Hands on: The Surface Laptop Studio is my new favorite Surface

Microsoft has officially announced the Surface Laptop Studio, a product that many thought would be called the Surface Book 4. Indeed, the product does replace the Surface Book series, so the new branding is probably more reflective of the complete redesign. Plus, it’s supposed to be a new hero product for Windows 11.

And it’s a brilliant redesign. If you handed me a Surface Book 3 and asked me to fix the pain points, we might have landed somewhere near the Surface Laptop Studio. It just seems like the perfect product, and it’s my new favorite Surface.

Surface Laptop Studio Specs

Processor	Quad-core Intel 11th Gen Intel Core H35 i5-11300H Quad-core Intel 11th Gen Intel Core H35 i7-11370H
Display	Screen: 14.4” PixelSense Flow touch display Up to 120Hz Refresh Rate Resolution: 2400 x 1600 (201 PPI) Aspect ratio: 3:2 Contrast ratio: 1500:1 Touch: 10-point multi-touch Dolby Vision support
Graphics	Intel 11th Gen Intel Core H35 i5-11300H models Intel Iris Xe Graphics Intel 11th Gen Intel Core H35 i7-11370H models NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti laptop GPU with 4GB GDDR6 GPU memory Commercial only: NVIDIA RTX A2000 laptop GPU with 4GB GDDR6 GPU memory
Body	12.7” x 9.0” x 0.7”
Weight	Intel Core i5 models 3.83 lb (1742.9 grams) Intel Core i7 models 4.00 lb (1820.2 grams)
Memory	16GB or 32GB LPDDR4x RAM
Storage	Removable Solid-state drive (SSD) options: 256 GB, 512 GB, 1TB, 2TB SSD
Battery life	Intel Core i5: Up to 19 hours of typical device usage Intel Core i7: Up to 18 hours of typical device usage
Wireless	Wi-Fi 6: 802.11ax compatible Bluetooth Wireless 5.1 technology
Ports	2 x USB 4.0 with Thunderbolt 4 technologies support 3.5mm headphone jack 1 x Surface Connect port
Security	Consumer SKUs: Firmware TPM for enterprise-grade security Commercial SKUs: Hardware TPM 2.0 chip for enterprise security and BitLocker support Enterprise-grade protection with Windows Hello face sign-in Windows enhanced hardware security
Sensors	Accelerometer Gyroscope Magnetometer Ambient light sensor
Camera	Windows Hello face authentication camera (front-facing) 1080p resolution front facing camera.
Audio	Dual far-field Studio Mics Quad Omnisonic speakers with Dolby Atmos
Input	Activation: Moving (mechanical) keys Layout: QWERTY, full row of function keys (F1-F12) Windows key and dedicated buttons for media controls, screen brightness Backlight Precision Haptic touchpad
Modes	Laptop mode: Stay productive with the full keyboard and new Precision Haptic touchpad that provides comfortable feedback as you navigate. Stage mode: Pull the display forward and place it at the perfect angle for watching videos, gaming, or presenting, thanks to our first-ever, flexible, and ultra-durable dynamic woven hinge. Studio mode: Draw, write, and sketch with Surface Slim Pen 2* on a portable digital canvas.
Hinge	Dynamic Woven Hinge for frictionless motion of the display
In the box	Intel Core i5 65W Surface Power Supply w/USB-A (5W) charging port Quick Start Guide Safety and warranty documents Intel Core i7 102W Surface Power Supply w/USB-A (7W) charging port Quick Start Guide Safety and warranty documents
OS	Windows 11 Home, Windows 11 Pro, or Windows 10 Pro

Why the new design? Because the Surface Book had a bad one.

I get it. When Surface chief Panos Panay unveiled the Surface Book back in 2015, it was glorious. I’d even argue that that was Panay’s finest unveiling. While Microsoft had only made tablets up to that point, he showed a teaser video of a laptop. Finally, Microsoft was making a proper clamshell. After the video, Panay instructed us to watch the video again — but more closely. At the end, the display popped off; it was incredible.

But the product wasn’t practical. Due to the nature of a device where the display can be detached and still function as a computer, all of the guts have to be in the display. That includes the CPU, RAM, storage, and a battery.

This left the Surface Book with some issues. For one thing, Microsoft had to use U-series CPUs instead of the H-series chips that you’d typically see in devices with dedicated graphics. The other issue was the Surface Book was way too top-heavy. I remember bringing it to events and holding it down with my palms while typing.

Because of this, there was really only one type of person that should buy that product: someone who really needs to be able to detach the display, and also needs that level of power. After all, if you just want a laptop with that kind of power, or even a convertible, there were much less expensive options.

