Customer Ratings & Reviews

The Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 offers exceptional convenience for both work and creativity. Its versatile 14.4" touch screen makes it easy to switch between laptop, tablet, and studio modes, catering perfectly to my productivity and design needs. I love how fluid and quick it is to transition between different tasks, thanks to the responsive touch display and the powerful Intel Core i7 processor. The GeForce RTX 4050 also delivers impressive performance for graphics-heavy tasks. Additionally, the sleek design and lightweight build make it easy to carry around, providing flexibility whether I'm in the office, at home, or on the go. This laptop combines power and convenience like no other!

As a special education teacher, I juggle lesson planning, grading, video creation, and virtual meetings every day. The Surface Laptop Studio 2 handles it all with ease! The i7 processor, 16GB RAM, and RTX 4050 let me multitask smoothly and create high-quality instructional videos without lag. The touch-screen and Studio Mode make recording lessons and annotating work a breeze. Plenty of storage, gorgeous display, and incredible versatility — perfect for educators who need power and creativity in one device!

This laptop blew my mind! Some items I always wish I could find on a Windows laptop are battery life, amazing screens, processing power, and graphics, build quality, and amazing speakers. This laptop does it all! I want those features as I do not always enjoy sitting at a desktop to do my work while I type, do photography, or take notes, this laptop is a jack of all trades and master of many! Pros: -Stylish -Amazing screen -Amazing speakers -Wonderful keyboard -Accurate pen input -Multiple screen modes -Fast processor and good GPU -Sturdy build -Great battery life Cons: -Heavy -The screen underside can feel flimsy when folding -Very hard to upgrade the SSD -No pen included Setup: The unboxing experience is premium. The box is extremely sturdy, and everything is very neatly wrapped. It feels like Christmas unwrapping this device as so much thought is put into the packaging. Inside you will find the laptop, a 127W power brick (with an additional USB-A port on it), and documentation. The Slim Pen 2 is sold separately. First impressions: This device is heavy! That is a good and bad thing. Good since it feels sturdy and well-built, but it is not going to be used as a tablet even in canvas mode. The power adaptor attaches similarly to Mag-Safe via the Surface Connector and will attract into the slot from about an inch away. It is easy to pull out though in the event someone trips on it. There are two USB-C 4.0 / Thunderbolt4 connections on the left side and both support Power Delivery if you use a different adaptor. The USB-A port is 3.1 The right side has a Surface Connector, headphone jack, and a Micro SD slot. The lid is a bit tough to lift from the device and I do wish there was a bit more of an indentation to lift the screen with. I have found the best way to lift the screen is two-handed from the corners to avoid getting fingerprints on the camera. Wi-Fi 6E is included here as well as well as Bluetooth 5.3. The form factor is the most intriguing aspect of this device. The normal laptop mode is a bit bulky, but it is easily a high-quality laptop. When you extend the screen forward, you will set it to a media mode where the keyboard is covered but you can still access the mouse. This mode is ideal for presentations, controller gaming, and watching movies. The last mode is a canvas mode which is perfect for note taking. This mode does not put the screen perfectly flat but allows for easy handwriting and drawing with a slight angle. It is not ideal for use as a tablet due to its heft, but it works amazing on a table. Speakers: The audio is outstanding. I was a bit concerned initially since the speakers are under the keyboard with no speaker grill, but they perform well even when the screen is lowered to the media or canvas positions. There is a wide sound stage and playing games such as Diablo 4 projects the sound in a very fulfilling stereo space. I thoroughly enjoy listening to music on this device while working. Screen/touch: The screen is amazing at 2400x1600. The screen is essentially always at 120hz even in battery mode unless you turn it down in settings. The 3:2 aspect ratio is great for reading books and web pages. The screen is very much optimized for touch input and works very well whether you are using your fingers or a Slim Pen 2. I found handwriting to be extremely accurate with no jagged lines in OneNote and palm rejection was perfect in my use case. I would love to have had this laptop in college for notetaking. Creative types will love it for art. The screen does buckle a lot with palm pressure when in the collapsed canvas mode, but it did not cause any concern. There is a magnet at the bottom lip to hold a Slim Pen 2. The screen colors are accurate and great for photo editing. The Slim Pen 2 is a must-have with this laptop as it allows you to fully utilize the touch features, it is a shame it is not included. While playing with settings, I was surprised that HDR, when enabled, does not produce the usual dull colors for non-HDR content such as desktops and regular photos. Most PC’s only do well when HDR mode when viewing HDR content, this laptop allows you to leave the setting on all the time and get the best of both worlds, it is not enabled by default though. Ensure you use the HDR Calibration tool that Microsoft provides though as by default it is too bright of a profile in HDR content which I found strange. The hinge mechanism is interesting. When you flip it upside down, it is simply a layer of fabric with wires running underneath it. Any stability is due to magnets in the various positions. I am unsure how the underside will last with time, but it feels like an effective mechanism at first glance. Keyboard/mouse: The keyboard is my new favorite for typing. Keys have satisfying depth and a nice clicky sound. This results in very few errors. The touchpad is amazing. It is haptic similar to how Apple does on MacBook allowing you to click anywhere on the touchpad with accuracy. Great job on this Microsoft! Performance: Windows 11 runs smooth as butter on this device. With no bloatware installed the OS is extremely fast and stable. I had zero glitches when using it and only noticed a slowdown when I loaded 15 YouTube pages on my web browser as it filled up the RAM. There are nice tweaks on this device such as when you place the screen in a touch-friendly mode, the taskbar gets slightly larger for finger-friendly use. Some laptops I have used pen inputs with have a lag when you open a pen menu, I saw no such lag on this laptop. The hard drive I received is a 512GB model. Performance was about 3244 MB/s read and 2749 MB/s write. Upgrading the SSD is possible but is it not intended to be done by the user per the Microsoft website. There are tutorials on how to do it online. RAM is LPDDR5x which under default settings was able to read at 59,849 MB/s and write at 75,422 MB/s according to AIDA64 Extreme. The RAM is not upgradable. The fan is never loud in my opinion even when stressed. The processor is a beast with 14 cores pushing 20 threads. For everyday use and photo editing, this is a dream processor for me. It does a great job in games as well. I was able to keep up with my RAW editing workflow with ease. Geekbench: Single-core plugged in: 2123 Multi-core plugged in 10395 Single-core battery: 975 (default settings) Multi-core battery: 6097 (default settings) Monero mining: 4350 hs/s 15-minute average. There is also a NPU in this device which does not have many uses at the moment but accelerates camera features such as tracking and background blur. You can see the NPU idle most of the time in Task Manager until you activate those features when it comes to life pushing about 50-70% of its abilities. The Nvidia GeForce 4050 is great for games achieved the following scores: Wildlife Extreme: 14286 Solar Bay: 32572 Raytracing feature test: 20.5 FPS Overwatch 2 2400x1600: 90FPS max settings Diablo 4 2400x1600: 60FPS with DLAA, 100FPS with DLSS Quality mode Battery: The battery will easily last all day at work. I do recommend you disable 120hz if you are on the road a lot as it will greatly extend your battery on this bright screen. The device runs very cool on battery. The battery is only 58WH, but this device feels very optimized allowing for all-day use so long as you are not using the RTX 4050 when on battery. Camera/security: The camera is 1080p and provides great quality. When paired with the NPU, it adds some neat effects. I was surprised by how good the auto-tracking feature is. It can easily identify when there is a single person or two people in the frame and adjusts accordingly. The eye positioning feature was a little bit weird but subtle enough that it works well. The camera includes Windows Hello which works faster than other devices I have used in the past.

