June 10, 2022

Secure, fast and fabulous: What’s new with the Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 2?

Mia Chen-Wong
Microsoft Surface Solution Specialist
When you consider what you want from a laptop, you might prioritise performance, battery life, security, and, if you’re honest, the look and feel of the product. For anyone working on the go, whether a student or a business executive, weight is surely a factor. After all, nobody wants to carry around the equivalent of a breeze block in their bag. Microsoft’s device range has won a hoard of new fans over the past few years, but will the keenly anticipated arrival of the new Surface Laptop Go 2 live up to the popularity of its predecessors?

Dream big, travel light

Unboxing the latest Microsoft laptop is a more colourful affair, with sage green added to the existing platinum, ice blue and sandstone options. The weight (or lack thereof) is immediately noticeable, at just 1,124 grams – even the most mobile of users will escape the threat of back and neck pain from carrying it all day. Microsoft seems to have really hit their stride in external design, with a sleek, cool metal finish that combines premium looks with durability.

With the box checked for looking great, how about what’s inside? A lot of the updates focus on a comfortable experience. For hybrid workers in particular, the transition between working at a desk with an external keyboard and working on a rather undersized laptop keyboard can cause typing accuracy to plummet. This isn’t a problem with a full-size keyboard and generous track pad that will be more comfortable than many of the Surface Laptop Go 2’s competitors.

Sleek, light, on-the-go performance

The screen design that was popular with the Surface Laptop Go 2’s predecessor will undoubtedly keep existing fans happy. The 3:2 ratio and 18% more vertical real estate than most laptops make for a perfectly scaled view of anything from Word documents to websites. There have been further improvements to the touchscreen capability, which is sensitive and responsive, and unsurprisingly optimised for Windows 11 touch experiences. In other words, if you spend much of your working life using Microsoft 365 – and who doesn’t? – your experience will only be enhanced using the Surface Laptop Go 2.

Through the last couple of years, collaboration apps, such as Microsoft Teams, have been a mainstay, so it stands to reason that most users are keen to get a smooth online meeting experience. While it might be unable to prevent unplanned appearances by errant toddlers or curious pets, Microsoft’s latest addition does include an improved HD camera and Dolby audio to help you look and sound your best on video calls – and seriously, who doesn’t secretly enjoy seeing their colleagues momentarily flustered by the unscheduled guest appearance of Fluffy the cat?

Of course, all the thoughtful new features are nothing unless the laptop can keep pace with you all day. The Surface Laptop Go 2 has added faster performance, in the form of an 11th Gen Intel® Core i5 processor, so if you’re one of those users who has a bunch of apps running at once, it won’t come to a grinding halt. In fact, for something so light and attractive, it is a beast when it comes to working under pressure. The battery, too, has been upgraded, with up to 13.5 hours, and incredibly fast charging for anyone planning an all-nighter to meet that important deadline. Just don’t forget to schedule a little downtime afterwards.

More hustle, less hassle with Windows 11

Security should inevitably be a preoccupation with portable devices, and most manufacturers have been working on raising the bar here. In the case of the Surface Laptop Go 2, you can expect password-free simplified security, in the form of a fingerprint power button in conjunction with Windows Hello, and robust chip-to-cloud security capability. As a secured core device, the laptop gets all the advantages of Windows 11 security, giving higher grade protection for anyone working with sensitive data.

Given the Surface Laptop Go 2 is designed for an enhanced Windows 11 experience, with particular attention to hybrid workers, it undoubtedly is at an advantage: Microsoft’s product developers have clearly mastered the art of collaboration between software and hardware teams. When you add in the expertise of Data#3’s expert Microsoft Surface device team, it is a combination that would be very hard to beat.

Want to see the Surface Laptop Go 2 for yourself? As us for a demo today.

Let a Data#3 Surface Solution Specialist show you why the Surface Laptop Go 2 is the perfect addition to your device fleet!