Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio review | Laptop Mag
Our Verdict
With its unique swivel and powerful specs, Microsoft'south Surface Laptop Studio is one of the best options on the marketplace, particularly for creative pros who want more than from their laptop.
For
- Clever hinge enables new modes
- Gorgeous 14.four-inch, 120Hz display
- Long battery life
- First-class speakers
- Comfortable keyboard and responsive touchpad
Against
- Thick chassis
- Non enough ports
- Performance is short of class-leading
- Stylus sold separately
- Expensive
Laptop Mag Verdict
With its unique swivel and powerful specs, Microsoft's Surface Laptop Studio is one of the all-time options on the market, peculiarly for artistic pros who want more from their laptop.
Pros
- +
Clever hinge enables new modes
- +
Gorgeous 14.4-inch, 120Hz brandish
- +
Long battery life
- +
Excellent speakers
- +
Comfortable keyboard and responsive touchpad
Cons
- -
Thick chassis
- -
Not enough ports
- -
Functioning is short of class-leading
- -
Stylus sold separately
- -
Expensive
When Microsoft released Windows 8, it paved the way for a new era of ii-in-one laptops. While that software release ultimately failed, the convertible laptop has stuck around. We've seen various versions of it over the years — some better than others — but each iteration has had its downsides. With the Surface Laptop Studio, notwithstanding, Microsoft has struck the correct balance. Instead of having a detachable lid like the Surface Book it replaces, or an attachable keyboard like the Surface Pro 8, the Surface Laptop Studio employs a unique hinge that allows the display to be flipped and positioned into different modes.
Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio specs
Cost: $ane,599 (starting); $2,699 (as reviewed)
CPU: Intel Core i7-11370H
GPU: Nvidia RTX 3050 Ti (4GB of VRAM)
RAM: 32GB
Storage: 1TB SSD
Display: 14.4-inch, 2400 ten 1600-pixel (3:ii) at 120Hz
Bombardment: 10:42
Size: 12.7 ten 9 ten 0.75 inches
Weight: four pounds
Equally you'll read below, the concept works really well. Not only tin the Surface Laptop Studio exist transformed into a digital drawing board, simply it does so without compromising the standard laptop mode. This flexibility, along with splendid operation and long battery life, makes the Surface Laptop Studio a compelling choice for creative professionals. Add in a fantastic keyboard/touchpad combo, powerful speakers, and a 1080p webcam, and the Surface Laptop Studio finds its place as 1 of the best laptops, ane that should be considered by anyone with a large enough budget.
Surface Laptop Studio review: Design
Evidence the Surface Laptop Studio to friends and y'all'll be talking near two item design elements for the residuum of the day. Offset, the hinge. Replacing the removable screen from the Surface Volume is a unique Dynamic Woven Hinge that lets you pull the lesser of the Surface Laptop Studio's display toward you. This lets you shift the laptop between its three modes: Laptop, Stage, and Studio.
The kickoff of those is nothing new; Stage is where things get interesting. In Stage style, the bottom of the screen sits in a groove betwixt the touchpad and the keyboard. Because the keyboard is covered, this mode is best for streaming movies and Idiot box shows or playing games. I wish there was a style to keep the lid from blocking the keys so I could continue to piece of work with the screen closer to me — much like the floating display on Apple'due south iPad Magic Keyboard.
Move the screen forward even further and the laptop will go into Studio way, or the closest matter to converting it into a tablet. This mode is peachy for artists or designers who need a stable surface for eastward-inking. Just go along in heed that the Surface Laptop Studio doesn't brand for a bang-up slate given its size and heft.
Speaking of which, the Surface Laptop Studio measures 12.7 x ix x 0.75 inches and weighs 4 pounds, making it more portable than the Dell XPS xv (xiii.6 x nine.1 ten 0.7, four.three pounds) and Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Extreme (14.one ten 10 x 0.7 inches, 4 pounds), simply much larger than the HP Spectre x360 fourteen (eleven.8 x 8.7 x 0.7 inches, iii pounds). The 13-inch MacBook Pro with M1 comes in at 12 x 8.iv 10 0.vi inches and 3 pounds.
