Tested: Surface Laptop Studio | The power of versatility

The Surface Laptop Studio isn’t the best for gaming, its processor doesn’t break records and it’s expensive, but it impresses with its versatility and thoughtful design.

Karim Benessaieh
Press

WE love

The Surface Laptop Studio is Microsoft’s newest high-end laptop, and you can see its premium design right out of the box. It’s beautiful, curvaceous with a magnesium alloy, and its 14.4-inch display is bright, offering a refresh rate of 120Hz, brightness of 500 nits for a resolution of 201 ppi.

The screen is tactile and compatible with the Slim Pen 2, a stylus designed by Microsoft. You can keep it in the normal position for a laptop or unfold it, either halfway or so that it completely covers the keyboard. We then have the equivalent of a tablet, with the notable difference that it has all the power of the computer since it is not detachable.

Although Microsoft is not the first manufacturer to offer such a two-in-one, this design is one of the most successful, in our opinion.

As we have made a tradition with the Surface range, we offer several configurations for purchase, starting with 16 GB of RAM, a 256 GB SSD hard drive, an Intel Core i5 processor and an Intel Iris X graphics card. For this test, we inherited a much more powerful model, with Intel Core i7, 32 GB of RAM, 1 TB of storage and, above all, an NVIDIA GeForce 3050 Ti graphics card.

This graphics card far exceeds the performance of computers intended for non-professional use. Its score with Geekbench 5 calibration software is 57,203, where the most recent 2021 MacBook Pro with its M1 Pro chip hits 34,452. But don’t expect a laptop made for gaming. Yes, it can run pretty much any resource-hungry AAA, but sometimes you’ll need to lower the resolution and hear its fans start all the time. And the GeForce 3050 Ti card does not meet the minimum requirements for virtual reality, whether with Oculus or HTC Vive.

In fact, Microsoft has touted the Laptop Surface Studio as being aimed at “weekend gamers” and, above all, creators. He is proficient at handling video with Adobe Premiere, compiling code for a developer, or serving the needs of a Photoshop user. In tablet format with Microsoft’s stylus, it becomes a drawing board.

For the average person, everyday tasks like browsing the web and working with half a dozen apps open simultaneously are smooth.

In this regard, the capabilities of its quad-core processor are above average, easily outclassing, for example, a Galaxy Book Pro 360, but are less impressive than those of the most recent Macs.

Obviously, the device comes with Windows 11.

The keyboard is backlit and provides excellent touch. The front camera has a resolution of 1080p and 2 MP, and allows facial recognition with Windows Hello.

We like less

Windows 11, like its predecessors, is not quite a tablet operating system. It lacks the very graphic design found in an iPad Pro, for example. Our Surface Laptop Studio is therefore not at best in its tablet configuration.

It’s another tradition for Surface laptops, the latter is expensive. The little toy we inherited for this test sells for $ 3,449.

You only get two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports, a 3.5mm audio jack, and a Surface Connect charging jack. At least we have as a bonus a USB-A input on the charger.

One buys ?

The main strength of the Surface Laptop Studio is its extreme versatility, with generally above-average capabilities for video processing. A creator who would like to work in the Windows environment will find his account there. At this price point, this computer is primarily aimed at discerning users who want a beautiful laptop that can do just about anything.