Get on the train

On February 9, I suddenly received a message that it was a promotional activity of Microsoft Education Mall. The official 8+128 version of the Surface Go generation is only 1169 yuan.

In fact, there was no desire to buy at the beginning. Generally speaking, the tablet with a price of about 1000 yuan is out of our consideration (brand new):

Tablets at this price generally shrink as they can, with poor appearance and feel, barely viewable screen parameters, and storage particles slower than your mobile phone. All of these will lead to a poor use experience. It is better not to buy.

At first, I thought the same way, but I checked the parameters. After all, it was a surface, not a surface, and the original price was more than 3000 yuan.

After checking, it's really delicious. For us, we don't need the high performance of the tablet. After all, what we use most is to watch videos and games. The screen must be good, and the memory and hard disk should not be too stretched.

The high configuration version of Surface Go (8+128) has 8G LPDDR3 RAM, which is enough for today's Win10 in terms of lightweight experience. It is also a 128G SATA SSD, much better than the 4+64 eMMC 5.1.

The processor is the gold medal Pentium 4415Y, 2-core 4-wire 1.6Ghz, 2M L3 cache, TDP 6W, which is enough for lightweight use. No one really wants to run VS2019 on such a small computer.

Moreover, the screen parameters are very pleasing, rounding 1080p, 400 nits brightness, 100% sRGB color gamut coverage, and the average $ Delta E_ {2000} $1.3. Instantly felt that there was no electronic garbage.

This is a good deal. Place an order immediately. Microsoft will lose money and make money (fog

Special slow delivery

I don't know what Microsoft thinks. They sent us an EMS, but they sent us Shunfeng to our friends in Beijing. But it only takes us three hours from Hohhot to Beijing, and it is the coverage area of Shunfeng. I don't understand what Microsoft thinks.

The express will be delivered from the Suzhou warehouse of Microsoft, delivered on the 9th and collected on the 10th. It's only a dozen hours' drive from Suzhou to Hohhot, and the estimated time limit given by the EMS official is 2.5 days. I wanted to sigh that EMS is so competitive now, but I didn't expect

The express delivery did not move after it was collected on the 10th (New Year's Eve on the 11th), but our friends from Shunfeng arrived on New Year's Eve, and felt that something was wrong. It was not until the 14th day (the third day of the junior year) that new logistics information was available. It was sent from Suzhou to Hohhot, then from the 15th day to Hohhot, and the 16th day.

The express has spent a full year in the EMS warehouse, and the Spring Festival holiday in the distribution center was unexpected.

Unpacking

Maybe JD is used to buying electronic products. Usually, one box is thrown over. Microsoft sent us such a big box, but at the beginning, they were shocked. They thought that Microsoft sent 10 boxes to us by mistake.

What I think:
Boxes Boxes
Crate
Boxes Boxes

Actually:
Box box box box box box box
Box cushion cushion cushion cushion box
Box cushion plate cushion box
Box cushion cushion cushion cushion box
Box box box box box box box

After unpacking, there is a plain box officially renovated:

The parameter information is printed on the upper left corner of the back, and the flat panel, charger and instructions are in the packaging box, which is very economical Environmental protection.

However, it seems that the official renovation is not new enough. There is still a lot of dust visible to the naked eye after the original film is removed, and even the ash at the bottom is not cleaned.

It even looks a little like a small workshop renovation, and the seams have not been properly handled, but a thousand yuan is not enough for a bicycle.

Setup

Then it was initialized after we got it. The screen suddenly went black before Win 10 Setup was completed, but fortunately, there was no power, just to test the battery capacity.

The built-in Type-C port seems to support 45W PD power supply, with a pure charging power of 30W, and an additional 15W for system operation while charging.

By the way, Microsoft's own magnetic charger is 24W. Although it is slower, the magnetic charger is really convenient. I miss Magsafe (for Macbook) in heaven.

After a total of 26Wh of charging for the first time, 100% of the batteries will be charged. We have a great feeling. Did Microsoft forget to refurbish the batteries? Check the system power report.

 powercfg /batteryreport /output "batteryreport.html"

The battery life is only 68%. We are all stupid. However, @ ierwin said that the battery capacity would be reset only after another full charge and discharge, so he ran Windows Update and asked him to discharge the battery. The built-in system version is an old 1803. Windows is trying to upgrade to 1909 first. I have never seen such a long Windows Update list.

