Surface Studio Laptop 2 Review 

My dream is for them to do a Surface Studio with modular upgrade options or, just release the monitor as a thing.

A Dell 15 laptop with 64GB of RAM, 1TB storage, and RTX4060 costs £2650, while the Surface Laptop Studio with same spec is priced at £3369, with a £700 difference. If you add an Android tablet or Wacom display pen, you will surely exceed the £700 difference. Therefore, the Surface Laptop Studio 2 seems like a fair option, albeit still expensive.

Ok, so Surface Studio Laptop 2 VS the Asus ROG Flow X16? Any ideas about the drawing experience on either of those?

Hey Brad -- thank you so much for this! Would you consider reviewing the Asus ROG X16? Seems to me like it's the SLS2's greatest competitor on the market (as far as all-purpose laptops with drawing options go). I ended up picking up the X16 option with the 4060 GPU for $1850 and bought 64 GB RAM separately for $145. So $1k total less than the Microsoft SLS2 but with the same RAM, GPU, and a better CPU (and that's with the 10% off deal Microsoft does). I'm just at the hobby level for drawing though. I really couldn't find any good videos comparing the drawing on SLS2 and X16 -- that may not be your usual focus, but I imagine it would be a popular video.

Thanks for the video, Brad. Always appreciate your insights! I purchased the unit with 32gb of ram and the RTX 4050 as a replacement for my Surface Book 2, which has served me well since 2018. So long as I get a similar run from this unit, I'll be happy. 👍🏾 Is it expensive? Yup...but it is the perfect mix for my use case. I had considered going for a large tablet instead (Tab S9 Ultra), but I need access to full programs not apps...

Honestly, given the market, I feel like I used to pay way too much of a premium price for wacom stuff, Huin and XP Pen showed up, gave competition at good prices, and Wacom, to this day, never feels like it demands the premium it charges. This pen, and this laptop ACTUALLY feel premium. So while the price is kinda eye wateringly high, it doesn't actually feel like they're punching too high for what they give.

A great product. I have the Surface Pro 8 with keyboard and slim pen. I find the attachable keyboard and top heavy laptop use annoying. The Surface Laptop Studio 2 solves that with the heavier laptop-like base. I also have the Huion Pro 13 2.5K which is very nice for drawing but annoying to have to bring a laptop and the pen display on a trip. Easier to go to one product. Sometimes the extra money is worth it. I also have a 2018 iPad Pro 12.9 inch which is a nice drawing experience but it won't run my favorite drawing/painting app-Rebelle 6. Also iPad Pro has the same issue as Surface Pro with clunky attachable keyboard situation. So, the Surface Laptop Studio 2 is the way to go for me and will be upgrading this winter.

As a game dev this seems ideal for drawing AND programming, but I have to seriously consider the option of an external tablet instead, so thanks for bringing that option up. Better drawing + usable on multiple machines, OR supremely convenient & compact form factor at a premium cost 🤔

Hey brad, look into "reverse pliers" for removing that broken adapter from that USB-A port. Good luck!

yup the pricing on Surface products completely doesn't align with the hardware given....and the hardware becomes dated shortly after launch.....i really don't understand this from Microsoft

I actually want to get this laptop. But indeed I can't justify it to my wife before I spend that much money. I'm going to wait to see if there are any deals for Thanksgiving or Christmas.

It's so cool that you review things you have used for a longer time! Keep it up.

Thanks for this video! I was hoping for your advice. I'm an animator and I work alot with the Adobe programs, namely Photoshop, illustrator and after effects. This sort of configuration is very useful given I can draw on it and also rely on it to handle heavier motion graphic projects. I also like to travel and work too, so this would be nice and compact. However the price 😱 you mentioned potentially getting a normal laptop and also a separate tablet to draw on? I'm interested to know what you might recommend that offers the same sort of power, storage and drawing capabilities. Any advice you have would be great 🙏

I got really emotional and almost cried when you explained your broken USB A adapter that got stuck on the Surface Laptop 2. Especially when it is a brand new $2000 laptop. I have a Surface Pro 8, and I had bought it because of your review. These Surface devices, they are very expensive for what they are. So, every time I go through wear and tear from using them, even though they are perfectly normal things to happens with other devices too, I can't help but cries.

