SJA,
Keep in mind that, while the build quality is excellent, this is a lower-end & inexpensive mobile device and it is not meant to replace a desktop computer. So, I gotta ask why dual monitor support is an important factor to you. Regardless, please let me know the specs on your monitors so I can get you the most accurate and germane info (performance, connection issues, etc.)
That said, I can confirm that the $399 version can definitely work with dual monitors. As you can see in the picture below (courtesy of our Brian Marino), our unit is simultaneously powering the tablet screen + two external monitors. Me being me (and Brian being Brian, LOL), we went a little extreme in our tests. The table screen is running at 1,800 x 1,200 (2,160,000 pixels), the “smaller” monitor on the left is an older 30” Dell running at 2,560 x 1,600 (4,096,000 pixels) and the display on the right is last year’s TCL 49” UHD TV which is running at 3,840 x 2,160 (8,294,400 pixels.) Wow, that is a total of 14,550,400 pixels! Note that the TCL is being used as a monitor, not a TV since this is one of the less expensive TV’s that will run at full UHD (aka “4K” – sic) at 60Hz and supporting Chroma 4: 4: 4. In other words, it performs nicely as a computer monitor, unlike most other TV anywhere close to its current $299 price. [Edit] FWIW, Brian says that most folks prefer the $229 43" version for desktop use. The 2018 version runs $349...
Note that the device is
simultaneously running 4 apps:
- Our own MobileSketch 10 on the tablet screen,
- MS Calendar app on the left side of the 30” screen,
- Drawboard PDF on the right side of the 30” screen, and the
- MS Edge Browser with 4 tabs open/running on the 49” screen
With respect to the camera, we’ve not taken any real estate pics yet. Brian says that the casual inside shots he has taken with the SG do not look as good as near-identical shots taken with his iPhone 8+, but then this tablet costs less than half of what his phone costs… Also, most phones today do a lot of post-processing to “amp up” shots, and I suspect that MS just doesn’t do as much post-processing since the camera is probably “tuned” more for document stuff. I expect that real estate shots, especially outdoor shots, will be more than adequate for the intended purpose, but I WILL do some camera testing as part of my typical “field testing” for outdoor screen performance/recommendations, etc. Below are
reduced copies of quick shots I took of the Fire Department across the street from our office. I purposely positioned myself so the branch was in front of me to see if it would fool the autofocus on either devices. The images are unaltered except for being a quarter of their original size, due to upload restrictions on this site. I noted that on the original images, the SG image was smaller than the Android Phone image, and the aspect ratio is different. Like I said, I just snapped these very quickly. In the future, I will investigate the settings to see if I can get them closer to the typical phone settings. FWIW, the address and the signage text is a little more legible on the SG image and I expect it would be even better if I adjusted to get a higher resolution, lower compression, etc.
Android Phone
Surface Go
Hope this helps for now!
-Randall Garrett-
+Apex Software+
/end/
