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  • cpkennit83 - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link

    a 3ghz a76 based qualcomm soc should murder than pentium in recompiled apps while being decent in legacy code. Cant arrive soon enought
  • cpkennit83 - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link

    and at double battery life i should add. Plus it wouldnt require an additional modem chip
  • prophet001 - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link

    at 6 watts?
  • jordanclock - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link

    That's about a 50% bump in what the SD855 averages, according to Anandtech's quick review of the SD855 QRD. Roughly comparing the numbers, the SD855 isn't very far off in some of the raw numbers. But cpkennit83 is right that it will take apps being recompiled for arm64 to get real world numbers to match up.
  • cpkennit83 - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link

    the 855 does 2w in specint and 2.5w in specfp, so it should have plenty headroom. a 3ghz version with 512kb L2 in all cores would still be comfortably under 5w. Only problem is software.
  • Prestissimo - Saturday, January 19, 2019 - link

    Reality of Windows on ARM is far from ideal. SD850 has shown to draw 8W on average on a 13.3" FHD IPS touchscreen, which is similar to 4.5W Core M (2C/4T) and only marginally more efficient than 15W Core U (4C/8T).

    Notebookcheck's numbers demonstrates Lenovo C630 (13" FHD, SD850, 60 Wh) measured 12 hours on a 60 Wh battery, while Dell XPS 13 9370 (13" FHD, i5-8250U, 52 Wh) with an even smaller battery recorded almost 11 hours with markedly better power consumption. Not counting factors like the fact that XPS has a far better screen, faster memory and storage all pointing to higher overall power consumption.

    https://www.notebookcheck.net/Lenovo-Yoga-C630-WOS...
    https://www.notebookcheck.net/Dell-XPS-13-9370-Cor...
  • HStewart - Saturday, January 19, 2019 - link

    Yes - with latest 8th gen notebooks, it is even better now - but wait to Sunny Cove. But keep in mind Windows for ARM with real application (not apps) has far less performance.
  • MrSpadge - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link

    I wish it had a fully featured Kaby Lake-Y with turbo. That may be worth 100$ more for many, yet cost the same to produce.
  • Prestissimo - Saturday, January 19, 2019 - link

    I think Intel Core i3 U would make a much better selection, Whiskey Lake i3-8145U for instance.
  • Prestissimo - Saturday, January 19, 2019 - link

    Or Microsoft could team up with Apple and make a mid-range Surface with a 7nm SoC like the A12X Bionic, finally delivering great performance AND battery life on a tablet PC. Wouldn't that be something.
  • Ashinjuka - Saturday, January 19, 2019 - link

    Cats and dogs lying down together.
  • TheinsanegamerN - Saturday, January 19, 2019 - link

    Mass hysteria
  • Death666Angel - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link

    "while being decent in legacy code" I'm not holding my breath.

    But I am serious surprised that this thing is worse than Atom based Celeron and Pentium CPUs. I guess not having any turbo really hurts it.
  • tipoo - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link

    The Snapdragon 845 Windows laptops showed about a 50% loss in running x86 code fwiw
  • TheinsanegamerN - Saturday, January 19, 2019 - link

    *on average.

    50% on average is horrible, because remember, "on average" means half are worse then that. You could have two apps, one 25% slower and one 75% slower, and hit that 50% mark. Users of the second app, however, would not be happy.

    Anything with FPU intensive code or spaghetti code dogs down to near unusability on ARM. Most of the well running apps on windows ARM are basic apps that dont need intensive processor resources, apps simple enough to port to ARM natively.
  • deathBOB - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link

    Ooof what a dog.

    Too bad, it’s a cool design.
  • PeachNCream - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link

    The word "flagship" is necessary for something to be cool these days. Anandtech only grants the flagship moniker to thousands of truly impressive mid-range products.
  • cknobman - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link

    Close but no cigar.

    Microsoft charging $100 for the stupid type cover is downright robbery.

    Maybe if it was just that in isolation I could give in but there are just too many other comprimises.

