The Not function in Microsoft Excel is a built-in Logical function, and its purpose is to reverse the logic of its argument. It ensures that one value is not equal to another. When given TRUE, NOT returns FALSE. When NOT given FALSE, NOT returns TRUE. Logical values are used in spreadsheets to test whether the situation is TRUE or False.
How do I create a NOT formula in Excel?
The formula for the NOT function is =Not(logical).
The syntax below for the NOT function is below:
Logical: A value or logical expression that can be evaluated as TRUE or False.
Follow the steps below to use the Excel NOT function:
- Launch Microsoft Excel
- Create a table or use an existing table from your files
- Place the formula into the cell you want to see the result
- Press the enter key to see the result.
Launch Microsoft Excel.
Create a table or use an existing table from your files.
Type the formula into the cell you want to place the result =NOT(A2=”Sherwin-Williams”).
Then press the Enter key to see the result.
The result would be the reverse, which is FALSE.
If placed into the cell =NOT(A2=”Clare”). The NOT function will return the result as TRUE.
In Microsoft Excel, not only can you use the NOT function by itself, but you can also use it with conjunctions such as IF, OR, and AND.
If you type into the cell =NOT(OR(A3=”Benjamin Moore”, A3=”Clare”)), the result will be FALSE.
If you choose to type =NOT(OR(A2=”Benjamin Moore”, A3=”Clare”)), the result would be TRUE.
There are two other methods to use the NOT function
Method one is to click the fx button on the top left of the Excel worksheet.
An Insert Function dialog box will appear.
Inside the dialog box in the section, Select a Category, select Logical from the list box.
In the section Select a Function, choose the NOT function from the list.
Then click OK.
A Function Arguments dialog box will open.
In the Logical entry box, input into the entry box cell A2=”Sherwin-Williams”.
Then click OK.
Method two is to click the Formulas tab, click the Logical button in the Function Library group.
Then select NOT from the drop-down menu.
A Function Arguments dialog box will open.
We hope this tutorial helps you understand how to use the NOT function in Microsoft Excel; if you have questions about the tutorial, let us know in the comments.
Read: How to link a part of data in Excel Worksheet in Microsoft PowerPoint.
How do you write not in Excel?
In Microsoft Excel, <> means Not equal to. The <> operator in Excel checks if two values are not equal to each other.
By Espresso Communication of Espresso | 
In 1917, Japanese doctor Shinobu Ishihara invented a test to detect colour-blindness, a condition that makes it difficult to perceive certain colours.
The test consists of identifying the various shapes formed by circles of different colours. We’ve created a similar test for you to try!
If you can’t answer the questions in our test, that may mean some colours are invisible to you. If that’s the case, you may want to consult an ophthalmologist.
The correct answers for this plate are: 7, 13, 16, 8, 12, and 9 (from left to right). Watch out—our test also contains letters and different shapes such as animals and objects. Good luck!
In 2018, Microsoft collaborated with engineers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colorado, to power a rack of computers with a 65-kilowatt PEM fuel cell generator. Then, in 2020, the team hired Power Innovations in Salt Lake City, Utah, to build and test a system that could power 10 racks – a row – of datacenter servers for 48 consecutive hours with a 250-kilowatt hydrogen fuel cell system.
After that successful proof-of-concept demonstration, the team set out to prove the viability of a three-megawatt system, which is of sufficient size to replace a diesel generator at a datacenter.
The problem, Monroe noted, was that nobody made PEM fuel cell systems that large – three megawatts is more than 10 times bigger than the system the company tested in Utah. Three megawatts is enough energy to power about 10,000 computer servers or 600 homes.
‘The coolest thing’
The challenge to build a three-megawatt fuel cell system resonated with engineers at Latham-based Plug, a pioneer in the commercial development of fuel cell and green hydrogen technologies. Today, the company offers solutions throughout the green hydrogen ecosystem — from production and transportation to storage, handling and dispensing.
“Drawing it on the whiteboard and saying, ‘Okay, we know we can do this, we know we can do this,’ was a lot of fun,” said Scott Spink, the director of engineering for Plug. “The real challenge for this project was that we didn’t get to rely on one proven technology. Every piece of that fuel cell system came through a team that was at the forefront of what they were doing.”
The 125-kilowatt fuel cells – 18 of which are packed into each shipping container – are the largest the company has ever made, and the three-megawatt fuel cell system is Plug’s biggest application. Because the system is larger than anything built before, so too are all the components, from compressors and heat exchangers to grid-scale inverters and the pipes for hydrogen delivery.
The system was assembled piecemeal on a concrete pad adjacent to a parking lot behind the company’s headquarters for research and development and manufacturing of its ProGen line of fuel cells. Exposed wires and tubes go this way and that and the hat of radiator fans overhangs the containers giving the system the appearance of a first-iteration prototype.
The engineers that Spink assembled to build the system were unfazed by the motley appearance.
“This is the coolest thing I’ve ever done,” said Hannah Baldwin, a next-generation electrical engineer for the high-power stationary group at Plug, who was hired to work on the project. “I don’t know how I’m going to top this in my career. There’re just so many pieces of the puzzle that have to come together. And seeing them all coming together and working well and stable is rewarding.”
Backup power
After the fuel cell generator hit the three-megawatt milestone, Microsoft’s James jumpstarted the testing to prove it could perform in real-world conditions.
