Customer Ratings & Reviews

I purchased the Surface Laptop Studio (SLS) to replace an aging Surface Laptop 2 (SL2). While still functional, the slowdown on the SL2 has become more noticeable recently and I decided to upgrade when I found a machine that had what I wanted at an acceptable price point. After testing out many products in store, the SLS met those needs and I decided to make the purchase. The most important thing to me in a laptop is a quality keyboard. I do not like shallow key travel, and the feel of the keys on the SL2 is the thing that would have gotten me to keep using it if I did not find a suitable replacement. The three best keyboards I found in store were the Surface Laptop 4, the Dell XPS 15, and the SLS. (I was also interested in trying out the new Macbook Pro keyboards as I heard they were much improved, but to me they are not. While there is more travel than the butterfly keyboard of old, it still feels like typing on a piece of plywood. It might be great for some, but it is not for me). The SLS and the XPS 15 were neck and neck, but the keyboard on the SLS had less flex when typing and I preferred the feel of it just slightly to the XPS. Next on my list is display. FHD (1920 x 1080) is not quite crisp enough for me, and on a laptop I think the tradeoff between a cleaner 4k display and the hit that takes on battery life is not worth it. I think the 2400 x 1600 display on the Surface Laptops is the sweet spot in terms of resolution, and going into researching a new laptop I decided this was the minimum display resolution I would get. The screen clarity coupled with the 3:2 aspect ratio of the Surface is the thing that got me to go ahead and make the purchase. That little bit of vertical screen real estate makes a big difference when either writing documents or writing code, the two things for which I mainly use a laptop. The icing on the cake, and what made a noticeable difference after choosing to make the upgrade, is the 120Hz refresh rate. It's one of those things that you don't think makes a big difference until you have it. But scrolling up and down through an IDE or a document is so much smoother on this machine. Again, that might not sound like much, but when you are staring at the screen for hours throughout the day, you will notice it. And basic web-scrolling is much more fluid as well. It just makes for a nice viewing experience overall. There are a few cons, however. First is the lack of ports. You might not think the lack of a USB A port is a big deal until you actually need one. While having two Thunderbolt ports is nice, having to search for an adapter or a USB C -> C cable is an unecessary nuisance that could have been overcome with an adapter in the box. At this price point one should have been included. Second is that price. While the specs are good and the machine runs smoothly, you are essentially paying a premium for the adaptability of the display. Yes, it folds at an angle and, yes, it folds flat, but there are much cheaper 2-in-1s available with similar specs for either the same price or a cheaper price. I got the SLS at a sale price and I recommend if you are looking at it you do the same. While I recommend the laptop I can not do so at full price. Finally is the lack of upgradability. I strongly considered the XPS 15 because of the ability to upgrade the RAM. Again, at this price point I think the user should be able to add RAM at a later time if they so desire or need to upgrade. This is especially true on the SLS as it is not a slim ultrabook, the chassis being similar to that of the old Macbook Pros (think ~ 2011). These were easy to open and upgrade, and I believe with this chassis if Microsoft wanted to make this machine upgradeable it easily could have. Something that is neither pro nor con, but is just different, is the weight of the SLS. Coming from a SL2 the extra two pounds or so on the SLS is very noticable. It is still portable, but you will notice the heft of this machine if you are used to carrying an ultrabook. As for battery life, I am always near a charger so I do not concern myself with this too much. I usually charge a laptop when the battery gets below 30%, and I have to charge this every other day or at the beginning of every third day. I think if you are not doing very hardware-intensive tasks you should have no problem making it through a day or two with this machine. But, again, this isn't something I consider too strongly so I did not do intensive tests on it. Overall I recommend the SLS but I more strongly recommend that you go to the store and check the machine out in person to see if it is for you. Type on a the keyboards of several laptops, check out the displays, and see what is the best fit. For me, this was the Surface Laptop Studio. I typed this review on it and I have to say it is a joy to type on. This keyboard coupled with the 3:2 aspect ratio, 2400 x 1600 display, and 120Hz refresh rate make it an upgrade that I think is worth it, just at a slightly lower price than full retail. Overall I'd say 4.5 stars out of 5, but since that is not a rating option I went with 5. This is a well-built machine that I really enjoy using every day.

