Microsoft’s new Surface Laptop Studio launched today and it is a pretty interesting device. As the name says, this is a laptop but it packs some of the features of the Surface Studio. If you call this a portable Surface Studio, you are not off the mark.
The Surface Laptop Studio looks like a regular Surface Laptop in its default state called Laptop Mode. However, its form factor transforms when you pull the 14.4-inch PixelSense Flow touch display with a 2400 x 1600 resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate forward such that it covers the keyboard but leaves the trackpad visible. This mode, which is called Stage Mode, is more convenient if you want to write on the screen or switch to a touch-based input. It is also great for playing games and watching movies.
The display can be extended further towards you until it lays flat like a tablet and is covering the keyboard and trackpad. Microsoft has dubbed this Studio Mode and is best for when you are creating such as writing, painting, or drawing. The device also has an area underneath where users can store the Surface Slim Pen 2.
The Surface Laptop Studio is different from that of the Surface Book which has a removable display so you can use the computer as a tablet. Microsoft says that the Surface Laptop Studio is a culmination of years of work and development in areas such as display, hinges, and chipset.
The Dynamic Woven Hinge is made of woven fabric with embedded cables that can bend 180 degrees.
With respect to its specs, the Surface Laptop Studio has a quad-core 11th Gen Intel processor (available in Core i5 and Core i7 variants), integrated Intel Iris Xe graphics, Nvidia RTX 3050 Ti GPU (i7 model) with 4GB of VRAM, up to 32GB of RAM, and up to 2TB of removable SSD.
For ports, there are 2 USB 4.0 ports with Thunderbolt support, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a Surface Connect port. The Surface Laptop Studio has Bluetooth 5.1, Wi-Fi 6, Quad Omnisionic speakers with Dolby Atmos, dual far-field microphones, Windows Hello face authentication camera, a 1080p webcam.
Microsoft says it will run Windows 11 Home out of the box and come preloaded with the Xbox App and a free one-month trial of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. Included in the box is a 60W Surface Power Supply for the Core i5 model while the Core i7 model gets a 95W charger.
The Surface Laptop Studio has a starting price of $1599.99. It is available in only one color – Platinum – and can be purchased starting October 5.
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