“I’ve asked two questions,” he said. “My first one’s been answered: Can this technology all integrated together produce the power that I need? My second question is can it perform like a diesel? A diesel engine can produce a lot of power very quickly. That’s the key. So, we’re going to start simulating a datacenter duty cycle and one of those is a power outage.”
When a power outage occurs, batteries in the UPS can keep the datacenter running for several minutes, which is more than sufficient to ramp up a diesel – or hydrogen – generator. Once ramped up, backup generators, in theory, can keep the datacenter running indefinitely, as long as they have a fuel supply.
Starting that June day in Latham and for the next several weeks, Spink’s team ran the three-megawatt hydrogen fuel cell system through the tests Microsoft uses to qualify diesel generators to prove it could function reliably, including simulated power outages and hours-long runs.
“I’m just tickled,” Monroe said. “This is a continuation of the journey that we started back in 2018. And in 2020, when we announced the work that were doing on the smaller tests, we alluded to the fact that we were going to run a three-megawatt test sometime in the future. The future is now.”
With the prototype testing complete and concept proven, Plug is focused on rolling out an optimized commercial version of high-power stationary fuel cell systems that have a smaller footprint and a more streamlined and polished aesthetic than the one on the pad adjacent to the parking lot in Latham.
Microsoft will install one of these second-generation fuel cell systems at a research datacenter where engineers will learn how to work with and deploy the new technology, including the development of hydrogen safety protocols. The date of first deployment at a live datacenter is unknown, though it will likely occur at a new datacenter in a location where air quality standards prohibit diesel generators, James noted.
“I’m going to turn around when the excitement dies down and start to ask, ‘Okay, we did one, where can I get 1,000?’” he said. “We’ve got a commitment to be completely diesel free, and that supply chain has got to be robust – we’ve got to talk about scale across the entire hydrogen industry.”
Hydrogen economy
Hydrogen is the lightest and most abundant element in the universe. It’s long been eyed on Earth for its clean energy potential. A challenge is that while stars such as the sun consist mostly of hydrogen, on Earth hydrogen only naturally occurs in compound form with other elements – think water or hydrocarbons such as natural gas and petroleum.
The high cost and technology required to separate hydrogen from these natural compounds, store it, transport it and wring power from it at scale have limited its use. Over the past decade, that calculus has begun to change, according to Darin Painter, a vice president of sales and product management for stationary power at Plug.
The change is driven by advances across the hydrogen ecosystem coupled with a growing interest in and commitment to sustainability, he said.
For example, abundant and inexpensive wind and solar energy is enabling the cost-efficient generation of so-called green hydrogen with machines called electrolyzers. These machines operate like a fuel cell in reverse – they use energy to split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen. If the energy used to run the electrolyzer is from renewables, then the hydrogen produced is considered green.
The hydrogen used during the Latham test was a low-carbon “blue” hydrogen obtained as a byproduct in the industrial production of chlorine and sodium hydroxide. Plug is in the process of scaling up green hydrogen production at facilities throughout the US and Europe to meet the growing demand, Painter said. Microsoft plans to use only green hydrogen in production datacenters.
At the other end of the hydrogen ecosystem, technological advances have led to denser and more efficient fuel cell stacks that combine hydrogen and oxygen to generate electricity, heat and water.
“All of that has to happen before you can get to a viable solution at scale,” Painter said. “If we would have tried to build this three-megawatt system 10 or 15 years ago, I don’t think we could have.”
Monroe and his colleagues saw this change in the calculus when they ran the numbers at the start of their hydrogen fuel cell project in 2018. On a per-watt basis, Monroe said, power produced from hydrogen fuel cells is well on the way to becoming competitive with power from other sources such as diesel generators.
To accelerate breakthroughs in clean energy solutions, the US Department of Energy announced the first Energy Earthshot – Hydrogen Shot – in June 2021, with a goal to reduce the cost of clean hydrogen by 80% to US$1 for 1 kilogram within 1 decade. A kilogram of hydrogen has roughly the same energy content as a gallon of gasoline, Monroe noted.
What’s needed, he added, is a catalyst to scale up the production of green hydrogen and fuel cells, which will drive down costs and increase adoption of the technology.
Microsoft and other players in the datacenter industry are uniquely positioned to be that catalyst, according to Joppa, who in addition to his role as chief environmental officer is Microsoft’s representative on the Hydrogen Council, a global initiative of leading energy, transport and industry companies that was formed to promote hydrogen’s role in the clean energy transition.
Microsoft’s business and sustainability needs for fuel cells and green hydrogen send a demand signal into the marketplace, Joppa noted. What’s more, if Microsoft invests in hydrogen technology and the technology works, other companies will feel more confident investing in hydrogen too, he added.
“So, if we feel confident in using these to ensure continuity of our datacenter services, that’s a big measure of faith,” Joppa said.
City-scale solutions
A robust green hydrogen economy could also help cities transition to 100% renewable energy, noted James. That’s because excess energy produced by wind and solar farms can be used to run electrolyzers, in effect storing this excess energy in hydrogen. Then, when the sun is not shining and the wind is not blowing, this green hydrogen can power fuel cells without generating any carbon emissions.