I've never owned a Surface device before. I do all my work on a 14" Macbook Pro and I game on a cheap gaming laptop, but I really wanted one single device that could do it all. This device fulfilled all of my requirements. I finally found a Windows device that's as good as my Macbook. Here are some pros, cons, and general observations based on my limited testing. Pros: Good screen; color accurate and bright Battery life 4050 dedicated graphics provides serious horsepower for creative professionals and gamers 120 Hz display Keyboard is a joy to use Trackpad is the best on any Windows device, and it uses haptics like a force-touch trackpad so you can click anywhere and palm rejection is excellent Great speakers for a Windows device. Very flat EQ. Decent bass response and doesn't bleed. Good volume. 2-in-1 feature is well implemented Cons: Stylus doesn't come with the device, which I only found out after I opened it Chunky and heavy Bezels are a little thick for 2023 on a device this premium For the price of this device, I would've liked a miniLED display. It's good, but not as good as my 14" MBP. Polling rate of trackpad; you can see the cursor skip around a bit at 120 Hz Screen glare Compared to the unit on display at the store, the haptics "rattle" a little bit. It's not necessarily bad, but I wouldn't expect any unit variance for this premium of a device. General observations: The color of the device is very close to the "Starlight" Macbook Air color. It's an off-silver with a hint of gold I wish the contrast between the keyboard and chassis was greater. An all-black keyboard would look incredible. More ports compared to Studio 1. Micro SD card and USB-A were added. There is an ambient light sensor which makes the screen colder or warmer depending on your environment. In my picture, you can see the difference between the Surface with the feature turned on and my MBP with the feature turned off.

Pros Quiet fans even under load No intake vents to block on the bottom Focuses hot exhaust air to the sides Premium feel Good quality screen Screen bright for most uses 120Hz refresh rate Excellent trackpad Good keyboard Repairable with official parts Hard drive upgradable Can double as a gaming PC with external monitor Speakers are overall very good and adapt to form factor Good battery life for basic tasks Wi-Fi 6E capable Thunderbolt 4 support Doesn’t drain battery when asleep so far Includes micro-sd card slot Flexible form factor Cons Slow SSD for class Screen not as bright as most laptops in the class Screen backlight brightness and darkens in slow noticeable steps Webcam has lots of noise Speakers have no low end Weight reduces portability Keys not easily readable with backlight off Nvidia controls don’t always recognize when discrete graphics are needed Sharp drop in performance on battery Most professional cameras use full sized SD cards and not micro Pen should be included Screen is very reflective The Surface Laptop Studio 2 tries to have a feature set as long as its name. The largest changes you likely already know are beefed up internal specs, updated trackpad, and the addition of a USB-A port and Micro-SD slot. Out of the box it feels noticeably heavier than other laptops but not excessively so. Included is a beefed-up power brick that can now deliver 127 watts. A small issue on this unit was the right Shift key was slightly lower than the other keys on the keyboard and seemed like it might be a problem. After several hours of use the space bar was functioning normally and was at the same height as the others. Another issue was the USB-A was reluctant to release a mouse plugged into it. It almost feels like the metal around the port was a little tight. Thankfully the port has also begun to loosen up with continued use. Setup Setup is straightforward. Opening the lid can be done with one finger without the body tipping and even with the hinged screen design. The moment you open the lid the laptop turns on and starts the setup process. There are no other additional registration screens or software installers to mess with. However, Windows 11 does add more unwelcomed preinstalled apps. Thankfully those are easy to uninstall. Overall setup was quick with very little time waiting on screens where Windows works to get things up and running. Screen The first thing you notice is the screen. Text and images are sharp with good color. Black levels are surprisingly good for an IPS screen. They aren’t OLED good but still respectable. One thing that slightly takes away from the premium feel is changing screen brightness. In high end laptops screen brightness changes smoothly but on the Laptop Studio 2 there is a noticeable stepping of brightness. Of course, it is nitpicking but for a premium laptop that takes away from things slightly. The screen can get bright enough for almost any situation but isn’t class leading. The screen is rated at 120Hz which will feel butter smooth in most cases. Keyboard and Trackpad Typing on the keyboard is very nice with a good amount of travel and a distinct activation point. Key travel is consistent where even pressing on a corner of the space bar causes the entire space bar to travel down together. The trackpad is the real star of this show. Without even considering accessibility improvements, it is arguably the best trackpad on any laptop. Instead of the diving board mechanism, it has haptic feedback. With light pressure anywhere on the trackpad to click you get a soft but distinct tap feeling letting you know you clicked. No mushy click that varies depending on where you are on the trackpad. It also has excellent palm rejection and overall makes using a trackpad feel truly enjoyable. Speakers The speakers are good for the form factor but not great. Microsoft has done a nice job making speakers sound good and adapt depending on what mode you are using the laptop. Audio is good and voices are very clear. What is lacking is bass. Of course, laptops aren’t known for bass, but newer ones have at least some. The Laptop Studio 2 seems to have little if any bass. It works good in most situations but for extended movies, gameplay, or music enjoyment you will likely want headphones or separate speakers for some low end. SSD One area where it feels like the Laptop Studio 2 is lagging is SSD performance. The best speeds that could be achieved in performance mode plugged in was just short of 3,600 MB/s read and 2,790 MB/s write speeds. It appears versions of this laptop with a larger SSD might be hitting over 5,000 so this could be improved with an upgrade. Repairs and upgrades are a standout area for this laptop. Not only can the SSD be upgraded, but Microsoft offers official repair parts for sale. Of course, they recommend the services be done by authorized staff, but they do offer parts for sale if you have the skills and are willing to take on the task. While upgrading PC laptops isn’t unusual, official repair parts are rare and greatly appreciated. Battery Like any Windows laptop, battery life varies wildly. Under light loads with all the battery saving tips recommended by Windows applied you should easily get a full day assuming you don’t have some application running in the background constantly. Temps stay cool and the fans either don’t turn on or are inaudible. Older Windows laptops often would wake from sleep when you closed the lid. This could mean you would slip your laptop into a bag only to take it out hot and with a dead battery. So far, the Laptop Studio 2 seems to be doing good at preserving battery when the lid is closed. The moment you open it up it wakes up. While not instant, it is reasonably quick and without battery drain. Performance With the processor and GPU upgrade the big question is how fast is the Laptop Studio 2. The included RTX 4050 maxes out at 80 watts putting it in the middle of the pack with the 4050 series mobile maxing out at 115 watts. To get maximum performance you must choose performance mode and put the laptop in tent mode. Microsoft purposely limits laptop mode in case you are resting your hands on the deck, or it is sitting in your lap. In tent mode with performance mode activated it can ramp the fans to full speed and fully utilize the processor and graphics. The fans push a surprising amount of air out of the sides at full tilt. Thankfully the only sound you hear is air rushing. No bearing whine or other sounds. And that air sends the heat out in jets to the left and right of the laptop. In performance tests the Laptop Studio 2 returned a Cinebench Single Core score of 1840 and a Multi Core score of 13392. Not the fastest performer but respectable. Trying out Forza Motorsports returned 60FPS with settings on medium and ray tracing on at full resolution of the screen. Of course, the RTX 4050 isn’t going to push the full resolution of the screen with Ultra settings but still the Surface Laptop Studio 2 has the horsepower for gaming. The one catch is that since the drivers are supplied through Microsoft instead of Nvidia games sometimes complain about out-of-date drivers. Of course, you could install the driver direct from Nvidia but you may not get the optimizations Microsoft has done for the laptop. One thing was observed was during faster paced gaming something looked slightly off. It was like things didn’t seem as sharp as they should. After checking it seems like the screen might be 120Hz but it seems to be a slower refresh rate from some early reports. Thankfully it mainly was visible in FPS games. If this is an issue for you and you like the flexibility of the laptop an easy workaround would be to use an external gaming monitor. Overall, performance was very good but not class leading. Final Thoughts Microsoft is trying to make the Surface Laptop Studio 2 a jack of all trades and for the most part they have done a good job. For most use cases it does very well even if not the standout. For a niche of users this can be the perfect all in one system. Every system has compromises in some way, and it seems like Microsoft has done a respectable job of balancing the compromises of the Laptop Studio 2. It would still be nice if next time they can improve screen response times and put a full-sized SD-card slot. Otherwise, the Surface Laptop Studio 2 is a great laptop for a niche of content creators that want the ultimate flexibility in a laptop.