Sadly, if you break it down that way, the product just didn’t make sense.

The Surface Laptop Studio has a brilliant design

The Surface Laptop Studio design does make sense. It’s similar to Acer’s ConceptD Ezel series, meaning you can use it as a proper laptop or you can pop out the display to use it in different form factors. You can even lay the Surface Laptop Studio flat to use it as a tablet.

It gets better, because this new design fixes the pain points that I outlined above. You no longer have to include the guts of the PC in the display, and they’re all in the base. This means that you can comfortably use the Surface Laptop Studio on your lap, and Microsoft was able to finally include 35W H-series processors in there.

Another issue with the Surface Book was that it had this weird gap in the hinge, something else that’s solved by the new design. It really does just seem to fix everything.

One other thing that’s changed about the design is how the pen is stored. There’s a cut-out for it under the base of the Surface Laptop Studio, rather than the old method of magnetically attaching the Surface Pen to the side. I think this method is going to work out a lot better. With the old method, the pen stuck out, and it was easy to knock it off.

The Slim Pen 2 and the Surface Laptop Studio actually reminds me of that true Surface design. The pen won’t stick out, because it’s perfectly flush with the edge of the cut-out. It’s one of those little details that the Surface team takes really seriously, like when it replaced Mini DisplayPort with USB Type-C and made sure that the new port was in the exact same place as the old one.

It’s that kind of attention to detail that I can appreciate in a product. It means there’s a certain level of passion from the product team.

The 120Hz display is beautiful, but the Slim Pen 2 is game-changing

One key new feature in premium Surface hardware is the new 14.4-inch 120Hz display. It’s exciting to see high refresh rates in consumer PCs. In the computing space, we tend to think of high refresh rates as a gaming feature, something that will get you that extra millisecond of an edge over your opponent.

But really, a higher refresh rate just provides a more pleasant experience from the smoother animations on the screen. We’ve been seeing it on the phone market for a few years now, and I’m really happy to see it making its way to PCs.

The 120Hz panel in the Surface Laptop Studio actually ships at 60Hz by default, so you have to turn 120Hz on in Settings. We were expecting Dynamic Refresh Rate out of the box, which would adjust the refresh rate based on what you’re doing, but that feature is coming later.

Dynamic Refresh Rate is nice because it will save battery life for you. The higher the refresh rate, the smoother animations will be, but the more battery you’ll use. But if your PC isn’t doing anything, there’s no need to be refreshing 120 times a second, so Dynamic Refresh Rate can turn that down.

Using the new Slim Pen 2 was the real “wow” moment for me. Out of all of the cool new products Microsoft is announcing, this one is probably my favorite, because I feel like it changes the game. I review a lot of laptops and I’ve used a lot of pens. And yes, I do use the pens.

The Slim Pen 2 has haptic feedback that makes you feel like you’re writing on paper. It’s insane, and it adds a whole new dimension to inking. If you’ve got a Microsoft Experience Center near you, or maybe a Best Buy, go check this out.

The pen also knows when you’re writing on something that can be written on. If you just drag the pen across the desktop, you won’t get that feedback. It has to work with the app it’s being used in, so if you’re writing in OneNote for example, you’ll feel it. You can even try an experiment of starting in a supported app and dragging the pen outside of the textbox. Once you’re outside of the textbox, there’s no more haptic feedback.

I can’t express how good the Slim Pen 2 feels to use, and I can’t wait to review it.

Speaking of haptic feedback, the touchpad on the Surface Laptop Studio is haptic, just like we’ve seen on Apple’s MacBooks and Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 Titanium Yoga. This allows Microsoft to save on space inside of the product, but it’s tricky. There are also some bad haptic touchpads out there.

I asked Microsoft where it got it, and I was told the team designed it itself, which is a good thing. I played around with it, and I wasn’t able to break it. A lot of times, you can get haptic touchpads confused by dragging and dropping with multiple fingers. I couldn’t reproduce that issue.

Conclusion – I’m excited

Obviously, one thing I couldn’t test in my brief time with the Surface Laptop Studio is performance. I’m really excited about the new 35W processor and the new GPU, so that should be pretty interesting.

Personally, I’m really excited about the product as a whole. I’m excited it fixed all of the things I didn’t like about the Surface Book, and I’m really excited about the new Slim Pen 2.

The Surface Laptop Studio is now available for pre-order, and it’s going to ship on October 5th.

The post Hands on: The Surface Laptop Studio is my new favorite Surface appeared first on xda-developers.

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