“We want to power our cloud off the sun – free clean energy,” he said. “Well, practically, how do you do that? You have to get really good at storing energy, and hydrogen is a great way to do that.”
James envisions a future where datacenters are outfitted with hydrogen fuel cells, hydrogen storage tanks and electrolyzers to convert water molecules into hydrogen with excess renewable energy. During periods of high energy demand or when the sun stops shining and the wind stops blowing, Microsoft can ramp up the fuel cells, taking the datacenter load off the grid, freeing up grid power for others to use.
The challenges of bringing a version of this vision to reality is what compels the next-generation electrical engineer Baldwin to stick with a career in the hydrogen economy, a career path, she admits, that was not top of mind before she worked on the fuel cell project.
“I’m excited about the idea of working on something that can make a difference in the world, and hydrogen has a ton of potential to be a huge game changer,” she said. “When a lot of people think of renewable energy, they think of wind turbines and solar panels, and they don’t necessarily think of hydrogen. I know I didn’t. I think that will definitely change.”
Related:
Learn more about environmental sustainability at Microsoft
Learn more about Plug
Read: Microsoft datacenter batteries to support growth of renewables on the power grid
Read: Microsoft tests hydrogen fuel cells for backup power at datacenters
Read: Microsoft’s virtual datacenter grounds ‘the cloud’ in reality
Read: Microsoft finds underwater datacenters are reliable, practical and use energy sustainably
Read: To cool datacenter servers, Microsoft turns to boiling liquid
Top image: Microsoft tested a prototype three-megawatt hydrogen fuel cell system that can provide emissions free backup power to datacenters. Photo by John Brecher.
John Roach writes about Microsoft research and innovation. Follow him on Twitter.
The winners of the 2022 Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) World Championship have been announced by Certiport, the leading provider of performance-based IT certification exams that accelerate academic and career opportunities for learners.
SALT LAKE CITY, July 27, 2022 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- The winners of the 2022 Microsoft Office Specialist (MOS) World Championship have been announced by Certiport, the leading provider of performance-based IT certification exams that accelerate academic and career opportunities for learners.
In its 20th year, the competition attracted more than one million contestants from around the world. Students, ages 13 to 22, competed with peers to prove their superior skills in Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, culminating in the most popular technology skills competition on Microsoft Office—and the only one endorsed by Microsoft since its inception in 2002.
To enter the competition, students took a qualifying Microsoft Office Specialist certification test to demonstrate their mastery of Microsoft Office technology. Regional competitions were held worldwide, and 95 finalists qualified to compete in the final round of competition held in Anaheim, CA from July 24-27.
The 2022 MOS World Champions are:
Microsoft Word (Microsoft 365 Apps and Office 2019)
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First place: Gabriel Stanciu, Romania
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Second place: Trong Khai Nguyen, Vietnam
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Third place: Chen Yuen Wong, Hong Kong
Microsoft PowerPoint® (Microsoft 365 Apps and Office 2019)
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First place: Tristan Pesqueira, USA
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Second place: Mihail Iliev, Bulgaria
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Third place: Himanish Angrish, Canada
Microsoft Excel® (Microsoft 365 Apps and Office 2019)
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First place: Duy Phong Nguyen, Vietnam
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Second place: Nikolaos Rapanis, Greece
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Third place: Heero Ramadhana Sipayung, Indonesia
Microsoft Word (Office 2016)
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First place: Rohan Matthias Vargas, Ireland
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Second place: Ching Chi Tsao, Taiwan
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Third place: Ngoc Tung Chi Dao, Vietnam
Microsoft PowerPoint® (Office 2016)
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First place: Cong Minh Bui, Vietnam
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Second place: Benjamin Rands, USA
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Third place: Amanda Gabriela Castillo Diaz, Mexico
Microsoft Excel® (Office 2016)
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First place: Ondrej Cach, Czech Republic
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Second place: Andrew Chuang Saladin, USA
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Third place: Nicolas Stigler Yanez, Peru
In the concluding round, competitors participated in a two-part skills demonstration. The first skills demonstration was a 30-minute timed exam. The second part is an advanced three-hour research project, in which students research their given topic, formulate an opinion, and represent their conclusions and research in an asset appropriate to the competition application (Word report, Excel workbook, or PowerPoint presentation). This is the second year where finalists were required to complete a free-form project.
At the final event in Anaheim, Certiport and Microsoft recognized the top student competitors in the MOS World Championship Awards Ceremony and presented each First place winner with a $7,000 cash prize, Second place with $3,500 and Third place with $1,500.
"The pandemic put our live MOS Championship events on hold. We are so thrilled to be able to return to in-person competitions," said Ray Murray, Vice President and General Manager, Certiport. "It is inspiring to see students from 21 countries come together to 'speak Microsoft'. The winners receive extra praise, but every single student who entered has earned a valuable workforce credential that will help them find success in college and in their career. The last two years have highlighted the importance of IT skills for tomorrow's professionals and it's incredible to see so many young people get introduced to IT certifications through the MOS World Championship."
Microsoft Office Specialist is the only official Microsoft-recognized certification for Microsoft Office globally and serves as a powerful instrument for assessing students' skills and preparing them for real-world application of their knowledge.
