Microsoft’s Surface Laptop Go 2 could be here in the next couple of months, according to the latest speculation – and while the rumors on the upgrades aren’t all that exciting, there’s some positive news on the pricing front.
Zac Bowden of Windows Central (opens in new tab) claims that word from his sources is that Microsoft is getting ready to launch the Surface Laptop Go 2, and that the laptop will ship in the first half of 2022.
That means it could debut possibly in May or June, though Bowden reckons it’s most likely to be the latter – unless the current planned timeframe slips (which is, of course, always a possibility around launch timing).
Rumor has it that Microsoft intends to keep the pricing the same while (obviously) upgrading the hardware. In other words, the Surface Laptop Go 2 should start from $549 for the most basic version, with the pricing for upper-end models also staying the same.
What’s going on with the hardware upgrades, then? Bowden believes that the laptop will shift up a gear to Intel’s 11th-gen silicon (Core i5), with the entry-level model maintaining the same RAM and storage configuration, namely 4GB plus 64GB of eMMC.
The two higher-tier models will have the fingerprint sensor and power-up the RAM to 8GB plus storage to 128GB or 256GB respectively (SSDs, not eMMC drives), with pricing pitched at $699 and $899 just as before. If pricing stays the same in the UK and Australia, that would mean price tags of £549 / £699 / £899 and AU$999 / AU$1,249 / AU$1,549.
Analysis: If it ain’t broke, pep it up a bit
It’s exciting to hear that a next-gen Surface Laptop Go could be on the near horizon, seeing as the original laptop caused quite a splash when it landed back in October 2020. Indeed, in our review we praised it as the best Surface device Microsoft has ever made, delivering all sorts of high-quality elements – particularly that gorgeous display – as part of an affordable portable.
Performance was one of the areas where we were more critical of the original Surface Laptop Go, and stepping up to a 12th-gen Core i5 chip (from an 11th-gen) will help out on this front.
It’s also worth noting that an additional ripple in the rumor pond is that Bowden heard from one source that the entry-level Surface Laptop Go 2 might up its storage game to 128GB, which would be a very useful boost for this cheapest model. Then again, this could possibly be referring to the business-targeted version of the sequel, not the base consumer model, so take it with a particularly heavy pinch of salt.
While this is more of a minor refresh, of course, and nothing much about the overall design is supposedly going to change – save for a new color option (sage) – some pepping up on the hardware front is all that’s needed, really.
As far as the design goes, as they say, if it ain’t broke, there’s no need to fix it (although Bowden observes that a backlit keyboard might be nice, and this could yet be an upgrade Microsoft is implementing – though the low price point may yet preclude this, at the entry-level anyway).
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