2019 Laptop Comparison – ASUS Chromebook vs Microsoft Surface Go

This article compares my experiences using the Surface Go and an ASUS Chromebook alternatively for the last several months and reveals the winner.

The ASUS C302C Chromebook and the Microsoft Surface Go are similar devices in many ways. I’ll start with a summary of each including my personal pros and cons. I’ll finish on why I chose the Chromebook as my favourite.

ASUS C302C Chromebook

This device is very clean and a pleasure to use. It comes with an illuminated chiclet keyboard and a 12.5″ touchscreen. Memory (4 GB) and storage (32 or 64 GB) are not as critical as it uses Google Drive for storage. You need a Google account. The current price is $648 on Amazon.

ASUS C302C Chromebook

Pros

  • 12.5″ touchscreen. I’ve really become hooked on having a touchscreen to the point of missing it when I’m on any other laptop. I find 12.5″ is perfect for a travel laptop. It’s small enough to travel light, but is amazingly large when you prop it on your tray table on a plane.
  • Flip screen. This laptop screen flips over to become a tablet and rotates to portrait or landscape. It’s handier than I would have thought.
  • Illuminated keyboard. The keyboard is a joy to type on. The back lighting is brilliant.
  • Android. Adding Android to ChromeOS was genius and makes the Chromebook truly competitive with any other laptop out there. Keep in mind that Android is not available on all Chromebooks. This feature is such a game-changer that it’s worth checking before you buy; insist on Android support.
  • USB-C for charging and docking. Both the ASUS Chromebook and the Surface Go support USB-C charging and docking. That means I have one cable that connects my laptop to everything I need. It’s very convenient. The ASUS only charges through the USB-C connection, which means it comes with a very handy 45W USB-C charger. That charger can be used to charge my Surface Go or my Google Pixel phone.

Cons

  • Hardware Compatibility. It’s a little less compatible with things like printers and docking stations. I’ve gone through three docking stations and finally settled on one of the most expensive ones to work flawlessly with both my Chromebook and my Surface Go. Setting up the less common home printers can be a challenge, especially if they don’t support Google Cloud Print out of the box.
  • It’s not Windows. I do a lot of my work in Excel and, even though there are Android and web versions of Office, they don’t have all of the advanced macro capabilities of desktop (Windows) Office. There are also a few other Windows apps I rely on to run our business that aren’t available on the Chromebook. For those I’m forced to pull out my Surface Go or remotely connect to a Windows desktop.
  • You need a Google account. Most people have Google accounts but if you don’t want one you likely would not consider a Chromebook.
  • Some Technical Skill is helpful. The ChromeOS is much better than Linux as far as technical skill required to get the most from the operating system. Even so, I find that it requires the user to roll up their sleeves on occasion to accomplish some of the desirable tasks on the Chromebook. Examples include: enabling Android apps, toggling the touchpad on and off, configuring Google Cloud Print on a Brother printer.

Microsoft Surface Go

Until I started using the Chromebook, I absolutely loved the Surface Go. With its 10″ screen and light keyboard cover, it is the true definition of an ultra-portable. It weighs just over a pound and is small enough to take anywhere. The current bundle price (tablet and Type Cover keyboard) is $670 at Costco.

Microsoft Surface Go

Pros

  • Size – The size of the Surface Go is what attracted me to it in the first place. It brings back memories of my previously favourite laptop, the Dell Latitude X1, which by today’s standards looks bulky.
  • Windows 10 – Even though it comes pre-installed with Windows 10 S (essentially a stripped down version of Windows 10), you can easily take it out of S mode to turn it into Windows 10 Home. Windows 10 is also arguably more user friendly than ChromeOS, making it more suitable for non-technical users.
  • Touchscreen – Similar to the ASUS Chromebook, having a touchscreen is a luxury I never thought I’d use. Now that I’ve gotten used to it, I find it hard to go back to a non-touch laptop.
  • Removable keyboard – The Surface Type Cover is actually an extra purchased option (or bundled, such as this one from Costco), so the Surface Go is a tablet first, a laptop second. If you like it in tablet mode, being able to remove the keyboard (or flip it around so it’s more convenient to carry) is a bonus.

Cons

  • Keyboard – There are a few things I don’t like about the keyboard.
    1. The keys feel cheap and are “clicky”. I find it disruptive to type on it in a quiet meeting.
    2. Due to the size of the tablet, the keys on the Surface Go Type Cover are too close together for comfortable typing. If you have large hands, I imagine this would be even more uncomfortable.
    3. It’s flimsy. Unlike traditional laptops, the Surface devices are tablets. As such, the Type Covers do not support the tablet on a lap or other uneven surfaces.
  • Lack of Android – I never thought having Android on a laptop would be a key feature. It turns out that having Android on a Chromebook not only makes it on par with a Windows laptop, it elevates the Chromebook above Windows laptops in many ways.
  • Proprietary Charger. Thankfully the Surface Go also charges through the USB-C port, which enables me to use the same dock as I have for my Chromebook. The proprietary Surface charger is a waste. If you want a second charger, do yourself a favour a get a USB-C charger, like the one that came with the ASUS Chromebook. That way you can charge all things USB-C, not just your tablet.