Then there was the long process of Windows Update, which was downloaded, installed, and restarted. The update was not completed until 5:00 p.m.

I don't know what's wrong with Microsoft's code. After the update, I didn't use the TPM to decrypt the hard disk successfully. I jumped to the interface for entering the recovery key.

We are stupid again. By default, Windows 10 Home is equipped with "device encryption" (special Bitlocker, because only Win 10 Pro provides Bitlocker function), and we are not allowed to print or backup the recovery key.

However, after a careful look, it seems that Microsoft automatically backed up the recovery key to the Microsoft account during the first setup. You can retrieve the key from the Microsoft account and enter the 48 digit recovery key. (40 bit key, 8 bit verification)

There are 8 groups of keys in 6 groups. Each group has an independent verification code. If you enter the key incorrectly, you will be prompted that the current group has entered an error. The experience is good.

Then it went through a long charging process, and a total of about 40Wh was charged. When the 15W system power consumption was dropped, about 26.4Wh was charged, which was close to the real capacity (design capacity 27Wh).

Retrieve the battery report, and the battery life is still more than 60%. However, according to the detailed report, the battery has been flushed to 150% this time, and the battery capacity is relatively normal. It should be just that the pure statistical data has not been updated (after two days, the capacity statistics returned to normal, and the battery health was 100%).

then... Windows Update has been stopped in 1909... can't get the latest updates Not to mention 20H2 and 21 H1, we can't even find them in 2004. Windows 10 has been updated across two or three major versions, just like a new system. We are not used to using the UI. (It's not our network problem)

But you have been reminding us that it's time to update. Hey!

I asked several friends, but two or three of them couldn't keep up with the latest update. So they simply upgraded themselves. Fido.ps1 downloaded the image from the official website, burned Rufus, shut down the security startup, and cleaned the partition. Finally, it kept up with 20H2 in 2021.

Then from Microsoft official website After downloading the surface driver and installing it, why can't we use the touch keyboard? Most absurdly, it is normal to touch the keyboard in the installation boot program. After the system is installed, it is abnormal to touch the keyboard. I thought there was something wrong with my image. I verified SHA1 and reinstalled it, but it still didn't work.

We have a bit of mentality collapse, and even intend to install it back Restore Mirror Continue to lie on 1909. However, with the last hope, another Windows Update check update was carried out. Another string of drivers to be installed. After more than an hour of Windows Update, touch the keyboard to return.

Does the official driver package loneliness? I didn't expect to encounter so many problems with Windows on Microsoft's own devices.

To sum up, if you want to keep up with the latest system updates, you can download the latest image package from the official website, and then print the official driver package after the installation is completed. Finally, you can open Windows Update, pay a visit to Turing and von Neumann, and look forward to the face of the founder, bless your Windows Update, and then sleep, Your Surface Go probably keeps up with the latest Windows system.

Getting started

It has been a whole day since I went through all kinds of things in front of me. I haven't even said that we have equipped him with a new TypeCover.

However, the keyboard has nearly half of the tablet money. How can you feel that you want to buy a casket and return a bead

The touch of Alcantara material is as good as ever. If you haven't used it, it is similar to the fuzzy touch of IKEA sharks. However, the sliding damping feeling is slightly larger, and the surface is not obviously fuzzy, but it is difficult to wipe when it is dirty.

The Go keyboard is the same as the Pro. The Microsoft logo is printed horizontally on the side. With the help of the keyboard axis, it looks like a book when it is erected.

The positioning of Surface Go is the same as his name. Go, roll Ah, no Go. So lightweight and compact has become the main goal.

Considering the weight of one and a half kilograms of keyboard, it is not even as big as an Introduction to Algorithms. What is portability, friends.

The keyboard continues the high-quality style of Microsoft. The key stroke is long enough, and the springback is clear and not sticky. It feels like a series of laptop keyboards are sold for every penny. The touchpad is not easy to use, but it is also excellent in Windows laptops. If you insist, the sliding damping feeling is slightly greater. I still like the big and smooth Macbook.

I didn't buy a Surface Pen because I had an iPad+Apple Pencil to take notes. In fact, even if we buy Surface Pro, we may not buy Pen, because Microsoft's pen ecosystem is not good. We don't draw, but use pens to take notes. Various note taking software on the iPad OS are everywhere. GoodNotes, Notability and OneNote are inferior to these software.