This laptop is turning out amazing for a programmer/casual user like me after few months of use: 1. 3:2 ratio is a godsend. 16:9 ratio laptos should not be a thing anymore unless all you do is play games and watch movies. 2. I play a few games which this laptop is handling really well. 3. The keyboard, touchpad and speakers are amazing! 4. This does not get loud at all which I love. 5. It gets slightly warm on heavy load but isnt a problem for me. 6. I really love that I can use it at 120hz and it doesnt kill battery as much as i expected. Its on par with 60hz for my usage. 7. The laptop feels premium with its finish. One of the best looking laptops. Negatives: 1. The screen is nice to use but you have to deal with reflection. 2. Its a little on the heavier side 3. I wish it had a USB A. Whatevers: The screen tilt. Its there is you wanna use it. I dont so I dont care about the hinge or modes or whatever but I like the option of having it. Also, get to learn the features of Windows 11, its pretty cool.

I really wanted to like the laptop, but its been continuously disappointing. The screen, while tilted, is flimsily secured magnetically. Any pressure on the screen while its in tilt mode dislodges it from place. Tilting the screen flat would be a better option but requires a stand, which is an easy fix, but the laptop is so heavy that using it on a laptop/tablet stand with adjustable height just causes the stand to flatten. Its weight makes it pretty undesirable to use as a tablet overall. The stylus pressure is pretty good, parallax-wise. Good pressure sensitivity, but honestly using Photoshop's interface on a screen this size isn't very user or touch-screen friendly. The touch screen is a nice feature, but doesn't come in handy as much as I expected. I'd love to be able to zoom in with two fingers while using the stylus to draw, but so often while I'm pinching to zoom, the image will pixelate, glitch and appear completely white in place of where the zoomed in image should be. This happens a lot in photoshop. Windows OS is overall unfriendly and its forced incorporation of OneDrive is a total nightmare. It's supposed to save storage space but most of the time you can't access your files on OneDrive because "its not running" or is taking an eon to sync. I really regret selling my desktop and wacom tablet for this 'all-in-one' device that I thought would consolidate my creative tech tools and improve my workflow...I also made the mistake of putting it on a credit card that I am still paying off because wow it was expensive and super not worth it. Do yourself a favor, since its too late for me, and buy yourself an ipad if you're considering this for any drawing, graphic design or photo editing. If you're thinking "Well, I have a PC and I don't want to have to send my procreate files or upload to the cloud every time I need to continue the work in photoshop"- dealing with that is easier than dealing with this laptop.. OK I'm done. I hope I win the $400 gift card for this review so I can invest in a computer that is not this one.

I was tired of my Macbook Air M1 13.3" screen being a little small but the appeal of it was the fan it was fanless. The pros of the MSSLS is the outstanding 14.4" screen. It is very quiet . Even when the fan runs you can't really hear it. Under high cpu usage it is still barely audible.Prefer the keyboard to the Mac. Prefer Win 11 to Mac OS. And I finally have my delete key back ! The only con is slightly less battery life but I crank the screen brightness to at least 75%. You can get by with much less. I would say at 50% or so it's equivalent to the Mac. Anything high and it blows away the retina screen

I LOVE LOVE LOVE my Surface Laptop Studio 14.4". I previously purchased a Dell XPS 15, and was so disappointed in the keyboard layout and the sharp edge at the bottom of the laptop. Therefore, I returned the Dell and purchased this Surface Laptop Studio! As a developer, I am very pleased with the quality of the display. And the keyboard is by far the most comfortable keyboard that I've ever used! When using the Surface Studio without a mouse, the trackpad is excellent! I also love the way the Studio converts into a tablet. The hinged display is an improvement from the prior Surface models. Although the laptop is lacking ports, I purchased a USB 3.0 Hub with HDMI and a SD Card reader. Thanks Best Buy for allowing me to trade in the Dell for the Surface Laptop Studio. I am very pleased!

