Review: The Surface Studio is Microsoft’s best laptop yet
Microsoft has rejigged its laptop range with an acrobatic entrant: the Surface Laptop Studio which has a screen that can pivot.
Microsoft has rejigged its laptop range with an acrobatic entrant: the Surface Laptop Studio which we’ve been testing. The screen is pivoted at its midpoint and flips around like a gymnast at a games meet.
You can flip the screen into tablet mode with the screen supported by the keyboard beneath it. Rotate the screen at its midpoint and you have display mode, with the screen facing the back of the laptop. That’s great when showing videos and presentations to others. You can pivot the screen to hide the keyboard and yet still access the trackpad which is in stage mode.
The screen and its ingenious movements offers a near 2-in-1 laptop experience in Microsoft’s novel way.
This is a far more solid set of movements than separating the screen and keyboard with Surface Book. The new entrant in fact has seen Microsoft retire its Surface Book range. It hopes this laptop will attract professionals, developers and former Surface Book users.
Microsoft describes the Surface Laptop Studio as a 14.4-inch laptop on a 13-inch chassis, as a shrunk version of the original 28-inch desktop Surface Studio whose screen is similarly pivoted.
The Studio has an exquisite high-resolution screen and chiclet keyboard with keys well spaced, except for the top row of function keys which are about one-third regular key lengths and crammed across the row. Typing is comfortable.
The trackpad on the Studio is big. It’s also configurable - you can customise the touchpad gestures.
Around the edges there are two USB 4.0 ports at left featuring Thunderbolt 4, and a 3.5mm headphone socket and Surface connect power socket at right.
Thunderbolt 4 ups the ante. You can charge, obtain fast transfer speeds and video output over one connection, although Microsoft persists with its bespoke brick charging system. You still need an attachment to use a card reader, USB-A or HDMI connectors or Ethernet.
The 2400 x 1600 screen resolution is better than 2K but falls short of 4K. The screen density of 201 pixels per inch seems lowish but the bright and glossy screen experience is far better than the figures suggest.
The cited “up to 120 Hertz” screen response rate not only allows for fast action gaming, but a better response time when using the Surface Slim Pen 2. The laptop runs last year’s 11th generation Intel H35 Core i5 and i7 processors.
There are different options to suit your wallet. Apart from Core i5 and Core i7 models, you can choose 16GB or 32GB memory and the 256GB, 512GB, 1TB or 2TB of solid-state storage. SSDs are removable.
Other features include a Microsoft TPM secure crypto-processor for improved security and privacy, Nvidia graphics, a 1080p front-facing camera, and Windows Hello face authentication. Hello is getting better and better – it only took a flash to set it up.
My highly-specced review unit with a Core i7 processor recorded 106.71 frames per second graphic performance and 571 cb on the Cinebench R15 benchmark. The frame rate is a little below the 120 figure but still quick, and the 571 cb performance is good but nowhere near top of range.
The Intel 11300H and 11370H chipsets are classed as for light gaming laptops and mobile workstations. I wouldn’t say they are super-high performance but are comfortable for the everyday work they do.
I did our usual battery test, playing 1080p video at 50 per cent brightness and achieved 9 hours 50 minutes playback time on one charge. That’s fine but far from outstanding compared to some others in the market.
The Surface Slim Pen 2 used with the Studio charges when magnetically attached to the device. I didn’t experience any notable latency scribbling a drawing with the pen using the Paint app.
The Surface Laptop Studio comes loaded with Windows 11 – the version depends on what you pay.
Pricing at Microsoft’s Australian store begins at $2399 and $3149 for the entry level Core i5 and Core i7 models. The highend Core i7 model with 32GB of RAM, a 2 terabyte SSD and the best Nvidia graphics card is $4649.
The Surface Slim Pen 2 adds $189.95 to the cost and Microsoft 365 subscriptions start at $99 for a 15-month Microsoft 365 Personal subscription.
The Studio exudes quality and is Microsoft’s best laptop option yet.