Surface Laptop Studio 2 - what's new?

Surface Laptop Studio 2:
More power suits this Surface.

What is the Surface Laptop Studio 2?

This is Microsoft's Surface flagship convertible. With a pull-forward display, the device switches from laptop, to easel or tablet without the user needing to undock or unplug their device during use. ​It is one of the only mobile workstations on the market that provides pen and touch interactivity, which can be a boon for creatives, especially at the concept stage. The device is pitched at power users including GIS, engineering, architecture, motion picture, modelling, game development, forecasting, creative, developer, AI, and data science teams. 

Biggest change: ​
​Performance.

Roughly double the CPU power.

Recent benchmarks indicate the new processor is 20% faster for single-threaded activities, and over 100% faster on average for multi-threaded processes compared to the previous top-end i7 option. This means improved responsiveness, and much-reduced waiting times for traditionally heavy applications and complex calculations. Source: Nanoreview

This improves the experience when modelling, coding, editing, rendering and encoding. 

It now features a 13th gen Intel Core i7-13800H processor as standard. With Six Performance Cores, plus Eight Efficiency Cores, the new 14 core processor provides considerably more performance than the first Surface Laptop Studio's Four Core 11th gen processor. The Intel Core i5 option has been removed, which makes sense for a mobile workstation device.
​
The new model provides considerably more power than the 10 core Surface Laptop 5 and Surface Pro 9 tablets.

Surface Laptop Studio 1

Intel Core H35 i5-11300H 4 core
Intel Core H35 i7-11370H 4 core processor
No separate AI processor

Surface Laptop Studio 2

Intel Core i7-13800H 6 Performance Core
​and 8 Efficiency Core processor
Intel Cen3 Movidius VPU AI Accelerator 

The Movidius VPU AI Accelerator is optimised for efficient AI and computer vision, which bodes well for users of software that can make use of it for activities including video tracking and recognition, object recognition, 3D scanning, and image restoration, among other emerging technologies.

Equally improved NVIDIA RTX graphics

In addition to the entry-level Intel iRIS Xe graphics carried over from the previous model, the new model has a range of NVIDIA RTX processors ranging from the GeForce RTX 4050, to the RTX-4060 and Workstation Application Certified NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada. In general expect a large performance increase between the iRIS Xe option and the RTX 4050, and a similar jump from the RTX 4050 to the 4060 or RTX 2000 Ada.

The lowest cost NVIDIA option (RTX 4050) benchmarks at an average of 70% more powerful than the old model's NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti. Source: NotebookCheck.com 

Surface Laptop Studio 1

Intel iRIS Xe (entry level)
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti 4GB
​NVIDIA RTX A2000 4GB
​

Surface Laptop Studio 2

Intel iRIS Xe (entry level)
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 6GB
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 8GB
​NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada Gen 8GB

DisplayHDR400 certified

The Surface Laptop 2 has VESA DisplayHDR400 certification with up to 500 nits brightness for standard content, and a very high 650 nits for HDR (High Dynamic Range) content including 3D and 4K video.
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Finding a monitor that can match the quality of the Surface Laptop Studio 2 may be challenging - we recommend something like a 27 inch or larger HP Z series 4K display with DreamColor, or a Philips 4K Mini-LED Thunderbolt 4 monitor for similar pixel density, scaling and display performance.  

More memory options

The new model now supports up to 64GB memory with 16 and 32GB options available. Memory is not upgradeable, so choose wisely based on your application workloads. Memory has also been upgraded from LPDDR4x to LPDDR5x for faster throughput and lower power consumption. 

More connectivity

The new model adds a USB Type A port for legacy devices including wireless keyboard dongles. Bluetooth connectivity is also upgraded from 5.1 to Bluetooth 5.3, and wireless networking is upgraded from Wi-Fi 6 to Wi-Fi 6E with 6GHz compatibility.

More repairable

Repairability remains the most important way to reduce the carbon foot print and e-waste associated with your devices - especially when minor components are damaged on otherwise perfect devices.
​The Surface Laptop Studio 2 features the most repairable design to date, including replaceable display, mainboard, casing, and ports - making things like accidental cord-trip damage a much lower risk to your total cost of ownership.

What stays the same?

The Surface Laptop Studio already provided an exceptional end-user experience with one of the best displays on the market, and a high level of flexibility for user interaction.

Weight has increased with the very heavy-duty performance components to just under 2.0kg for NVIDIA RTX 2000 Ada models, this compares well with other equivalent mobile workstations on the market (few of which offer the flexibility, interactivity or display quality of the Surface Laptop Studio 2 as standard).

The industrial design of the Surface Laptop Studio is maintained including:

• Raised plinth base for efficient cooling under heavy loads to reduce performance throttling
• Flip-forward screen with high resolution 14.4 inch PixelSense Flow display
• Up to 120Hz display refresh rate (switchable from 60Hz for actions including page scrolling and pen-inking in supported applications)
• Dolby Vision IQ support.
• Touch screen with Surface Pen support
• Up to 2TB removable high speed SSD storage
• Glass trackpad and backlit keyboard
• USB-C / Thunderbolt 4 ports, Surface Connect and audio port
• Magnetic stowage and wireless charging for optional Surface Slim Pen 2
• 1080p webcam with Windows Hello face authentication
• Quad Omnisonic speakers with Dolby Atmos
• Battery life with 512GB or 1TB SSD is up to 18 hours for typical usage, however heavy duty application use with the screen turned up to full brightness will understandably reduce that.
• 2TB SSD models are rated up to 16 hours.

The Laptop Company is a multi-award-winning Microsoft Surface Reseller and an official supplier of Surface devices to the All of Government IT Hardware Contract. Contact us for pricing, and to access a demo device.

Find out more

Speak to your account manager at The Laptop Company.
​If you do not already work with TLC, click the 'Contact us' button or call ​0800 527 867 to find out more.