Microsoft’s Surface Laptop Studio continues to evolve a laptop form factor, taking the lessons learned from the long-running Surface Book and adding its unique touch to the screen. Thanks to Microsoft UK, we spent some time with the Surface Laptop Studio to get a better idea of its capabilities and target audience.
The main feature is, of course, the rotating screen that allows the laptop to be used like a traditional laptop, a presentation mode in which the raised screen covers the keys but not the mousepad, and a tablet mode with the screen covering the entire base. bottom. None of these modes is new in the world of Windows-based laptops.
They’re probably not even new to the Surface family in addition to serving as a regular laptop, the Surface Book could flip the screen over and function as both a tablet with hidden keys, and a presentation-style screen and it had the added benefit of allowing the screen to detach completely and function as a larger and lighter Windows tablet.
Design
The Studio Laptop measures 12.72 x 8.98 x 0.74 inches. The Intel Core i5 model weighs 3.83 lbs. and the i7 model weighs 4 lbs. What makes this 2-in-1 laptop unique is the way it works. It converts into “stage mode” and into studio or tablet mode. While the laptop is open, you can pull the screen forward at the bottom to cover the keyboard this is stage mode. It allows you to watch videos more comfortably with an angled screen and no distracting keyboard.
You can keep pulling the screen forward to rest it flat against the keyboard to have a tablet instead, which is study mode. It is also compatible with the Surface Slim Pen 2, which can be purchased separately. The Wi-Fi 6 enabled laptop comes in a platinum silver color, both inside and out, and has slim bezels to ensure your image is as large as possible. The webcam is built into the top bezel so you avoid having a notch, which means you barely know it’s there.
Professional reviewers largely appreciate this laptop’s unique design, with its convertibility, although some have found the screen moving process cumbersome. They also note that while it’s nice that the computer folds into a tablet, it makes a tablet very heavy to carry around, unlike computers where the screen comes off to become a tablet.
Keyboard and Touchpad
The Surface Laptop Studio features a large, full-sized keyboard, although Microsoft decided not to include a separate numeric keypad. We prefer this design, both aesthetically and functionally. Each key offers decent travel, although we hoped for more from a device of this size. It certainly cannot compete with mechanical keyboards or Dell’s XPS line, but the typing experience is good for most people.
Three different backlight settings are also available, while the F keys provide quick access to many common functions. But with all this space available, we do not understand why Microsoft decided not to use a fingerprint sensor. We appreciate the large palm rest, but the current layout is certainly not too cramped to accommodate it.
In fact, there’s still plenty of room for a large trackpad on the Surface Laptop Studio. Its haptic feedback takes some getting used to, but it offers a more convincing sailing experience than most rivals. Of course, there are many alternatives, including touch, mouse, or pen input.
Display
The Laptop Studio has a unique 14.4-inch PixelSense Flow display with a resolution of 2400 x 1600 (201 ppi) and an aspect ratio of 3: 2. It also uses a 10-point multi-touch screen and has Dolby Vision support. All models of this laptop come with the same screen, which starts at $ 1,599.99. The display also has a 120Hz refresh rate, which makes the image on the screen smooth, something professional reviewers have taken note of. They also say the screen is bright and vivid with accurate colors.
Audio
The Quad Omni sonic speakers with Dolby Atmos produced very good sound, with a lot of clarity and detail and an immersive surround effect. This is a laptop where you don’t have to wear headphones to get great sound. Most notable is the immersion we experienced while gaming, with the sounds appearing to be coming from all over the place, not just the front you can definitely use the speakers for gaming if you don’t want to wear headphones.
Graphics
This Surface is absolutely capable of serving as a gaming laptop, provided it is equipped with the optional Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti GPU with 4 GB of VRAM. Our benchmarks prove this. We benchmarked Sid Meier’s Civilization VI: Gathering Storm at 1080p resolution at 66 frames per second. Raising the settings to the native resolution (2400 x 1600 pixels), the game reached 57 fps.
