But the M3 is a dual-core processor and the iPad Air has a six-core CPU in benchmarks, the A14 Bionic show itself to be more like the iPad Pro for performance, putting it well beyond the Surface Go's power. The M3 version is more in line for price with the iPad Air (2020). The Pentium in the entry-level Go 2 isn’t a match for the standard iPad 10.2-inch, let alone the Pro. On the face of it, the Surface Go 2 is a bargain, but there’s a bit more to it than that. Wi-Fi + Cellular models are £150/$150 more. The 11-inch iPad Pro starts at £769/$799 for 128GB of storage and can be ordered with up to 1TB (£1,269/$1,299). The Core M3 version is £549/$629 with 8GB and 128GB, or £719/$664 if you want the 4G version.

The Pentium version of the Surface Go 2 is £399/$399 for 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, rising to £529/$522 for 8GB and 128GB. iPad Pro vs Surface Go 2: Connectors, stylus and keyboard The overall experience is much stronger and more cohesive… as long as what you want to do can be done on iPad. On the iPad, you have the best suite of apps that are actually designed to be used on that size of screen, ranging from common services to some very capable creation tools. The Windows store is not overflowing with excellent software – though it certainly has plenty of essentials – and desktop taps are definitely not touch-friendly on a 10-inch screen. However, the flip side is that's not the best tablet experience. The Surface Go's strength here is its flexibility – you can stick with apps that have been designed for smaller touchscreens, or just load a desktop app if you really need it. The iPad runs iPadOS, and like Windows S Mode you can only run apps from the official App Store, but with any other option.

You can switch off S mode if you want (unless your IT department won't let you), which means you can then install apps from anywhere like a normal Windows 10 Home PC… but you can’t then turn S mode back on. That’s the version of Windows that limits app installations to apps from the Microsoft Store, and which requires you to use the Edge browser for safe browsing. The Surface Go runs Windows 10 Home in S mode by default.

Surface go 2 processors