I debated for a long time, but I got one after working on a mac for almost forever. I love it. I thought it might be too small, nope. I love the design, I love the screen, I love Windows 11, I love the pen. It's maybe my favorite computer I've ever owned.
When it first released and watched your review, this instantly become my dream laptop, watching this vid made me want it even more! Can't wait to see how they'll improve it in its next generation versions
I now how they will improve it, the processor. The current CPU it has is hardly better than the i5 U processor in the Surface Pro 8 with less watts. They will use an Intel 12th gen P or H processor with much more performance, I'm talking more than double the multicore performance.
The reason I bought the Microsoft Surface Studio is because windows seems to work better with all peripherals than a Mac, most programs are compatible with windows, you can play light to moderate gaming on windows than on Mac. The surface studio also has a great looking display and a dedicated graphics card.
for anyone who missed it, Microsoft themselves released a video about how to repair and upgrade the SSD storage on this laptop. I think the memory is soldered on, but for anyone looking to increase internal storage or replace the battery, it's a good watch. th-cam.com/video/cnBAeUD0Li4/w-d-xo.html
really nice review! Now that the 2nd version is out, I am of course looking at getting myself a 1st generation because...prices. But gotta say, I was even more impressed by your drawings!! Really cool stuff. I gave up on drawing 15 years ago, and I was good at it. I feel like tech can help me motivate again to draw, such as this laptop, and seeing the art you do in such a device is another great motivation for me. You earned a new sub to the channel!
Brad, I bought one myself. Your original review was a pretty big factor in my decision. I do have one or two little gripes with it but by and large, I absolutely love it and it's a big improvement over the Surface Book 3
@@franbo5365 Of course - the main one for me is that the time never stays synced with windows.time server so I always have to resync the time whenever I boot up the laptop. To be fair, this is very likely a one-off issue with my unit. Other than that, it gets a little warm under load but nothing too bad and the battery life isn't as good as I'd like. It's good, but I was hoping for more. If you're just web browsing, it'll get a whole day very comfortably but if you're using heavier apps, or doing proper drawing I get more like 4 hours. Other than that, it's a dream.
I picked one up last month and I ADORE this thing! The pen is phenomenal. Overall, this is a perfect compliment to my desktop - which I managed to build thanks to the money saved by grabbing the base model.
@@michellevella9470 pretty good! If I'm going for a few hours, I plug it in for around 40 minutes - 1 hour and it's pretty much full. Makes work so much more enjoyable!
Thank you so much Brad for swaying me to make one of the best purchases I have ever made. Was already blown away with this thing but after a month I now realized that I can install android apps and can even do a lot of my gaming on lower settings so I can still be involved in what's going on in my house instead of stuck tucked away in my office space. Finally staring to really dig into drawing lessons with this as my primary machine.
@4lxsha455 amazingly well. I was worried about the hinge wearing out for the screen but it's held on great. Haven't even noticed any wear on the pen nib yet. It's been a great experience. Honestly use it more than my desktop and pretty much take it everywhere. Bought a powerful enough power bank and an external ssd and can just draw on the go.