My experience is mixed. I bought two I7 16 g machines to run Office apps, run a webcam over a piano when we teach, create floor plans and PowerPoint presentations. Also needed a consistently reliable touchscreen for finger and stylus. Finnally, I needed the largest screen possible in a convertable form factor. The machine performed all tasks exceptionally well and it was the only laptop which could run PowerPoint in creator and presentation mode without delays or crashes. Unfortunately, Microsoft tablets and laptops which were produced two or three years ago came with severe charging issues. The machines wouldn't charge and would crash even when plugged in, if the battery drained too far. We made many attempts to fix the issue but all attempts failed. We gave up and traded the machines in for Lenovo Yogas. Those machines worked OK for a while, but the pens do not work consistently. Performance with PowerPoint is mediocre at best. We have heard that the Surface power problems have been fixed so we are thinking abot trying them again.

Overall a very nice purchase. It's been fairly quick & responsive during my use of it, although not quite as snappy as I had hoped. The only real issue I've had with it, besides the lack of snappiness, is recently my charging cord has been malfunctioning. It only charges about half the time, which is really frustrating. I have to mess with it for several minutes in order for it to actually start charging. Battery life as a whole hasn't been as ideal as I would have hoped either. I have to charge it halfway through my workday, and I'm not pushing it too much typically.

Very happy with the laptop overall. It's a great laptop and fits all my needs. Rather than tell you all the good which there is so many, I'll just mention the cons. -I think the price is a bit shocking considering whats in this laptop. It is just a really good laptop, but not anything extraordinary or super-powered. -Battery Life is disappointing. It sucks to have went from the Surfacebook with almost 8+ hour battery down to this which has maybe 4. It's 2021.... Hopefully Microsoft can come up with some optimizations for it as Windows 11 gets more polished. -There's literally only 2 ports. So if you carry this with you anywhere you almost are guaranteed to have to buy some sort of dock or dongle to be able to do anything. It's stupid literally that you can't even plug in a USB stick in a hurry or a wireless mouse. -The fan blows on your hands. I like this feature personally but it's definitely a quirk worth mentioning since I'm sure some would hate that. -Comes with Windows 10 HOME. Period. None of the Best Buy models have Pro even as an option. And the upgrade process is currently busted so when you upgrade to Pro from the Microsoft Store it will not work and you will need to call Microsoft for help. -The display is great, the sound is great, but the display being so high-quality sometimes causes some apps to appear all messed up.

I've owned dozens of computers (including two Surface Books) and worked on a hundred others as an IT consultant. This is hands down the best computer I've every used. It simply works like you want it to. Nice battery life, beautiful screen, fast processor, comfortable form factor, good management of heat, very quiet fan, fast video processor, and the sound is respectable for such a small device. It pairs easily via Bluetooth with Air-pods or other wireless headphones for even better sound. One of the features other reviewers seem to miss is how good the keyboard and touchpad are. A keyboard can make or break a laptop and this one is excellent for touch typing. The touchpad is slightly larger than the Surface Book 3, and works intuitively, including multi-touch gestures for scrolling and windows management. You don't really need a mouse with this machine. I've not used a pen with this device, but if you purchase the Surface Pen 2 it will charge the pen while it stored under the touch pad, held in place by magnets. It works very well for everyday use - word processing, spreadsheets, web browsing. But it has also worked well for video editing. The only criticism perhaps, is it might have been nice to include a USB A port for backward compatibility. But it's not hard to find a C to A cord. I use a Dock 2 with this machine and so ports are not really a problem. The laptop has two C ports and in a pinch you can charge the laptop through them, as well as run video through them. It has a standard surface connector for charging and connecting external devices (external monitors etc.)through the Surface Dock II (also recommended). I highly recommended this machine.