The Surface Studio 2 is an elegant laptop that offers a few differentiating features that most other laptops can match. Some trade-offs are made for these features, but the result is an incredibly nice and capable laptop and tablet. First things first, the Surface Studio looks very elegant. The finishes feel premium, and the laptop itself also feels very compact. It immediately feels somewhat heavy to hold in comparison to other laptops, but that weight actually feels quite nice when you're using it as a table with the pen for sketching, keeping it firmly in place as you're working. The display is excellent, touch and pen response is great. I do wish that it came with the pen as well. It really allows this laptop to shine, and not including it almost feels liked a missed opportunity. The Surface Studio even has a nice place on the bottom-front that allows you to store and charge the pen. While this isn't a review of the pen, I want to add that the haptics while using the pen on the Surface Studio screen feel outstanding. The added feedback you get that feels like you're drawing on a surface that isn't smooth, like glass. Performance is another standout feature of the Surface Studio 2. The i7 processor is able to handle most tasks you throw its way, and add in the RTX 4050, and you have a potent portable studio tablet. I do wish the lowest model of RTX card they used was the 4060 though. Just to up the performance a bit and to get more VRAM. Speaking of the video card, while this isn't really intended as a gaming laptop, I couldn't help but run a few benchmarks on it to see what its capable of. I've included them in my review as well. I ran Cyberpunk 2077 and Gears 5, since they both have excellent benchmark tools. Cyperpunk's raytracing is very heavy and I was able to get it playable on the Surface Studio at medium raytracing settings with framerates consistently above 30fps. If you wanted to sacrifice any of the raytracing, you could easily get much higher framerates. Gears 5 could easily be maxed out with Ultra settings and have a steady 60fps. To be fair, it's a bit older now, but it still looks great and runs very well on the Studio. For most people, creative apps like Photoshop or Fresca will likely be their use-case for the Studio. Both run exceptionally well and again, pen input is superb on both. However, Photoshop doesn't seem to currently support the pen's haptic feedback as of yet. I was able to load up a couple of scenes in Blender and the results were better than expected as well. Cycles renders were in line with my previous desktop machine with a 30 series NVIDIA card. Specs and performance aside, the Surface Studio 2 is a pleasure to use in all tasks that I've tried with it. The different screen positions really add to its usability. The "Stage" mode as they refer to it is a nice way to bring the screen closer and will be great for plane rides. It angles the screen and would be a great way to watch movies, or game. Moving the screen into this position, there's what feels like a magnetic connection just above the trackpad that holds it in place there. Moving into the "Studio" mode with the screen flat against the base is probably what most people are interested in. The Surface Studio feels excellent in this mode. Also, while in either Stage or Studio mode, Windows 11 will adapt to allow for larger touch targets, which makes it easier to tap whatever you're trying to touch. It also has a nice inking feature that allows you to customize what happens when you press buttons on the pen. It works seamlessly and is a clear sign of how inking has evolved on the Surface line of machines. I've owned several throughout the years (including the original Surface Pro). If you're a creative, and you're looking for a laptop and/or a drawing tablet, this may be the best of both worlds for you. It's powerful, compact, and very nice to use. Pros: Excellent hardware, feels and looks very premium, touch and pen input are excellent, gaming performance is good Cons: Does not include the pen, can seem heavy

Quick Overview ================================= If you're married to Windows 11 and need a powerful laptop for creative and productivity tasks (with a side of gaming) that includes using a stylus, this may be the device for you. Microsoft does a good job supporting its Surface laptops in terms of updates and hardware, so this is almost like the Windows-equivalent of a MacBook Pro, but it's way more flexible than Apple's offering. Overall build ================================= The all-aluminum build is impressively solid. The initial impression is that this is Apple-level of quality (granted, the MS Surface line has been pretty high-quality). As someone who prefers Windows (most productivity apps and gaming), but uses a MacBook Pro for work, these Surface devices are right up there in terms of build quality. The Razer line of laptops also come to mind in terms of solid build quality. Some key physical differences between this and the previous generation are the addition of a microSD card slot and a USB-A port on the left side which should help with connectivity to any non-USB-C devices that you may still have. The microSD card slot is a good addition, in theory, but many people shooting with high-end DSLR or mirrorless cameras may be using full-sized SD cards or something like CFexpress. If you're not familiar with the Surface Laptop Studio (version 1 or 2), it may seem a bit weird with its "stepped" design on the bottom, but that allows for cooling vents and a small "shelf" for the Surface Slim Pen (NOT included...) to dock and charge right under the front lip of the touchpad. The Surface Laptop Studio 2 still uses the old Surface connector for charging, but also supports USB-C charging (though not at full speed) via the USB-C ports. The webcam is a 1080p camera that supports Windows Hello for face logins and leverages a custom AI-powered chip for meeting features like automatic reframing and background blur. Letting the AI chip handle this task means less work for your CPU or GPU. The model I'm testing has the Intel i7 13th gen, 16 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD, and an Nvidia 4050 GPU. Connectivity is via Wi-Fi 6e (802.11ax) and BT 5.3 - the best wireless options currently available. Of course, being a "Studio", it has the impressive hinged display that allows you to bring the touchscreen forward in an easel-configuration or even lay it nearly flat over the keyboard deck for a better drawing experience. Performance ================================= Boring stuff out of the way first, this Surface Laptop Studio 2 is listed with the ability to last 18 hours of "typical device usage", but I'm not sure how that's possible. Real world usage is looking more like 4-5 hours of real work - not just looping videos. I know when I was drawing with Clip Studio Paint with the screen at half brightness, I was getting to 20% battery after just 3 hours and change... Speaking of Clip Studio Paint, the inking/drawing experience is much better than previous Surface devices (I've had most of the tablets since the OG Surface), but it's still a far cry from a dedicated Wacom drawing tablet or Samsung Galaxy S-series tablet that uses the same Wacom technology. Slow lines will still produce wavy effects making you think you need to check in with your doctor. Quick strokes are fine, and you can help by utilizing stabilization options within your drawing program, but if you use multiple devices (I use a Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra and a Windows PC with a Wacom Cintiq 16 Pro), you don't want your settings to vary too much between devices. Also, I must say the Surface Slim Pen 2 should be included at the asking price of this Studio 2. The display itself is beautiful though not 100% color accurate. It's still a great screen overall with a high pixel density relative to the screen size. Annoyingly, the aggressive corners cut into the display and can partially block the elements of the application you're using if you're going full-resolution at 100% zoom (not 150% which is default). The screen itself is really easy to reposition over the keyboard as an easel or nearly flat. I struggled with a real use-case for the easel position since I was using 100% zoom which made touch targets very small. If I planned to use it in this mode for more than a few minutes, I'd have to zoom in a bit more to make it more touch-friendly, or use an external keyboard/mouse/trackball to make it easier to navigate. In nearly-flat mode, it was a pretty natural drawing device (though I did angle it on a laptop stand to make it more comfortable). I still prefer Wacom EMR technology to AES or N-trig digitizers but it's a pretty good device for art overall. I could do precision work on another device and use this for coloring. From a productivity/creator perspective, I think this is a great choice. You get a great screen with pen input and all the ports you need for connectivity. You get the flexible positioning of the screen and enough USB-C ports to power your real displays. I did switch to using microSD cards inside SD card adapters in my mirrorless cameras, so it was easy to transfer my photos from my cameras to the Studio 2 and do some editing in Adobe Lightroom. With a 4050 Nvidia GPU and a 2400x1600 screen, you wouldn't want to game on this at the full native resolution, but taking things down a notch to 1080 makes gaming just fine. I compared this to another device (Asus Z13 Flow - i9 12th gen, 3050ti) and on paper, it seems like the 4050 should run away with the crown here, I wasn't seeing too much of a visible performance difference. Getting down to the frame rate, we're talking about somewhere between 15-30% better performance, but I was hard-pressed to see much of a difference. Granted the Z13 was native 1080p on a smaller screen while the Studio 2 was running 1080p stretched onto a higher-resolution canvas. Either way, this might not be your primary gaming machine unless you're talking about cloud gaming solutions like Xbox/Playstation/GeForce Now. Another thing to note is the inclusion of an NPU - Intel's Movidius AI accelerator. More functions will be coming, but for now, the webcam can reframe you if you're on the side of the camera's field of view and blur the background, saving your CPU or GPU from doing it. There's also a feature that should make it look like your eyes are looking at the camera when they're not, but it didn't work for my face or another family member's face after repeated attempts. I assume they'll add more generative AI features later. Windows 11 is... well, the newest version of Windows and I'm not sure if there's much else to say. For those that are very comfortable and invested in the Windows software and gaming ecosystem, it almost seems like Microsoft is testing the limits of what it can get away with. From a forced online account sign in (no more offline/local accounts) to an OS-as-a-service that will constantly let you know about new features in Windows and why Edge is better than Chrome, it can make you question how dedicated you are to Windows. Windows 10 might be "peak" Windows in this reviewer's opinion, with more user-focused flexibility and less intrusiveness. Conclusion ================================= If you're looking for a high-end Windows laptop that you can use for creative tasks and gaming is not a priority, this Surface Laptop Studio 2 would be a great recommendation. It's possible to get away with the lower-end graphics card as well. The higher-end CPU/GPU combinations (also including more RAM) can get prohibitively expensive. I think the i7/13700H, 4050 or Xe, and 16-32 GB RAM might be the sweet spot. Overall, this is a dense, high-performing, flexible creative device with a uniquely flexible display and can power your occasional gaming sessions. Just make sure to buy the pen (Surface Slim Pen 2) also.

