider buying. We wouldn’t recommend the Surface Laptop Go’s minimum £549 configuration, but the middle £699 option (which we didn’t test) seems like the best bang for the buck. At £899, the 12.5in Surface Laptop Go review unit we tested bobs up to the very top of the ‘budget’ category, though it shows off this new product at its best.

PRICE

£549: Core i5/4GB RAM/64GB SSD

£699: Core i5/8GB RAM/128GB SSD

£899: Core i5/8GB RAM/256GB SSD

While that £549 starting price is appealing, the basic Core i5/4GBRAM/64GB configuration should probably be passed over in favour of more powerful options. The £699 Core i5/8GB RAM/128GB SSD (which we haven’t tested) appears to offer the most value of all the Surface Laptop Go configuration, especially when paired with Microsoft’s OneDrive cloud storage.

It’s a better deal than our review unit, given the £200 premium Microsoft charges for an additional 128GB worth of storage. Unlike the Surface Pro X or Surface Laptop 3, the SSD does not appear to be user-accessible, leaving upgrades out of the picture.

SOLID BUILD QUALITY

Our Surface Laptop Go review unit was the new Ice Blue configuration, which looks a lot less blue than Microsoft’s imagery would suggest. In fact, the chassis looks almost like the Sandstone colour under the right light, but with a deeper blue paint coating the keyboard. The lid is made of anodized aluminium, but the keyboard deck and base are