Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 Price, Full Specs, and Review

Microsoft launched Surface Laptop Studio 2 which is a powerhouse in this new technology era, its base model is powered by Intel Core i7-13700H processor. It has 14 cores, capable of handling demanding tasks. Its dedicated graphics cards, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 and RTX 4060 are excellent and handle gaming and video editing well.

But there’s more to it than just a powerful processor and GPU power. The Surface Laptop Studio 2 is extremely flexible. It switches between different modes, looks modern and sleek, and it’s built to last. The display is of the highest standard, offering vibrant visuals. If you are interested in creating art or working with colors, this laptop will help you with its excellent color accuracy.

In this article, we’ll take an in-depth look at the Surface Laptop Studio 2, discussing its design, performance, and what makes it unique. So, whether you’re a creative professional, a professional on the go, or a gamer who wants power in a portable package, the Surface Laptop Studio 2 might be best for you.

Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2: Key Features

Model Name	Surface Laptop Studio 2
Processor	13th Gen Intel Core i7 13800H
Core	14 Cores, 20 Threads
Frequency	2.5 GHz up to 5.2 GHz
RAM	16 GB LPDDR5X
Storage	512 GB, PCI-E Gen 4.0 (4x), SSD M2
Graphics Card	GeForce RTX 4050 Mobile 6GB
Display	14.4 Inches, QHD (2400 x 1600)
Operating System (OS)	Windows 11 Home
Weight	1.98 kg (4.37 lbs)
Battery	58 Whr, Li-Polymer

Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2: Full Specifications

Processor (CPU)

Processor Model Name	13th Gen Intel Core i7 13800H
Processor Speed	2.5 GHz up to 5.2 GHz
Cores	14 Cores
Thread	20
Cache Memory	24 MB
Fabrication Process	10 nm

Video Card

Graphics Processor	GeForce RTX 4050
Graphics Memory Capacity	6GB
Graphic Type	Dedicated
Memory Type	GDDR6
Fabrication process	4 nm
Shading cores	2560
Memory speed	16 Gbps
Total Graphics Power	80 W

RAM

Memory Capacity	16 GB
Memory Type	LPDDR5X
Frequency	7500 MHz
Memory Slots	2×8 GB
Upgradable	No
No Of Slot	2

Storage

Storage Capacity	512GB
Storage Type	M2 SSD
Channels	1×512 GB
No Of Slots	1
Upgradable	Yes

Display

Screen Size	14.4 inches
Screen Resolution	2400 x 1600 pixels
Refresh Rate	120 Hz
Display Screen Type	IPS LCD
Pixel Density	200 ppi
HDR support	Support Dolby Vision
Touch Input	Yes
Coating	Glossy
Maximum brightness	600 nits
Aspect ratio	16:9
Contrast	1500:1
sRGB Color Space	99%
Adobe RGB profile	68.9%
Response time	56 ms

Battery

Capacity	58 WHrs
Charging time	2 hr
Battery type	Li-Polymer
Removable	No
Fast charging	Yes
USB power delivery	Yes
Charging connector location	Left
Charging power	102 / 120 W
Charge Weight	448 grams

Frame

The weight	1.98 kg (4.37 lbs)
Dimensions	12.72 x 9.06 x 0.87 inches
Screen-to-body ratio	~83.1%
Side Frames	9.3 mm
Material	Aluminum
Colors	Silver
Transformer	Yes
Opening angle	180°

Thermal Management

Cooling type	Active
Evaporation chamber	Yes
Liquid Metal	No
Number of Fans	2
Noise Level	52 dB

Sound

Speakers	2.2 (2 tweeters and 2 woofers)
Dolby Atmos	Yes
Loudness	~82 dB
Microphones	2

Communications

WiFi Version	v6E
Bluetooth	v5.3
Fingerprint Scanner	No
Drive	No
Webcam	Above the display
Webcam Resolution	1920 x 1080

IO and Ports

USB Type -A	1x USB 3.1
USB Type -C	2x USB 4.0
Thunderbolt	1x Thunderbolt 4
HDMI	No
Display port	No
VGA	No
Audio port (3.5mm)	Yes
Ethernet (RJ45)	No
card reader	Yes
Separate charging port	No

Keyboard and Touchpad

Key type	Island
Numeric Block	No
Key Travel	1.3 mm
Backlight	Yes
Surface	Glass
Windows Precision	Yes

Benchmark

Test	Single-Core	Multi-Core
Geekbench 6	N/A	N/A
Cinebench R23	1075	10482

Price and Availability

Microsoft has launched the new Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 in the Studio series, available in many configurations.

Its base model, which comes with an Intel Core i7-13700H processor, 16GB LPDDR5x RAM, and 512GB SSD, its current price is $ 2,000, which is slightly more expensive than its previous model. The cost of the last model was $ 1,599.