Hoping that this review would be of use to anyone interested in this product, these are some personal inconveniences I ran into using the Surface Studio that made my work much harder than with any other computer: The charging cable doesn’t always charge the device. If you plug it in, let’s say the night before, so you have a fully charged battery ready for your tasks the next day, you better make sure it is actually charging. I picked it up one morning ready to work on an important project, and the battery was at less than 10%. I needed to carry it around without being plugged, but it didn’t charge even though it was plugged in correctly. There was no debris in the jack/port. The USB-C ports/jacks don’t alway make a steady connection either. You have to wiggle whatever is plugged in so it works. The same goes for the headphones jack/port. Again, no debris such as lint or fuzz in the jacks/ports. When the screen is opened past a certain degree it just falls back to its limit; you can’t carry it around, specially on one arm as it is commonly done with laptops. This makes it very annoying when you want to share thoughts with someone and be able to use the keyboard. The screen has to often be put back at the angle needed until it falls back again. I stood next to my kid once while helping her with homework, and the screen just fell back causing me to almost drop it. It is useless for my wife who is a teacher and was planning on using it at school to carry it between rows in the classroom working with students. The arrow pointer/cursor seems to always get lost on the screen, showing at random places when the mouse or touchpad is used. On other computers where I put it is where it stays. And when it went blank, as it seems to be the case on computers after a little time of inactivity, all I had to do was move the mouse slightly, or tap the touchpad for it to come up again. Tapping won’t work with the Surface Studio. You have to move the mouse or rub the touchpad sort of aggressively so the arrow shows up again at a random point on the screen. It sounds absurd, but something about the way it functions on the Surface makes it very distracting and time consuming. I never experienced this with Dells, HPs, Chromebooks, and other devices I’ve used. There is something about the way the brightness buttons work. When I click the down one it goes too dark. When I click the up one it gets extremely bright. They don’t decrease/increase gradually like on a Dell or HP or Chromebook. You can do it by using the cursor and going to the notification area, but why have buttons then? The battery life is not as efficient as I read it would be. This Surface gets hotter, with very little work, than any other laptop I've used. To make matters worse, my new Surface started to really overheat when it is plugged in, and it stays at 60-75% charge. It doesn’t fully charge; it just gets very very hot. These are my personal problems that I encountered using the Surface Studio. Hopefully they would be of use to some people. Taken alone, each of these complaints seem insignificant, but taken all together, they are detrimental to my workflow and efficiency. I ended up going back to my old Dell laptop. It seems to get the job done way better than my “new” Surface. I took it back to Best Buy, and they didn’t want to fix it. They said I had to contact Microsoft myself. I contacted Microsoft and they said they couldn't fix it either. All they can do is exchange it for a refurbished one, even though I paid for a new one.

Needed something to replace my aging all-in-one Asus desktop along with my Surface Pro 6 to minimize the number of devices I had. I was only using the Pro 6 to watch movies on the airplane, so I wasn't maximizing its benefit. Narrowed down my search between the HP Spectre 15.6" x360 and this unit. Had the 13.5" Spectre x360 OLED been readily available, I well may have gone that direction. But as I was already familiar with the Surface lineup, I went with this unit. In some respects, I felt like this was a little less clunky than the bigger HP at 4.5 pounds. The screen is definitely better on the HP (3840 x 2160) than the Studio (2400 x 1600), but while discernable, it wasn't that significant for me personally. However, I couldn't be happier with the Surface Studio laptop and its performance for all desktop and entertainment purposes. Now I'm finally using the laptop as it should to do all of my MS Office functions and movies on the plane (where the tablet form really comes into play). The keyboard is excellent! Fits very nicely in my Speck Transfer Pro Pocket Sleeve 14" which then slips into my excellent ebags laptop briefcase with my work laptop. PROS *Attractive and definitely unusual form *Excellent keyboard *Touch screen responsiveness *Speed *A very solid build CONS *Heavy *Really wide touchpad and I seem to drift to the right *Better resolution out there but not a deal breaker *Price for a i7, 16GB, 512GB SSD is high

So far this Surface has been OK. It does what I need it to do, when the screen isn't glitching or freezing randomly. I purchased this computer in January of 2022 and on day 19 while ending a Zoom call with my sister, the screen completely fractured. It was the most bizarre experience. My husband (software engineer) and I tried doing a hard reboot but then the laptop was stuck on that screen and wouldn't budge. After about 2 minutes or so, things finally returned to normal and I restarted my computer and installed updates. If I could have, I probably would haver returned this Surface but I'm outside of the return window (which is 15 days following activation...convenient!). I've been a Mac user since 2011 and prior to that I had an HP. Neither of these devices ever gave me an issue like this, especially after owning it for only 19 days! I haven't experienced this error again but occasionally I will see the screen flicker to black. It's just a second. If you blink you miss it. Anyway, uploaded pictures of what I experienced. Also, I feel like for an Intel Core i7 processor, I sure have to wait for the screen to load sometimes. Keyboard, touchscreen, and tablet capability is a positive, however, I *am* beginning to wonder how long this compute will last me... I guess it depends on your needs but maybe consider another machine?

