Surface Laptop Go 2: Everything we know about the Microsoft laptop

Here is everything you need to know about the upcoming Surface Laptop Go 2, including the specs and release date rumours.

The first-generation model of the?Surface Laptop Go?came out two years ago, with Microsoft choosing to launch other Surface products, such as the?Surface Pro 8,?Surface Duo 2?and?Surface Laptop Studio, last year.

Seeing as we’ve been waiting two years for the next Laptop Go update, we wouldn’t be surprised if the next-generation laptop was launched sometime this year, which could only be a few months away.

So, without further ado, keep reading to find out everything we know about the Surface Laptop Go 2, and make sure you bookmark this page, as we will be updating it every time new information comes out.

Release date

The Laptop Go range only has one iteration so far, so we can’t really look back on the previous releases for a reference point. If it does launch this year, we may see it come out in April or May, as?WindowsCentral?reported that Microsoft is planning to ship minor refreshes to its products around that time.

Pricing

Again, the only model we can look back to is the original Laptop Go, which launched at ￡549/$549. Unless Microsoft decides to commit to some major upgrades, we would expect that the next laptop will launch for around the same price point.

Specs and features

There aren’t too many rumours circulating about the Surface Laptop Go 2, but some are saying that the laptop won’t look too dissimilar to the last model, with the same 12.4-inch display and the same build.

The same?WindowsCentral?article claims that the laptop will also keep the same port selection and may still omit backlit keys, which was one of the biggest issues with the predecessor’s design, as it limits its use in darker environments.

If the Laptop Go 2 does stick with the exact same design, that means that there won’t be any support for?Thunderbolt 4, as the original laptop came with only?USB-C?and USB-A ports, alongside the headphone jack. Thunderbolt 4 is significant for next-gen devices as it allows users to support up to two 4K displays at once and can support up to 40Gbps data transfer.

If the Laptop Go 2 does not support Thunderbolt, it will limit the uses of the device and may turn off people who are looking for quick hardware data transfer speeds or want to move 4K video footage between their devices.

Moving onto the operating system, we would expect that the Laptop Go 2 will run on?Windows 11?straight out of the box, seeing as all-new Surface PCs are making the move over to Microsoft’s latest OS.

Looking at the internals, we would hope to see Microsoft include the latest 12th-generation?Alder Lake?CPUs from Intel as it will give the device a boost in performance over its predecessor, based on our experience reviewing this chipset in other devices.

Plus, Intel has been developing new?Intel Arc?Alchemist?GPUs?for laptops, which were unveiled on 30 March. Though nothing has been confirmed, we could see the inclusion of the latest graphics card if Microsoft is looking to boost up the specs of the Laptop Go, even though these updates will likely hike up the middling price.

The?Microsoft Surface YouTube channel?recently uploaded a new video on the ‘Right to Repair’ rules, which could apply to the Surface Laptop Go 2 at launch, even if the video was focusing on the?Surface Laptop SE.

Finally, AMD has officially released its next generation of laptop processors, the?Ryzen 6000 Series, which was announced at?CES 2022. AMD laptop chips have become more mainstream in recent years, with devices from Dell, Lenovo and Asus coming with AMD chips last year, so Microsoft would be in good company if it decided to include it in its new Surface range.

However, it’s important to note that the original Surface Laptop Go was pretty inexpensive considering what it was capable of, coming in as one of the?best student laptops?we reviewed last year thanks to its great value. If Microsoft is hoping to keep this trend, we may see the Laptop Go 2 launch with lower-end specs to keep the price down, though nothing has been confirmed yet.

Right now, there is little concrete information on the Surface Laptop Go 2, with no confirmation from Microsoft about what the device will look like or when it will launch. Once we know more about the next Microsoft laptop we will be sure to update this article, so stay tuned if you want to know more about the release date, specs and pricing.

Trusted Take

Since there is little definitive information on the Surface Laptop Go 2, it’s hard to make any claims on how successful it will be at launch.

If Microsoft is aiming to keep the price down, we may see the issues from the original Laptop Go crop up again, like the underwhelming screen quality and lack of a backlit keyboard. But it seems like the company is designing this lineup with students in mind, as the rumoured specs don’t suggest that it will be a particularly powerful machine compared to other Surface devices, such as the Surface Laptop Studio.

We will have to wait a little longer to see what the Laptop Go 2 is truly capable of, I just hope that Microsoft can balance the affordability aspect with any necessary performance improvements that will make this a worthwhile purchase for customers.