Rumour | Microsoft Surface Go 2 appears on 3DMark powered by an Intel Core m3-8100Y with an LTE option

The Surface Go, like the Surface Book, is another Microsoft product in need of a refresh. When reviewing the entry-level model, we remarked that the Surface Go was "an exceptionally well-built Windows tablet at a comparatively low price", albeit only when compared to other Surface tablets. That was well over a year ago now, with Microsoft having unveiled the Surface Go in July 2018, before releasing it the following month.

The Intel Pentium Gold 4415Y in the Surface Go was arguably underpowered in 2018, with it already being over a year old by that point. Despite the Pentium Gold 4415Y offered enough performance for everyday tasks in our experience, the dual-core SoC is looking a little long in the tooth now.

Evidence of a refreshed Surface Go may have appeared on 3DMark, though. The listings are seemingly of two devices, which _rogame claims are the Surface Go 2. While _rogame, the leaker behind recent developments about a Surface Book 3 being in the works, has not explained how these listings are Surface Go 2 SKUs, fans of the original Surface Go may be able to work it out.

Both listings report that 3DMark has been run on an "OEMRX OEMRX Product Name EV2" motherboard, seemingly the successor to the "OEMRX OEMRX Product Name EV1" that emerged last year as a possible Core m3-8100Y refresh of the Surface Go. A comparable Core m3-8100Y-powered EV1 motherboard listing also appeared as the "OEMTX OEMTX Product Name EV1", with OEMTX EV1 being the model number for the original Surface Go. That is our best estimate at how _rogame has tied OEMRX EV2 to the Surface Go 2, anyway.

Oddly, the two 3DMark listings show the OEMRX EV2 with a Core m3-8100Y too, a dual-core processor that Intel announced in August 2018. Despite having a lower TDP than the Pentium Gold 4415Y, the Core m3-8100Y has double the volume of L3 cache and considerably higher clock speeds. The two chips share the same HD Graphics 615 too, although the Core m3-8100Y scores better in GPU benchmarks. Overall, the Core m3-8100Y should offer a healthy boost in CPU and GPU performance over the Pentium Gold 4415Y in the current Surface Go.

While both 3DMark listings report OEMRX EV2 motherboards, one appears to be an LTE capable device too. However, do not treat this as confirmation that the Surface Go 2 is in development quite yet. The Core m3-8100Y-powered OEMRX EV1 never made it to market, so there is no indication that an OEMRX EV2 would, either.

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