I always loved the MS Studio Desktop, their answer to the iMac, but *way* more expensive. $4400 was just too much. I do love MS's hardware, always have, and this is no exception. Sad it's so expensive, but still nice to look at and maybe dream of :D Great video as always :) EDIT - Also, Apple was teasing haptic feedback in their next apple Pencil, and said it would mimic the sensation of - for example, painting with very wet paint, drawing on wood or rough paper, it would help give the user the sensation of the surface having "grab", and mimic the actual feeling of drawing on paper (or canvas, etc). I tried the Surface Pen 2 and didn't really find the sensation to be that noticeable - but maybe that was just me.

I think My 15 inch Surface Book 2 with 16GB of RAM, 256GB SSD, and a GTX 1060 cost pretty much the same as the first option with a GPU on this laptop. So the price doesn’t seem bad to me. Also Intel has made some great strides in their GPU tech so I’d be curious to see how their Xe GPU compares to the RTX 4050.

Just buy it once and forget you ever spent 2100-4000 on it. To be fair there are more expensive hobbies out there so if drawing is your primary hobby, it's probably worth it, just a little 😅.

Hey! if you're so interested in this laptop you should review Asus ROG flow x16 2023. This is the laptop I have on my cart. I wanted a super powerful laptop to do professional game development, 3D desing and other heavy works like using After Effects and I also wanted to draw my concepts on the laptop. Please check this one out and share your opinion with us. As a guys who "reviews tech for creative professionals" your comments are extremely important to us. Thank you for these great videos you make 😉🙏

I have surface studio laptop 1 but i disliked it a loooot. I have just bought kamvas 22, because i cannot work on that tiny minecrosoft computer. It is way too tiny and the screen feels do weird when drawing on it. Its neither a good computer for work nor can be used as a tablet because its too thick. Weird and unpractical. Ok maybe a bit better than a regular laptop but way too expensive

I bought the 1st gen because of your review video Yes it's a great laptop. The only downside is it's heavy But it just sit on my desk anyway so portability is not an issue

Why is it always a Microsoft talking point about being expensive? In reality, it is fairly priced. An i pad pro 1 terabyte with 16 gigs of ram and a crappy keyboard is 2150. On Windows side, a Galaxy Book 3 Pro 360 is 1899 with no descrete graphics, and the ultra with a 4050 is 2499, and you can't draw on it.

For me the price is a bit steep but comparing a PC to a laptop is great, if you’re never going to go anywhere with the laptop. The laptop is meant to be traveled with and used in the wild. Is the price difference worth it for the travel purposes? That’s up to the user and ultimately their budget. For me it was worth it, for others I understand why it wouldn’t be.

Looks like microsoft has joined apple pricing scheme. Those minimal incremental upgrades that comes with huge price hikes are apple's trademark.

Love your honest review of this device and agree that the Surface Studios are really great at everything they do. Cost of entry on this one led me to seeking out a top end version of the previous iteration and saved me about $2k.

Make video on Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE.

