What you need to know
- The second-generation Surface Laptop Studio is official, and it will run on 13th-Gen Intel CPUs and NVIDIA RTX 40 series graphics.
- It can be configured with up to 64GB RAM for the first time ever in a Surface PC.
- The device also has a new USB-A and microSD card slot, a brighter HDR screen, and improved haptic touchpad.
The Surface Laptop Studio 2 is now official after being unveiled during Microsoft’s special event today in New York City. The device is a big upgrade over the first-generation Surface Laptop Studio. Those improvements are thanks to Intel 13th-Gen processors, NVIDIA RTX 40 series graphics, more ports, an improved display and trackpad, and even AI capabilities.
Starting with the processors, Microsoft has upgraded the Surface Laptop Studio with 13th-Gen Intel Core i7 H-Series CPUs, which offer a significant performance boost over the 11th-Gen H-series processors found in the original. It can also be spec’d with either Intel Iris Xe or NVIDIA RTX 40 series graphics, with the dedicated chips offering more vRAM to boot.
On the RAM front, Microsoft is offering configurations with 16GB, 32GB, and for the first time ever, 64GB of DDR5X RAM in a Surface PC. 64GB will be for professional users looking to crunch large amounts of data or that plan on using the Surface Laptop Studio for heavy creative tasks and multitasking.
Note that the spec table below is a collection of information from leaks that appear to be correct and statements from Microsoft.
On the outside, the overall design is pretty much identical to the original, except we do have a wider selection of ports. Joining the dual Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports is a new USB-A port on the left, and a microSD card reader on the right, alongside the excellent magnet Surface Connect port and 3.5mm headphone jack.
Other new features include a brighter display that is HDR compatible, a more accessible haptic touchpad with more granular levels of feedback control, and a wider field-of-view webcam.
The Surface Laptop Studio 2 was unveiled during Microsoft’s special event, which focused heavily on AI capabilities coming to Windows 11. Unsurprisingly, Microsoft is touting the new Surface Laptop Studio as being an AI machine, with NPU (neural processing unit) capabilities for handling AI workloads such as Windows Studio Effects.
Pricing for the Surface Laptop Studio 2 begins at $1,999, which gets you a model with an Intel Core i7, 16GB RAM, 512GB storage, and Intel Iris Xe graphics. Pre-orders should go live today are expected to start shipping in October.
