Serious About Tech

Where we get serious about technology in news, reviews, and discussions.

Surface Go Tablet & Macbook Throttling- Episode 11





Microsoft’s Surface Go

Microsoft released a new tablet on July 10, 2018, called the Surface Go. It is a smaller device than their larger Surface tablets and laptops, while maintaining their great quality look and feel. The Surface Go is priced at $399 for a 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, or $549 for 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Keyboards for this device cost $99 or $129, depending on which type you purchase.

One sticking point on the pricing of the Surface Go is that the 64GB storage variant uses eMMC storage, which is slower than the SSD storage found in the more expensive Surface Go. The SSD version is even NVMe PCIe-type SSD storage, one of the fastest storage types available. This causes a dilemma for those who want to buy this device because of the lower price tag, but don’t want to compromise on storage performance, which is important to the speed of the tablet.

I recommend that if you want to buy the device, to not purchase the 4GB RAM/64GB storage variant, but the more expensive 8GB RAM/128GB SSD version. Costco is also selling a different variant with 4GB RAM and 128GB SSD bundled with a TypeCover keyboard for $549. The model Costco sells creates a happy medium between the two Surface Go versions, and is a better deal (if you are a Costco member).

Buy the Surface Go at Costco

Order the Surface Go at Microsoft Store

Apple Macbook Pro (2018): Throttling Problems?

While Apple’s loyal consumers are glad to see the 2018 refresh of the Macbook Pros with Intel’s 8th generation processors, the Intel Core i9 version may have issues with throttling. This is what Dave Lee (Dave2D on YouTube) has claimed in a recent video about the i9 Macbook.

When Dave Lee rendered a video in Premier Pro on his Core i9-equipped Macbook Pro, and compared it to a Core i7-equipped Macbook Pro, and the i9 version in a freezer. He found that the Intel Core i9 Macbook Pro throttled so much that even the i7 laptop had quicker video render times. Placed in a freezer the i9 Macbook Pro had much better video render times.

The reason for this is that the i9 made more heat than the Macbook’s cooling system could get rid off. This made the processor slow itself down to bring its temperature down, making less power available to the i9 to do work.

Apple responded to this by releasing an update for the i9 Macbook Pro. That has seemed to fix it, and Dave Lee released an updated video because of it.

Premiere Pro render time for Intel Core i9-equipped Macbook Pro (2018). Results are from Dave2D (Dave Lee) and show the 2018 Core i9 Macbook Pro from 2018 is faster at rendering then the other results.

The above results from Dave2D show the i9 Macbook (after patch) to be faster than the i9 Macbook before the patch and last year’s models.

Thanks for reading, listening, or watching! If you liked the content, please comment on the article/video, or email me contact@seriousabouttech.com.

Sponsor: Webb Web Services (WebbCo.us)

Webb Web Services gives web design and development that is affordable. Zachary Webb (also the host of this podcast!) will design/develop a website for you. Security and ease-of-use are our priorities. Get a website from WebbCo.us today and get 10% off. Just go to https://seriousabouttech.com/wws and use promo code “podcast10”.