I have long been a fan of Microsoft Surface computers, having owned several versions over the past decade. The new refresh of the Surface Laptop Studio has been long-needed and I am glad it's here. DESIGN AND BUILD - If you are familiar with the original Surface Laptop, the second version is going to feel very familiar. Design wise, it looks exactly the same. There are a few key differences, however. First, there is a micro-SD card on the right side next to the Surface Connect Port. On the left side, they have added a USB-A port in addition to the two USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports. The rest of the device will look the same. One key change that you will not immediately notice is the chassis is made of aluminum compared to the original that was made of magnesium. The difference between the two materials means this year's model is a bit heavier (by nearly half a pound). Plus, this year's platinum color is a hint lighter in color and the surface feels a bit smoother. With that said, it still feels sturdy and has an incredible design, fit, and finish. KEYBOARD AND TRACKPAD - I've owned several Surface devices over the years, including Surface Pros, Surface Laptop, and the original Laptop Studio. Microsoft has some of the best keyboards and trackpads on the market and they continue their streak of excellent input with Laptop Studio 2. It is such a pleasant experience typing on this laptop. Key travel is great and the keyboard deck is roomy. The trackpad is a bit different this year for better input for a variety of users. It's just as good for me, so there's that. SCREEN, SOUND, WEB CAM - Just as the original model, the 14-inch screen has the same 2400x1600 display with 120hz refresh. The sound is great, considering the speakers are situated under the keyboard deck. Despite that, the laptop still sounds great, able of getting pretty loud with ample bass for listening to Spotify or watching a movie on Netflix or any streaming service of your choice. The web cam is still 1080p but this year it has been updated with a wide-angle lens. Plus, there's new software called Windows Studio which uses AI to help frame you. This is especially helpful if you're at a distance and moving around. This is something like the new Apple iPads do. Inking works just as well with the Surface Pen 2. While unfortunate that it is not included with the laptop, I was able to use one that I already had and it of course magnetically attaches to the bottom of the laptop and charges at the same time. Unlike iPads, the magnets are very string, so there is never a fear that I will lose it in transit or when removing/placing my laptop from my messenger bag. With that said, the pen is one of my favorite features because I can easily shift the laptop into "Studio Mode" to edit some photos in Photoshop. I can retouch photographs and all the good stuff without having to use a mouse - or even worse a trackpad. Pinning is just a simple pleasure on the Laptop Studio 2 in "Studio Mode." Especially if I am in a meeting and need to quickly sketch out a concept or idea and then flip up the screen and turn it over to show the person on the other side what I created. The flexibility of the screen is one of the standout features of this laptop along with its overall performance. PERFORMANCE - The new Surface Laptop Studio 2 brings an updated 13th-generation Intel i7 processor. My model includes the NVIDIA RTX 4050 dedicated graphics. Both these upgrades brings significant improvement in performance for my design and desktop publishing work that I do for work. Working with the Adobe Creative Cloud Suite of software (Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, and Dreamweaver) on an everyday basis has been a pleasant experience. While not super audible, it does seem that the fans kick on without doing anything super intensive. They will certainly kick on when I have large layout files open in InDesign while also running Photoshop and Illustrator in the background. Performance, while plugged in, does not seem to skip a beat unless I am on battery. Battery mode is when you will see the computer start to slow down a bit as it tries to balance power with performance. Overall, I am mostly in a docked environment and I am pleased with the performance. It is a bit improvement over the original model. BATTERY - Like any laptop, battery performance will depend on a lot of things, including software/OS settings, applications open, and what you are doing on the laptop. Let's be honest though, what are you doing if you are not within reach of power outlets if you are doing heavy workloads. I've found the laptop to run comfortable around 9 hours doing my desktop publishing work. With that said, I would recommend turning off 120hz screen refresh rates and managing how bright your screen brightness. Is 9 hours the best, no. Is it good for a Windows laptop with this kind of performance and build? Absolutely. OVERALL - As someone who is always on-the-go, using Adobe Creative Suite and Microsoft Office, the Surface Laptop Studio 2 has been a pleasure to work with. The unique flexibility of the screen, along with the system's power, and the amazing keyboard has made the Laptop Studio 2 one of my favorite computers to use on the daily. If you need power and reasonable battery life, this should be one of your No. 1 picks. You won't be disappointed.