    The 64GB hdd in the base model is too small and would barely even support updating Windows 10 properly in the future.

    Intel with their price raping strategy refuses to make offer a processor with enough performance at a decent price. If this same chip just had a turbo boost capability it would be fine.

    The battery is too small. Again this in isolation would not be a big deal but combined with the other compromises it just too much.

    So by the time you add a keyboard and enough storage you are spending WAY TO MUCH $$$ to still have crippled performance and battery life.
  • tipoo - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link

    Also that the 64GB base model is horribly slow eMMC.
  • Prestissimo - Saturday, January 19, 2019 - link

    $800 USD to be exact, excluding shipping and taxes. For a 10" Windows tablet PC with PENTIUM and 3 HOURS of actual battery life that is NOT REPAIRABLE.

    This is as hilarious a fiasco as that Google's Chromebook thing they've been making for some time.
  • Impulses - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link

    Huh, battery life isn't quite as bad as I thought it was, definitely well under average for the price but I'm still kind of attracted to the unique combination of form factor and capabilities... I don't need a full fledged laptop, but if I'm gonna carry around a convertible like this I'd definitely appreciate x86 compatibility and ease of storage handling vs something like a Chromebook or iPad.

    How fast can it charge via USB-C?
  • Archwizard Snim - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link

    I personally checked that USB-PD charging for Surface Go reaches 20V/1A at least, which I think is limited by my cable and charger (or portable battery, for that matter). I once read that the maximum power that goes through the USB-C port is 45W.

    Even with 20W portable power, however, it's fast enough and doesn't lose the battery even under heavy use. I never even had to worry about battery at all since I always carried the portable USB-PD compliant battery with me.
  • Smell This - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link

    For reference (and snits and giggles ... )
    The Bay Trail Preview: Intel Atom Z3770 Tested
    https://www.anandtech.com/show/7314/intel-baytrail...
  • Konservenknilch - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link

    I have the non-LTE version (SSD), very neat little device. Sure, it's not a desktop replacement like its larger siblings, but wonderfully portable and quite speedy.
  • PeachNCream - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link

    Interesting design. Screen bezels don't bother me. Thermal throttling, on the other hand, is an annoyance so I'd happily give up short burst performance for a more consistent experience even if that consistency is considerably slower as a result. That battery life though...I question how the words "unmatched mobility" can be given serious consideration alongside a device that can't even run as long as an old Atom n270-based netbook.
  • TheinsanegamerN - Saturday, January 19, 2019 - link

    The short bursts you dislike help to maintain higher battery life numbers. Running slower over a longer period can often wind up using more power in the long run, its why intel started prioritizing turbo boost in the first place.
  • drexnx - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link

    intel needs to stop being ridiculous with their segmentation and let the lower end core stuff turbo in some way, otherwise their (now excellent) atoms will walk all over the bigger cores as we see here
  • Eris_Floralia - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link

    It's hilarious to see Gemini Lake beats Pentium-Y at the same TDP.

    Lakefield's gonna be very interesting in this area.

    Same goes to their Tremont Atoms, if they don't put gimped iGPU in it anymore.

    Hopefully AMD is catching up with their newer optimized Raven Ridge.
  • cpkennit83 - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link

    I assume Gemini at 2.4ghz must be drawing more power than kaby lake at 1.6ghz in the single threaded tests. The 1.6ghz no turbo harness is retarded and even being a lower bin, kaby must be very frugal so far from its upper potential limits.
  • The_Assimilator - Friday, January 18, 2019 - link

    > Lakefield's gonna be very interesting in this area.

    Oh yes. Lakefield absolutely cannot come soon enough.
  • thewishy - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link

    I've had a non-lte 8/128gb since November. I have a work Dell XPS 15, which is hugely powerful but has shockingly bad battery life and is utterly unsuited to use on a plane - so I have another machine to do heavy lifting.

    This machine gets used on work trips where I don't need much more than an RDP client to a lab, work, excel and OWA, and I want something to entertain me on long flights and evenings if I feel like.