The Laptop Studio isn't the get-go magician to pull off this hinge play a joke on. HP introduced a similar concept with its Spectre Page earlier Acer arrived with the ConceptD vii Ezel. Novel or not, the reclining hinge resolves some of the worst offenses of ii-in-1 designs. And most importantly, it doesn't sacrifice the standard laptop convenience for the added utility — the Surface Laptop Studio is a laptop with a swell trick, not a one-half laptop, half tablet hybrid.
At present to the other interesting design change: the bad-mannered slab stuck to the bottom of this thing. It's an eyesore, nigh making information technology look as though Microsoft adhered a fancy cooling tray to the underside of its Surface Laptop 4 (though in some ways, that's exactly what this is).
Ignore these two elements and the laptop strictly adheres to Microsoft'southward utilitarian design language. As trite equally it feels to compare anything to the MacBook Pro, in that location is no ignoring the design cues Microsoft's Surface Laptop Studio borrows from its rival. Some might have trouble telling the ii apart. Like the MacBook, the Surface Laptop Studio has apartment edges, gently rounded corners, and a flat, not-tapered profile. The keyboard sits in a recessed tray and the bar-style hinge looks to take been copy-and-pasted from the MacBook.
You won't find chrome trim or diamond-brushed anything. This is a precision-cut slab of magnesium ore, or rather, two slabs stacked on top of each other. It amounts to a laptop that, while spartan, looks and feels refined. That is, except for i affair: a hairline gap between the display bezels and the frame on my unit — one big enough to collect grime in areas.
The proficient folks at our sis site, TechRadar, said theirs didn't have the same result, so I'll give Microsoft the do good of the doubt. I'll exist scouring forums and other reviews to see if others encounter the aforementioned sloppy construction and will update this article if necessary.
One design trend Microsoft frustratingly failed to prefer is sparse display bezels. The frames around the Laptop Studio'due south 14.4-inch console are wider than what you'll see on nearly premium laptops in 2022. I besides wish there was a fingerprint sensor. The IR camera is fantastic but you won't always be sitting directly in front of the Laptop Studio to utilize it. A fingerprint sensor is useful as a fill-in feature for added security and speedier login.
Surface Laptop Studio review: Price and configurations
Microsoft's most expensive mobile product, the Surface Laptop Studio starts at a hefty $one,599 and goes upwardly from there. Opting for the base model gets you an Intel Core i5-11300H CPU, 16GB of RAM, a 256GB SSD and integrated Iris Xe graphics. Doubling the storage brings the toll up to $1,799.
Demand more power or a beefier GPU? For $2,099, you can go the Core i7 model with 16GB of RAM, a 512GB SSD, and Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti graphics. This, for u.s.a., is the "value" choice. Our review unit, on the other hand, doubles the storage to 1TB and RAM to 32GB but raises the toll to $2,699. If money isn't a barrier, the maxed-out config has a Core i7, 32GB of RAM, a 2TB SSD and RTX graphics for $3,099.
Surface Laptop Studio review: Ports
Ports are deficient despite how thick this machine is.
At least Microsoft isn't scared to utilize Thunderbolt anymore, equipping the left side of the Surface Laptop Studio with two Thunderbolt iv (USB4) ports. These can be used for quickly charging accessories or connecting to multiple 4K monitors.
On the right border of the Studio is a headphone jack along with a Surface Connect port for charging the notebook.
Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio review: Display
The Studio'southward 14.4-inch display has its ain standout characteristic: a 120Hz refresh rate. Establish only on gaming laptops until recently, this upgrade makes animations appear smoother when compared to a standard 60Hz panel. Y'all can expect to notice college refresh rate panels on non-gaming laptops going into 2022 only information technology's nice to see Microsoft lead the way.