I am reviewing the Surface Laptop Studio 2 as someone who has had the first-generation version since it was released a little over 2 years ago. I have been a huge fan of that computer during my ownership and have recommended it several times to friends and family, as I think it has been the best overall computer money can buy and the only thing that could be better would be a better one. Well, here it is. The Laptop Studio 2 is improved over its predecessor in nearly every way or at least matches it if not, and visually almost indistinguishable from it which in my opinion is not a bad thing as I also like the design a great deal. It has a couple small physical changes in that it now has a singular USB-A 3.1 port to go along with the 2 USB-C thunderbolt 4 ports it retains from the first generation and adds a micro-SDXC slot on the opposite side. This all makes it more compatible with more things and that is fantastic since using adapters is not always a good time. It still has the magnetic wireless charging space under the front lip for the Surface Pen slim 2 which I brought over from my original and it immediately synced up by simply attaching it to the underside as I always have. The keyboard still feels just as tactile and responsive as I remember, and the touchpad also still has the haptic feedback that I have grown accustomed to. The original had a very high-end screen called PixelSense Flow, which is a 120hz 2400 x 1600 multitouch display that I find very well balanced and easy to look at and use. Surface Laptop Studio 2 carries that awesome display over and adds Dolby Vision IQ and HDR 400 certification for even greater brightness and contrast. In short, the screen looks fantastic, with near OLED quality. Battery life is exceptional, with well over 10 hours of light desktop use for word processing, internet browsing, or other tasks that don’t require much graphics power. However, if you plan to play any games on it or use graphic intensive apps the battery depletes very quickly so it needs to be plugged in for anything that wakes up the GPU. Speaking of gaming, the RTX 4050 is indeed a powerful GPU for games particularly at the native resolution of the PixelSense screen. I have played a few games on it with no issues at all running high to max settings on the native display, and using an external monitor via USB-C is also still possible and works flawlessly. It does get relatively hot and loud when running games but as long as it has room to breathe it never has any issues. I have a monitor with hub and reverse charging capability so plugging a single thunderbolt 4 cable into it allows the laptop to charge and transfer video, sound, and USB hub over to the monitor. One of the most exciting things about the Surface Laptop Studio originally was that it was one of the first computers to come with Windows 11. Obviously, that has not changed as Windows 11 is still the current OS but continues to receive updates and performance improvements that apply to touch screen laptops such as this one. The unique screen form factor with the Laptop Studio is that it can flip and transition into a tablet format or in-between in a tent-like state putting the screen in the perfect position for watching something or gaming with a controller. Windows 11 automatically changes formats depending on the mode the laptop is in as well. Bringing the Surface Pen slim 2 into the equation allows you to interact with the entire OS with the pen for clicking things, selecting items, and using Ink to convert your handwriting into typed words if you choose. Using the pen with Windows 11 is smooth and feels just like writing on paper to me. I am no artist, but I can use it for things like creating floorplans and then follow up by notating changes or directions right on the fly. Everything is fast and smooth; I have never had a single hiccup while using any application I had tried. Overall I would continue to feverishly recommend the Surface Laptop Studio 2 just as I did the original to anyone looking to acquire a computer that can fulfil any and all possible needs. This device can act as a tablet, laptop, and even take the place of a desktop with its powerful 13th gen i7 and RTX 4050. Get a Surface pen and create art or work on designs with the touch screen and smooth refresh rate. Feel the extraordinary build quality and feast your eyes on a screen that rivals the best out there. Windows 11 is a testament to the willingness Microsoft has had in recent years to listen to their customers and provide meaningful updates and new features regularly. It is powerful, and always works exactly as I anticipate. I spent the last two years telling people the original was the best computer I had ever owned, and now I have an even better one that has many noticeable improvements so I have no doubt that I will be saying that about the Laptop Studio 2 for years to come as well.

The Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 is a decent laptop that feels and looks like it is really trying hard to be like that other brand of similar slimline sealed computers. Sure, this one is a bit unique in the angle and flip touch screen, but it feels bulky and too heavy to treat as an actual tablet unless you want to work out your arm. And, for the price range, you could find something with a higher end graphics card and the ability to upgrade on your own. The computer feels very solid with its metal exterior. Even the flip screen feels strong. The screen is clear and sharp, but could really do with some more brightness and is extremely reflective. It seamlessly flips between screen modes with the positions being locked in with magnetism. It has the ability to work with the Surface Slim Pen, also magnetically stored under the lip of the touchpad, but not included. At this price point, it feels like something that should come with it. The power connector is also unique to the Surface and held by magnets, so a little shifting around and you might not even notice that you are no longer charging because it is barely holding in there. Neat thing about the charger though, it has a USB-A port so you can charge other USB items at the same time. As for charging, I don’t know how you are going to get 19 hours of battery life. Maybe if you turn the brightness down ever further, make sure the keyboard lightness is off and not running any applications. Just letting it play a movie on loop it died at about 9 hours. Even then, there were times in which the video looked like it was skipping frames. For ports you have USB-A 3.1, two USB-C USB4/Thunderbolt 4, a 3.5 mm headphone/mic and MicroSDXC card reader. It has Bluetooth 5.3 and Wi-Fi 6E: 802.11ax as well. However, for some speed tests I ran with it on my new Wi-Fi 6E router it returns half the upload speed. My other 6E capable laptop returns expected results for the download and upload speed though. Regardless, it was getting up to 1.2Gbps down, which is my ISP cap. It also has a 1080p Full HD camera in which you can use Studio effects for your video meetings. It’s pretty sharp and maintains decent light balance. Despite all the negative points I may have mentioned above, it is still a really nice looking laptop and very capable to do most things with some lower performance settings on applications. It is sitting in the price range of many gaming laptops, but it sits in a benchmark less than most office computers. Like I mentioned at the start, it really feels like it is trying to be a direct competitor with the other major brand, but still feels dated and not outdoing it other than being Windows based. For what it is I give it the stars, but I would not recommend this to a friend unless they needed it for a very specific reason.

The Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 is a powerful laptop with a versatile design, powerful performance, and a bright and vivid display. It's a wonderful choice for creative professionals, students, and anyone who wants a powerful and versatile laptop that can also double as a creative tablet device. The Surface Laptop Studio 2 has a unique design that allows you to use it in 3 different modes: laptop mode, stage mode, and studio mode. Laptop mode is the traditional mode for doing laptop things such as typing and using apps. Stage mode is great for watching movies and presentations, and studio mode is perfect for drawing or taking notes. This is all possible due to the way Microsoft designed the unique hinge found on this laptop. This model of the Surface Laptop Studio 2 is powered by the latest 13th-Gen Intel Core i7 with 16GB of RAM. It also has a 14.4-inch display with a 120Hz refresh rate. This makes it a great laptop for gaming and of course every type of media consumption. You’ll have plenty of space for a couple of games and your apps on the 512GB SSD and games will run smoothly with the Nvidia RTX 4050 that’s packed in there. You’ll also get a legacy USB A port and a bunch of USB-C ports for connectivity, an SD-Card slot, and a magnetic charging cable, which is always a nice feature. The Surface Laptop Studio 2 also has a great keyboard and trackpad. The keyboard feels great to type on, and the trackpad is huge and responsive. Unfortunately, the SLS2 doesn’t come with a pen, so plan on spending a little more if you want that functionality. If you’re a creative professional then it’s going to be an essential add-on for you though as it opens up a whole other set of functions when in Studio mode. I was able to play a couple of games on the SLS2 and they ran okay, but please remember this isn’t a gaming laptop. This is a productivity laptop that can play games and there’s a difference. You will be able to play a lot of games on medium settings just fine, but the laptop has a pretty high-resolution screen, so it’ll be taxed pretty heavily when playing at the native resolution. Overall, I think the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 is a very versatile laptop with a unique design, powerful performance, and a stunning display. It's going to be a solid choice for creative professionals, students, and anyone who wants a premium laptop. However, there are lots of alternatives in the crowded laptop space that do certain things much better for a lot less. Here are some of the pros and cons of the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2: Pros: Cool 3-way versatile design Powerful performance Stunning display Comfortable keyboard Large and responsive trackpad Magnetic charging cable Cons: Expensive Pretty heavy for a 14.4-inch laptop Battery life could be better