    It works brilliantly on the tray table in economy, the battery life might be "Poor", but with a 99wh USB-PD power pack the endurance of 16-24hrs. Given the cost and ease with which the life can be extended, 6hrs of browsing / word and 8-9 hours of movies without the power bank is reasonable IMHO. I wouldn't want to make it heavier for the sake of enhanced endurance. USB-PD charger allows me to charge phone, laptop and power bank with a single charger.

    Performance is... slow. It's very noticeably less snappy than anything else I use, but doesn't crawl to a halt under load (For example, no problems with it swapping out). Under light use it's fine, and it works fine for light games.

    Screen is sharp, a mouse transforms usability for office use. Keyboard is ok after a short adjustment period, but the trackpad can get in the way occasionally.
    Bezel is a little large, but does make it easy to hand hold.

    Lack of USB-A is a bit of a pain if you have a Yubikey, and a second USB-C would be lovely if you're using that for charging.

    As my only machine it would drive me nuts, but for a specific use case it's been perfect.
  • TheinsanegamerN - Saturday, January 19, 2019 - link

    The interior design of the Go is pathetic for battery packaging. You wouldnt have to make it thicker to fit more battery in there.
  • Trefugl - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link

    Any idea how the CPU performance compares to the original Surface Pro (16:9 one)? I have one of those that I still use for travel, but it's definitely showing its age and the pen input isn't nearly as good as modern surface tablets, and the screens are nearly as nice either... Ideally I'm hoping that I could do some light editing of raw photos in lightroom while on the go, even if it's mildly painful... still better than trying to do it on my phone or carrying around something much bigger.
  • Brett Howse - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link

    Hi Trefugl. I'll reference you to our Online Bench which was also linked in the article:

    https://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1207?vs=23...
  • HStewart - Saturday, January 19, 2019 - link

    I also have original Surface Pro and rarely use it - even though it performance is around i7 Y CPU.

    A good link to compare cpus is the following

    https://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Pentiu...

    It going to be really interesting to see Lakefield - it will like beat the Surface Pro 1 cpu in performance and have extreme battery life - this will be perfect for LTE companion
  • HStewart - Saturday, January 19, 2019 - link

    Computer performance changes over time - I did use my Surface Pro 1 for photoshop and even Lightwave - but new CPU's today make a big difference.
  • eastcoast_pete - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link

    Interesting device, somewhat overpriced. I really wish MS would go further on the mobility aspect and provide a significantly (50% bigger) larger battery. Even with 100 g more weight, it would still be light enough to carry around. Always connected shouldn't mean being plugged into an outlet after just a few hours.
  • tmanini - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link

    "Microsoft also color calibrates all of its displays"
    I didn't find a handy reference article for this, so I can't confirm the statement or what exactly is done. But even if they do 'something' before it is boxed up, that calibration will drift in short order and essentially become useless. (if you plan to rely on it)
  • melgross - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link

    That’s not true. It used to be true in the days of the crt, but not now. Apple also calibrates all of its displays, including those in the iMac, and it’s pretty stable. That doesn’t mean that several years later it’s still perfect, but it’s pretty close, even then.

    The thing about these though, is that they’re just sRGB, which isn’t saying much these days.
  • anactoraaron - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link

    Exactly this. What exactly is the point of having a calibrated accurate display for maybe 1 month? Panels drift the most in the first year.

    The other thing that happens not just here at AT is these notebooks and tablets being touted as 'for image and video professionals' just because the display is accurate out of the box. This needs to stop.
    Any system that lacks a display osd/hardware rgb channel/brightness/contrast adjustment isn't suited for any professional. Software can only do so much (making adjustments through Intel graphics software is awful) and for folks that absolutely need color accuracy (longer than 1 month out of the box) need the ability to adjust color channels, brightness, and contrast at the hardware level. I had a surface pro, and over time software couldn't properly calibrate it anymore. Sold it recently and went back to desktop, mobility be damned.
  • eastcoast_pete - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link