"The Microsoft Office Specialist World Championship is one of our favorite events annually, because these students are thrilled to compete and they inspire all of us with their competitive spirit and crowning achievement," said Rick Herrmann, Vice President Worldwide Public Sector, Education, Microsoft. "These students work diligently to earn valuable industry-recognized certifications, and we know that the future is bright with upcoming business and technology leaders like those we met at the MOS World Championship."
Next year, Certiport will host the 2023 Microsoft Office Specialist World Championship at Orlando, Florida, from July 30-August 2, 2023.
See what our competitors and other news outlets are saying by searching the event hashtag #MOSWC on Facebook and Twitter.
About Certiport
Certiport, a Pearson VUE business, is the leading provider of certification test development, delivery and program management services delivered through an expansive network of over 15,000 Certiport Authorized Testing Centers worldwide. Certiport manages a sophisticated portfolio of leading certification programs including: the official Microsoft Office Specialist certification program, the Microsoft Certified Fundamentals certification program, the Microsoft Certified Educator program, the Adobe® Certified Professional certification program, the Autodesk Certified User certification program, the Intuit certification program, the App Development with Swift certification program, the Unity Certified User certification program, the Communication Skills for Business certification program, the IC3 Digital Literacy certification, and the Entrepreneurship and Small Business certification program. Certiport reliably delivers over three million tests each year throughout the secondary, post-secondary, workforce, and corporate technology markets in 148 countries and 26 languages worldwide. For more information visit http://www.certiport.com or follow Certiport on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/certiport.
"Certiport" is a registered trademark of NCS Pearson, Inc. in the United States and other countries. The names of real companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
Media Contact
Greg Forbes, Pearson VUE, +44 7824 313448, greg.forbes@pearson.com
Hannah Davis, Certiport, +1 801 319 9835, hannah.davis@pearson.com
SOURCE Certiport
Microsoft Adds DNS over TLS to Windows 11 Test Release
Microsoft on Wednesday announced features in Windows 11, build 25158, for its Windows Insider Program testers that includes a new Domain Name System (DNS) over Transport Layer Security (TLS) encryption option.
DNS over TLS, abbreviated as "DoT," is used as an Internet privacy and security measure to encrypt the query traffic that gets resolved by DNS servers. Typically, an Internet query, such as a search for a Web site, is sent in plain text, which Internet service providers, and sometimes attackers, can view. The DNS server resolves the plain text query into numbers for traffic routing purposes. DoT offers privacy and better security for Internet users by encrypting the query that gets sent.
DoT has similarities to DNS over HTTPS encryption, known as "DoH," but it avoids the use of the HTTPS protocol and uses Port 853 exclusively. DoH, which is currently supported in Windows 11 and Windows Server 2022, uses HTTPS and Port 443, which is the port that's generally used for HTTPS traffic.
DoT is said to better for IT pros because "it gives network administrators the ability to monitor and block DNS queries, which is important for identifying and stopping malicious traffic," according to this DoT vs. DoH article by Cloudflare. However, the article added that DoH can be considered to be better from a privacy perspective since "DNS queries are hidden within the larger flow of HTTPS traffic."
The use of DoT with Windows 11, build 25158, requires setup via a command-line interface, which is described in this article by Tommy Jensen of Microsoft's Windows core networking team. DoT users could actually see a "small performance improvement depending on the network environment," Jensen indicated.
Lots can go wrong with the setup. However, the use of DoT is supported by various public resolvers. "Quad9, Cloudflare, Cisco (OpenDNS), and Google have been tested and are known to work," Jensen indicated.
Microsoft's other improvements in Windows 11, build 25158, include a Nyla font update and various bug fixes.
Dev Channel Perks
On the Dev Channel side for Windows Insider Program testers, Microsoft on Wednesday highlighted an updated Camera app (version 2022.2206.2.0), which has QR barcode scanning capabilities.
Also, the Media Player app (version 11.2206.30.0) in the Windows 11 Dev Channel release now has the ability to rip CD content. It has support for the "AAC, WMA, FLAC, and ALAC" formats.
Microsoft also mentioned an updated Movies and TV app (version 10.22061 and greater) for Dev Channel testers. The app is getting native Arm64 support. It's also getting the ability to leverage the file types that were used with earlier versions of the Movies and TV app.
Beta Channel Split
Also, for Windows Insider Program testers on the Beta Channel, Microsoft had explained earlier this month that it has established a split testing approach. With this change, some Windows 11 testers will get new features to try, while others will have those features turned off by default.
The split in the Beta Channel is conceived as helping Microsoft better address issues with its new Windows 11 releases.
About the Author
Kurt Mackie is senior news producer for 1105 Media's Converge360 group.
Meta's AI research laboratories produced a new state-of-the-art chatbot and are letting the public test it.
BlenderBot 3 is released to the public users in the US. Meta believes BlenderBot 3 can participate in regular chitchat and answer digital assistant questions, such as identifying child-friendly places.
BlenderBot 3 chats and answers query like Google
The bot is a prototype based on Meta's previous work with large language models (LLMS). BlenderBot is trained on massive text datasets to find statistical patterns and produce language. Such algorithms have been used to generate code for programmers and to assist writers in sidestepping mental block. These models repeat biases in their training data and frequently create solutions to users' inquiries (a concern if they're to be effective as digital assistants).
