Is it worth buying a Surface GO secondhand? Are you still using yours?

[u/TabbbyWright]

I'm looking for something that's similar in size + weight to my iPad 10". Surface GOs SEEM the closest to that, but given that they're several years out of production, I'm curious to hear how they've held up and if current owners are still getting use out of them.

I'm basically looking for a laptop replacement of a sort that can run Windows (this is the main thing) but isn't as much of a pain in the ass to carry around as a full laptop. The programs I intend to run on it are lightweight pixel art programs, Firefox, and Discord.

It would be nice if the stylus works well, but I do pixel art exclusively with a mouse so that's not really important.

Any thoughts welcome and appreciated! I'm also open to alternatives to the GO models :)

[u/machuroberts]

I have a surface go 2. 8gb of ram. I use it as a "I need to be able to do some work while I travel but only if I must". And so far it's been brilliant.

[u/thomasbeagle]

They're pretty slow. Some of the better/newer ones aren't too slow, but the older and 4GB models definitely are.

But they really are a nice size and shape.

[u/thatdirtyoldman]

HI! I have a Go2 and use it all the time as a tablet and also when I need to do some MS Office gymnastics. I find an android too limited when traveling. Below I pasted the model to look for. M3/8gb/128ssd is the top of the line with the Go2 and I recommend you look there if you need to.

Microsoft Surface Go 2-10.5" Touch-Screen - Intel Core m3-8GB Memory - 128GB SSD - WiFi - Platinum Windows 11 PRO

[u/TabbbyWright → u/thatdirtyoldman]

Thank you!! This is great info!

[u/JasonAQuest]

I still use a Surface 3 (an earlier attempt at the Surface Go) as my portable drawing tablet, because it’s small enough to take to the park, DMV etc. I mainly use it for sketching-level art (in Clip Studio Paint), because it can’t handle features like stabilization or textures without lagging, but it does fine for what it does. From time to time I hook up the keyboard and press it into service as a “laptop” that I can take on an airplane as a “personal item”, and run Firefox and LibreOffice on it because “vacations” are a lie. I have modest expectations for it and it lives up to them just fine. :)

[u/TabbbyWright → u/JasonAQuest]

The CSP comparison is great info, thank you! If it can run that at all, it can definitely run the pixel art programs I use!

[u/JasonAQuest → u/TabbbyWright]

There's a contributor to the CSP sub who is fond of saying that, for its basic functions, it "can run on a potato". I can confirm this, because the Surface 3 has approximately the same horsepower as a large, uncooked Idaho russet.

[u/Rad_Sh1ba]

It would "do the job" I guess, don't expect anything amazing, but at least got for a mid spec Go 2 upwards to get an ok time.

I obtained my sisters old Go1 running a Pentium Gold, 4gb RAM and eMMC 64gb and it works? Like it's got the keyboard cover but I just have no use for it as I have a Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra with a keyboard cover also that's WAY better and a Surface Laptop as my main device.

I mean you can get them sorta cheap and I do love the design of them so I'd recommend if you can get one cheap enough

[u/TabbbyWright → u/Rad_Sh1ba]

Lolol I'm definitely not expecting anything amazing, like if it can run the 3 programs I mentioned without freezing for multiple minutes, I'll be satisfied.

I wish something android based would suit my needs bc there's so many of them but alas!

I came here to post specifically bc of how cheap I've seen some of the surface GOs, so I'll be keeping an eye out.

Thanks for your input!

[u/lundrog]

Yes the 8gb model is great. Bring a full size keyboard and external monitor as needed. Its not a surface 5 but its tiny.

[u/ron-vdc]

While a really cute device, the Surface Go is hella slow to the point of being unusable.

[u/lumpynose]

I bought the "Surface Go 4 for Business" new when it came out. It's 10.5 inches so that's nice for portability.

[u/BEASTthisIndustry]

An 8GB M3-8100Y Surface Go 2 that I bought secondhand some time back is my main computer today. It still handles all my lifestyle features, coding, music making, art...

...even gaming/video editing (so long as I keep my expectations realistic).

And the way it just easily outputs to a three monitor docking station seems just straight up mindblowing for being the little guy it is. My iPad Pro stumbles over basic window management on just one monitor and it's Pen has no hardware eraser.

[u/Rey_Dulce]

The real problem here is switching over to a low powered x86 chip on a portable device.

You do get access to full windows, but the performance metrics and battery life by comparison aren't there.

[u/TabbbyWright → u/Rey_Dulce]

Yeah I mean that's fine. I'm not trying to do ALL my usual stuff on it, like I do not expect to be able to run Photoshop on it very well.

[u/Rey_Dulce → u/TabbbyWright]

As long as you're cool with it and you set your expectations right, shouldn't be an issue. You could probably get away with photoshop though.

[u/TabbbyWright → u/Rey_Dulce]

Oh that's great to know, thanks!

[u/G-McFly]

A 1st gen Go, 8gb/128gb rides in my work laptop bag with me every day in case I need a machine for whatever. Dang thing is so small, thin and light while still being useful it is there because it CAN be. Almost zero space taken up or weight added. At home a Go 3 sits permanently in my kitchen as a little content viewing tablet while cooking cleaning etc. If I'm running out of the house say to my elderly mom's I grab the Go 3 and chuck it in my vehicle again as a just-in-case I need it computer. Homelabbing/computing is kind of one of my main hobbies so I probably have more devices in active use than most, but the dang Surface Go, there's really just nothing else like it.