    Independent of this or other LTE-enabled tablet, laptop or 2-in-1s, there is a major obstacle that has hog-tied the entire concept of always-connected computing: the ridiculously overpriced LTE data plans. At least in the US, a one year data plan with actually usable data limits can easily be more than this Surface fully decked out. That's why 5G is really not that interesting; even if it is as speedy as its proponents promise, it just means that we can now blow through a whole month of data allotment in less than one battery charge. Until data plan pricing comes down a lot, these otherwise enticing always-connected devices will remain niche products.
  • The_Assimilator - Friday, January 18, 2019 - link

    Y'all need to fix your oligarchy.
  • ads295 - Saturday, January 19, 2019 - link

    So true. Just prepaid for unlimited calls, texts and 1.5GB data a day (unlimited after but throttled). Paid about USD 23.
  • ads295 - Saturday, January 19, 2019 - link

    That's for a yearly plan btw.
  • Gunbuster - Monday, January 21, 2019 - link

    Whats the real sales pitch for always connected again? Super road warriors already have this figured out with phone or MiFi type hot spot so you are trying to sell to a niche within a niche...
  • damianrobertjones - Monday, January 28, 2019 - link

    This still doesn't stop people going on and on and on and on and on about the Surface 'Pro' line not having lte.
  • DillholeMcRib - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link

    I really hope Microsoft gets off the Intel Kool-Aid soon and switches to AMD. They could offer a cheaper device with better graphics performance.

    And, also, I hope they finally get Windows on ARM to a level where emulation is not such a downer, as I would buy one of those straight up for the right price.
  • TheinsanegamerN - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link

    Given how poorly the Go already fares in the battery life department, and how much worse ryzen mobile has been on battery life, I wouldnt hold my breath anytime soon.
  • The_Assimilator - Friday, January 18, 2019 - link

    > I really hope Microsoft gets off the Intel Kool-Aid soon and switches to AMD. They could offer a cheaper device with better graphics performance.

    The only one drinking Kool-Aid here is you, because AMD doesn't have any CPU at this level of low power consumption.
  • HStewart - Saturday, January 19, 2019 - link

    Keep dreaming - with Sunny Cove around the corner. On both AMD and ARM fronts.
  • HardwareDufus - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link

    holy massive bezel batman....
  • yankeeDDL - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link

    Is it me or the CPU is now 5 generations old?
    True that Intel has been churning up generations "updates" that have, basically, same architecture, process and only a slightly improved performance, but why not using something a bit more recent?
  • PeachNCream - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link

    That isn't an unusual situation. The Pentium Pro core lasted until the Pentium III and then was resurrected after the Netburst debacle to become the Pentium M. It was then refreshed and updated to land in Core2 products for a few more years. x86 is x86, there is only so much you can do to iterate on the fundamentals of the design.
  • yankeeDDL - Monday, January 21, 2019 - link

    It's not exactly an apples-to-apples comparison (pun intended), but can you imagine Apple releasing a MacBook this year with a CPU released nearly 2 years ago?
    Or Samsung releasing the S10 with the Snapdragon 835? I realize that the surface Go is not a high-end system, but wouldn't something like the i5-8200u have made a lot more sense?
    I mean, this thing must be a slug!
  • HStewart - Saturday, January 19, 2019 - link

    Well the current series has some improvements over original skylake stuff - but later this year a new architexture and new process is coming with Sunny Cove/ Ice lake which I feel will radically change things in computers. This level of laptop will likely have the power of current i5 and last twice as long.
  • melgross - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link

    I’ve seen these getting g pretty poor reviews in most places. Performance, battery life and a mediocre display being the reasons. I’ve used the device, and while for basic uses, it’s ok, don’t try anything even in the slightest bit demanding. The display is also somewhat soft. After a while, with normal size type, it becomes annoying. If you compare it to something else with higher Rez, it’s downright fuzzy.
  • lazybum131 - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link

    I see the total opposite? Most are positive, several with reviewers saying how it was surprising how much they liked using it because of the high quality form factor, and not one has said it has a mediocre display, just big bezels.

