Microsoft’s Surface Laptop Studio 2 will probably be too expensive for what it can do, comparatively. But this creators’ laptop still offers a nearly unique opportunity to create movies, edit and watch them, then scribble notes all over the screen. Any criticism of its performance dies down once you remind them of Windows’ performance slider, too.
It arrives at an odd time, though. The Windows world is making waves about artificial intelligence, and the Surface Laptop Studio 2 calls out the Intel AI chip inside in its specifications. But an even better Intel AI chip—Intel’s 14th-gen Core Ultra processor, known as Meteor Lake—is just around the corner…though Microsoft’s Windows Copilot AI chatbot won’t use it, either.
So this 14-inch laptop with a high-resolution (but not that high-resolution) screen, superb inking capabilities (but no pen in the box), AI (but only Microsoft’s own basic AI apps for now) and excellent performance potential (but only if you enable it) demands more than $3,000 from your wallet to bring it home. And much of it is the same as the original Surface Laptop Studio. It’s a knot. This review will tell you how we unraveled it.
CONFIGURATIONS
Microsoft’s Surface Laptop Studio 2 begins shipping today, although pre-orders began about two weeks ago. Prices will range between $1,999 for a version with a 13th-gen Core i7, 16GB RAM, a 512GB SSD, and basic Iris Xe graphics. Users also have the options of versions with 32GB and 64GB of RAM, which may be a new high point for a laptop—even a creator-class one. Microsoft’s Surface Laptop Studio offers expansive storage options as well: 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB options.
Finally, there are the graphics options—an interesting range, from integrated graphics to a much older Nvidia GeForce RTX 2000 chip to either an RTX 4050 or RTX 4060. (Microsoft may be choosing the old RTX 2000 option to keep prices down, but we’ve now seen the RTX 2000 GPU in at least two laptops: the Acer Nitro V and this one). A version of the Surface Laptop 2 with all of the bells and whistles will cost a whopping $3,699.99.
It’s important to note that many aspects of the Surface Laptop Studio 2 are identical or nearly so to the first-gen Surface Laptop Studio, including the size and resolution of the display, most of the chassis dimensions and other aspects. The Surface Laptop Studio 2 is about a third of a pound heavier and slightly thicker, with two new ports: a USB-A port and a microSDXC slot. Otherwise, the key differences are inside the laptop. It also boasts new 13th-gen Core i7 processors and new GeForce GPU options.
Keep in mind that unfortunately you’ll still need to pay $129 or so for the , optimized for inking on the Surface Laptop Studio