I thought I'd never see the day that someone copied the Sony VAIO Flip design XD

Nice review. I'll stick with my Samsung Galaxy Book 360 16" i7 16GB with integrated GPU. I do think it is past time you start mentioning the Tablet Pro windows software for on screen hotkeys. Yeah...while I would love a seperate GPU and 32GB for ZBrush I don't want a heavier machine with a smaller screen and only one choice of janky UNERGONOMIC stylus. This is even more complicated now since Maxon announced some form of ZBrush for iPadOS in 2024. I get the idea of buying a gaming laptop and adding a single cable graphics display but that is just clunky and I did something like that with a graphics tablet and iBook back in the day. If I must do this I'd look at getting a Samsung Galaxy Tab 9s Ultra and a gaming laptop and use the Tab 9s as an external display when using ZBrush. Sadly this hardware BS is our future since the Wacom Mobile Studio was a flop, Apple won't put the MacOS in the iPad and Samsung damn them won't higher spec their 360 laptops. Hell if MS just gave up on their crap MPP (Ntrig) stylus and licensed Wacom EMR like the first Surface computers had, I'd accept the smaller screen and weight on the Surface Studio. Switching from Wacom to Ntrig was a huge mistake for Miscrosoft.

Hey Brad, great video! I've been waiting to purchase a laptop for this to release, and am a little cautious to take the plunge based on the price (in my budget, but like you said, it's premium pricing), and a couple of other concerns I've seen on other reviews regarding heat. Do you or anyone else in the comments have feedback on the feel of the Surface Pen 2 on this screen compared to the S-Pen on say, the Galaxy Book3 Pro 360? You mention on this review that the Surface Pen 2 doesn't quite hold up to a Wacom pen, your review on the Galaxy Book3 praised the S-Pen while hinting that it may not be great ("rubber on screen" or something to that effect). In the off chance you see this, I appreciate the time! I found the channel thanks to this video specifically, and loved getting your opinion on different drawing-capable screens.

id love to see a 14 inch macbook ipad hybrid just like this. would be superb.

As a teacher, this is the perfect laptop for me. Especially for online classes!

Great review -- really thorough and clear and fair. I was disappointed in the SLS 1 specs last year, so I bought a ROG x-16. I do need the GPU, and I like having a tablet/folding format even though it's a little awkward with such a huge computer. But I also like the huge screen. About the cost -- I'm a musician and I'm used to paying what it takes to get the best instrument I can possibly afford. If I don't do that, I regret the decision every time I play. Over the life of the computer, a super-expensive computer means I'm paying a few cents more a day to have a device that helps me work better. If I didn't use the computer so intensively, I'd think differently about it. I'm glad the SLS 2 specs are back up where they should be. I needed to buy a computer last year and I really loved the SLS form factor, but the specs were just not where I needed them. I hope this computer stays in the Surface lineup and maybe I'll buy one someday.

Pretty cool, but costs quite a lot. That said, if I had the money, I'd buy it.

I currently have and have been using the Surface Laptop Studio (1) for over a year now, and although I don't do any drawing, this laptop is great for engineering students. I use it to take all my notes in OneNote, and it is powerful enough to use the different softwares (CAD, simulations, etc.) I need for classes.

Oh wait... there isn't any other creator covering this device. I wonder why 🤔

The SLS2 is just too expensive. The SLS1 offered a cheaper price, 200 bucks less. As a student i even got it for 1800€ and 100€ for the pen. Beyond 2k it isnt worth, even for that form factor. I recommend the SLS1, its really the same except less performance, but you wont notice it most of the time (unless gaming, rendering or everything that is on edge)

I could see something like a framework laptop 16 with a customized hinge and touchscreen absolutely killing this device. After all, the hinge and touchscreen are pretty much the biggest selling points.

Probably the best type of product for some specific types of artists will be a normal surface like device with close to iPad level drawing capacity, and with thunderbolt connection for eGPU when it becomes necessary.

I've never tried it, but the Concept D 7 laptop has Wacom's better pen tech like Samsung does and it's more powerfl for the price (better cooling helps a lot). Concept D 3 and 7 use different pens, 3 is way worse.

Ok, so I'm in college so portability is a must. I'm also producing and directing animated content so being able to both draw AND have the horsepower to chunk through heavy video editing/compositing workloads using After Effects is also important. Hypothetically, if the premium was worth me not having to lug my heavy af desktop between home and the dorm, this would easily be the perfect answer yeah?