    Surface Go 2 will be a smash hit if Microsoft can up the performance and battery life.
  • HStewart - Saturday, January 19, 2019 - link

    Surface GO 2 will likely be Sunny Cove 2- so it likely have both performance and battery life. But they might decide to go Lakefield - which will likely extremely increase batter life - but performance may be similar to current i7 y chips
  • Midwayman - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link

    I just don't get who buys these. If you want a tablet, an iPad is a way better tablet at any price, but especially here. If being able to run PC software is a huge deal this is just a dog. You'd be way better off with a more traditional laptop. Once you get upto the surface pro at least you can make a case for the flexibility in the face of drawbacks.
  • TheinsanegamerN - Saturday, January 19, 2019 - link

    But what if I want PC software on something the size of an ipad?
  • Zeratul56 - Sunday, January 20, 2019 - link

    Not everyone can afford multiple devices or even want maintain more than one. While the Go is worse in several areas compared to the ipad(battery, performance) it makes up for it in capabilities.

    At least in my perspective, the iPad doesn’t do enough to justify its purchase. I had one a few years ago and it was nice but it doesn’t do anything more than an iPhone can.
  • gglaw - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link

    I honestly can't see why anyone would buy this other than for business with strict requirement for LTE which cost-wise is well out of the budget market for the LTE models. I travel light with an aging Lenovo Miix 510 which is a convertible 12" and it is small *enough* without being severely crippled. Unless that little bit of extra size is just a complete deal breaker, it goes for $500-$550 range for the base i5-7200U and 128GB SSD model and I couldn't tolerate anything weaker than this. It is 1.6mm thicker and 0.8 lbs heavier than the Surface Go which I'm fine with.

    Going with Intel/Win10 platforms, the hit you take going from 15W CPU's to 6W is not worth it IMO. Comparing with current gen tech you can get up to 4 Ghz with turbo on a 15W Kaby compared to performance more similar to Atom CPU's on these trash Surface Go's. Any business job that requires traveling with access to Windows productivity/office apps should be running a 15W CPU, and if all they need is email, browsing, streaming they should just get an Ipad or Qualcomm based device.
  • HStewart - Saturday, January 19, 2019 - link

    Not if you need real PC applications
  • sonny73n - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link

    Additional 64GB of SSD storage for $100? And this thing’s battery will last about 5 hours of moderate usage at best. Unmatched mobility for suckers, maybe.
  • ianmills - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link

    You are going to laugh but thats a bargain! For the SP6 to go from 128gb to 256gb is CDN$350

    I think its because they are a cloud company now. The storage price makes their cloud services seem like a bargain. ;P
  • TheinsanegamerN - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link

    I am...disappointed. For how much of a dog this thing is, it should deliver amazing battery life, yet gets crushed by the 7390, which is a full proper laptop with a far more powerful chip.

    I used one in a best buy, and found the experience less then positive. The UI opening new windows, or opening chrome, you could really feel that eMMC storage chugging.

    I dont understand how apple can make an ipad with NVMe storage, a way faster SoC, and still get far superior battery life at a lower cost then the Go. I was hoping MS would learn their lessons from the surface 3, but they are making the same mistakes. Sadly nobody else is making a small windows tablet that is any better then the Go.
  • PeachNCream - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link

    Aside from the iPad there aren't many tablets out there at this point. Microsoft is stubbornly sticking to the Surface line, but I think that's more wishful thinking and an on-going corporate seizure that harkens back to the ill-fated Windows 8 UI changes driving by the attempt to make Windows into a touch-based OS. The bottom line is that tablets are languishing in a tiny niche now that the big fad splash is over. The Surface attempts to recoup all that money tossed into developing user interface paradigms that nobody wanted in the first place.
  • Bausfight - Friday, January 18, 2019 - link

    I wouldn't say MS is being stubborn with the Surface line. It's seen strong growth over the years.
  • GreenReaper - Saturday, January 19, 2019 - link

    The Surface Go LTE is 1.7lbs while the Latitude 7390 two-in-one is 2.9lbs. If the Go had another pound of battery I'm sure it could crush as well, but it'd be less good for Go-ing places (as long as you expect to be able to charge in those places).
  • dragosmp - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link

    I'm not going to restate what many have already said, but I do have an observation.