Its higher configuration, which comes with dedicated graphics, Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050, is slightly more expensive than the base model, priced at around $2,399.99.

There are also other different configurations available, such as the top with 64GB RAM, 1TB SSD, and RTX 4060 GPU, which comes at $3,300, and the largest model with 13th Gen Core i7, 2TB SSD, RTX 4060 GPU and 64GB RAM which It carries a price at $3,699.

Before buying a laptop, you must remember the purpose for which you are purchasing the laptop. If your budget is low and you want to buy a computer for everyday work, then the base model will be enough for you. But if you are looking for a laptop for playing games or video editing, its dedicated graphics configuration will be good for you.

It has to be kept in mind that this price is not fixed and may vary from place to place, so it will be better for you that whenever you want to buy a laptop, you go to the official website or e-commerce website at that time. Check the price.

You can buy this laptop from many places, like the official and e-commerce websites. This laptop is available for purchase on Amazon and Walmart e-commerce websites. Apart from this, you can easily buy it from the official website of Microsoft, or you can also buy it from some popular laptop stores.

Performance

Processor

It has Intel’s i7-13700H 45W processor with 14 cores (6 performance cores and 8 Efficient cores) and 24 MB L3 Cache Memory. It is much more powerful than the 15W processor used in previous Surface Book models.

The previous model had only four cores, and this Surface Laptop Studio 2 has 14 cores, a substantial increase in the core count compared to its predecessor. This increase takes multi-threaded tasks and CPU-intensive workloads to a higher level.

It has a base clock speed of 2.5 GHz and a turbo clock speed of 5.2 GHz, providing fast processing for both single-core and multi-core tasks. It offers a performance mode that can be activated to boost processing capabilities further. This results in significant performance improvements for functions such as video editing and content creation.

Graphics Card

The best part is that the Surface Laptop Studio 2 has a powerful 80W dedicated graphics card. It has two configurations: GeForce RTX 4050 and RTX 4060. Its dedicated GPU makes the graphics performance much better than integrated graphics. The dedicated GPU handles modern games, offering a smooth gaming experience despite not being a gaming laptop.

Its faster SSD and RAM (LPDDR5x) also improve graphics performance. Additionally, its improved storage speed and RAM capacity significantly reduce load times and improve graphics-related functions.

Storage

It offers a choice of PCIe 4.0 SSDs with 512GB or 1TB storage, delivering significantly faster read and write speeds than PCIe 3.0 SSDs. Achieving write speeds of about 5,000 MB/s and read rates of over 6,000 MB/s for 1TB, it ensures swift file transfers, app loading, and system boot times.

Its fast SSD and its powerful components make multitasking easy. An essential benefit of a better SSD is that it is more energy-efficient, which preserves battery life when performing storage-related tasks.

Thermal Management

The laptop features improved thermal management to maintain optimal performance during extended gaming or graphics-intensive tasks. The fans remain quiet during regular use and activate only when necessary to keep the GPU and CPU cool so that the laptop does not overheat and maintains high-performance levels.

Design and Build Quality

It is slightly thicker and heavier than the previous model, which is a significant change in its dimensions. Its thickness is 0.86 inches, width is 9.06 inches, length is 12.72 inches, and weight is 4.37 pounds.

It is made entirely of aluminum, which is completely different from the previous model, as the chassis of the last model was made of magnesium alloy. Its aluminum chassis gives the laptop a premium feel with a sleek and modern look. The smooth, anodized surface improves both aesthetics and durability.

To deal with the increased power and heat generated by the more robust components, the Surface Laptop Studio 2 has big fans. These fans are located on the front of the laptop and expel hot air from the sides.

One of the standout design features of the Surface Laptop Studio 2 is its unique “removable display.” This innovation allows the laptop to switch to different configurations.

Its normal workstation mode is where this laptop works like a standard laptop, which is suitable for tasks like word processing and web browsing.

Its landscape mode With a simple movement, the screen moves forward, hiding the keyboard and leaving only the touch panel accessible. This setup is perfect for immersive media consumption, video calling, reading, and light sketching.

Its Studio Mode lets you pull the screen forward once again to position it at any angle you want, which is excellent for long drawing sessions or precise manipulation of on-screen data using the Surface Slim Pen 2.

Display

Its display size is 14.4 inches, and its resolution is 2400×1600 pixels. The display achieves a pixel density of around 201 pixels per inch (ppi), along with a refresh rate of 120Hz, which results in sharp and clear visuals.

It has a unique 3:2 aspect ratio and is excellent for creative work like drawing, note-taking, and digital art. However, this may result in letterboxing when viewing 16:9 content.

