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Surface Laptop Studio: A 120 Hz and Tiger Lake-H35 leap from the Surface Book series, but only North America will receive it before 'early 2022'

The Surface Laptop Studio is a huge leap from the Surface Book series in many areas. (Image source: Microsoft)
The Surface Laptop Studio is a huge leap from the Surface Book series in many areas. (Image source: Microsoft)
The Surface Laptop Studio is Microsoft's most exciting device in years, with a radically different design and a 120 Hz display. The 14.4-inch machine includes Tiger Lake-H35 processors too, but most people must wait until 'early 2022' before they can order it.

Microsoft has lifted the lid on the Surface Laptop Studio, arguably the successor to the Surface Book 3. As expected, Microsoft has done away with the removable design of the Surface Book series, a staple since the original model launched in 2015. In its place arrives a hinge that mimics the one showcased by Acer in the ConceptD 7 Ezel.

Accordingly, the Surface Laptop Studio looks like a conventional laptop until you pull the display forwards, allowing it to hover in place. You can also bring it flat against the keyboard deck for writing and drawing, as you already can with the Surface Book series.

Ultimately, the Surface Laptop Studio is closer to the Surface Studio in design than the Surface Book. Microsoft has included all hardware in the base this time around, allowing it to offer 35 W processors rather than the 15 W ones in the Surface Book series. These Tiger Lake-H35 processors can be paired with up to 32 GB of LPDDR4x RAM and a 2 TB SSD, albeit only with the Core i7 model.

The display itself measures 14.4-inches and operates at 2,400 x 1,600 pixels in a 3:2 aspect ratio. While the panel is lower resolution and smaller than the one in the Surface Book 3 15, the Surface Laptop Studio can run at up to 120 Hz, something the Surface Book machines cannot. The Surface Laptop Studio gains the Surface Slim 2 too, which it can recharge magnetically.

CPU RAM Storage GPU Power Supply Battery Weight Price
Config 1 Intel Core i5-11300H 16 GB 256 GB Intel Iris Xe Graphics 60 W 58 Wh 1.74 kg US$1,599.99
Config 2 Intel Core i5-11300H 16 GB 512 GB Intel Iris Xe Graphics 60 W 58 Wh 1.74 kg US$1,799.99
Config 3 Intel Core i7-11370H 16 GB 512 GB NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti 95 W 58 Wh 1.82 kg US$2,099.99
Config 4 Intel Core i7-11370H 32 GB 1 TB NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti 95 W 58 Wh 1.82 kg US$2,699.99
Config 5 Intel Core i7-11370H 32 GB 2 TB NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti 95 W 58 Wh 1.82 kg US$3,099.99

Connectivity is limited though, with a 3.5 mm headphone jack, a Surface Connect port and dual USB 4.0 Type-C ports that support Thunderbolt 4. Thankfully, the Surface Laptop Studio does have a removable SSD, another improvement over the Surface Book series.

The Surface Laptop Studio is available to pre-order today in North America from US$1,599.99 in the US and CAD$2,049 in Canada. The machine is configurable up to US$3,099.99 with 32 GB of RAM and a 2 TB SSD; all configurations will start shipping on October 5. Unfortunately, the Surface Laptop Studio will not be available in other markets like Europe, India and the UK until 'early 2022'.

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > News > News Archive > Newsarchive 2021 09 > Surface Laptop Studio: A 120 Hz and Tiger Lake-H35 leap from the Surface Book series, but only North America will receive it before 'early 2022'
Alex Alderson, 2021-09-22 (Update: 2024-08-15)