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00:00Hey what's up, MKBHD here, and this laptop is kind of trying to be three things at once, kind of.
00:07So this is the Surface Laptop Studio. It's the studio version of the Surface Laptop,
00:16or the laptop version of the Surface Studio. I mean, it's both. Either way,
00:21it's an interesting idea. It's not completely unique, but it is kind of curious now to see
00:26this in Microsoft's own Surface lineup. We've been so busy with so many other reviews that
00:32this is the first time I'm really getting to check it out, but here we are. So the idea is,
00:36you have three different modes with this form factor. You have the standard laptop setup,
00:41then you have the halfway folded down easel setup, where you're covering the keyboard but
00:46you still have the trackpad and the touchscreen. It's called stage mode. And then you have a
00:52folded flat tablet setup, all in one device. I guess it's like a three-in-one. So the idea
00:58is pretty cool. But every time I see something like this, my first thought is always, okay,
01:04what do you use each mode for? So of course, the laptop mode, that's the most familiar, right? It's
01:11the Surface Laptop Studio for a reason. It's perfectly capable of that. You've got a three
01:15by two aspect ratio like other Surface devices, which is really nice for taller applications and
01:20multitasking in Windows 11 here. And then when you pull the laptop towards you, I want to put it
01:25in this sort of easel position. You sort of pop the bottom of the laptop out from the magnets,
01:31and then it naturally sort of wants to land on some more magnets in this 45 degree position in
01:38this easel stand mode. It's the only angle that you can set it up at. Now, this always happens
01:43whenever I go, well, who would want to use something like this? I mean, it's cool that it
01:47can do it, but who would use it like this? And then everyone who does use it like this comes out
01:51of the woodwork and loves to explain exactly how, but I'm just going to say from my own use of
01:55laptops, there's only a couple reasons I would want a laptop to be folded over, covering the
02:02keyboard, but still having the trackpad like this. So it is a touchscreen. And of course you
02:06still have access to the trackpad, but yeah, the way it's sitting kind of reminds me of an iPad
02:10in a folio case. This is fine for watching videos or watching movies. Also gaming with a
02:15controller, which I've seen a lot of in their ads with this guy and any touch first apps. Now
02:21there are Android apps coming to windows 11 and those don't work as of yet, but they should be in
02:25an update soon. But if you do have touch first apps, they'll work here. The screen also definitely
02:30wobbles a lot less and feels much more sturdy at this sort of anchored angle as you touch the
02:35display with your finger. But also, yeah, there aren't that many touch first apps that I use and
02:40I'll get more to the app situation in a second. Anyway, lastly, you can just pop it open and fold
02:45it completely flat and it's a tablet, you know, it's not necessarily as fun to hold and use like an
02:52iPad or even a surface pro, but when it's totally flat, there's a tablet. This would be your full
02:57time touchscreen interaction and where a lot of your use of the new surface slim pen too would
03:03come into play. It doesn't sit totally flat, but from what I hear, a lot of artists would like it
03:08to be slightly propped up because it's easier to sketch on like that. So the idea I really like, I
03:13think it's pretty cool. You could even maybe get away with watching a video not at perfectly 45
03:17degrees if you wanted to. But yeah, you might have heard of like the Acer ConceptD or the HP Elite
03:25Folio. This is more of like the surface refined version of those ideas. But even at that, I've
03:32noticed this version does have some weird build quality issues. So of course, when this thing is
03:37in full on laptop mode, the screen portion is a bit thicker than a normal laptop. It's way better
03:43than previous surfaces where the whole computer is up top, but you can see it's still thicker than a
03:47normal single screen because it's two layers instead of one for the hinge mechanics. And that's
03:52fine. You barely ever have to look at that. But the air gap around the outside of this display, I
03:57noticed is very inconsistent. Like I can see little gaps all the way around the screen that I just
04:03like wanted to squeeze shut. I thought that was really odd, but the rest of the hardware is pretty
04:08solid. It's the magnesium and aluminum casing that's very rigid. And if we're being kind of
04:13honest, it looks a bit like a double-decker MacBook Pro type thing. So the silver is the only color
04:19and it's got this top level, which is pretty slim, and it's the full width all the way around and has
04:24all the ports. Then the bottom piece here is a smaller inset, but it obviously gives it much more
04:30internal volume. So when it's just sitting on a desk, it kind of gives this illusion of a thinner
04:36laptop that's kind of hovering slightly off your desk, depending on your lighting. Honestly, I don't
04:40mind it. I do hate the ports layout though on this thing. For all the positioning as like a creator
04:47focused laptop and something creative professionals will use, it's like a MacBook Pro. Like every
04:53creative professional I know, I think all of them use an SD card for something at some point. No SD
05:02card reader on this laptop. And then there's only two USB-C ports on the side here with the Surface
05:07Connect port and headphone jack on the other side. Now I'm happy to see that those two USB-C ports are
05:13Thunderbolt 4. That's awesome for data transfer. So my SD card reader dongle will be fast as ever, but
05:19that leaves one port left for a mouse or any accessory I might use. Not amazing, but the rest of the
05:24design fundamentals are definitely here. Especially with just the hardware, it's very rigid. Even the
05:31keyboard itself is pretty nice. So it's just a tiny bit of board flex, but the keys themselves are very
05:36clicky and well laid out. I haven't gotten a chance to test the battery yet since I haven't had it for
05:40long enough, but I have noticed the trackpad is really nice. This is something I was hoping to see
05:45more of with Windows 11 and more well-optimized Surface devices. And I am very impressed with the
05:51trackpad's responsiveness and the haptic feedback. It's honestly, it's on MacBook level for me. It's
05:55pretty good. It's only 2 megapixels, but it's 1080p. So I guess I'm only saying this because of how low the
06:02standards have been set, but hey, it's really quite decent with colors and exposure. I will say though, the
06:07one letdown was definitely the speakers. Not a whole lot of room to have great speakers in this anyway,
06:12but there's no grills anywhere. It sounds to me like the sound is coming from the keyboard, but it's
06:17really not that great. I don't know if it's because of the hardware, but it's really not that great.