Meta wants BlenderBot to test this problem. The chatbot may search the web for specified subjects. Users may click its answers to learn where it received their information. BlenderBot 3 uses citations.
Meta seeks to gather input on enormous language model difficulties by publishing a chatbot. BlenderBot users may report suspicious answers, and Meta has sought to "minimise the bots' use of filthy language, insults, and culturally incorrect remarks." If users opt-in, Meta will keep their discussions and comments for AI researchers.
Kurt Shuster, a Meta research engineer who helped design BlenderBot 3, told The Verge, "We're dedicated to openly disclosing all the demo data to advance conversational AI."
How the AI development over the years benefit BlenderBot 3
Tech firms have typically avoided releasing prototype AI chatbots to the public. Microsoft's Twitter chatbot Tay learned through public interactions in 2016. Twitter users trained Tay to make racist, antisemitic, and sexist things. Microsoft removed the bot 24 hours later.
Meta argues AI has evolved since Tay's malfunction and BlenderBot includes safety rails to prevent a repetition.
BlenderBot is a static model, explains Mary Williamson, a research engineering manager at Facebook AI Research (FAIR). It can remember what users say in a discussion (and will store this information through browser cookies if a user departs and returns), but this data will only be used to enhance the system afterward.
"It's just my perspective, but that [Tay] incident is bad because it caused this chatbot winter," Williamson tells The Verge.
Williamson thinks most chatbots are task-focused. Consider customer care bots, which offer consumers a preprogrammed conversation tree before passing them over to a human representative. Meta argues the only way to design a system that can have genuine, free-ranging discussions like humans is to let bots do so.
Williamson believes it's sad that bots can't say anything constructive. "We're releasing this responsibly to further research."
Meta also publishes BlenderBot 3's source, training dataset, and smaller model versions. Researchers may request the 175 billion-parameter model here.
For more technology news, product reviews, sci-tech features and updates, keep reading Digit.in
The quizzes/exams on the Pearson MyLab site require a different version of Respondus LockDown Browser, which can be downloaded from the link in the quiz on Pearson MyLab, or by clicking on the download link below. (Note: Pearson LockDown Browser cannot be used on an iPad. It only works on a computer with Windows or Mac OS. The iPad app is not compatible with a Pearson MyLab test either.)
Download Respondus LockDown Browser OEM (for Pearson only)
After you download the file, follow the wizard to install it. After that, follow the steps below to take the quiz using Pearson LockDown Browser. Note that you will start from a regular browser.
Step 1: Log on to Pearson MyLab in a regular browser (e.g., Firefox or Chrome), and go to the quiz/exam. You will be taken to the quiz page, where you can start the quiz. If you haven’t downloaded and installed the Pearson LockDown Browser, you will need to do so at this step. Click the link on this page to download the install it.
Step 2: Click on Start Test. A message pops up from the top of the screen asking you to choose an application for the link to the quiz. Click on Choose Application to continue.
Step 3: After that, another message pops up. Make sure LockDown Browser ORM is selected/highlighted, then click on Open Link.
Step 4: At this point you will see a message asking if you want to allow LockDown Browser OEM to make changes to your device. Say “Yes” and continue. If you have any screen capturing apps or chat apps open, you will see pop-up windows reminding you to close those apps.
Step 5: After that, LockDown Browser will launch. Follow the prompts on screen to complete the steps, including agreement to Terms of Use, tips and guidance, webcam check, presenting ID, environmental check, etc. Note that if you have Windows Defender Firewall on your computer, you will need to allow LockDown Browser OEM to access the networks. Once all the steps are completed, you can Begin Exam.
Step 6: After you submit the exam, you will see the message saying “Your webcam recording is complete!” Select the option for your testing experience, and Submit. You have completed the exam. You can close the LockDown Browser.
If you encounter any issues when taking your Respondus test in MyLab, please see the following student help resources:
Test Driving Microsoft's ClipChamp, Part 2: The Nitty Gritty
Let's take a look at some of the features that makes Microsoft's video editing offering special.
In the first part of this series, I introduced you to a Microsoft video editing tool called ClipChamp. As I explained in that article, ClipChamp is designed specifically for social media use. As such, I wanted to show you some of the finer points of using ClipChamp.
When you open ClipChamp, there are a number of templates that are available for your use (with additional templates available on the Templates tab). The templates that are listed are actually high-level categories rather than being the real templates used in the video creation process. If for example, you were to click on the YouTube template, then you would be taken to a screen like the one shown in Figure 1, where you can pick the general style of YouTube video that you want to create.
As you can see in the figure, there are templates for creating everything from gameplay videos to reaction videos, and much more. The thing that you need to know is that while ClipChamp will help you to create these various types of videos, your videos will not look exactly like the template unless you want them to.
To show you what I mean, check out Figure 2. I clicked on the Q&A Guided Video template and was taken to this screen.
As you can see in the figure, the video currently shows a random YouTuber saying, "What's up? Welcome back to my channel." If you are trying to create content for your own channel, you would obviously want to replace this stock footage with a clip of your own. Fortunately, that's really easy to do. The stock footage only exists as a means of showing you what type of clip you should record on your own and where you should insert it.
The interface itself is not unlike other video editors. It features a multi-track time line to which you can add various elements. If you look at Figure 3, for example, you can see that the bottom element is a colorful background. The element above that is a white box, the element above that is text (Question One), and the element at the top is sub text (Question to go here).