I bought myself this Laptop a month ago for uni. Compared to my previous Lenovo Yoga 730 this is far far better. What mainly drove me to buy this was the easy switch to tablet mode, battery life and the performance. I'm studying 3d animation and thus needed the performance as well. Sure was very expensive, but got a great deal in a store made me pay less than 2k for warranty, laptop and pen. It sure is a thick boi but damn that pays off so much in cooling. My Lenovo became a frying pan if it pushed itself too much, even melted some table tops because of the bottom intake, this maschine does gaming pretty well, very powerfull fans, very quiet, only running when necessary... of course no gaming laptop, but hey... the pen is what you wanted, right? Speaking of the pen, im not sure if im used to it yet, in the beginning i struggled to align my lines with each other, probably the shape just made me grab the pen further behind, throwing off my muscle memory. What i miss is having A. 2 buttons on the pen B. Be able to customize their functions (would be great for movement of camera in modelling software for example) wasnt able to use the side button as eraser in leonardo, since its premaped to middle click, which is a special function in leo i also dont mind it being just 14.4 inch compared to my before 15.6 inch laptop, you really dont notice that its smaller, in fact the size is very handy, my lenovo actually was so heavy it started pressing onto my chest, this laptop doesnt, altho im sure they are around the same weight as a tablet, i actually think it works, shame theres no side mounted volume rocker and power button, preferably with a build in fingerprint reader, that wouldve made it replace my tab s7+ entierly! (altho of course some more android ui like samsung dex but windows to android ui would make me switch) so for the surface laptop studio 2: side mounted buttons, fingerprint reader very powerfull fans, very quiet, only running when necessary
I've got a 15.6" Lenovo C940 with a pretty tolerable stylus. It's not as nice as a Wacom Cintiq (sp?), or the latest Surface devices. But it is definitely much better than my Surface Pro 3.
the 14.4 inch size is quite nice already actually, thought i mis the 15.6 inch screen i had before. But yeah a more powerful and bigger studio would make a great desktop replacement!
Speaking of sales, I snagged the 2tb version on sale at MS for $2699. At $400 off the cost, it was absolutely worth the money. So totally agree that if you shop around, you can find it much less for more bells and whistles.
Use a drafting table when drawing to get the screen to sit where you want as well as have plenty of strength to support you while in use, that’s how my wife and I worked around the limited angles that the screen provided. We love our Surface.
I flipping love my studio laptop! I have not had any issues, this and the laptop 4 (Ryzen) have been unbelievable in performance. Very impressed with MS hardware. Both of these machines are my daily drivers.
I really liked this look back at it. I have two thoughts: 1. With the new 12th generation P series processors, the next version of lower end Studios will likely become much more capable machines, and will hopefully offer a large amount of storage as well. MSI and others are selling 1TB 2 in 1s for less than $2000 with excellent specs, so I'd imagine Microsoft will be pressured to keep up. 2.Have you tried using an adjustable laptop stand with your studio? I carry a slim, portable one in my backpack at all times because I prefer the ergonomics of typing and note taking on a slightly raised laptop. It might make the drawing experience better for you overall
Thank you so much for this review Brad! I'm still hesitating between these, and the surface pro 8. And now the new XPS 13 2-in-1 tablet PC came out. Would love to see your review on the drawing experience with the XPS in comparison to the Surface Pro 8! There are so many choices out there right! Love you work btw.
I've got the 2 tb ssd one & I LOVE IT, the reason I brought the most expensive one is because I'm turning it into my gaming setup, I have my razer keyboard & mouse with mouse pad, headphones & headphones stand & then I just need to get an external monitor & then finally an external EGPU, however I've been gameing on this & it's been ok sure you won't get 120fps on top setting but you will get a decent fps if you fiddle around with it, so with the EGPU & the 32gb ram & the I7 you should be able to do some decent gaming.
I had the same thoughts about the storage. I installed a 2 TB NVME, and this is it! If you choose to install your own, use a gen 3 NVME, gen 4 will draw more power and cause blue screens and other problems.
I've had this since release day and it's an excellent laptop. Though, recently my congregation started in-person meetings again (instead of Zoom). I miss the lightweight portability of the Surface Pro and it's detachable keyboard, but I'm making do with this just fine. It's a bit heavy and there's no way to power off the screen in tablet mode.
The reason I bought the Microsoft Surface Studio is because windows seems to work better with all peripherals than a Mac, most programs are compatible with windows, you can play light to moderate gaming on windows than on Mac. The surface studio also has a great looking display and a dedicated graphics card.
