Last week Jack and I were invited to London to the launch of the brand new Microsoft Surface Go. It meant a day trip to the capital and the opportunity to spend some time together. At the moment he is saving up for a new laptop. He has just had his birthday and received quite a bit of money to spend towards getting one. So, the invite arrived at just the right time for us.
When we arrived, Jack was encouraged to get his hands on a Surface Go and just explore! They had Paint 3d set up and plenty of help on hand! Whilst Jack was playing and getting to grips with the Surface Go, I was invited to a panel hearing. I hadn’t been to an event like this before and was keen to hear what the panellists had to say. The Panel was made up with Gillian Binks from Microsoft, William Jones from John Lewis, Jennifer Howze from Britmums and Education and Outdoor play expert Cath Prisk (I could listen to her all day!) and finally it was being led by the one and only Ben Fogle.
A statistic had been released on the same day which says 84% of parents agree that creativity and imagination is as important part of children’s development as education. The discussion was about how technology can be used to help aid creativity and imaginations in our children. Not just indoors either! But outdoors as well. Like Ben Fogle we love going camping and we had not long just come back from a trip to Hertford. I understand how great technology is, however my husband Mark believes the boys are exposed to too much of it. Our camping trips tend to remain tech free, something I am keen to change.
Hearing from Cath Prisk about how the Surface Go, which is a tablet rather than a laptop, is great for aiding explorations. The added pen and Paint app is great to help draw surroundings, to create a picture of a place you are at. The access to the internet would be great to help identify tree’s or even give some ideas on what to do if you can’t come up with any or our English weather does what it does best and rain!
After the discussion there was a workshop with artist, writer and teacher Paul Kercal. He was amazing and getting the children focussed and letting their imaginations run wild! He had already worked with Jack and the other children whilst we were watching the panel. This time he had set up an activity using an Alebrije ( An abstract magical creature). By using Paint 3D Jack had to create his own creature using animal parts from the photos. Jack loved it! And that was settled, when we left Jack had asked if he could buy one.
The Microsoft Surface Go
So, the Surface Go is a 10” tablet which operates using Windows 10. It has laptop performance in the size of a tablet, which makes it portable and great for on the go. It is the smallest and lightest surface yet weighing just 522g. The battery lasts up to 9 hours, obviously different settings can affect the length, but it is an ample amount! The 64GB/Intel 4415Y/4GB Ram Surface Go costs £379 and the 128GB/Intel 4415Y/8GB RAM cost £509. We had the chance to play around with some of the added extras such as the Surface Go Type Cover (from £99), Surface Pen (£99) and the Surface Mobile Mouse (£29.99).
*This is a collaborative post
That’s funny, my 9 year old son wants a laptop of his own as well – and if that last picture is anything to go by, probably for the same reason (playing Minecraft). We have a laptop already but he wants to be able to play with his sister. It looks like the Surface Go might be perfect for both of our sons, considering how inexpensive it is compared to most “real” laptops 🙂