The logic of GoodNotes is to simulate an electronic notebook for you. It is a notebook first, and then has various electronic aids. The logic of OneNote is more like a big whiteboard for you, without so much assistance, what you draw depends on your own ability. I'm still not used to OneNote.

This difference also makes the difference between the users of Surface and iPad. Surface users still run more traditional Windows software, and they don't have special touch screen optimization. After all, UWP itself is still half dead; IPad users, on the other hand, use more "iPad software", a variety of software specially designed for tablets.

For us, the lack of a keyboard on the surface is always a problem, and the lack of a pen on the iPad is always a problem.

Thanks to Intel's excellent core display, when watching videos with Bilibili UWP client, 1080@60 GPU occupancy is basically 30%, 4K@60 It occupies about 60%, and can be played smoothly. More difficult 4K@120 The GPU occupancy rate is close to 100%. There is slight frame loss in places with high dynamic code rate, but it is also smooth. Although the screen refresh rate is not that high, the visual perception of videos with higher frame rates will be smoother.

Then there is the most used one: Galgame

The main reason for buying this tablet is its excellent screen quality and a pair of dual speakers that sound good. The Windows native RDP experience is also the best

Because 802.11ac is supported, you can also get a good experience by going wireless. The speed of the intranet is close to 500Mbps, and the delay is about 10ms (2m away from the router. The bottleneck is not the router. The Macbook can run to nearly gigabit speed). However, RDP also has a bit rate of about 20Mbps, which is completely sufficient.

In the case of using remote desktop, thanks to Microsoft's excellent RDP experience, the game is like running on a real machine.

The dynamic bit rate is about 15Mbps, which is sufficient for this resolution. Not only the picture, but also the sound and even the touch will be well synchronized, with a slight delay. But unless you listen carefully to the button sound, you can hardly feel it. When your RDP enters the host, the host will be locked and unable to operate, and the screen will not display content, just like a server.

The Windows host will automatically synchronize the screen settings of the tablet, such as resolution, zoom, etc., so that the remote computer can run like a native system. When you exit the remote desktop, the original system will recover as if nothing had happened.

By the way, the temperature will be close to 40 degrees if the machine is operated under high load for a long time, which is slightly hot. It's better not to cover it all the time when using it.

make a concise evaluation

After so much talk, I finally got back to the point.

Is Surface Go worth buying? At the original price, we probably won't, but at the price of more than 1000 yuan, the hardware experience is completely consistent with this price. For tablets, the use experience is not just heap parameters, CPU and RAM may not even directly affect your use experience. What can really be touched is the screen, workmanship and optimization.

What about the keyboard? In fact, the keyboard on such a small tablet is not very useful. The keyboard is slightly crowded but the typing experience is not bad. But it's really hard to edit content on such a small screen. Most of the time, we unplug the keyboard and use it as a pure tablet. Therefore, unless you have a clear need to use a keyboard, it is not necessary to buy a keyboard.

Surface series is probably the ceiling of consumer Windows tablet. At a price of more than 1000 yuan, it's a decent configuration, excellent audio and video experience, and extraordinary workmanship. Although it is a cheap tablet, it is still worth the brand of its own Surface.

By the way, at the time of this article, the inventory of the Surface Go official has been sold out. If you still want it, you probably need to squat.

Update 2021/2/25

Fanwai: Surface Go charging inquiry: how many watts on earth

preface

I saw someone discussing the charging power of Surface Go the other day:

Some enthusiastic netizens said that the charging power of AIDA 64 is only 24W. In fact, we are quite curious. After all, there are 30W+in any test charge before. In a realistic attitude, we also opened AIDA 64 to have a look:

It's really more than twenty watts, but this is 26.4W, and the friends on it may remember it as 24W by mistake.

This data is obviously not right. After all, there are 33W+when the power is turned off and charged, which frightens us to quickly test the ammeter to see if it is broken.

The load is two 5 Ω resistors in parallel, $I= dfrac {U} {R}= dfrac {5.2} {2.5} approve 2.08 $. Considering the error of ± 5% of the cement resistance, this is very reasonable and seems to be no problem.