Have had Ipad Pro for a long time but will get my studio laptop tomorrow. So excited about it and love hearing your thoughts! Great that you put up this video. I won´t regret this........👍
Drawing angle - I use a couple of little magnetic building sticks on my Surface Book when flipped over. They give you ~2cm lift and are really stable. Mouse - get a Bluetooth mouse, no cables Storage - Get an NVME external drive, the PC has a Thunderbolt 4 port GPU - Again the Thunderbolt port will support an eGPU case and a GPU If they bring out Intel 12th gen versions then that will probably address any performance issues, as well as give you better inbuilt graphics.
I have the higher end one and got it on day 1. I love it and agree with all your views. Looking forward to seeing some improvements down the road. I actually use the display mode a bit when travelling. 1. Make it lighter 2. Larger display option (edge to edge screen would be cool) 3. Any angle screen 4. Volume and Power controls off the keyboard so I can control more easily. 5. Add some bevel to the edges, they bother me. 6. Longer battery life. Yes, I actually tested with video playback, and they state 12 hours or something. but you need to have all background apps turned off for this to work. Would be better if it consistently got at least 5-6 hours of battery life usage.
This is a likely upgrade. I've an M1 MacBook air which I love for doing some poly modeling in blender but I would like to be able to draw when not at the computer!
The model with 512 storage and gtx 1050 is what I bought. I use to work on a MacBook Pro and iPad. But I passed those on to my niece when she graduated. This laptop replaced both of them. I just wish autodesk sketchbook had a tablet mode for windows. Disclaimer: I still think the Apple Pencil is better, but not having to carry two devices is clutch af.
I am sure this is a great device especially if you are WFH or office-based, but for portability, say when you are on holiday and want to sketch a vista or just chill out on the beach doodling, then it becomes essential that you also buy another tablet. Saying that, anyone paying these prices will probably be able to afford a good tablet setup as well. For the non-pro that just likes digital artistry then I think this is a tough buy and you would be far better served by a solid tablet, that for the casual user could also easily pass muster as your only device. So, a very niche device, great for the instagram shots, for "hip" businesses, and for those with disposable income, but def not mainstream and a step back from the flawed Surface Book (battery life of tablet part & limitation of chipset due to thermals; hopefully solved in a couple of years with WOA).
Thanks, for this video, Brad! I always trust reviews and recommendations from people who have used it thoroughly 'cause it means you've kicked the tires, let things break and made less-obvious problems become more noticeable. definitely recommending this video to anyone wondering about the Studio Laptop.
All of the ergonomic issues I have with the device can be fixed with a tablet stand, my one gripe that is much more difficult to handle is that in intense applications the heat is pumped out in probably the worst places at least for my purposes. I use a tourbox controller for shortcuts, and if I have it directly to the side on the same level as the laptop my hand gets blasted with fresh hot air from the cpu. Played around with deflecting it but it’s hard to figure that out without a 3d printer. On the other side, if I want to game, the gpu blasts hot air directly where I would naturally be using a mouse. Would love v2 to vent it’s heat towards the back instead, that would make it much more user friendly. Otherwise it’s been the perfect (albeit rather expensive) versatile creative station. Desperately wish I had a 3d printer to test out some ideas I have, like a shim to keep the screen at an ideal drawing angle, or redirects for the exhaust heat, but despite that it’s been a very competent device, especially compared to previous surface pro devices.
Brad, regarding the hinges on this thing: Does it wobble in normal laptop mode? You mentioned this in your original review, but you made it sound as if perhaps it was only when it first snaps into place. I draw in this position frequently. Is the hinge reasonably stable for drawing on in that mode?
Bought one after hours of research and your top 5 artists laptops video was super helpful. Thank you for the 6 month review!!! Can I ask what drawing app is your fav to use on the studio ?
Blender will soon support tarckpad gestures on windows like on IOS :) and for the drawing angle - I like to hold the screen with my left hand in position, which may sound uncomfortable, but it actually works really well. I also use tablet pro so i have to have my hand on the left side of the screen anyways ;)
The viewing angle is really holding me back. I do a lot of sculpting and texture painting in blender and having to hold the laptop up would make it almost impossible to use a wireless keyboard. I'm so tempted to buy it though, reckon its worth it?
