Surface Laptop Studio (Initial Impressions)
When I finally decided to upgrade the mini office space that I been using in our finished basement this past spring, I spent little time searching for the computer I wanted to be on my desk. It was an easy choice for me: I wanted an Apple M1 Mac mini connected to an LG UltraFine 4K monitor. For me, it was all about ease and comfort: I spend the majority of my day job on a MacBook Pro or iPad Pro, so staying in the Apple ecosystem meant sharing files became super smooth and easy. It has worked seamlessly, allowing for me to save files to iCloud Drive and having the ability to access them from whatever device, wherever I may be located.
Shortly thereafter, I began working from home in my spare time providing training on topics like Minecraft Education Edition and the rest of the Microsoft suite of tools. Things were okay when using my Mac mini to facilitate these trainings, but weird instances of software versions being different, keyboard shortcuts differing, and even as much as the way things looked would vary enough to cause some concern. It was with this in mind that I decided to double down on my home office and purchase a new Windows PC.
I spent a LOT of time researching different devices, form factors, brands and more. I fell in love with the HP Spectre x360 2-in-1, as well as the Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360. In my eyes, the flexibility both of these devices provided (with being traditional laptops that also folded back into touchscreen tablets with pen input for inking demos) was a major feature that I was instantly drawn to. Finally, after almost buying one of these computers every night for what seemed like an eternity, along came Microsoft with the Fall launch of the Surface lineup, and more specifically, the Surface Laptop Studio.
This device has it all…traditional laptop styling, excellent keyboard typing experience, really good sound quality, and the ability to fold into multiple modes for inking and gaming demonstrations. I opted to buy the device alongside the new Surface Slim Pen 2 (another $129 extra) and settled on a 11th Gen core i7 processor (clocked at 3.3GHz) paired with 16GB of RAM and 512 GB of SSD storage, which also upgraded the graphics to the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti, rather than the base Intel Iris Xe graphics.
It is running the latest and greatest in Windows 11, and (center start menu and all) I am absolutely LOVING this device! I am able to use it as a regular laptop and have no hiccups running any software I want. I can put it into “tent” position for lengthy YouTube video binging or Xbox Game Pass playing on that beautiful, 120Hz refresh rate HDR screen. From there, I can fold it down into a thick tablet for “drawing” mode, using the excellent pen that has haptic feedback via an included motor in the pen to simulate drawing on real paper! This machine can do it all!
I have only had it for just under a month, but first impressions are that this machine is incredible and fun. I love switching between the different modes to suit my needs, and I absolutely adore the bright and vibrant screen. The pen magnetically attaches to the underside of the device with a satisfying “snap” and charges there, too! I’m overly happy with my purchase, and after a few more weeks of using the device, I will come back and post a much more thorough and in-depth review of this device.