One more than note on this thing — Windows xi supports variable refresh rates, pregnant the screen will switch from 60Hz to 120Hz depending on what is being displayed to provide the best viewing experience without sacrificing endurance. The characteristic, however, is not available at the time of testing.
Then what about the motion picture quality of this 14.iv-inch, 2400 10 1600-pixel PixelSense Flow display? Well, it's as good equally all that marketing jargon wants you to think it is. It hits all the core tenants: sharp, colorful and bright with the bonus of that 120Hz refresh charge per unit. Watching a trailer for Matrix Resurrections made me excited for the fourth installment to this famed sci-fi franchise. Colors, like the neon green glow of the Matrix, popped and fine details looked sharp.
The display compares well to those of its rivals. According to our colorimeter, the Laptop Studio's console covers 76% of the DCI-P3 color gamut, making it less vivid than the screens on the XPS fifteen OLED (85%) and ThinkPad X1 Extreme Gen 4 (84%). All the same, it but near matched the HP Spectre x360 14 (75%) and MacBook Pro (78%), though all 3 fall short of the premium laptop average (84%).
The Surface Laptop Studio makes up for it with 487 nits of effulgence, which outshone the XPS 15 (398 nits), ThinkPad X1 Extreme (426 nits), Spectre x360 14 (339 nits) and the MacBook Pro (435 nits). The category average sits at 390 nits.
Surface Laptop Studio review: Keyboard and touchpad
Microsoft's perfect keyboard track tape remains untarnished. These chiclet-mode keys deliver a satisfying tactile click with each actuation. They are stiffer than those on the Surface Laptop or Surface Pro, giving them a more robust heft. They are also nicely spaced and none of the important messages, numbers and symbols are undersized. What you miss out on is the springiness of those other Surface keyboards. Regardless, this has been one of the almost enjoyable laptops to apply for writing my reviews.
I just wish Microsoft hadn't put the power button so shut to the Delete and Backspace keys. I won't harp on this also much (because I already take), merely this can lead to accidentally powering downwardly the system when you're attempting to correct a typo. Microsoft is hardly the worst offender, and I only hit the ability key twice during my testing, only let this be my recommendation to move the ability central abroad from the others.
I honey the four.7 x iii.1-inch Precision Haptics touchpad. Starting with the basics, the surface is buttery polish, assuasive my fingers to effortlessly glide across. It as well responds promptly to Windows 11 gestures, like pinch-to-zoom and 3-finger swipe up to switch between windows. What makes it special are the haptics.
Much similar the MacBook Pro'southward Strength Bear on trackpad, the Surface Laptop Studio's touchpad uses special haptic engines to transport a vibration to your finger when it feels extra pressure. It works as advertised, and you tin fifty-fifty change the intensity of the feedback (or turn it off) from within the touchpad settings card. I was surprised by how little I missed using a touchpad that actually depresses because of how well this 1 mimics that savory click.
Surface Laptop Studio review: Slim Pen 2
Damn those asterisks. You know, the ones side by side to "Compatible with Slim Pen two and Surface Dial" that takes y'all to some fine print explaining how these accessories are sold separately. Yes, once again, Microsoft spent some serious R&D on a clever pattern meant for touch inputs then chose non to provide the pen!
It'south a shame considering I was excited to attempt the Slim Pen 2, which supports haptic feedback, or what Microsoft calls "tactic signals" to imitate the feeling of drawing on paper. The pen, which should benefit from this 120Hz display, also has 4,096 pressure level levels and uses Bluetooth 5.0. The Slim Pen 2 costs $129 and the charging cradle accompaniment is some other $39.
Surface Laptop Studio review: Audio
Microsoft knows nifty sound.
Listening to RÜFÜS DU SOL'due south "Underwater" through the Surface Laptop Studio'southward quad Omnisonic speakers evoked the same drama the Australian band created days earlier I wrote this review at the Austin Urban center Limits music festival. Armed with ii woofers firing out of the sides and a pair of tweeners pushing sound through the keyboard, the speakers produced thumping bass without ever obscuring the song's soaring vocals and dream-like synths.