I've been using the top spec 2tb, 32gb ram version of this and it's been mostly fantastic. I hate windows 11.. but slowly getting used it. The different ways you can draw on it (more than the 3 ways advertised is great.) Slim pen 2 is great in Photoshop, completely bites in illustrator... So use older pen for that. All in all very happy. Dream multi-purpose drawing laptop tablet
I got one for my birthday because the sale was so good! I got the 32gb and 2tb i7 model for about 1500$ and let me tell you, it is phenomenal. The whole device just feels amazing to use, even with window’s window-y-ness. Everything just feels nice, and it has so much power for my needs. Despite it being a couple years old, all of my software works perfectly on it. AND THE BATTERY LIFE IS PHENOMENALLY FOR AN INTEL MACHINE!!! I’m able to get 8-10 hours out of it on a light workload of casual web surfing and downloading software, but gaming I only was able to get a couple hours out of it. A full session of ableton is somwhere in the middle, about 5-7 hours (depending on plugins and number of tracks in a session, aka cpu and ram load), which is phenomenal considering the 4-5 hours at best I got from my last laptop. And it is so nice to draw in my automation with the pen!!! This laptop definitely isn’t for everybody, but it is for me!!!!
The angles of the screen not resting at that sweet spot for drawing really is an unfortunate thing. The moment that graphics card kicks in your battery life is obliterated, which doesn't make it viable on the go for intensive tasks, for long anyway. But otherwise the laptop is truly something special. It's the closest i've come to having a portable creative solution as an artist without too many compromises. The pen! It's such a step up from those cheap battery powered tube sticks, and that magnet is one of the strongest i've ever felt lol. You aren't losing that pen. The biggest thing i can't really stand about drawing on Windows is the lack of a no compromise pay-once Procreate alternative. Sketchbook? Basic features missing. Concepts? Vector based with no blending possibilities. Photoshop and Corel Painter? Large and expensive. Krita? Cumbersome and not optimised. Almost none of them are optimised for touch. Clipstudio is as close as you'll get without being locked into a subscription service for Fresco, and the performance with blending and textured brushes is awful. It surprises me that windows haven't bothered trying to support the creation of a competent daily driver for artists the way Apple do with Procreate. It's like COME OOON.
I'm drawing on a 2017 12.9 ipad pro. I really don't like the ipad. I hate the OS. The only thing I use it for is procreate and some note writing. Drawing is just a hobby for me but I would like to upgrade since my ipad is getting old. I was considering the new ipad but i'd really rather not since I only use it for procreate. I checked out the surface products but i'm told that the drawing experience is still the best on the ipad. I'd hate to buy into the surface to find out that the drawing experience is still subpar compared to the ipad.
This laptop is definitely top of my list right now for a good all round laptop for graphics and photo editing, a bit of gaming and remote working but I'm still interested in looking at competitors that have a stylus based interface like the Surface line and Galaxy book line. Is there anything else that does that?
It could just have flaps on the bottom, like most keyboards, to prop it up and give you that 15-20 degrees angle you need. I think that was a huge oversight
Just got SLS today. Bought from Costco. It came in sealed box and everything looked good. Went to turn on and it had to install Windows 11 first before I could set it up. I thought that was a little weird. I installed Blender and played around. The NVIDIA card was pretty fast to render scenes (then again I'm coming from a MBP, non-M1). As I was exploring the computer I tried the WhiteBoard app and when I opened it there were 2 files already htere, one from 5/31/2022 and one from 12/6/2019. I'm beginning to think this is not a "brand new" laptop. Any thoughts?
Is Surface Studio still worth it in 2023? I didn't know of its release (because I didn't really need a new laptop at the time) but now that I need this or this alike soon, I wonder whether can have better alternatives that holds the features that this product offers
Hey Brad... If you had a go to drawing tablet... which one would you choose 1) ipad or 2) S8ultra tab or 3) Surface pro? A fun torture for you to choose from😅🤩😂
The drawing angle problem is why I wish they would have refreshed the Surface Book. As you can take off the screen and put it on a drawing stand. RIP Surface Book.