This studio 2 laptop is the best content creation machine i can ask for with whats on tje market currently. The studio 2 has amazing features . Its great it fits right for what you need to do .and it will provide all the basic needs and then some for creating content as well as excell and out perform in those areas. Specifically this lapgop has a 120 hz refreh rate woth pixelsense display . This means this will have what i like to ivew as a hybrid displau thst meets thebstandards and criteria for those need to work. This means there is an adequate displau for visuals and to see dtailes minor areas ehen xooming in and editing those small spots or areas you want to perfect when in others lack the ability. When perfecting your eork this allows you to. You can treat it as a wacom in a sense. Its just as good and helps in ones methodical ways for workers who like to be meticulous. Those who can draw and want to feel a sense of wacom style and even paper like sensatioms are lucky to come across this as well. They will find extraoirinary resemblance with paperlike format thanks to the latency and pixelsense technology in thos package available even in the low specd version. The latency is very crucial in outputting good work for those who want to bring their work here as it is an accurate reflection of ones applications to the screen. Its is a great subsitute for wacom or even paper drawing imo. Ihave seen this screen display work shwoing n amazing resolution while working that i see others laptop such as asus rog xflow or other 2in 1s coudlnt even produce and thats coming using the rog xflow 16 myself with a mini led display. The next big thing i think i would isggest ofr anyone especialyl who wants a apple competipr its the soind of the speakers. They are great and loud yet clear, but still not in apple territory by any any means . This is a great choice too for those wanting nice speakers they are even in spite of having a mac m3 next to it very good speakers. . The battery life i will mention quickly is not the best and should be way better but is not with 6 hours max ive seen sometime 7 to 8 on mine with monitoring and proper use of apps to offset the dgpu vs the igpu so less power was used. That shouldnt though be anythign someone should have to do witj exp those unfamiliar woth their tecj as some so thats up to the user how tjeu would see those numbers. Considerig if ome wanted to they could perhaps see up to potentially 8 1/2 hours if strictly working on code or drawing and no movies other than that youre getting 6 max hours. But again thats up to user discretion and can be affixxed to how much tenacity one has or will dedicate to that area which id imagine you would if need be. Its an exceptional amount of time though for certain repsects like school or work and you plug in beteween sets and have it throughoit the day for the most part. Considering this battery goes down alot has to be negstive it also goes for reason which is the dedicated gpu The 4050 . This gpu is the lowest tier for this gen but this is great gpu and it will let you do things and not break the battery even worse cinsidering the small form factor and its intent which is content creation. It actually becomes apparent why this low tier was used and not any but one notch above is used the the later specd out version that would be ideal for gaming but not anything else. The 4050 is adequate for any game really while adding the necessary power to mainatin content creation and doing work digitally. So as a creator laptop it will help ideally with those processes while also entertaining the idea as a moderate gaming pc on tje side as an added bonus at least i feel is the intent from microsoft imo. Considering this battery power with all the extra perks it has goves a it an edge in the cintent creator genre ranking imo to be top quality and amongst the best for what it does.

The Laptop Studio 2 builds on the previous generation which already was one of the best windows laptops on the market. It had the best screen, best touchpad, keyboard, speakers along with a unique folding hinge screen and none of that has changed. The biggest improvement on the Laptop Studio 2 is Windows 11 itself and how it has matured from its initial release. Microsoft has done a great job adding features which make the Windows 11 an inclusive product for everyone no matter the other devices they use (Android/IOS). Windows has also greatly improved in speed and reliability; I did not experience one slow down or crash while using the Laptop Studio 2. Windows has done a lot of work with the small details to make sure that the system is not only visually appealing but also fast and responsive. Features such Snap feature (auto sizes screens for productivity), Desktop groups, AI integration, current update to paint which allows you to add layers and upgraded photos application make Windows 11 a must for most people. Screen: The screen on the Laptop Studio 2 is still great and this years includes HDR support (500 nits normally or 650 nits for HDR content) and there is no screen wobble which is saying something since the screen goes into tablet mode and content viewing mode. The borders are a bit thick for today’s standards but in all honesty they work and I hardly noticed them. The thicker borders are actually a plus when you use the device to take notes/draw. The screen is still 120 Hz so all the transitions are smooth and make using the Laptop Studio 2 a joy as your daily driver. Trackpad: Is on par with the best laptops in the market and the most inclusive because of the adaptive touch mode which allows people with limited mobility to use the trackpad. Sound: The speakers are the best on any windows machine of this size. The laptop studio 2 improves the base and mids/highs but is a bit lacking is the spatial audio. Touch: The touch response on the Laptop Studio 2 is almost as good as my smart phone, no matter where you touch the screen it registers instantly. When working with windows apps such as word/paint the drawing works just as well with your fingers as it does with a surface pen. If you do purchase the surface pen the laptop becomes a hybrid between laptop/media machine/tablet. The touch features work great with your fingers and you can take it to the next level if you have a surface pen which allows you to highlight/cut/draw and so much more. Form factor: The unique design of the Laptop Studio 2 is great for media consumption and using windows ink for drawing/note taking purposes. I was not a believer in the design when it came to the media consumption part, however the screen being a tad closer makes a huge difference for content viewing which I was not expecting. Performance: The Laptop Studio runs one gen older CPU but has the newest GPU which blazes through anything you can throw at it. Now it does get hot when you’re doing triple A title games or heavy video editing but that is expected for the work it is doing. Besides the heavy task the Laptop Studio 2 runs quiet and I only heard the fans turn on when I did windows update. The Laptop Studio 2 is the cream of the crop when it comes to windows laptops. Everything from the look to the performance is top of the line with very little drawbacks. The windows operating system has come a long way and Windows 11 is a joy to use not only for productivity but in all aspects that you would need a laptop. The only downsides for the Laptop Studio 2 was that the webcam wasn’t the best otherwise this is one of the best windows laptops on the market.

TLDR; 13th Gen i7 Mobile @ 2.9GHz, 16 GB DDR5 RAM, 512GB SSD (475GB usable with Win11 installed), NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 Mobile GPU. 2x USB-C 4.0, 1x USB-A, MicroSD reader, 3.5mm Audio Port, 14.4” screen @ 2400x1600 res @ 120Hz, Windows Hello facial recognition. The Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio has surprised me in that it is packing an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 GPU. Microsoft Surface products have always been prominent in their productivity market. I have my older Surface Laptop that I use daily, and it does everything that I need it to do…except gaming as it doesn’t sport a discrete GPU. So this Surface Laptop Studio truly does it all; it can be used as a normal laptop, it can be folded down into a tablet, and it can be used for that real gaming experience. The design of the Studio Laptop is quite unique. It isn’t the thinnest of laptops, but it does appear to “look” that way. It actually sports a large base in comparison to other slim laptops. But the designers gave the base a design to give an illusion that it is thinner than it looks. The best way I can describe it is that it looks like the laptop is “sitting” on a smaller base station. From my viewing angle, all I see is the Surface Laptop. The look and feel of the keyboard is familiar, and the oversized touchpad is as well. Speaking of the laptop base, the fans actually intake and exhaust through the sides, so you don’t have to worry about blocking air flow when you’re actually using this on your lap. The entire body is made out of aluminum and this thing just feels so premium when held. The keys are optimal for a laptop of this class, and the touchpad is very large. The screen tilt will take you as far as 45 degrees past 90, so you won’t be able to flatten the screen all the way down when used with the keyboard. When used as a tablet, the screen actually folds on itself and lays flat on top of the keyboard, or far enough so that you cover the keys but still have access to the touchpad. There are magnet guides in place if you want to use it in this manner. There are large bezels around the 14.4” screen and I welcome these bezels because it allows me to hold around the “tablet” without providing spurious inputs. That being said, this thing is chunky when in this folded mode. I’m actually typing this sentence while in tablet mode and the touch screen has no issues picking up what keys I’m pressing….it’s just feels big to hold. But overall, I’m thoroughly impressed with this laptop design. The Studio Laptop is packing a lot of good stuff this iteration; an i7-13700H mobile processor that provides 24MB L3 Cache and a boost frequency 5GHz (performance) and 3.7GHz (efficient). It sports 6 performance cores and 8 efficient cores. This plays a lot in power management with respect to the types of apps you will be running. This configuration also comes with 16GB DDR5 RAM @ 5200MHz and 512GB SSD (475GB usable). These are specs I would expect to see from a premium laptop, but what really stole the show for me was the inclusion of the 4050 GPU, albeit the mobile version, yet it still packs a punch!! At 1080p settings, the 4050 is able to run games at high to ultra settings. I’ve been playing a lot of Diablo 4 and it definitely is a game the 4050 can handle. Starfield is also very much playable on this thing, and it is a demanding game. I get around 50 fps in medium settings. And just to be clear, I'm not looking to break FPS records or game full time on this laptop. Use this as a gauge to know how well this laptop can handle your AAA games. It's just really nice to know I can pull up a game after a long day of work, especially if I'm on work travel. There are enough USB ports to allow me to connect my gaming mouse and headphones. It is also worth noting that having the laptop plugged in will allow the laptop components to run at their full potential. The expense of running demanding applications is the production of heat, and this thing can get hot! The CPU and GPU, being mobile variants, run hotter than their desktop PC counterparts due to the limited cooling in laptops. That being said, the i7-13700H temps were kept under 80 degrees celsius and the 4050 was kept under 90 degrees celsius during my 3dMark benchmark test. This is a little hot for my taste in terms of gaming, but the Studio does a good job maintaining those temps. I also noticed that when I rested my palms on either side of the touchpad, the laptop felt warmer, but nothing that is uncomfortable. Lastly, there is the price and this is one of the more premium priced laptops money can buy. I highly recommend this laptop if you’re looking for a jack-of-all-trades type of device. To me, it’s three different devices in one. But if you only care for one of the three (productivity laptop, tablet, gaming laptop), then you can find one of these types of devices on the market for probably much cheaper.

