test
Good performance, well packaged
Microsoft Surface Studio in the test: One of the most beautiful Windows notebooks far and wide
In full glory: This is what the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio looks like as a notebook.
© Christian Hensen / star
It doesn’t always have to be the black plastic bomber: With the Surface Laptop Studio, Microsoft shows that a Windows notebook can also be extremely beautiful and powerful. But that has its price.
Windows notebooks have earned a reputation over the years and at first glance they are divided into two camps: There are black, bulky plastic computers that are in no way inferior to the wasteland of an Excel spreadsheet, and there are brightly flashing gaming lumps with a battery life of what feels like two and a half minutes. Anyone looking for a durable laptop with a pretty look will sooner or later end up at Apple. At the latest with the Surface Laptop Studio ends this era: the laptop is beautiful, extremely versatile and lasts all day.
The design of the Surface Laptop Studio is striking: the computer comes in a chic gray aluminum case with stylish corners and edges. Not everything is designed haphazardly: the underside offers a shelter for the optionally available, smart Slim Pen 2 pen, and there are air outlets all around for waste heat. The display is mounted on a special hinge that allows a total of three operating modes. The Surface Laptop Studio can be used as a notebook with a keyboard and trackpad in front, as a drawing board or display case with the display in front of the keyboard, and as a (heavy) tablet. To have mentioned: Of course, the screen is a touch display.
Top quality but quite heavy
The processing is beyond any doubt, the display snaps into place reliably in all positions. In notebook mode, the screen can be folded down completely, for example to show the screen content to a person opposite you, who of course rotates with you. As a tablet, the Surface Laptop Studio shows its strengths more on the couch, the weight is 1.8 kilograms. For comparison: an iPad Air weighs 460 grams – that answers the question of why a thoroughbred tablet is better suited as a travel companion.
The two modes of the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio: on the left as a tablet, on the right as a drawing board.
© Christian Hensen / star
If you use the Surface Laptop Studio as a notebook, you can look forward to a really great keyboard that scores with a comfortable writing experience. The trackpad is in no way inferior. The touch surface of the screen is easy to use thanks to the high refresh rate (120 Hertz) and is particularly good at drawing with the pen. Writing on the on-screen keyboard is a matter of getting used to and less practical.
The display is easy to read in all situations, and the brightness is also sufficient for outdoor use. With a resolution of 2400 x 1600 pixels, the Surface Laptop Studio also a sufficiently large work surface.
The battery capacity is specified by the manufacturer as 58 watt hours. In the test, the Surface Laptop Studio managed around eight hours of continuous use, mind you as a pure surfing and work machine. Depending on the configuration, the computer is quite capable of running more complex games with low to medium details, such as “God of War”. Mobile then not eight hours, but much shorter.
Small selection makes the decision easier
Speaking of equipment: Here, too, it feels like an era is coming to an end, namely the time of endless choice. The Surface Laptop Studio is available with two processors and two graphics cards, there are five variants available in total, with SSD and RAM in particular varying. During configuration, the processor determines which graphics card is on board. Two models are available with an Intel Core i5-11300H and three with a Core i7-11370H. The i5 only offers the integrated graphics chip Intel Iris Xe, if you opt for an i7, you will definitely get an Nvidia Geforce RTX 3050 Ti laptop GPU with 4 GB GDDR6 GPU memory.
In spite of the efficiency Surface Laptop Studio a quiet footsteps. You can hardly hear the computer during normal use; it only audibly blows the warm air out of the case during games or intensive applications. But: Even that was far from annoying in the test, especially since there is always something going on in terms of sound technology in games.
Unfortunately, the Surface Laptop Studio also shows that the connections are more modern and tidier. The variety of connections is just as miserable as with a Macbook Air. Two USB-C sockets, a jack connection and an in-house charging and docking connection are all you will find on the case. After all: Microsoft offers with the Surface Dock 2 a versatile adapter that significantly increases the variety of connections – albeit at an insane price of 300 euros directly from the manufacturer and still expensive 200 euros at Amazon.
The connections of the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio are manageable: two USB-C, jack, a dedicated charging or docking port and a slot for the Slim Pen 2.
© Christian Hensen / star
Conclusion and prices: Surface Laptop Studio
Sometimes it just has to be Windows. And with that Surface Laptop Studio Microsoft has a notebook on offer that, depending on the equipment, offers a lot of power and a high level of endurance. The processing is very good, the different modes are practical. The device is just as suitable for work as it is for gaming, the keyboard and trackpad are immaculate. If you need the touch function of the screen, you can rely on quick inputs.
However, the Surface Laptop Studio is not a tablet replacement, the high weight is simply not suitable for mobile use. Microsoft has also saved a bit too much on the variety of connections, only a very expensive dock makes the device really versatile.
The Microsoft logo shines: You can see the hinge’s crease very clearly from the outside, but it fits into a great overall picture.
© Christian Hensen / star
However, quality also has its price in the Windows world: the device costs around 1700 euros from the manufacturer in the smallest configuration, with a Core i7, 32 gigabytes of RAM, a large SSD with two terabytes and an Nvidia graphics card Surface Laptop Studio 3200 euros. It doesn’t look good with discounts at the moment: it also costs at Amazon entry level 1692.50 euros, for the high-end model 3145.90 euros are due.
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