The Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 2 finally gets rid of the awfully slow eMMC storage

Just a couple of days after a Korean retailer accidentally published a listing for the Surface Laptop Go 2, Microsoft has now made the laptop official. It sits below their regular premium Surface Laptop series, and goes head to head with the more budget options from other manufacturers.

At first glance, you might be thinking that it’s the exact same laptop as the original Surface Laptop Go from 2020. That’s because for the most part, Microsoft has retained a lot of the same with the Surface Laptop Go, with the same aluminum and polycarbonate composite chassis housing a 12.4-inch PixelSense Display. Its display has a 1536 x 1024 resolution in a 3:2 aspect ratio for a 148ppi pixel density, has a maximum brightness of 330nits and is touch sensitive too. The base of the laptop is also made of 30% postconsumer recycled material.

Under the hood though is where the biggest change with the Surface Laptop Go 2 can be seen. Gone is the 10th Gen Intel Core i5 chip, replaced with an 11th Gen Intel Core i5-1135G7 processor, which also means a small upgrade from Intel UHD to Intel Iris Xe graphics. It’s mated to up to 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM and up to 256GB of storage, though the base model will only have 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, up from the 64GB of storage its predecessor’s base model had. Crucially, it’s nice to see that Microsoft has finally ditched the awfully slow eMMC storage seen on the base model Surface Laptop Go, and instead uses just SSD storage for the Surface Laptop Go 2.

Another nice addition is that the SSD storage here is removable, meaning that you could get it fixed down the line if an issue arises, rather than having to turn the whole laptop into eWaste. That being said though, Microsoft says that the parts are not ‘user serviceable’, and recommends that only an authorised technician remove these parts. As you can probably expect with a Microsoft laptop, it comes with Windows 11 out of the box, complete with preloaded Microsoft 365 and Xbox apps together with a one month trial of Microsoft 365 and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.

Powering it meanwhile is a 41Whr battery that Microsoft says will last you 13.5 hours, up from the 13 hours the original Surface Laptop Go was good for. You’ll need to use its proprietary Surface Connect port for charging though, which sits together with a USB-C port, a USB-A port and a headphone jack on the sides of the display. Unfortunately, there seems to be no backlit keyboard still, though the fingerprint sensor remains on the power button on the models with 8GB of RAM.

Other features of note include an improved 720p webcam above the display, dual far-field Studio Mics and Omnisonic speakers with Dolby Audio. Microsoft also stated that, compared to the original, the Surface Laptop Go 2 has quieter, improved thermals for a cooler and more silent laptop. It measures 15.7mm thin and weighs just 1.12kg. The Surface Laptop Go 2 comes in Sage, Ice Blue, Sandstone and Platinum colourways.

As for pricing and availability, there’s no word just yet on when it’ll be launched in Malaysia, but according to Microsoft Malaysia it will be coming to Malaysia later this year. It is however already available for pre-order in other regions, with the base model Surface Laptop Go 2 with 4GB RAM and 128GB SSD storage costing USD599.99 (~RM2,635.76). It’s a little bit pricier than the USD549.99 the Surface Laptop Go started at, but the base model for that did have just 64GB of eMMC storage.

For USD699.99 (~RM3,075.06), you’ll get 8GB of RAM and a 128GB of SSD storage, while USD799.99 (~RM3,514.36) doubles the latter to 256GB of storage. In comparison, the Surface Laptop Go with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage launched with the same USD699.99 price, but the Surface Laptop Go with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage had a USD899.99 price tag, more than the similarly specced Surface Laptop Go 2.