    My 5.5" phone has a 4Ah battery - near enough to 15Wh. This 10" tablet, 4x times the volume, barely has 40% more battery at 24Wh. How does this work? PCB design and packaging technology for PC-compatible bits must be totally backwards compared to mobile. Sure a Core-Y is bigger than a SD660, but dam'. 4x the volume and only 40% more battery, unbelievable.
  • TheinsanegamerN - Thursday, January 17, 2019 - link

    Check out the ifixit teardown:

    https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Microsoft+Surface+...

    The batteries make up less then half the interior volume, Compared to something like 80-90% for the ipad 6

    https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/iPad+6+Teardown/10...

    It appears that not only is the chip much larger, butthe needs for a laptop style heatpipe cooling system eats up a TON of room, not to mention the PCB itself just seems far too large for the minimal components and ports. Perhaps MS's design efficiency leaves a LOT to be desired?

    Either way, this is why windows on ARM is so exciting, and why I wish it was a lot further along. It seems ARM packaging is just way more efficient, allowing for far larger batteries. Combined with ARM's greater efficiencies, and x86 tablets like the go wind up with pathetic battery life numbers.
  • HStewart - Saturday, January 19, 2019 - link

    I have never really cared about IFixIt's repair scores - I have had a Surface Pro 1 - since the beginning and it never need repair - only thing I can say able Apple iPad's and iPhone - after a couple of years there battery died.

    I think MS did a good job on this Surface GO.
  • TheinsanegamerN - Saturday, January 19, 2019 - link

    I'm not referring to the scores. Look at the pictures, at the sheer amount of room in the Go VS the ipad.

    I cant see how having such poor battery life can be considered good. The OG surface pro had around the same usable life with a more power hungry chip and a compromised battery size.
  • dontlistentome - Friday, January 18, 2019 - link

    Have one of these - 8GB/256GB/LTE/W10pro (and an SP4, Thinkpad X1 Carbon 5 and a Dell 7370).

    It's fine - it runs all the business apps I need (including some local database work, Python etc). Not perfect but feels much snappier in use that the Surface 3. Happy to take it when I travel knowing I can (bearably) run all I need to do work should the need arise. My 7370 also has LTE and is small, but this is a lot smaller/lighter - to the extent I can dump it in the wife's bag if we're out for the evening, something I never could with the dell.

    Is it perfect? No, the Dell is also fanless but manages to cram in a m7 that turbos to 3.5GHz, something I guess I miss when a few processes are busy right after bootup.

    As a pointer to the future, I'm happy - a few years from now when the performance distinction will be more based on core count, a Go2 or Go3 with a two core 10th gen fanless chip and decent RAM/SSD combo (which this already has for what most people need). Suspect when I do buy a Go3 though, it'll be Qualcomm inside, not intel.
  • HStewart - Saturday, January 19, 2019 - link

    I doubt the GO3 will have a Qualcomm, by that time Intel will Perfect Sunny Cove - with more power than and battery life than Qualcomm.

    It is very interesting to me that Qualcomm got Microsoft to create Windows for ARM ( or can we say Windows for Qualcomm ) and yet Microsoft has release single product with it. It seams to me Microsoft does not trust it own OS. They would know better.
  • KPOM - Sunday, January 20, 2019 - link

    It will be interesting if and when Apple either converts the 12” MacBook to the Ax series (A14X is my guess) and/or opens up iOS for iPad. I think ARM has a lot of capabilities and Microsoft is equally aware of them and could optimize Windows for ARM, at least for new applications. However, they are wedded to a lot of legacy x86 code and ARM hasn’t proven very adept at running Win32.
  • Evil Mr M - Saturday, February 2, 2019 - link

    FWIW, Costco members in the US can get a Surface Go bundle with 4GB/128SSD plus keyboard for $449.99. That appears NOT to be a sale price, but is limited to Costco members.

    At that price, it really does challenge an iPad...

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