Pen looks a bit thin. Hopefully the magnet is strong enough to latch if you put a rubber grip on that sucker. Seems like a really fun device!

i LOVE my gen 1 surface studio ... yeah it was expensive but the form factor just *works* for me... will i upgrade to the new model ? probably not.. my existing laptop still performs well enough for me and shelling out another $2500 just now seems like a waste... will i keep my eye out for discounts down the road ? you bet ... For a tool i use every single day, if i DIDNT have a studio already i would absolutely recommend anyone with the money to get this laptop ... hands down the best laptop ive ever owned and i have owned a lot ( I am an IT consultant ... i have a dozen other brands sitting around my house that I could be using on any given day including some beautiful machines like the lenovo yoga x1 and even the new dual screen 9i ).

가격이 좀 덜 사악했으면 좋았을것 같습니다

long story short, do not watch, dislike and if subscribed than unsubscribe

Try vectorizing the hand drawing. MUCH easier.

Please help me oneplus pad vs samsung fe s7 for drawing plz

my plan was to get a new ipad and a macbook (my laptop is on the verge of death and my ipad is from 2017) but im thinking maybe i should just go for this two in one combo?

Idunno dude, Buy any other laptop for $1500 that has better specs and a $400-$600 huion 16 inch 2.5k. You'll have the keyboard accessible from the laptop and the plus of a second display which is great for reference material, and the huion will give you arguably a better drawing experience. I just don't see the need to bundle this all together.

Was really looking forward to this, but the price is eye watering where I live. 3.800€ for the 64gb RAM/1TB version, 4.200 for 2TB. Almost impossible to justify the expense. 2.400€ will get you a considerably more performant gaming laptop, and a used Wacom Cintiq 16 Pro in very good condition can be had for around 500-600€. For the remaining difference an iPad Pro 12.9 from 2021 with 1TB is possible by now.

What about the concept d ezel

There just isn't anything else out there with a discreet GPU that doesn't look terrible with 50000 Christmas lights. If you want a premium laptop, with enough horsepower to do gaming, and graphics work, this is it. It costs the exact same as an M2 Max MacBook Pro, with similar performance, and you cant draw on that screen.... The pricing complaints only seem to come to the Windows side, no one bats an eye at Apple pricing....

its much cheaper on ebay

im an engineering student, so having some power for computing but also beeing able to take notes in lectures ist great. I already own an Ipad and a Laptop but from time to time Im considering to sell them and buy this thing, its just such a nice device

Thanks for the review. It still makes me doubting. I don't know if it will be convenient for me to draw professional things in illustrator on this pc. If not, then I'd better go for Lenovo slim pro 9i which has i9 processor, 64 GB ram, 165 Hz touch screen with mini led high resolution and brightness of 1000 nits and costs only 2700$. Surface studio 2 costs 3500 where I live. It is a huge difference

The little adapter/dongle breaking happens... it specially happens when the USB port is more 'tight'. Isn't really the fault of the laptop, just probably close to breaking, a lot of the mini wireless dongles (from my personal experience) aren't built to last and aren't built to be constantly puggled in and out of a device.

I like the Surface laptops but they are way too expensive for what they offer. After being on the market for years now you would think Microsoft would have dropped the prices a bit by now

I'm seriously considering this as a replacement for my laptop and my aging desktop. Also... the price is currently $2,599.99 for the most souped-up version. My needs are to be as portable as possible (working anywhere, including planes) doing Unity/Quest 3 dev work + Blender + heavy After Effects motion graphics. 2D animation, video editing and AR filters are also common tasks for me. Ideally I'd plug into my 4k Cintiq, another 1080 monitor *and* Quest 3 and still get good performance (specifically in VR) when at home (using the SSL2 as an external monitor). I'm learning that since it's a laptop, you can never max out CPU and GPU simultaneously. The primary reason I want to upgrade from my gaming laptop is so I can have one less screen and 3 less cables to plug in (XP-Pen Pro 13). I'm also hoping it would be a nice upgrade from my desktop's 2060. The only other laptop that seems like it would outdo this (with an angled pen-enabled screen) is the Asus ZenBook Duo, but its amazing little secondary screen is just too small to comfortably work on (although I LOVE the keyboard placement and layout on that laptop). So indecisive! My current setup is fine but my gosh it's just getting to be clunky and annoying, as I need to be on my portable setup most of the time now.