Microsoft has improved the display’s brightness and HDR capabilities compared to its predecessor models. The display is now certified with VESA’s DisplayHDR 400 standard, primarily due to its high peak brightness. It achieves an impressive peak brightness of around 531 nits, providing vivid and bright visuals. Its high contrast ratio of 1,650:1 results in excellent image quality when viewing content formatted with HDR.

The display offers a good color gamut, supporting 100% sRGB, 82% Adobe RGB, and 85% P3. While it excels in sRGB coverage, essential for general use and web content, its performance in Adobe RGB and P3 needs to be better for professional photo and video editing tasks that demand a more expansive color space.

The display supports Dolby Vision IQ, an upgrade from the regular standard. The Dolby Vision IQ considers ambient lighting conditions and adjusts the display’s color, brightness, and contrast in real-time. It also offers Adaptive Color, which dynamically changes the display’s tone depending on ambient lighting conditions.

Its high 120Hz refresh rate significantly improves the inking experience when using the Surface Slim Pen 2. It allows for smoother and more responsive inking, closely mimicking the feel of traditional pen and paper. The Surface Slim Pen 2 also supports haptics, which adds a tactile feedback element to inking.

Battery

It has a 58 WHrs Lithium Polymer battery, which is relatively low compared to its powerful processor and dedicated NVIDIA GeForce GPU.

Microsoft claims the Surface Laptop Studio 2 can provide up to 18 hours of battery life with “normal device usage.” But it is something different. In web-browsing tests, the laptop fell far short of this claim, lasting just over seven and a half hours.

Similarly, the 1,080p local video playback test provided about 10 hours of battery life. These tests reflect more everyday activities, and the laptop’s performance needs to live up to Microsoft’s ambitious claims.

While Intel 13th generation processors delivered respectable battery life when used without a dedicated GPU, combining them with a GPU resulted in around 9 hours of battery life in a productivity scenario. The additional power consumption of the GPU significantly impacts battery endurance.

Talking about the charger, it has a sizeable 127-watt charger, which is faster than the previous 102-watt charger. It charges the laptop from 0 to 100% in just 2 hours.

Ports and Connectivity

In ports, Microsoft has given two Thunderbolt ports and a USB Type-A 3.1 port on the left side. It also has 2 USB 4.0 Type-C ports and one Audio port (3.5mm). It also has a new microSD card slot, disappearing from many laptops nowadays, but is provided so memory cards can still be inserted into the computer.

For connectivity, there is a Surface Connect port, which has been a staple in the Surface lineup since the Surface Pro 3. This port is used to charge and dock the laptop. It also has WiFi Version 6E, which provides breakneck internet speed. Additionally, it has Bluetooth 5.3, which allows Bluetooth devices to connect quickly.

Keyboard and Touchpad

Talking about the keyboard, the keys of its keyboard are non-metal grey. The brown color of its keys has been lightened, reducing the contrast between the keys and the chassis. This change provides a more harmonious and sleek look. The keyboard offers an excellent typing experience with 1.3 mm of travel. The backlight control button in its keyboard has been replaced with a mic mute button. The keys on this keyboard are faster and more responsive than the slightly flimsy metal keys found on the Surface Book. It has four levels of backlighting to remain highly visible under different lighting conditions. Apart from this, if you do not want backlighting, then there is an option to turn it off.

Talking about its touchpad, this is one of its standout features as it uses a haptic touchpad combined with Microsoft Sensel, which gives this touchpad exceptional accuracy and gives users a “click” sensation when they customize the feedback or press it. Microsoft claims it has improved the touchpad for this iteration, making it even better, although in practice, you won’t notice any significant difference.

One unique aspect of this touchpad is its Adaptive TouchMode, making it “the most inclusive touchpad on any laptop.” This feature allows users with different abilities or physical conditions to use the touchpad instead of a traditional mouse.

Everyday Use

Multitasking

Surface Laptop Studio 2 is powered by a powerful 14-core Core i7-13700H processor, delivering excellent multi-core performance. With the ability to handle more demanding applications and multitasking, it’s easier to open multiple apps at once without experiencing any slowdown. Multiple browser tabs, productivity software, and creative apps run smoothly on it.

Everyday work

For everyday tasks like web browsing, document editing, data management, and email, the Surface Laptop Studio 2 delivers a smooth and responsive experience. Its superior CPU, faster RAM, and faster SSD result in faster application launches and responsive system performance.

It also has a Windows 11 operating system, designed to work seamlessly with the hardware, making the user interface simple.

Video Editing

It has a Core i7-13700H processor and RTX 4050/4060 graphics card, which provides the necessary processing power for video rendering and editing tasks. Whatever you need while editing videos, like good video quality, fast processing, etc., all these things are present in this laptop.

This laptop handles external video editing software like Adobe Premiere Pro, Filmora, Windows Movie Maker, etc. well. Its dedicated graphics cards provide better video quality and faster video editing.