Hey Brad, Keep up the amazing content 😁 I'd really like that you review the 2022 Lenovo Yoga 9i 14", especially with adobe apps. I just trust your reviews completely, gracias!!!
how would you rate your drawing experience? ( Since the Surface uses N-Trig and the galaxy uses the EMR (Wacom) and I whatever one Apple uses on the IPad)
@@robertgill2759 I like it more than EMR because there is zero drift no matter how you tilt of how close you are to the display edge. Its about 90% as good as apple for pure inking, virtually unnoticeable on quality... but i prefer windows and the fact that the surface pen has eraser and side buttons that can be reprogrammed. Seriously speaking, i had surface 4, and surface 7... both of them got sold because the drawing was totally unpredictable and wobbly. With the new surface pen, its been an absolute delight.
Hi, I bought the high spec's of the surface studio laptop from your last video and I use it for graphic designing, drawing and video editing and I am still impressed with, so thank you for you review on this....1
I got mine a couple of weeks ago. I went all in. 1 TB HD, Corei7, 32 GB ram because I DO plan on doing a lot of video and photo editing. The quiet fans and solid battery life are big pluses I did not expect going in. The fans on my Surface Pro 7 ran constantly. This machine is a massive improvement in every way. Loving it so far.
I wonder if the storage is soldered or if its just an NVME drive? My mom disliked her built in storage on her 2-in-1 and it wasn’t too difficult to pop open and swap out with an ifixit guide. Though it would definitely be more daunting for someone with no experience in tech hardware.
Hey Brad, I got a lower specked model and return and got the 2tb model, love it. Just posted a video a week ago on 6 months later 😊. I’m sending you an email. I have something for you. Will solve the angle issue
Do you have any thoughts about the repairability of the laptop? It's come up in recent months that users are having difficulty opening the backplate due to hidden screws, which concerns me since I maintain my laptops by opening up the back and blowing dust out annually. I plan on buying and keeping this device for at least 4-5 years before even considering an upgrade so I'm curious about your thoughts on this. Blowing out dust would definitely increase the life of the device. Otherwise, I'd definitely get this product.
The good thing is, Microsoft has published the guide to open the laptop in their TH-cam channel. The bad thing is, yeah, it kinda sucks. There's a lot of steps involved just to open the back (and might ruin the cosmetic sticker that hide some of the screws).
If you are a little tech savvy, you can actually upgrade the SSD capacity yourself. It's pretty simple to take apart. Just a few screws, and you can pop in a new SSD and copy over or reinstall windows. Much cheaper than getting the high capacity version.
I am looking at this laptop to do video editing primarily so the base model would definitely not do it for me. I am seeing that prices have thankfully gone down a lot but since my current laptop is good enough, i will wait until I can find the highest end model for under 2k. So hopefully on black Friday i can snag a good deal.
Quick question Brad! I currently use iPad Pro with Paperlike screen protector. I am going to get this Surface studio and wonder if I will need a matte screen protector as well, or have you had this great experience drawing on it directly?
Hey good afternoon, love your work and reviews I was wondering if this would be a good recommendation for me to try my luck as a graphic novelists? All of this is new to me so Thanks for any advice on this you may have. Namaste 💕🙏
I have the surface book 3 and really love it. Pretty great for drawing, has a 1660Ti for a bit of gaming and detachable screen. Its great, apart from the battery life, which makes the detachable screen pointless unless its plugged in. 256gig of storage is nowhere near enough for me, but I have an external SSD for my games which works well enough. Sometimes when I detach the screen and then put it back on later, it will have some trouble finding my GPU and will just use the integrated GPU until I either restart it or detach and reattach a few times. Overall, I really love the surface series though. Like you say, its cool. The keyboard is amazing and the trackpad is great too. Its absolutely fine with drawing (for my needs) and the surface button works amazing with Clip Studio. It was expensive though, but its a bit of a jack of all trades master of none kinda laptop
What windows art app would you recommend if not using the Adobe suite, or is the price for Adobe worth it compared to all the other apps. Great video as always though, waiting for Microsoft to refine this design in the next version.