Used surface book for the longest time until it can no longer operate to its daily workloads. Was looking forward to this awesome studio 2, but the price is what got to me from even thinking about it. It's too much. Just way too much to pay over that price.

Been waiting for this. Waiting for mine to be delivered. Your review on the first one got me hooked on this device. Thanks Brad!

So how can we know this is actually the SLSP 2? The differences between the 1 and 2 are not noticeable...did you pull a fast one? HAHAHAH...Just kidding...wink wink. Great review. M

Hi Brad, Apart from the price point of the device, is it facing any other problems like heating issues or so?

Csp companion mode really makes this rock. Got the sls1 and it's great. Having simultaneous touch and pen is also a good feature of the mpp pen. Not gunna upgrade to this tho.

Yeah it’s a little expensive but I think once you get a discount or a refurbished one, price is reasonable. Still waiting on Apple to make a MacBook Pro like Surface Laptop Studio or an iMac Pro like the Surface Desktop Studio. And while we at it bring the Apple Pencil to iPhone.

4:06 hope you bought accidental damage coverage

Sending love from South Africa brad🇿🇦❤!!

I hope they add an anti-reflective screen.

I have a question between this pen or the new Samsung s9 ultra which one do you like best? Also how easy is the pen to replace? Can i buy it when the batteries run out?

I'm a huge surface fan. I'm sad the book is discontinued. I use a book 3 and pro 8 on the daily. I would definitely rock this but my devices are still fully capable. 4k is steep but I got close to that with my sb3

I would REALLY like to see more drawing tech using this 3:4 screen ratio, because it gives so much more vertical real estate, but also, it makes turning it and holding it in portrait mode so much more realistic. I TECHNICALLY could use my samsung book flex in portrait mode, but the letterbox ratio, quite honestly, make it so awkward, I don't. Now...just waiting for my 3:4 ratio 16" or 17" Huion pen computer windows tablet! ;_; Still dreaming...!

Is it worth ?Asus ZenBook 14 Flip OLED 2.8K Intel Core i7-1360P (Evo 13th Gen) Intel Iris Xe Graphics 16 GB RAM

16GB of RAM is too little for Windows 11. They shouldn't have locked the first 32GB option behind a $3000+ price tag.

This makes me think of the Nintendo vs PlayStation or Xbox debate. People buy Nintendo for the innovative hardware and unique user experience and another set of users prioritize power and performance as the end all be all. I personally have always been a Nintendo guy and being a professional designer that has used a pen tablet daily for the last 15 years, the SLS2 feels like the perfect device for me and something that even though will cost more, i think ill create twice as much with.

It isn't just the screen that is nice. It also has the best touchpad imo. And the keyboard is very top end. Some people say Lenovo keyboards are better, and I can see that opinion, but it is definitely up there. Also not fair to compare to building your own. The Parts to build a laptop like this would be way more than they are charging, not to mention impossible. It cannot be done. That hinge would not be possible from the parts I can find. As far as laptops that can do video editing, code compiling as well as drawing tablets I am not really seeing any competition. And if you need that, like I do and I am sure many others, it is the only player in the game. My Mac Pro configuration came out to be about the same, and it doesn't even have a touchscreen lol

Even if you don’t need a GPU, I like the keyboard better than a surface tablet. I with it had more ports hdmi, Ethernet, SD cards etc. it’s thick enough

Why does Microsoft love committing suicide? How do they even go to public asking for their money with this product? It's extremely disappointing.

