Thoughts on the Surface Go price?

[AgentTheGreat]

The newly announced Surface Go starts at $399. Do you think the price is right, too high or too low?

Microsoft could make a bigger impact by throwing in the TypeCover or pen.
The downside of every Surface is that it doesn't include the keyboard which is definitely necessary to make the device usable.

I think the price is too high if there is no cover.

 

[augustaville]

I think the price is in line with the other Surface offerings. This gives other OEMs some room to have lower cost alternatives.

 

[mwright53]

$350 would sound good. Otherwise, I'm waiting to see what happens with the next ARM chip.

 

[HeyCori]

Waiting to see those benchmarks on that chip! It'll be interesting to see how it compares both in processing power and gaming capabilities. (though I imagine a decisive win for the iPad's GPU)

 

[Denwp58]

For me, it's much too expensive and it's a-no-go (!). $400 should be the price tapcover included at the maximum.

I know they compare themselves with iPad, while it would make sense to look at the Chromebook market:
I just bought a very good Acer 11 with touchscreen and all for $200+.
OK it's not a 2-1 but it's a great laptop.
As a father, why should I spend $400 for a tablet, while you have to cash more to add up a keyboard?

Look at the competitors of the Surface Pro who are able to produce 1st class clones only at a fraction of the Surface tablet price - only that they throw in keyboard and stylus.

I don't really understand how Microsoft hopes to enter the masses market at an elite price?

 

[Biff Henderson]

For my use, it is going to be a remote control for home automation. It is an excellent price. All I need it to do is run a web page.

 

[dsharp75]

$400 is mac like premium pricing for the education market. $400 would be ok if it included the keyboard and stylus. Or at worst, one or the other. $300 is the education sweet spot btw according to market research; people are willing to forgo at $200 crappy chromebook and spend the extra $100 to get a real computer, but not a bottom basement one spec wise, when you can get essentially 10 times the hd space (500 GB) with a keyboard in any budget laptop under $400 right now. The pricing is for R&D and premium status - except there is no r&d needed and the bezels and lack of lte by default do not make it premuim. I love Surface, but this is uninspired, a year too late and overpriced. Sorry, but fail.

 

[Peter Rokeby]

There are no comparable Windows tablets on the market so it's tough to compare... That said I think the price is reasonable. I imagine if the economics made sense they would have "thrown in" the accessories. Very often, from cameras to cars, products are reverse engineered from a price point. Microsoft feels the necessary entry point is sub $400. Now, what do we need to take out to hit that price and still have a viable business. The secondary target for this is business so Hello IR camera and NFC stay. If it had GPS Microsoft would already have my order.

 

[darrell reimer]

Too expensive. Kids use Chromebooks in schools. When you add the type cover cost to the tablet cost, you are paying more than twice the cost of a mid range Chromebook. (in Canada, actually almost 3 times the cost)

 

[YeahRrright]

If it would have included the pen and the keyboard, then it would have been fine. Otherwise it is an overpriced garbage.

 

[ajcletus500]

The newly announced Surface Go starts at $399. Do you think the price is right, too high or too low?

I find all of the surface products to be at least $100 expensive. But when on sale its the prefect time to buy

 

[Prince of 336]

$150 upcharge would have been more palatable at $100 for the 8gb version

 

[anon(9476064)]

The newly announced Surface Go starts at $399. Do you think the price is right, too high or too low?

I think it's still too expensive.
In order to have something you can actually use you'll need the 8GB RAM option, and besides that, to have this thing without the keyboard and the pen is useless too, so you'll need to add $200 for that too which makes it $749 While the Surface pro i5/8GB/128GB+platinum signature type cover bundle is $799. ok, add the pen for $99 and it's $898. so for let's say $150 more you get soooo much more. Never will I spend that money on the Go. If you have just $399 to spend, buy an iPad!!! you'll even have some money to spend on accessories.

 

[SvenJ]

People who don't appreciate quality always say it costs too much. Buy cheap if you want cheap. The build quality is what drives the price up, much like the PixelBook. They did skimp a bit on the processor and RAM type to get the price down as much as they could, but if that bothers you, upgrade. We're not even sure it's a problem at this point. My Surface 3 with eMMC and an Atom still runs acceptably with the latest insidr bits on it. For me the Surface quality at a smaller size is what sells it. I'll be getting one to take over from my Surface 3, but am waiting for LTE. As far as bundling a keyboard and/or pen, that wouldn't come without a price increase, and then people would be complaining they don't need it so it should be cheaper. That happened for the original Surface RT. It was bundled with a black keyboard and folks complained. For this you can buy a $30 BT keyboard and a third party pen if you think the MS ones are too pricey.

 

[shaunydub]

I think it's reasonable for the tech but not low enough to establish market share and take away from iPad sales.

If they want to get customers to change eco system they need to make it attractive enough to do.
They should also make the keyboard and stylus part of a bundle or maybe free for 5 months.

 

[tflash]

There are no comparable Windows tablets on the market so it's tough to compare... That said I think the price is reasonable. I imagine if the economics made sense they would have "thrown in" the accessories. Very often, from cameras to cars, products are reverse engineered from a price point. Microsoft feels the necessary entry point is sub $400. Now, what do we need to take out to hit that price and still have a viable business. The secondary target for this is business so Hello IR camera and NFC stay. If it had GPS Microsoft would already have my order.

The Acer Switch 3 is directly comparable to the Surface Go. It is on sale now for $399 with the keyboard and pen included. It's been out for a year and I got mine about a year ago. I won't buy the Surface Go because I already have something very similar. I would also like GPS, but I have Android devices to do that. IR camera for businesses is a gimmick because I.T. departments might only allow passwords like they do at my work.

 

[somerandombbusername]

The price for the tablet is right, but in Canada the keyboard is way too expensive ($160 / $530) = 30%!

Acer switch 3 is a better deal especially with turbo boost up to 2.5Ghz compared to the Go's flat 1.6Ghz.

 

[tflash]

The price for the tablet is right, but in Canada the keyboard is way too expensive ($160 / $530) = 30%!

Acer switch 3 is a better deal especially with turbo boost up to 2.5Ghz compared to the Go's flat 1.6Ghz.

The Switch 3 screen isn't as good as the Go, but everything else is as good or better. It has a USB-C and a USB-A although the USB-C doesn't support Aux mode for DP or PD.

 

[realwarder]

I would like to see a $499 bundle including keyboard and pen. That would make it attractive.

$399 for the tablet only is ok assuming the battery lasts say 8 hours of Internet and Netflix. If it's only say 5 hours then it's missed the mark in more major ways than the price.

 

[realwarder]

For comparison, you can get something like this today: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...tml/BI/20079/KBID/13844/SID/UUwpUvbUpU3753289

Mixed reviews, but when you factor in the keyboard you're looking at $499 vs $288.

Sure, the Go likely has a slightly faster CPU, a better quality screen and pen potential. But they're not that far apart otherwise. T101 even claims 11 hours battery vs 9.

I guess the Go is about half the weight too. To get that, the engineering quality is much higher and it will feel more amazing in your hand.

As I said above, $399 for the tablet is ok.