Image via Complex
When I got the chance to take a look at Microsoft’s Surface Laptop Studio, I was genuinely excited. The Surface line of laptop/tablet hybrids has always been intriguing to me. The main criticism of Apple’s iPad line has always been, “If it is as powerful as a laptop, why not consider using an OS that allows for desktop applications?” The Surface series answers the question of what happens when you combine a tablet and a laptop.
An added bonus of all of this is that the recently launched Windows 11 would come pre-loaded on the Surface Laptop Studio. Since Microsoft themselves built this machine, it would be a good stress test of how Microsoft wanted Windows 11 to operate.
I switched to using the Surface Laptop Studio entirely as my primary work computer for a week or so, just to see if it was up to snuff. Here’s everything I learned—and everything you need to know—about the Surface Laptop Studio.
With a metal body and a sleek screen, you may be confused into thinking this is a MacBook. But when you take a second look, this machine has enough unique design language to be its own thing. While the Surface Laptop Studio is not quite a tablet, not quite a laptop, if you ask me, I’d say it lives closer to the laptop world, hence the “Laptop” in its name.
The build quality is top-notch; I’d call this a sturdy laptop. The metal body feels solid. Unlike most of the Surface series of laptops, the screen is attached to the keyboard. This premium feel comes at a higher price point ($1799.99), but if you are in one of the many qualifying groups (like being a student), discounts are available. The PC I took a look at was on the highest end, and would retail around the $3K mark.
Image via Complex
The bottom of the body has a two-tiered design that allows for a large amount of ventilation from the sides. An added benefit of that two-tiered design is that if you purchase the Surface Slim Pen 2 ($129.99), there is an out-of-the-way slot in the front to charge your stylus. The magnetic lock that keeps the Pen in place is strong. I’ve been slanging this machine around but never once did I think the Pen was in an inconvenient place or unsecured. While I admittedly like the Apple Pencil’s build quality better overall, the extra buttons on the Slim Pen 2 add additional functionality which make this very good stylus a strong contender. The two buttons included on the Slim Pen 2 are nice to have. There are some software limitations, which don’t allow me to map those buttons to the exact hotkeys I’d want per program. Specifically, I’d love the side button to be able to “Control-Z” or undo when I make a mistake, which I do often. There are third-party software solutions, but I was hoping that it’d be easier to do in either Illustrator or within Windows 11.
Windows 11 in general is pretty great but is also new. Typically, as time goes on the functionality of an operating system improves with feedback. Given the right updates this stylus has the potential to edge out the Apple Pencil from a functionality standpoint, but as it stands it is very competitive, but not necessarily better. After a long work session the Surface Laptop Studio does heat up, but the fans that cool it down are small and quiet. Instead of four small feet, there are two large rubber bars, which give quite a bit of stability and clearance for the cooling system.
Image via Complex
The trackpad is top-notch; it’s large with the right amount of feedback. The keyboard has a clicky feel to it, and even contains proper function buttons, though I’m not certain how often I use buttons like “Home, End, PgUp, and PgDn” as full-time keys. There are two USB-C ports, a dedicated audio jack, and a magnetic power port. The power cord interestingly has a USB-A port for charging; this is nice because in a pinch there are still a variety of accessories that still require USB-A. That particular USB-A port is just a power port and doesn’t send data to the computer. This device still requires a dongle or two and would be better with a few more ports.
The Screen
Straight up, the screen is a major feature of this device. It’s a huge 14.4" touch display, with 2400 x 1600 pixels and a 120Hz refresh rate.
There are multiple configurations of the screen itself. Laptop Mode, which as you’d expect is like a traditional laptop. There is a configuration that allows the laptop screen to stretch out in front of the keyboard but behind the trackpad. That mode feels more like an easel, which is nice for illustration and is a design reminiscent of the Microsoft Studio desktop all-in-one computer, with which this machine shares a name.
The last mode is the tablet mode, which works the way a tablet would. When switching to tablet mode, the user interface changes slightly within Windows 11, and touch and stylus controls are emphasized. If you want, you can flip the screen backward in an upright screen-only position, an ideal set-up for watching a movie or playing a game with a controller.
The Camera, Mic, and Speakers
The 1080p camera lives in the bezel. It being 1080p makes it standard for most conference calling purposes, and the camera and mic are decent for Zoom calls.