Initial Inquiry & Decision: I needed a device that could combine work and creativity while taking advantage of the latest AI and multitasking features in Windows 11. The Surface Laptop Studio 2 stood out thanks to its Copilot integration, high-performance hardware, and unique touch display. ​ Unboxing, Build Quality, & Testing: The Laptop Studio 2 features a bright 14.4" PixelSense Flow touchscreen with vivid colors high brightness, accurate HDR400 support, Dolby Vision IQ streaming, and up to 120Hz refresh rate—making games, movies, art, and professional projects look wonderfully lifelike. Touch gestures feel smooth and natural, especially on the tilting display, which works well for sketching, note-taking, and digital art. The Gen Intel Core i7 CPU (built on Evo platform) and RTX 4050 GPU deliver excellent performance, tackling heavy workloads with ease. Copilot in Windows 11 helps quickly find information and generate ideas, and you can summarize documents, translate captions, and search content using AI capabilities, boosting productivity throughout the day.​ ​ With 16GB RAM and a fast 512GB SSD, everything from video editing to large web browsing sessions runs smoothly. Battery life is a highlight, frequently lasting through a full workday (up to 19 hours advertised, 9+ hours under real-world mixed use). The laptop is packed with helpful ports (Thunderbolt 4, USB-A, microSD) and ready for accessories like the Surface Slim Pen 2, which is stored and charged in the keyboard base with pleasant tactile feedback. Other hardware perks include a quiet and customizable haptic Precision touchpad, Windows Hello facial recognition for secure instant login, AI-powered camera effects for natural video calls, and unified device protection via Microsoft Defender. ​ Overall Impressions and Recommendation: Surface Laptop Studio 2 is a superb creative and productivity device with powerful hardware, excellent battery life, and inspired touch features in Windows 11. Copilot integration helps you work smarter, and the unique display and input solutions make it stand out for creators, professionals, and anyone who values smooth workflow and flexibility

This is the second generation of the Surface Studio Laptop, which follows similar design characteristics to the first gen. The aesthetics and convertible hinge are carried through to this generation to deliver a well refined and professional looking device. I used the original surface many years ago along with my Zune and Windows Phone, so I have a soft spot for Microsoft’s in-house designs. With that being said, I would be hard pressed to find someone that would see this as anything less than a premium tier laptop. Specs on the Surface Studio 2 are pretty solid, but not ground breaking for the price. The GPU is an NVIDIA 4050, which is a good entry level GPU but nothing crazy as far as gaming or rendering performance. The CPU is an i7-13700H which is a 14 core-20 thread CPU with a 2.4 GHz stock frequency (boosts to 5 GHz). This is a solid CPU with plenty of performance to spare – I have the desktop version of this processor (i7-13700KF) and it has terrific performance. It comes with 16GB of LPDDR 5200 RAM that is soldered to the mainboard. With this setup the RAM is not upgradeable, but at least it runs in dual channel and the 5200 speed is decent. The screen is a 14.4” 2400x1600 (2K) 120Hz display with 10-point multitouch input, full sRGB, and Display HDR400 support. The internal storage of this model is only 512GB, which isn’t a lot. You may look to upgrade the SSD (PCIe Gen4 2280) at some point if you are finding that lacking. The way the specs are bundled with RAM, SSD size, and GPU I can see someone being good with the 4050 and 16GB, but needing 1TB+ of storage, which isn’t a configuration that is offered. All of these items together make for a well spec’d laptop, but its something that could be outmatched by a gaming laptop with a much lower price point. This laptop is aimed at creators and is designed with the aesthetics of a premium device being the main driver for adoption. This is not a laptop for casual users, but for power users in the creator space. Design of the Studio 2 looks fairly similar to the first gen based on side-by-side comparisons I have seen. Teardown videos mention some internal changes that help with repairability – reduction of screw counts, more user accessible. I have not taken the back cover off like I do for most laptops to check out their internals (too afraid to damage it). However, the body is very sturdy feeling and the material of choice is aluminum with a brushed silver finish (called Platinum by MS). The stout construction leads to a dense feeling laptop weighing in at 4.37lbs. This is the second heaviest laptop in my possession with only a 17” gaming laptop being 2 pounds heavier. The Studio 2 doesn’t come with a ton of ports but it does have 2 USB4/Thunderbolt 4 Type-C ports (DisplayPort and Power Delivery), a single USB 3.1 Type-A port, 3.5mm headset port, and a MicroSD reader. The charging brick also has a USB port to charge any auxiliary items. Connectivity wise the Studio 2 supports WiFi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3. I have a 6E router, which really gives a nice boost to the devices that sit on the 6 GHz band because it is much less crowded by other device traffic. The stepped design of the base allows for better airflow to the internal components, and it recesses the vent outlets inboard. While sitting on your lap the bottom of the Studio warms up a bit, but nothing major. The Studio seems to handle the thermal load well – the aluminum chassis likely helps to spread the heat around instead of making a hotspot. The top of the chassis (keyboard/touchpad) doesn’t appear to feel any warmer while using the machine. The features that can make or break a laptop like this – keyboard, touchpad, and webcam are excellent across the board. The keyboard feels great to the touch and was better than most laptops I have used. The keys are slim – a little over a 1 mm tall, and the key actuation depth was around 0.8mm of travel. There is a slight detent that the key rides over and the keystroke is registered just below that depth. Actuation force is also low, but the detent keeps away any errant presses. The touchpad is great in this iteration of the Studio. From what I can tell it is an all new design that improves upon the last gen. The touchpad provides accurate registration of finger gestures no matter what I was attempting. Left click and right click are easily interpreted, which is usually my biggest frustration with touchpads. The haptic feedback is a welcome feature, and its amazing how that little bit of tactic feedback changes the experience. I am not usually a fan of touchpads as I like the ergonomics of mice more, but I can certainly tolerate using it here. The webcam is a 1080p wide view lens setup. The hardware and software work well together. Microsoft touts the features like automatic framing and Eye Contact, which worked just fine on the few video calls I made. The camera handles face-to-face convos just fine and it worked well in a “presenting” where I could stand back. Audio captured by the built in mics was decent, and it filtered background noise about as well as could be expected. I have had some fun messing around with the surface in its different modes, which was my favorite feature in the original Surface that I had used years ago. The trick hinge that Microsoft uses to switch from laptop to tablet works wonderfully, but it takes some getting used to. The display angles to roughly 135° while acting as a normal hinge. You have to have the screen open close to 90° before you can split the back cover hinge and bring the display forward. The screen stops about ¼” above the track pad and sticks in place to a magnet spot on the chassis. You can continue to pull it forward while hinging it back to bring it fully into a tablet mode. All of this can be done with 1 hand, but I felt more in control using 2 hands. The dual hinge feels robust and the screen chassis doesn’t flex much if you try to open/close/etc. with one hand. Upon getting the Studio 2 I knew I wanted to pick up a pen for it. The Studio 2 works with any of the surface pens but it was made to be more compatible with the Slim Pen 2. My local Best Buy had a few in stock so I snagged it. The Slim Pen 2 has a nifty little docking point just under the front lip of the laptop that also acts as a wireless charger. The body of the Studio 2 has a couple of points where the pen will stick to besides its dock, so you have options for where you place it while actively working. Windows 11 brings in some more functionality for the pen (my last experience was Windows 7, I think). Journal and Whiteboard are new to me, but I had used a Surface pen for previously on OneNote and Paint. Using the pen for writing Math Equations is honestly something I wish I had back in college for all of those lab reports I wrote. I occasionally write guides/papers now for work that require inserting math equations, and this would make life so much easier. The inking to text works fantastic, and I have terrible handwriting. Whiteboard doesn’t have ink to text but rather lets me jot things down in a flow-of-conscience sort of way. This all works pretty well and the delay between writing and it showing up on screen is imperceptible. I have some experience with using pens on my Wacom tablet and my Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra, and I would put this just above in terms of writing quality and convenience. I wish I could comment on using this for artistic work, but I have not a shred of artistic ability. I did mess around with it in paint and made some goofy drawings to show my kids. I have plans to get my Photoshop Elements license ported over to the Studio so I can see what I am able to work on in it. For professional work I have used it to mark up some PDF’s and review some Solidworks Models in the e-Drawings viewer. Using the pen was great for marking up PDF’s and made it super simple to add signoffs with my own signature. It eliminates the need to print a document, sign it, scan it, and send it back. With the e-Drawings the multipoint touchscreen was really the best way forward outside of a mouse or 3D mouse. So if I was out and about or traveling I would be capable of doing my work without needing to bust out the peripherals. As far as entertainment goes I really liked kicking the screen into the angled stand mode. Watching movies or episodes of a show is really nice – I have no better way of describing it than that. Its better than watching on a tablet with a kickstand or on a regular laptop screen. The angled screen position brings the image closer, and the laptop body gives it the stability to rest nicely on my lap. The screen clarity was excellent, and the HDR content looked pretty good. I plopped down on my couch and watched the final Attack on Titan episode when it came out. The experience was great. The sound from the speakers was clear enough and the little bit of subwoofer the Studio has makes a nice little bump. The speakers don’t sound tinny/thin and had a nice sound to them. I had the speakers set to use Dolby Atmos for built-in speakers (default sound profile) for 3D spatial audio. This is great for TV and movies, but I tend to turn it off for strictly music because it muddies things a bit. As far as my impressions go this is a well-crafted premium grade device. The Studio 2 looks every bit the part of a professional device. The pen, while not needed (or included), really makes the Studio 2 shine. I can see this being a great laptop for creators, professionals that need to look the part, and students heading off to college. I wish I would have had a device like this when I did my undergrad. The only thing to keep in mind is to pick the device configuration you will require since there is effectively no upgradeability outside of putting in a larger SSD. I think this version hits a pretty good sweet spot for all the features when compared to the cost – the higher spec’d models go up in price quick.