Start with a benchmark:

It can be seen that the power is stable at about 33W during power off charging; When the system is running, up to 45W power can be taken from the Type-C interface. Through the PD packet capturing, it is found that the protocol negotiated between the device and the charging head is 20V 3A, which means that the theoretical maximum can be 60W, but it is not so large as the system power consumption, so the peak power is about 45W.

Is it possible that the data read by AIDA 64 is inaccurate? It should not be. After all, the charging current will affect the statistics of lithium battery capacity. Maybe Boom is needed.

By reviewing the iFixit's Disassembly It can be found that the Surface Go uses the BQ40Z50 power management chip.

By consulting TI's Technical Manual We found that the coulometer of this chip uses 16bit ADC. According to TI engineers, the accuracy is 1~3 mA/1~2 mV. So the data read by AIDA 64 should be correct. What's the problem?

We may need more in-depth testing. (I have to find a way to round myself (not

experiment

First, we need to control variables:

Power adapter: Kunxing 65W GaN charger, 2C 1A, charging with 65W full power port.

Charging cable: Two Type-C E-Marker cables support 20V 5A charging, without bottleneck.

Test table: ZY1280M; The data analysis software is written by hand. At present, it is V0.2; The data sampling frequency is 4Hz.

The ambient temperature is 22.5 ± 0.5 ℃. The surface is charged vertically by opening the bracket. To eliminate interference, unplug the Type Cover.

Play Bilibili with Surface Go 4K@120FPS The video is played until the power is off. At this time, only one battery icon will be displayed when the power is turned on. Then charge and record the data:

You can ask an Ikea shark who has nothing to do to help you write down the data. (It is actually automatic)

The statistical results are very good. Amazing:

In this small 26.1Wh battery, we unexpectedly charged 33.5Wh, which is 25% more, which is outrageous. I once doubted whether the system was still running secretly and ate the electricity.

So this time, let's turn off the Surface Go completely, then turn on the power supply, quickly choose to turn off the power supply, then turn off the power supply, and turn off the automatic power on after charging option in UEFI (Automatic Power On After Power oss, in fact, it is turned off by default), and then let's test again.

In fact, the two charges basically ended at the exact time of two hours, and this time, about 33.5Wh of electricity was still consumed. Let's first look at the charging process:

The first half hour or so is the fast charging period. The power is about 33W, and then it drops to about 25W. This process lasts for about 15 minutes. At this time, the battery charging has completed nearly half and enters the trickle charging mode.

The charging power gradually decreases from 25W to about 2W, then the charging is disconnected and the whole charging process is completed.

Is there any possibility of loss? The battery voltage is 7.6V, the PD input voltage is 20V, and the DC-DC conversion process is completed in the machine. There should be some loss in this process, but it is generally ignored.

During this period, we also carried out a charging temperature test. When the machine was turned off for charging, the charging temperature was about 12 degrees higher than the room temperature, and the back temperature was about 36 degrees.

Continue to check the disassembly. The battery management and voltage rise/drop chip is BQ25700A. Check TI Technical Manual 。

Guess what? It's true.

At 20V input and 7.4V output, the 26W output current is about 3.5A, and the conversion efficiency is close to 92%.

If 33W is multiplied by 92%, the output power is about 30W. Close to 26.4W measured by AIDA 64.

But there is still a power gap of 3.5W. I don't know where to go.

conclusion

In pure charging state, the power taken from Type-C port is about 33W. Considering the conversion efficiency of 92%, about 8% of the electric energy is lost as heat. The power consumption of about 3W is used for the operation of other chips on the motherboard. At 20V, the current of 3W is 0.15A, which seems normal for laptops.

Then we carried out a pure standby endurance test for the next 12 hours, and the power decreased by 10%. If we extrapolate, the system power consumption in pure standby mode is about 0.2W, which is still quite different from the measured 3W.

However, in the full power state, if the external power supply is connected, the standby power supply will be about 3W, and the full power operation power supply will be about 15W, which is roughly consistent with the data measured previously.

If the charging power displayed by AIDA 64 is correct, the peak charging power of the battery may indeed be 26.4W. The remaining electric energy is used for system operation, and some of it becomes heat energy.

Although it is of no practical significance, it is still an interesting research process.

By the way, I would like to thank those two friends who raised questions. They have some strange knowledge in the process of exploring this problem. I hope you can also feel this happiness.