Beautiful screen and quick processing time. Battery life leaves something to be desired. Definitely recommended.

I purchased this computer for college. It was my second semester of my Junior year and I honestly wish I had something like it sooner. I studied mathematics and often found myself in a weird "between-space" of wanting to take handwritten notes in class and being able to quickly switch to a program that I could code in. Definitely best of both worlds. I will say though, after having it for 2 years, I found that it can be a bit prone to overheating and I think that was the direct cause of the non-slip grips on the bottom cracking and breaking off. Cheap and quick fix, but something to keep in mind that you can't run anything too rigorous.

Bought this Surface when my old Surface Pro 3 started to fail (after 8 years constant use). I am a designer and the tablet/pen configuration is important, but combining the standard laptop configuration as well makes this the perfect solution for me. All my design programs (Adobe suite, Autodesk, etc.) run easily and the pen is a joy to use. Battery life is good, and the weight, although more than the Surface Pro 3, is very manageable. Highly recommended.

The design is awesome. But the bottom line is: It's overpriced for the specs included. My particular model was at the top of the line, but had a 2 generation old intel processor. It is still a top-tier laptop, but just barely. You end up paying too much for the Microsoft name. If you are looking for cutting edge performance, look elsewhere.

I've tried multiple apple type replacements and this is the closest to a MacBook. Not the fastest, nor the longest battery life, but the combination of a very good 120 touchscreen, great pen and charging storage, excellent keyboard and track pad, multiple screen positions, solid build quality, etc. make it our best choice.

Purchased this for graduate school, and I am loving it so far. Sleek, adaptable, and performs well. The screen refresh rate is excellent and the touch screen/hinge has been more useful than I expected. The only issue I have experienced so far is sometimes the CPU ramps up to 100% usage randomly from a runaway audiodg.exe file that is more likely a windows 11 software issue than an issue with the surface itself. Recently, I have also run into an issue where the device wont charge despite the charger light being on/plugged in. Once again, this is potentially a software issue but I am looking into it. Other than those issues, I would give the device 5 stars. It feels like an excellent alternative the the high-powered MacBooks on the market, and even performs pretty well for light gaming. I have dabbled with design software, videography, and will be using ArcGIS in grad school, and so far it seems to handle such tasks with ease. The pen is nice but havent used is enough to justify the $100+ price tag. Overall a great device if you can afford it!

I purchased this when my Surface Pro 6 developed a problem with overheating and I had to send it in for a warranty repair. I liked that the Surface Laptop Studio keyboard was not detachable, but that it still could be converted to tablet mode. In practice, the Studio is quite a bit bulkier and heavier than the Pro, due I'm sure in large part to the increased horsepower and naturally the larger screen. I'm not sure I'll use it much in anything other than laptop mode, though the conversion between modes is extremely easy. So much so that sometimes when opening the laptop, I have to put it back into laptop mode. As a laptop, it's very good. The advanced video and processing options make it a feasible gaming machine (for the limited amount of gaming I do), and it's been able to handle everything I've thrown at it so far.

I loved my surface, but wanted something bigger and more powerful. However, I didn't want to give up the tablet style computer or the windows integration. I will say this is a little pricey, but it is so worth it. I purchased the middle of the line i7 with the 3050ti gpu. I now have all the power I needed with a larger screen real estate. The best part is that I can still flip the screen down and it has the same great quality feel of the surface tablets. The new slim pen is a must have upgrade. If you have a surface and love it but just want a little more, this is for you. I hands down do no regret this purchase. To be fair I will list my cons: Real world battery life is decent but no where near what they claim; it is pricier than others in this area but you do also get better quality and performance; and lastly, I love the usb C thunderbolt 4, but I do wish there was at least one usb A. There are too many things that still use usb A to not have one.