Adjacent, I played Dayglow's "Close to you lot" and plant myself helplessly borer my foot to the groovy crush. Vocals were forepart and centre, each musical instrument had its identify in the soundstage, and the depth of low-finish oomph wasn't what I've come to expect from a laptop.
Surface Laptop Studio review: Performance
With an Intel Core i7-11370H CPU and 32GB of RAM, our generously equipped Surface Laptop Studio had no problems running a demanding workload. Xxx Google Chrome tabs and a dozen Edge windows loaded instantly and I didn't detect even a hint of lag when I streamed videos and played music in the background. I fifty-fifty edited the photos for this review in Analogousness Photos and but ran into some slight hesitation while uploading a large batch of full-res (24MP) images from my Nikon Z6.
I do demand to point out some fine impress. Yes, this is a Core i7, and yes, it belongs in Intel's high-operation H-serial, but the Core i7-11370H in the Laptop Studio is not every bit powerful as the chips establish inside most laptops in this grade. Those processors, similar the Core i7-11800H, pack viii cores and 16 threads whereas this i has only four cores and eight threads. So if you demand the absolute fastest speeds, you won't notice them hither.
With that said, the Surface Laptop Studio did a decent chore on the Geekbench 5 overall operation test, posting a 5,820 multi-core score. That puts it ahead of the Spectre x360 fourteen (4,902, Core i7-1165G7) and the category average (4,690), but far behind the XPS 15 (7,477, Core i7-11800H) and the ThinkPad X1 Extreme (seven,244, Core i7-11800H). The M1 MacBook (5,882) is ahead of the Surface merely behind the other two.
It took the Surface xi minutes and 24 seconds to catechumen a 4K video to 1080p resolution using the Handbrake video editing app. This put information technology in second-to-last place alee of but the Spectre x360 xiv (18:05) and behind the XPS 15 (eight:10), ThinkPad X1 Extreme (7:37) and MacBook Pro (7:44). It did, however, crush the average (14:24).
I'm also happy to report that Microsoft is finally using speedy difficult drives. The 1TB SDD in our unit duplicated a 25GB multimedia file at a rate of 1,051 megabytes per second, making the Surface's storage faster than those in the XPS xv (825.6 MBps) and Spectre x360 fourteen (533 MBps). It couldn't top the ThinkPad X1 Extreme (one,309 MBps).
Surface Laptop Studio review: Graphics
This Surface can admittedly double as a gaming laptop and then long as you've equipped information technology with the optional Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti GPU with 4GB of VRAM.
Our benchmarks bear witness it. We played the Sid Meier'southward Civilization Vi: Gathering Storm criterion at 1080p resolution at 66 frames per 2d. When dialing up the settings to native resolution (2400 ten 1600-pixels), the game played at a smooth 57 fps. Getting back to the 1080p examination, the Laptop Studio matched the XPS 15 (67 fps, RTX 3050 Ti) and ThinkPad X1 Extreme (65 fps, RTX 3060) before destroying the Spectre x360 14 (21 fps, Iris Xe) and MacBook Pro (29 fps, M1).
On the synthetic 3DMark Fire Strike exam, the Surface Laptop Studio put upwards a score of 10,356, pushing information technology past the XPS 15 (8,433), Spectre x360 14 (four,089) and the category average (5,965). Only the ThinkPad X1 Extreme (16,738) churned out a improve score.
Surface Laptop Studio review: Battery life
The Surface Laptop Studio has long battery life, even if it isn't anywhere virtually what Microsoft advertises. This system lasted for ten hours and 42 minutes on our Laptop Mag bombardment test, which involves continuous web surfing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits.
This was with the screen at its meridian 120Hz refresh rate. Drop the setting downwardly to 60Hz and the Surface Laptop Studio endures for 12 hours and 3 minutes, or another 60 minutes and 21 minutes.