That price point is absurd. $1500 is the everyone most any computer should or could justifiably cost.

IT’S HERE!

You can see where the USB-A shielding broke. It's very clearly the fault of your device, not the laptop.

Do you draw in tent mode? if so, how is the screen stability with applying pressure with the hand while drawing? is there very noticeable Screen flex?

I'm an illustrator, and I have the latest surface pro. I have to say it is absolutely useless. Big regret. The drawing experience is so poor, It's so slow, It's so laggy. It overheats, it crashes. It's sitting gathering dust. Very very expensive dust.

How about ~1100$ for a brand new surface studio 2 with 32Gb RAM , RTX A2000, 1 Tb and 13 gen i7 ?

Mine only lasts 3 hrs max with only using onenote, whiteboard and google searching. The battery is the most disappointing part

"Macs are so expensive!!!"

Another over expensive crappy product ... well done Micro$oft...

No way😭i ordered 2 days ago surface pro 9. I didn’t know about this one. Looks even bigger size a bit. So sad

Due the screen and lot of other components being custom (only windows machine with haptic touchpad), i can pay an amount more. But this is an old design now, for version 2 there was barely any design or RnD cost; so v2 sud get a price cut not a bump. Since SP9, microsoft has been aiming profit margins off the charts, i dislike them now. My 8gb ram windows 11 SP9 is totally unusable. boot windwos and only

I draw and do little animation. Recently more so very light game development. I'm always on the go. This is an ideal all in one solution that could fit my needs and workflow. Most things I do come out of clip studio ex. The rest, paper 2d in unreal. I have a really ancient surface pro 4, it seems to be able to handle most of my workload when I'm not at home on my desktop. That 2nd tier $2400 would be killer. But that price really hurts. Definitely could just build another PC for that. Actually i could almost build 2 PCs if i wait for tech sales which happen so frequently, that it's almost non-justifiable unless I can get it refurbished, on a big sale, or ebay it. My current desktop only cost me $1200 at the time from parts (5 years ago and have upgraded a few parts since then), in total, and my surface was like $250 at the time (like 5 years ago) off of a bid and still works fine for drawing.

I simply cannot afford it but if I could, I'd be one of the stupid ones that buys it ahahahaha. And I don't even draw LOL

My old Sony Vaio laptop from 2013 had that same kind of folding screen mechanism

There was an acer aspire 2 in 1 from like 2013 that had a very similar designed hinge, HOWEVER the swapped the keyboard and the trackpad.

I want 32gb/1tb with iris. I don’t need the GPU and it’s just going to burn the battery.

2013 Sony Vaio's Last PC had the nearly same design and I think better than this one.

i have been subscribed to for a long time but what i notice you really don't help the artist in making art for games how this works in the process of making it.

I want to point out that Samsung tablets can be used as a Monitor with touchscreen and pin support. And it works very well. The laptop just seems almost there. for that price u can get a better GPU in other Laptops. Its pretty thought in a copy MacBook kind of way.

I always get confused with the thumbnails like 😬😬

People have been begging Microsoft to release a Surface Studio standalone monitor Ala a Wacom cintiq. And I hear they've stopped making them in general. Gotta love when a corporation hates money.

你好，我还想问下，SLS2的tf卡插入以后会露出一点点的头，就是这样设计的吗？我从没在其它设备上看到这样的设计，一般都是完全推入的，这样是为了方便取出吗。。？好神奇。 Hello, I also want to ask, is it designed for the TF card to protrude slightly after insertion into SLS2? I have never seen this design on other devices; usually, the card is fully inserted. Is this done for easy removal? It's quite interesting.

Hmm, I maybe I'll just build a PC and get a samsung tablet as a complimentary item.

Wouldn't it be nice if the keyboard slides out when you need it instead of flipping the screen up.

Is this one better than the galaxy book4 pro 360 ?

Isn't it cheaper to buy a MacBook and an iPad with a pen separately?