You can edit any of these elements by clicking on them. A single click gives you the ability to change the size and position of text blocks. Double clicking on a text block presents options to change the alignment, font and text. You can see what this looks like in Figure 4.
As you can see, ClipChamp templates are designed to guide you through the process of creating various types of videos. Before I wrap up this post, there are two more things that you need to know.
First, you can link ClipChamp directly to your social media accounts, thus helping to simplify the process of getting your video onto social media. All you have to do is go to Settings and then add your social media accounts. By clicking the Export button, you can choose the video resolution and where you want to export the video to.
The other thing that I wanted to mention is that if you need a bit more flexibility in the video creation process, then you should click the Create a Video button. Doing so takes you to a screen like the one shown in Figure 5.
As you can see, clicking on the Create a Video button does not prevent you from using templates. The templates are still there. What it does do is to supply you the option of creating a video without templates. The left side of the interface contains a series of icons corresponding to various containers where you can import and store elements such as text images, and other types of media. If you have one of the paid plans, then this is also where you will find stock content. All you have to do is to drag the elements to the timeline and those elements will be added to your video.
About the Author
Brien Posey is a 21-time Microsoft MVP with decades of IT experience. As a freelance writer, Posey has written thousands of articles and contributed to several dozen books on a wide variety of IT topics. Prior to going freelance, Posey was a CIO for a national chain of hospitals and health care facilities. He has also served as a network administrator for some of the country's largest insurance companies and for the Department of Defense at Fort Knox. In addition to his continued work in IT, Posey has spent the last several years actively training as a commercial scientist-astronaut candidate in preparation to fly on a mission to study polar mesospheric clouds from space. You can follow his spaceflight training on his Web site.
Expert’s Rating
Pros
- Budget-ish price
- Fingerprint reader works well
Cons
- Performance just doesn’t quite hold up to the competition
- Rivals offer more value
- Other laptops offer a better screen for the price
Our Verdict
While the original Surface Laptop Go survived among a sea of budget laptops, there are a number of comparably priced laptops that simply offer more value than the Surface Laptop Go 2. Just keep an eye out for price drops that could make a difference.
Price When Reviewed
$799.99
Best Prices Today: Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 2
Microsoft’s Surface Laptop Go 2 laptop tries to convince you that a processor upgrade is enough to sway you over the competition while tweaking the price configurations and adding a new color. And you know what? The jump to an 11th-gen Core chip does matter, especially when you adjust the Windows 11 performance settings.
We’ll introduce you to the best of what the Surface Laptop Go 2 has to offer (an excellent fingerprint reader), but also point out some comparably-priced laptops that may offer more of what you’re looking for. You’ll also want to pay close attention to the real-time pricing. In this market, an expected price cut of just $100 below the list price can make a real difference.
Surface Laptop Go 2: Specs and features
Microsoft’s Surface Laptop Go 2 remains relatively unchanged from its earlier iteration, the original Surface Laptop Go, with all but two major specifications receiving upgrades. The Go 2 now uses Intel’s 11th-gen Core processor inside, though with a single option: the Core i5-1135G7. That’s a generation behind most laptops, which use Intel’s 12th-gen Core chips or rival Ryzen processors from AMD. Microsoft also made a major change in the OS. It now uses Windows 11 Home, which eliminates all of the earlier app configuration issues surrounding the inclusion of Windows 10 in S Mode.
Consumers may choose from between 4GB and 8GB of RAM or 128GB and 256GB of SSD storage. We’d recommend that potential buyers avoid the $599 4GB RAM version, as the memory constraints can have an adverse effect on performance. Microsoft’s OneDrive cloud storage and potential third-party external storage options make either the 8GB/128GB and 8GB/256GB storage options viable, however, and a 64GB SSD option offered in the Surface Laptop Go has been removed. In fact, Microsoft encourages you to turn on OneDrive cloud backup during the setup process.
Overall, your Surface Laptop Go 2 options range from between $599 to $799 versus the $549 to $899 range of the earlier model. This doesn’t quite hit the budget price point of competing laptops, but arguably represents something of a price cut, too.
Otherwise, Microsoft has added a new color configuration, Sage. This is in addition to the existing Platinum, Ice Blue, and Sandstone color options. Businesses also have the choice of buying the Surface Laptop Go 2 for Business, which comes pre-loaded with Windows 11 Pro rather than the Windows 11 Home OS that accompanies the consumer models. The Business version can be configured with Windows 10 Pro as well.
- Display: 12.45-inch (1536×1024, 148 PPI) 10-point multitouch PixelSense display
- Processor: Core i5-1135G7
- Graphics: Xe Graphics
- Memory: 4GB-8GB LPDDR4x (8GB as tested)
- Storage: 128GB-256GB SSD (256GB as tested)
- Ports: 1 USB-C, 1 USB-A, Surface Connect, 3.5mm audio jack
- Camera: 720p f2.0 (user-facing)
- Battery: 39.7Wh (design capacity), 40.7Wh (measured full charge capacity)
- Wireless: WiFi 6 (802.11ax), Bluetooth 5.1
- Operating system: Windows 11 Home (consumer); Windows 11 Pro/Windows 10 Pro (business)
- Dimensions (inches): 10.95 x 8.12 x 0.62 inches
- Weight: 2.48 pounds
- Chassis: Aluminum, with polycarbonate resin (30 percent post-consumer recycled content)
- Colors: Ice Blue, Sandstone, Platinum, Sage
- Price: Beginning at $599 ($799 as tested)
Mark Hachman / IDG
Surface Laptop Go 2: Build quality and ports
The Surface Laptop Go 2 is essentially a refresh of the original Surface Laptop Go and we’d encourage you to re-read our original Surface Laptop Go review for additional detail. We’ll recap the important points here, but the most significant differences are in performance, which we summarize in the sections below.