Returning to the 1080p test, the Laptop Studio matched the XPS 15 (67 fps, RTX 3050 Ti) and the ThinkPad X1 Extreme (65 fps, RTX 3060) before destroying the Spectre x360 14 (21 fps, Iris Xe) and the MacBook Pro (29 fps, M1). In the 3DMark Fire Strike synthetic test, the Surface Laptop Studio scored 10,356, outperforming the XPS 15 (8,433), the Spectre x360 14 (4,089) and the category average (5,965). Only the ThinkPad X1 Extreme (16,738) scored better.
Slim Pen 2
The ones next to “Compatible with Slim Pen 2 and Surface Dial,” which links to a press page explaining how these accessories are sold separately. Well, once again Microsoft has spent intensive R&D on a smart design intended for touch input and then chosen not to provide the pen.
This is a shame because we were excited to try the Slim Pen 2, which supports haptic feedback, or what Microsoft calls “haptic signals” to mimic the feel of drawing on paper. The pen, which should take advantage of the 120 Hz display, also has 4,096 levels of pressure and uses Bluetooth 5.0. The Slim Pen 2 costs $129 and the charging base accessory another $39.
Performance
You have two different processor options with Laptop Studio: an 11th Generation quad-core Intel Core H35 i5-11300H or an 11th Generation quad-core Intel Core H35 i7-11370H. You can further customize your machine with 16GB of RAM or 32GB of RAM and an SSD with 256GB, 512GB, 1TB or 2TB.
Models with core i5 have an Intel Iris Xe graphics card, while i7 models have NVIDIA GeForce RTX3050 Ti and 4 GB of GDDR6 GPU memory. The entry-level model has the Intel Core i5 processor. But even with the updated Intel Core i7 processor, pro reviewers are disappointed with this laptop’s performance, especially for the price you’re paying.
Even if you won’t have trouble doing everyday tasks like browsing the web, streaming video or light gaming or photo editing, the machine will struggle to keep up. Although this laptop’s display has great brightness and colors, the available processors and graphics cards are not equipped to handle photo or video editing or heavy gaming. Other computers like a Razer Blade 14 have consistently outperformed the Surface Laptop Studio.
Battery Life
Microsoft says that the Surface Laptop Studio’s battery can range from 56.3 Wh to 58 Wh, a typical value for a laptop of this size. However, the company made big statements about battery life: up to 18 hours on the Core i7 model we tested or 19 hours on the Core i5 versions. Although we could not reach these levels in our tests, the battery life is still impressive. In our test of looping 720p video, we recorded 15 hours and 22 minutes on a single charge.
Brightness was set to 120 nits, so it doesn’t necessarily reflect actual use, but a full workday is still within reach. A software-based battery saver mode can help if you’re running low, but the charging speed is also solid. Using the supplied charger (Microsoft does not indicate a specific wattage), we reached 20 percent battery in 15 minutes after shutting down. In 30 minutes, the battery was at 37%, while a full charge takes about 2 hours and 15 minutes.
Heat
The strange bottom section of the Laptop Studio’s base did its job in our thermal test. Pushing air out the sides, it maintained the laptop’s temperature even after playing a 15-minute YouTube video at 1080p. In fact, the maximum temperature reached was only 89 degrees Fahrenheit, well below our comfort threshold of 95 degrees. The parts touched by the skin, such as the keyboard (87 degrees) and touchpad (80 degrees), were even cooler.
Price
The payoff for such an anemic starting spec is that prices also start at a relatively low level. The cheapest model costs £ 1,449, which isn’t bad at all for a laptop with such an exotic display and design, and this gives you an Intel Core H35 i5-11300H CPU, 16GB of RAM, 256GB of SSD storage, and Intel Iris Xe graphics.
Adding an additional 256GB of storage to this configuration pushes the price up to £ 1,649, and prices for models that ship with the Intel Core H35 i7-11370H CPU and Nvidia GeForce RTX A2000 GPU start at £ 1,899 (16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) and up to £ 2,879 (32GB RAM, 2TB SSD).
Final Words
Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio can handle anything at a low level. When you challenge this laptop with more intense tasks like serious gaming, video editing, or top-notch content creation, it falls short. With its high price tag, it may not be worth spending just on daily activities. While convertibility is good, there are other 2-in-1 laptops, such as the HP Envy x360, that make more sense to double as a computer and tablet, for a lower price.