Beautifully built, with absolutely top-notch Apple-level quality and typical excellent Microsoft hardware/software integration. Inking experience is second to none, at least for the various tablets I have tried over the years. MPP3 with the slim pen and the SLS2 really is a cut above. I liked the haptic touchpad, but it isn't quite as nice as the Apple MBP14. I felt fan noise was controlled very well overall, also. Some don't like the exhaust-out-the-side design, but I like that Microsoft hasn't gone for a bottom intake (which makes lap usage a lot better for the laptop's health as you're not choking the vents), and if that is the tradeoff, I'll take a little hot air on my mousing hand. Key travel is good, and overall I liked the keyboard quite a bit; from design, font, to key placement and keystroke feel. The 4050 is also very well-optimized, and outperforms many 4060 laptops. Microsoft has done a great job with optimization although be aware that in the default Recommended setting and on Battery, the CPU is throttled massively--you will notice this even in web surfing and productivity, Better Performance and Best Performance will step up CPU power notably, with the expected decrease in battery life. In Recommended, you might be able to squeeze 6-7 hours out of it, which is not bad at all, as long as you don't have any Teams meetings or use the dGPU. Of course, you have to live with a bit of sluggishness. On the negative side, the NPU is crazy inefficient: do not plan on using the Windows Studio Effects or battery life from 100% to dead empty shrinks to 90 minutes in Teams meetings! That's with the dGPU off using only the iGPU, as well. Also, the screen is a huge negative to me: resolution and contrast are quite good, as you'd expect from Microsoft, but the panel has some "shimmer" as you move your head naturally as you work, and while the refresh rate is great (120hz), there is blurring in fast moving objects such as your mouse, or anything in a video or game. It was shocking--almost like stepping back into the early 2000s LCD technology. You might be fine with the screen if you are using it for productivity tasks--but have a hard look in person if you want this for both productivity and anything that requires fast-moving objects. I'd say, if you're mobile more than stationary, I'd suggest an ultrabook--a 13th gen i7 U processor will outperform this laptop on battery unless you run the SLS2 in Best Performance mode, and then your battery life is extremely short. If you can plug in all the time, with just an occasional foray on battery (and you can life with dialed back performance akin to a low-cost laptop), and you do a lot of inking, then SLS2 actually is great and maybe the best on the market. It really is a wonderful experience for diagramming and other inking-related tasks.

Overall a good device however I returned it for something different due to several issues. POSITIVES: Great screen and haptic track pad. Best I have used on any device that wasn't a Mac. Very fast, responsive and benefitial UI smoothness because hardware and software made by same company. REASONS I RETURNED IT: The keyboard has good travel but there were two things that bothered me personally. First, the key deck is very far forward nearly to the screen base so hand position was weird in my use. Second, the key shapes are kind of domed or rounded which made finger contact on the key weird compared to some other computers I have tried. Third, the key colors would benefit from some more contrast color compared to the body. I have to wear readers glasses and more contrast would make it easier to see without my glasses. The weight and form factor is problematic if you frequently move it in and out of a briefcase or backpack. The edges are very (sharp is the wrong word) squared off, the cantilevered deck is just an optical illusion and weird in person.If I was working on this as a static workstation, it would have been fine but I have to travel a lot with it. It's clever that the screen flexes but I never used it in anything other than traditional open clamshell form. That said, I can see the benefit and if it was thinner and lighter it could replace the desire, not really need I have to maintain a traditional laptop and tablet. The move to aluminum was perfect, the surfaces and materials are well done. The screen resolution, refresh and color range is great. I regret I travel because there is much to enjoy about this device and if I didn't travel it would have likely kept it. If it was no heavier than 3.75 LBS ands less than 60mm thick I would buy it again.

This is a very fast computer, the display looks amazing and this thing is so easy to use. This device is heavy and not as portable as some others but it is powerful and so that is a good trade-off. I like the positioning of the screen and how you can move it to different positions. I also like the touchpad and the keyboard and the magnetic power cord is convenient.

I’ve had this latpop for a year now and it still works like new. I work in architecture and use 3D software for work and this laptop has handled everything just fine. The size is slightly on the smaller end of screen sizes but it has proven to be fairly portbale and easy to carry. I use the laptop with a portable monitor and has been a wonderful experience for remote work. I use a mouse and portable keyboard while working and having the abilty to adjust the screen tilt is a great feature. The only cons I would mention are battery life- unfortunately with laptops that have powerful specs- you end up consuming a lot of energy. Other than that, this laptop is a powerhouse packed in a small package.