We've rounded up seven of the most popular lower-cost competitors to the Surface Go here that we've tested. But as in most things, there's a clear set of trade-offs when going with the cheapest option. So, then, you might be wondering, why would you go with the Surface Go, as opposed to certain other budget-minded Windows 10 2-in-1s that come in at well below $500, fully equipped? After all, laptop makers such as Acer, Asus, and Lenovo offer detachables and convertibles with included keyboards and styli for, in a few cases, as little as half the cost of the cheapest Surface Go outfitted with a keyboard cover and the Surface Pen. The Surface Pen, meanwhile, will tack on another $99 if you don't already own one from an earlier Surface. Once you've outfitted it with the very minimum to get it to basic laptop functionality, you're looking at a $500 buy ($99 for the least expensive Surface Type Cover that fits it, plus the cost of the tablet itself). With the lowest-end model coming in at $399 with 64GB of flash storage and no keyboard or stylus, this is, at heart, a basic Windows 10 tablet with a Pentium CPU and flash-based memory. With the Surface Go detachable 2-in-1, Microsoft has pushed its Surface tablet line, for the first time, into genuine budget territory. Since 1982, PCMag has tested and rated thousands of products to help you make better buying decisions.

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