06:22It's really not that great. I don't know if it's because of the hardware, but it's really not that great. I don't know if it's because of the hardware, but it's really not that great.
06:27Either way, there's almost no bass. If you care about good speakers on a laptop, this ain't it. But anyway,
06:32Microsoft has this laptop starting at $1599. And that's kind of where it starts to fall apart a little bit because
06:41first of all, I don't think you'd ever want this spec without the dedicated GPU. So that means you're looking at
06:47at least $2100, and that'll get you the Core i7, 16 gigs of RAM, half a terabyte of SSD, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti.
06:52and that'll get you the Core i7, 16 gigs of RAM, half a terabyte of SSD, and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti.
07:00And again, haven't had it for very long, haven't even run any benchmarks, but we know that's a decently capable CPU and GPU,
07:03And again, haven't had it for very long, haven't even run any benchmarks, but we know that's a decently capable CPU and GPU,
07:08but in the AMD world, there's stuff dramatically outperforming this. And even the GPU is not super powerful.
07:15The one upside is if you do want to go the external GPU route, which some people do with their laptop, you do have Thunderbolt 4.
07:21But yeah, this doesn't have the highest end specs in the world.
07:25So, one of my favorite Surfaces ever was Surface Laptop 3, the matte black version.
07:31And whenever I would consider using like a Surface Book or something else that would sort of convert into a 2-in-1,
07:37the question was always, okay, am I going to use the tablet version? Am I going to use the laptop version?
07:44Is it worth getting something slightly worse at each to have both?
07:48So then this Surface Laptop Studio has a slightly different proposition, which is in the name.
07:53You've probably heard about the Surface Studio by now, the all-in-one desktop PC that tilts down dramatically into this easel position
08:00for all kinds of pen art and drafting and things like that.
08:04So this laptop brings that third form factor on the go.
08:07But unlike the desktop, tilting it down like this immediately covers the keyboard,
08:12which probably makes the new Slim Pen 2 a pretty mandatory accessory if you're going to get one of these.
08:17Now again, if you know me, I'm not the greatest artist in the world, I'll admit, but I can still appreciate a good responsive pen.
08:25And while this definitely isn't Apple Pencil levels of responsive, it is very usable.
08:30And it adds some interesting features like a small vibration motor in the pen to simulate the feeling of writing on actual paper,
08:37which I don't know if it feels exactly like paper so much as I can feel the pen vibrate a little bit when changing directions.
08:45And it sort of feels like it adds a bit of a texture with certain tools.
08:49But nevertheless, it really works well with this laptop.
08:53It's got the shortcut button, it's got the side button, and whenever you're done using it,
08:57you can just snap it underneath the front lip of the laptop where it charges and lives with a very strong magnet.
09:03You basically just, you slide the pen in upside down, and it is strong and it's not going anywhere.
09:09Kind of have to peel it back off.
09:11Now, here's the fun part. If you do slide it in the wrong way, right side up, it kind of misses the laptop.
09:18But then all you got to do is just lift it up and it snaps into place. It's very satisfying.
09:24So look, there's going to be a ton of new Windows 11 machines, laptops coming out over the next weeks and months,
09:29and they're all going to have different focuses.
09:31Some will have much better performance than this one.
09:34Some will have better screens. Some will have more ports, of course.
09:38But the theoretical advantage to the Surface one is support, this design, and the pen.
09:44Windows 11 has treated me pretty well for a couple of days with the new start menu and the new animations
09:49and window controls for multitasking. I like those a lot.
09:52Also, I noticed the touch targets get slightly larger and a little further apart
09:57when it detects that you're going out of laptop mode.
10:00But it's also got a lot of weird quirks and missing UI features.
10:04I would highly recommend watching The Verge's full Windows 11 review video on their channel.
10:10I'll link it below since I generally don't do desktop OS reviews.
10:14But yeah, they cover a lot of stuff, and as Windows 11 improves, this whole laptop will too.
10:19So I didn't get this laptop expecting to recommend it to most people.
10:23It's obviously for a smaller group who will find this easel thing useful or who will find this pen useful.
10:29But I'm also glad it exists. Where else are you going to find a laptop with a design like this,
10:35with a double-decker layer to it like this and with this cool hinge?
10:39It's just a lot of cool stuff going on.
10:41So that's been it. Thanks for watching.
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10:48You're not going to want to miss it.
10:50Catch you guys in the next one. Peace.