Online Meetings and Video Conferencing

It features Windows Hello 2.0 for fast and secure facial recognition login, making it easy to join online meetings quickly. Its ultra-sharp and high-resolution 1920 x 1080 webcam produces crystal clear video during video conferencing, making video conferencing and online meetings a pleasure.

Its unique “removable display” lets you position the screen the way you want during video conferencing and online meetings, plus its high-quality microphone delivers crystal clear audio, providing a great video conferencing experience. Video conferencing apps like Zoom and Microsoft Teams run very smoothly on it.

Gaming

Although it is not primarily a gaming laptop, it has a powerful dedicated GeForce RTX 4050 /4060 graphics card, which allows it to run a variety of games smoothly with good performance. Because it has dedicated graphics, modern games like Cyberpunk 2077, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Grand Theft Auto V also run smoothly.

Its refresh rate is also 120 Hz if its gaming seating is not kept at standard setting, but it gives the gaming experience as much as a gaming laptop. Besides, its thermal management is also excellent so that it does not get too hot while playing games.

Programming (Coding)

Coding and software development work is done quickly on this laptop. With its powerful CPU and ample RAM, code compiles quickly. You can easily learn programming languages like JavaScript, Python, Java, PHP, etc., because its CPU compiles and runs the code soon. Software used to compile coding, like GNU Fortran, Absoft Fortran Compilers, MinGW, etc. all run very smoothly. Plus, its design, especially its removable display, makes coding fun. It is also portable so there is no problem in taking it to college and office.

What’s Good in Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2

Powerful Processor

This laptop has an Intel Core i7-13700H processor, which has 14 cores (6 performance cores and eight efficient cores) and 24MB L3 cache memory. This processor performs significantly better than previous models, making it capable of handling multi-threaded tasks and CPU-intensive workloads with ease.

Dedicated Graphics

It has a powerful 80W dedicated graphics card with options like Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 and RTX 4060, which enhances the graphics performance of this laptop. It makes even modern games run smoothly, providing a solid gaming experience.

Innovative Design

Surface Laptop Studio 2 features a unique “removable display” that enables various configurations, including workstation mode, landscape mode for media consumption, and studio mode for creative work with the Surface Slim Pen 2.

What’s Bad in Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2

Slightly Heavier

Compared to its predecessor, the Surface Laptop Studio 2 is a bit thick and heavy, which doesn’t make for extreme portability. The reason for its heaviness is its good build quality and dedicated graphics.

Battery Life

The laptop’s battery life falls short of Microsoft’s ambitious claims, with a web browsing test lasting only seven and a half hours. Its battery life is short because it has a dedicated graphics card, which consumes more battery during graphics-intensive tasks. Despite having a dedicated graphics card, it has only a 58 WHrs battery, which is relatively low.

Gaming-Only GPU

While a laptop’s dedicated GPU is great for gaming, it is not suitable for professional 3D modeling and rendering tasks where a more specialized GPU is required.

Final Words

The Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 has a versatile range of configurations to meet different user needs. From its base model with impressive processing power to higher designs that cater to gaming and video editing, this laptop stands out. The laptop’s Intel Core i7-13700H processor, with its 14 cores and faster clock speed, offers a significant boost in performance, making it suitable for tasks like video editing and content creation. The dedicated Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050/4060 graphics card boosts graphics performance even for modern games.

The unique design of this laptop, including a removable display and versatile configuration, adds to its appeal, making it suitable for various use cases. The display, with its high resolution and impressive brightness, delivers sharp and vivid visuals. The keyboard and touchpad have been improved over the previous model for a smoother experience. The laptop excels at various tasks, from web browsing to video editing and gaming. Additionally, it is also suitable for coding and software development.

There are some drawbacks, like slightly less battery life than claimed, but the fast charger helps mitigate this problem. The inclusion of multiple ports, including Thunderbolt and USB, makes it a versatile device.

Is the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 Worth Buying?

Reasons to Buy

Dedicated Graphics

If you like to play some games along with daily tasks or are interested in video editing, then its Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 and RTX 4060 dedicated graphics are perfect for all these tasks.

Ideal for Various Tasks

This laptop is suitable for a wide range of tasks ranging from everyday work, video editing, gaming, coding, and online meetings.

Good Display

The 14.4-inch display with a 3:2 aspect ratio, 120Hz refresh rate, and DisplayHDR 400 certification delivers sharp, vivid visuals, and its maximum brightness of 600 nits is perfect for outdoor use.

Reasons to Not Buy

Price

The Surface Laptop Studio 2 is relatively expensive, and the high-end configuration is even more costly. This price is higher because it has a powerful processor and dedicated graphics compared to the previous model.

Portability

It is slightly thicker and heavier than its predecessor due to which it has somewhat less portability and is a bit difficult to carry.

FAQs