The best thing about the camera is a facial recognition feature within Windows, which makes booting onto your computer super snappy. It works much like FaceID on iPhones, and is a welcome addition to a computer.
The speakers on the Surface Laptop Studio are decent. In general, speakers on a laptop are always going to be held back by the limitations of vibrating speakers on a device not meant to vibrate. They are a little more treble-y, and a bit less bass-y.
Touch and Pen, and Pro Use
In Laptop mode, I found myself being very hesitant to touch the screen. Truth be told, I’ve not spent a ton of time with Windows laptops with touch screens, because most of my time with Windows is spent with gaming desktops and workstations. Once I got over the “don’t touch the screen mentality,” it often made light work of dismissing notifications, moving around windows, and doing simple small tasks. It’s nice to have, especially when I’m using this laptop on my lap or some other odd sitting configuration. The touch screen and pen were what convinced me to use this laptop in other configurations.
From a professional standpoint, Adobe Illustrator runs well in tablet mode. The Surface Slim Pen 2 works and is very smooth. I also ran Premiere, Photoshop, and After Effects on this machine, and they all ran well. I’d compare the performance to an M1 iMac, or really just any “new machine.” It did what I needed it to do, though as I said before, the ability to remap the buttons on the pen itself, would increase the productivity and output of this machine.
One thing I noticed, however, was varied battery performance. Sometimes, I’m getting somewhere between 2 and 6 hours of battery life, depending on what I’m doing. That’s a bummer, because just as I’m getting in the zone working on something, I’d have to run and grab a charger. Changing the screen to 60 Hz, reducing brightness, closing applications all help in expanding battery life, and an update in the future will allow for adaptive display technology, which should also further increase the battery life overall, but as it stands, I wish it were a little better.
Gaming
I’ve been keeping an eye on Microsoft for a while now. Specifically, I’ve been interested in what they’ve been doing in the gaming space with the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. It’s basically becoming the Netflix of gaming, which allows people to play Xbox/computer games with or without owning an Xbox. Game Pass Ultimate supports streaming to phones, tablets, Xboxes, and PCs, with the option to install games as well. One of Windows’ major advantages in the computing space is its ability to game.
I tested a few games on the Surface Laptop Studio, and I’ve got to say it ran well enough in a mid-high tier range. The best description of how it ran would be to compare it to the Xbox One or Xbox Series S. I was able to get most games going at 30 to 60 fps on medium to high settings, though I often opted for balanced or performance settings. Through my observations, I found the Xbox Series X is a more powerful gaming machine that has an easier time running 4K games at 60 fps. On the Surface Laptop Studio, Crackdown 3 ran fine at 30 fps on medium settings, while Halo Reach ran great at 60 fps on high. I was able to run Back 4 Blood fine with recommended settings, though I did experience some slow down when there were a ton of zombies on screen. Optimizing the settings for performance fixed that and made the experience smoother.
Is this the best gaming PC? No, but it’s still more than suitable for gaming. This is the type of PC that you could game on at your parents' house during winter vacation, especially if you’ve left your Xbox at home. And likely if the game is both on PC and Xbox it’s likely that your cloud save will allow you to pick up where you left off.
The Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio is a good PC laptop, and I’m glad I took a look at it. It is a strong competitor in the space. Competition breeds innovation, and there are quite a few features on this that are really dope. It’s also a decent tablet. The screen is huge, and when I was using it in tablet mode, I often felt it was huge, but I was glad I had so much work space. That being said, I cannot point at a single thing and say “this is better than all other computers at doing this.” What I can say is that the sum total of its many parts would be considered very “good,” and add up to a laptop that can suit the needs of many.
The Surface Laptop Studio is suitable for a young creative in the first years in the workplace, or as a business machine with added features for taking notes as well as typical Windows functionality. The keyword is flexibility. This type of machine could carry a student with an undeclared major into whatever path they eventually choose.
This is definitely a “column A, column B” computer that could be used for creative work, business, or whatever’s in between. And this is still a Windows machine; it has its quirks. Windows comes with a world of customization and a legacy of business and gaming use; along with that legacy comes bugs and an interface that may require some tinkering to find solutions. Tinkering can yield huge rewards as this could become whatever computer you want it to be, and as long as you are cool with that, you’ve got yourself a very competent laptop tablet hybrid.
The Surface Laptop Studio is out now.