Real World Review of the Surface Laptop Studio

As somebody who had been an Apple User since the Apple IIe, I want you all to know how much weight this carries when I say this...

The Surface Laptop Studio is hands down the best laptop I have ever used.

Yes, part of that love comes from Windows 11, but not all of it. See my previous review of the Razer Blade 15 Advanced.

But let's talk about Windows 11 briefly, because I think without it, this machine wouldn't have had a chance to succeed.

What I'm about to say is going to make some people angry. I don't care about them. Fuck those people. Go be angry somewhere else.

Windows 11 is the lovechild of macOS and Windows 10.

It has taken all the best features of both Operating Systems and combined them into a slick, intuitive operating system that has something for everybody.

I will eventually get around to writing a full review of Windows 11, but I don't want to get distracted and go plummeting down that rabbit hole. ADHD isn't a joke... I've been down rabbit holes before.

All that said and done, the first thing I'm going to talk about in regard to the Surface Laptop Studio is the plinth that is the bottom of the device. While it certainly looks weird, as though the actual laptop is sitting on a pedestal, it serves a few functions. First of all, even under load, this thing is pretty cool - though you can feel the fans blowing out heat from side vents on the built in platform. This means that the fans aren't venting out of or intaking from the bottom of the device (a design choice that has never made sense to me considering laptops SIT ON THEIR BOTTOMS... but I digress...

Continuing on about that pillar, this means there is a lip that runs around all four sides. The front of the lip is where the Surface Slim Pen 2 is stored and charges. Whether this was a design choice or a happy accident, I've also found that extra lip along the bottom of the device is the new, best way to pick up a laptop safely. It provides a solid grip that doesn't involve sliding your fingers under a couple centimeters of space to get your laptop off the table. It's a small thing, but the small things really end up mattering in the long run.

The fans aren't loud when they do run, even at high speeds, and the wrist area and keyboard remain comfortable to the touch, even under load.

I haven't used this device for official work or done any gaming on it at this point, so I cannot speak its performance in those areas. What I have done, however, is used it pretty extensively for photography and and learning how to make art via digital painting and inking.

The battery life, while impressive, is nowhere near battery sipping 13" M1 MacBook Pro that now sits in my drawer waiting for somebody to buy it. I never really needed 18 hours at a time. Getting between 8 and 11 hours of battery life out of it for writing and web research is perfectly acceptable to me. I can find a plug in that timeframe if I need one.

I have read complaints that for the money, this doesn't have the processor it should, or the graphics card to warrant the cost. Here's what I'll say to that, from a very personal standpoint. You pay for what works for you. I've literally spent decades trying to find a laptop that fit my brain, and here it is. I don't expect this to be the one that fits everybody, but it is the first laptop that has a touch screen where I've actually used the touchscreen extensively and actively WANT to use it. I put it in tablet mode frequently to sit on the couch on and draw or edit photos while watching horror movies.

The other complaint I've read is around the weight of it when used as tablet. I don't mind it so much, as it feels solid in my arm and has enough bulk that I'm not worried about it slipping out of my grasp like the iPad Pro did more times than I care to admit.

What it does, it does exceptionally well. It's fast, it's clean, it has no bloatware on it, and the transforming display appeals to me in ways I didn't think something like that would. It is my daily driver now and I wouldn't go back to Apple or a standard laptop form factor at this point.

In closing, I can only say that this is a rock-solid device and one that I would recommend.