Microsoft designed the Surface Laptop Go 2 as its answer to a Chromebook, a (relatively) inexpensive, compact clamshell laptop. In the past, the Surface Laptop Go was a showcase for Windows 11 in S Mode, a restricted version of the operating system that limited users to downloading pre-approved apps from the Microsoft Store. Microsoft hasn’t said why it made the change, but it offers the freedom to download whatever app you’d like without the need to switch out from Windows 11 in S Mode, as the laptop ships with Windows 11 Home instead.
Physically, the Surface Laptop Go 2 is a compact, lightweight laptop whose display folds back to about 45 degrees. Inside the box, Microsoft includes a 39W charger that powers the laptop via the Surface Connect connector on the right-hand side of the display. Alternatively, you’ll be able to charge the laptop via the USB-C port, provided you have a third-party USB charger that supplies enough power. Typing on the Surface Laptop Go 2 may look like it may be a bit cramped, given the smaller keyboard deck. However, Microsoft shaves off just half an inch of keyboard space compared to, say, the Surface Laptop Studio. It’s just fine.
Mark Hachman / IDG
As we noted in our review of the Surface Laptop Go, the smaller dimensions also benefit the display. Though the 12.45-inch (148 PPI) display doesn’t quite reach the pixel density of a 1080p screen, the smaller display doesn’t negatively impact the smaller pixel count by that much. Images will still look a little grainy in places, and you’ll notice some text that isn’t as sharp as you’d expect on the laptop’s screen. But there’s also nothing stopping you from connecting it to an external, higher-resolution display as well. The purist in us wanted to reject its 1024p display from the get-go, but practically it really doesn’t matter. On the other hand, it’s a little weird that it has far less screen resolution than Microsoft’s $629.99 Surface Go 3 tablet.
On the left-hand side of the laptop you’ll find a conventional USB-A port, a USB-C port, and headphone jack, suitable for connecting both modern and legacy devices. On the right-hand side Microsoft includes the Surface Connect port, which has begun phasing out in its more expensive Surface devices. The Surface Connect allows you to expand the Surface Laptop Go 2’s I/O capabilities via the Surface Dock, including displays. In any event, the Surface Laptop Go 2 will support up to one additional 4K display and one 1080p display (or two 1080p displays), both at 60Hz. That’s probably perfectly fine for a budget laptop.
Mark Hachman / IDG
The Surface Laptop Go 2 is not fanless. It appears to vent air in and out via the hinge. The default Windows 11 setting for power/performance is its lowest setting, when the fan will occasionally kick under a load. This usually doesn’t happen during Web browsing or office work, however. You can turn up the performance via the Windows 11 settings, where it will make a small difference (more on that in our performance section). While you’re almost sure to experience fan noise, it shouldn’t be an annoyance.
We’ll refer you to our original Surface Laptop Go review for more details on the sub-1080p display. The short answer is that no, the lower pixel density doesn’t seem to matter, though it is noticeable in certain cases. While that display was rated at about 330 nits of luminance, we measured the Surface Laptop Go 2’s display producing 358 nits of luminance. While it’s not really bright enough to work outside in direct sunlight, it should be fine for even well-lit rooms. The color gamut, however, is pretty poor. It’s 96 percent of the sRGB color gamut, but only 71 percent of AdobeRGB. This is not a creator’s laptop.
Mark Hachman / IDG
Surface keyboards have traditionally been among the best in the industry, though they’ve declined a bit in recent years. The Surface Laptop Go 2 keyboard remains, as far as we can tell, unchanged from the Surface Laptop Go keyboard, with 1.3mm of key travel. That’s pretty comfortable in my book, with a keyboard deck that fills almost all of the width of the keyboard. Unfortunately, Microsoft chose to exclude keyboard backlighting on both generations of the Surface Laptop Go.
I can’t complain about the trackpad, either: it’s fairly large and fills the available palm rest. It’s clickable all the way to the top, though it requires some effort in the upper half. Gestures worked as expected.
Mark Hachman / IDG
You’ll probably like the fingerprint reader that’s nestled under the power button. Windows asks you to extensively train it, resting and removing your finger many times before it’s satisfied, at various angles. This pays off; the Surface Laptop Go 2’s fingerprint reader was quick and responsive, and can log you in and power up the PC in one tap. And yes, a fingerprint reader doesn’t care whether you’re wearing a protective mask in a public place, either.
The Surface Laptop Go 2 contains a pair of upward-facing Omnisonic speakers, enhanced with Dolby Atmos. The audio is fairly middling. It’s nothing to complain about (where flat laptop audio is concerned), but nothing to write home about either. There are still better laptops where audio is concerned. HP’s use of its B&O speakers can provide decent sound on their budget laptops and Dell’s Latitude 9510 and recent XPS notebooks provide undeniably richer, fuller sound.