Conclusion

After using both the ASUS Chromebook and the Surface Go for the last several months, my go-to device is definitely the Chromebook. In priority order, here’s why:

  • The keyboard – it is much more enjoyable typing on the ASUS Chromebook than the Type Cover of the Surface Go.
  • The size – for continuous use, I prefer a slightly larger screen size. 12.5″ is still plenty portable. 10″ is too small for prolonged use.

What about docked?
Even docked, I find my preference is the Chromebook. It’s a subtle difference, but when docked, I absolutely have to have an external keyboard with the Surface Go. That’s an extra step and inconvenience that’s unnecessary with the ASUS. Additionally, I use the laptop monitor as a secondary monitor when docked. The 12.5″ Chromebook screen does that much of a better job than the 10″ Surface Go screen.

What about Windows?
There are many times I just need a Windows laptop to get things done. In those cases, the Surface Go is plenty useful, particularly when docked. As I mentioned at the top of this post, I was convinced that it was the perfect desktop replacement, with it’s portability and dock-ability, until I started using the ASUS Chromebook. Interestingly, ASUS does not make a 12.5″ Windows laptop.

There are many other Windows laptops out there, including the Surface Laptop 2 or the Surface Pro. Curiously, both of these considerably higher end devices lack USB-C ports, which to me is a must-have. For now, the ASUS Chromebook suits me just fine.

Windows 10 Free Upgrade Deadline July 29

canstockphoto33821085It has been almost a year since the official release  of Windows 10. When it was released, it was offered as a free upgrade on machines that are running Windows 7 or 8. That offer is still valid and expires on July 29 2016. We have just over a month to take advantage of this compelling offer.

Here are the reasons why we think you should upgrade before the end of July:

  1. The free upgrade offer will not likely be extended. When Windows 8 first came out, it was offered at a substantial discount (around $15 if I remember correctly). That was a limited time offer and, even though many of us thought it would be permanent, it expired as Microsoft promised.
  2. Windows 7 will not be supported forever. In fact, Mainstream Support expired in January of 2015 and Extended Support expires in January of 2020.  While that seems like a long time from now, remember that Windows 7 was officially released in October 2009, almost seven years ago. It won’t be long and we’ll be scrambling to get the last PCs off of Windows 7, just as what has been happening to Windows XP over the last few years.
  3. In my opinion, Windows 10 is better. While there have been many documented problems with Windows 10, overall it is a more reliable and secure OS than any of Microsoft’s predecessors. Whether or not you skipped Windows 8, Windows 10 is a keeper.

If you haven’t yet upgrade, now is the time. Please contact us if you’re having any issues upgrading or you need some technical assistance.

Hosted Email Distribution Lists – Sherweb fits the bill

We recently migrated one of our clients to Google AppsTM for Business from in-house Microsoft® Exchange.  Everything went pretty smoothly until it came to distribution lists for their email newsletters and announcements.

Here’s the issue:  While Google does a great job of processing distribution lists through Google Groups, these lists cannot be managed (or accessed) via Microsoft Outlook®. My requirements were simple:  give me a distribution list that I can pull up in an address book and edit it or expand it as needed. For example, if I have a list of my extended family, I’d like to be able to bring up that list in Outlook, expand it, and then delete the family members I don’t want to send to, based on my own criteria.  Ideally, it would be nice to be able to maintain the list in Outlook as well, but that’s not a priority.

It’s a simple requirement, but it turns out it’s not as easy to accommodate as one would think.  I did finally arrive at success, however, with Sherweb, an independent Exchange provider based in Quebec, Canada.  In this post, I’ll go through the three platforms I tested and describe the problems with distribution lists that I encountered:

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Windows 7, Microsoft’s lastest

 

There seems to be a lot of hype out regarding Microsoft’s next version of their PC operating system.  The public opinion of Windows Vista—however flawed it might have been—clearly left a deep impact on Microsoft.  Whether people arguing the criticism regarding Vista is founded or not, there is no argument that the general populous views Vista as a failure.

With that in mind, this is Microsoft’s big chance of redemption.  When Windows 7 was announced, people were immediately excited to see if Microsoft could make the dream operating system for PC users.  I have been running the Windows 7 Release Candidate for several months now, and here are some quick thoughts.

Let me point out that Microsoft spent a whopping 6 billion dollars on development with Windows Vista.  So anyone who thinks this isn’t Windows Vista at heart, is completely wrong.  Windows 7 is an advanced version of Windows Vista.  Microsoft has also deployed the biggest OS beta testing process in the history of operating systems.  What does this mean?  They are definitely looking to get Windows 7 right in the public’s eye.Continue reading

Livin’ in the Cloud

As I embrace the concept of cloud computing, I’ve been asking myself if it’s possible to live completely in the cloud.  To get a picture of what I’m talking about here, imagine doing all of your computer-related work at an Internet cafe or on a diskless netbook.  And I mean “all” of your work.

My revelation that living in the cloud could be a real possibility came to me about a month ago as I was walking into one of my clients with my laptop bag strapped over my shoulder.  As I had done almost every day for the previous several weeks, I put my laptop case on the floor under my desk and proceeded to log in to my client’s computer and carry on with my day.  My email, complete with contacts, tasks, notes, sent items, etc. is all totally accessible from the cloud through my hosted Exchange account.  I very seldom need my laptop at work any longer and I’ve started leaving it in my car to be used only in case of emergency (my security blanket).

There are a number of potential obstacles that must be overcome for a complete transition to livin’ in the cloud:Continue reading