While far from record-setting and not nearly the "18 hours of typical device usage" Microsoft quotes, these are very good results. They easily outlast the XPS 15 (8:x) and ThinkPad X1 Extreme (7:37) merely fall short of the Spectre x360 xiv (12:11) and can't concord a flame to the MacBook Pro (sixteen:32) with its ultra-efficient M1 processor.
Surface Laptop Studio review: Webcam
Bravo once once again, Microsoft. The company uses some of the best webcams in its Surface laptop and tablets, and the 1080p snapper on the Surface Laptop Studio is no exception. Photos and videos expect well-baked and colorful, particularly when compared to everything else on the market.
A selfie I snapped in my dimly lit function revealed stray hairs poking out of my unkempt beard and I could see individual LEDs in the standing light behind me. The beige tone in my shirt was spot-on but the herringbone blueprint was completely lost to visual racket. I did the camera a favor by going outside on a sunny day, and while the sky above me was completely blown out, the fuzziness from the indoor pic had vanished.
Listen yous, this isn't the aforementioned quality you lot get from ane of the best external webcams, but I'd take the pocket-sized downgrade over hauling effectually more equipment (and a dongle).
Surface Laptop Studio review: Rut
That odd lesser department of the Laptop Studio's base did its job in our heat test. Pushing air out of the sides, it kept the laptop temperate after we played a 15-minute, 1080p YouTube video. In fact, the toastiest it got was only 89 degrees Fahrenheit, well below our 95-degree condolement threshold. The bits your skin touches, similar the keyboard (87 degrees) and touchpad (eighty degrees), were fifty-fifty cooler.
Surface Laptop Studio review: Software
Having only published my full Windows xi review, I'm going to keep this section curt. So yep, the Surface Laptop Studio runs Windows 11 out of the box. Microsoft's fancy new desktop Os is a definite step in the right direction aesthetically cheers to its gorgeous new layouts and graphics. However, some functional tweaks won't sit well with some users, so exist sure to read my review before committing to the Bone.
Of form, there are your stock Microsoft-branded apps merely without any third-party additions, this is nigh as uncluttered equally you'll get from a Windows PC.
The Surface Pro 7 includes a one-year express warranty. Encounter how Microsoft fared in our Best and Worst brands and Tech Support Showdown special reports.
Bottom line
The Surface Laptop Studio is the sort of gadget I would love to ain simply find it hard to justify the cost. At least, for my own needs. I wouldn't benefit from the clever hinge as much as an creative person, designer, engineer, or anyone who prefers using a stylus or touch inputs over a touchpad. That said, anyone whose work or play could benefit from the flexibility of the Laptop Studio'southward unique design should strongly consider this laptop — the hinge really is a game-changer and rare on laptops in this grade.
Moreover, with its Core i7-11370H CPU and RTX 3050 Ti graphics, the Surface Laptop Studio tin can handle the most demanding tasks and even play some contempo AAA games. Despite having so much power under the hood, the Laptop Studio lasts a total day on a charge, and its 14.four-inch display is excellent, with the 120Hz refresh rate giving it an edge over the contest (for at present). Microsoft didn't just get the big things right — it put intendance into each element of this laptop. The keyboard and touchpad are fantastic, the speakers are crisp and powerful, and even the webcam is decent.
Information technology'south an excellent option if you lot have the greenbacks, and that is a big "if" given the pricing. The most compelling model, with a Core i7 CPU and RTX 3050 Ti graphics, costs $2,100. For that much, you could buy a Dell XPS fifteen with an OLED display. That's probably the choice I would become with equally someone who doesn't need a convertible design. If you exercise, your only other option is the Acer ConceptD vii Ezel. It'due south a skilful laptop with a much better choice of ports, but this direct rival hasn't been updated with the latest components yet.
Overall, the Surface Laptop Studio is an first-class laptop with a unique design that makes it purpose-built for creative pros who want something more than out of their gadgets.
Source: https://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/microsoft-surface-laptop-studio-review
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