Microsoft chose a standard 720p user-facing camera instead of a 1080p webcam for the Surface Laptop Go 2, which is in line with the competition, both budget laptops as well as more expensive competitors. Like its predecessor, the resulting image is somewhat soft, though with good color balance and exposure. A pair of far-field mics will help with Zoom and Teams calls, though they didn’t sound any worse or better than other devices when checked with Windows’ Voice Recorder app.
Mark Hachman / IDG
The Surface Laptop Go 2 doesn’t seem to ship with bloatware, although this is somewhat configurable: during the setup process, Windows 11 will ask whether you want your laptop set up for gaming, productivity, a family environment, or some combination of the various choices. In general, it’s a relatively optimized machine.
Surface Laptop Go 2 performance
The processor upgrade adds a bit to the overall performance of the Surface Laptop Go 2, though it’s important to note that Microsoft released the Surface Laptop Go 2 (with an 11th-gen Core chip inside) during the period in which more and more laptops are shipping with a 12th-gen “Alder Lake” Core chip or AMD’s Ryzen equivalent. On the other hand, performance shouldn’t be your first priority with the Surface Laptop Go 2.
Real-world tests with the Surface Laptop Go 2 reinforced our impressions of its predecessor. Opt for 8GB of RAM and you should be fine. The laptop surfed the web using Microsoft Edge acceptably, and played back 4K video using streaming services just fine. That’s a bit of a misnomer, of course, since a 4K60 YouTube video was actually delivered to the laptop using sub-1080p resolution after the laptop’s capabilities were detected. With that said, it still performed nearly perfectly, dropping just 3 frames in a 10,000-frame test loop.
Naturally, this isn’t a gaming laptop, though you can certainly try out Game Pass Ultimate’s cloud gaming feature. We used an older Xbox 360 controller, connected via USB, and received what we would expect of a streamed cloud game. Our 3DMark benchmark below indicates that the Surface Laptop Go 2 really isn’t a gaming PC, otherwise.
We’ve compared the $799 Surface Laptop Go 2 to other budget PCs we’ve recently tested: the $860 Acer Swift 3 (SF316-51), the $849 Dell Inspiron 14 2-in-1, the $499 Acer Aspire 5, and the $1,000 Acer Swift X, which adds a discrete GPU for extra gaming oomph. We’ve also included the comparably priced $750 HP Pavilion Aero 13, the $799-$899 Acer Aspire Vero, and two Microsoft Surface devices, the Surface Laptop 4 (Ryzen) and the original Surface Laptop Go.
We use four standard tests: UL’s PCMark 10 and 3DMark to measure general office usage and 3D gameplay plus Cinebench R15 and the Handbrake video conversion tool.
PCMark 10 provides a bloc of tests, from Web browsing to office work, as well as light gaming and even some CAD work. It’s a good overall tool to test performance and the Surface Laptop Go 2 performs fairly well. This is a good test to determine simply how well the Surface Laptop Go 2 will perform on average.
Mark Hachman / IDG
For apps that don’t fall into the range of workloads that PCMark covers, we use Cinebench R15 to measure how well the laptop would perform. Intel’s Core i5-1135G7 is a quad-core chip with eight threads and we tap all of them to render an image as quickly as possible. This pushes the laptop’s processor to the limit for a short time.
Mark Hachman / IDG
For a more prolonged test, we use Handbrake, a video conversion tool that transcodes video into other formats. Here, we take a Hollywood-quality video and transcode it into a length and format suitable for a tablet. While it simulates a real-world task, it also measures how well the laptop keeps itself cool under a heavy load. A thermally well-managed laptop can perform at higher clock speeds for a longer period of time, completing the task quickly.
Mark Hachman / IDG
We use 3DMark to assess how well the GPU performs. With the move to a “G7” graphics chip, we expect a bump in graphics performance, though nothing close to what a discrete GPU would deliver. The Surface Laptop Go 2 performs adequately for a laptop in its class.
Mark Hachman / IDG
Finally, we loop a 4K video over and over until the battery expires. The Surface Laptop Go 2 has a battery with identical capacity as its predecessor, so we’d expect about the same battery life, with some variation allowed for the new Windows 11 operating system and processor. The Go 2 falls a minute short of nine hours of battery life.
Mark Hachman / IDG
Conclusion:
Part of the appeal of the Surface Laptop Go 2 is its price. But a smart buyer should start looking at the tradeoffs. Would paying $200 more for a laptop like the (currently unavailable) Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 7 Carbon and its gorgeous 2.8K OLED screen make more sense? For about $950 (at press time), you can buy the Acer Swift X, a full-fledged ultraportable gaming machine. What about the Acer Swift 3 (SF316-51), a perennial contender at the $800-ish range? Even the comparably priced HP Pavilion Aero 13 offers a lot more for the dollar. The competition is intense.
Certain Microsoft Surface devices are simply best in class, justifying their price premium: the Surface Pro 8 tablet, for example. The Surface Laptop Go 2 simply isn’t and budget buyers have to ask harder questions when it comes to paying more. While the Surface Laptop Go 2 is okay for what it offers, its problem is all too common. The competition can offer as much for less.