Bought this months ago after watching your review for my job as a high school teacher. Since using the OG Surface Pro, I've bought and returned SP4 and SP7 and stayed with the original because of the darn pen just not feeling right. NTrig just wasn't the solution. After seeing your review, I figured it was time to try again. Am not disappointed at all. The only downside I feel I've experienced is that the Slim Pen 2 is definitely wearing away now. Instead of the round ball shape, it's now beveled heavily in one direction.
Liked the video and info. Had one, but mine stopped charging and I wasn’t able to correct the problem. Returned it. Thinking of getting another. Have you had any charging problems in the previous 6 mos? Thanks!
Would you recommend this over an iPad for those getting into digital art? I recently broke my old surface book from water damage and an looking for another 2 in 1.
Now the studio 2 is coming out price has dropped on this some. I think I may get it. My concerns is how it will perform on blender and fusion 360. I don't render anything. My current laptop really struggles if my models get complex at all though.
How would you say the pen goes against a Cintiq pro? I'm very indecisive since the the touch and the screen on the surface seems to be better, but not sure if the Cintiq pen is really on another level as for now with the new pen. I'm currently on an ipad pro 12.6" but really wanted the windows os and keep the touch sensitivity
Question for anyone who uses art programs on this, does pinch in and out work, and does two finger and three finger tap work. Or is it only the pen that has touch surface?
Which pen is the good surface pen that I should get with this laptop? And I'm also curious to see how other pens would work with this laptop, because I saw an article online saying a wacom pen would also work
I would love to get this to replace my older Macbook Pro and newer iPad Pro 11. I also want to do 3D with Blender in addition to illustration. Would the higher end version with the 16 GB, 512Gb SSD and the NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3050Ti be a good choice?
I debated for a long time, but I got one after working on a mac for almost forever. I love it. I thought it might be too small, nope. I love the design, I love the screen, I love Windows 11, I love the pen. It's maybe my favorite computer I've ever owned.
how is the battery life?
@@michellevella9470 it's decent, not like my MacBook, but considering the screen, I'm happy with it
Is it also good for programming?
@@charlzlatte it runs visual studio, I write JS and css on it. I think it's fine for coding.
When it first released and watched your review, this instantly become my dream laptop, watching this vid made me want it even more! Can't wait to see how they'll improve it in its next generation versions
Sadly these prices are way more than I'd ever willing to pay....
Same here. It's at the top of my wish list when it's time to replace my current laptop.
Do you know when they will rlease the new generation??
I now how they will improve it, the processor. The current CPU it has is hardly better than the i5 U processor in the Surface Pro 8 with less watts. They will use an Intel 12th gen P or H processor with much more performance, I'm talking more than double the multicore performance.
The reason I bought the Microsoft Surface Studio is because windows seems to work better with all peripherals than a Mac, most programs are compatible with windows, you can play light to moderate gaming on windows than on Mac. The surface studio also has a great looking display and a dedicated graphics card.
for anyone who missed it, Microsoft themselves released a video about how to repair and upgrade the SSD storage on this laptop. I think the memory is soldered on, but for anyone looking to increase internal storage or replace the battery, it's a good watch.
th-cam.com/video/cnBAeUD0Li4/w-d-xo.html
really nice review! Now that the 2nd version is out, I am of course looking at getting myself a 1st generation because...prices. But gotta say, I was even more impressed by your drawings!! Really cool stuff. I gave up on drawing 15 years ago, and I was good at it. I feel like tech can help me motivate again to draw, such as this laptop, and seeing the art you do in such a device is another great motivation for me. You earned a new sub to the channel!
Brad, I bought one myself. Your original review was a pretty big factor in my decision. I do have one or two little gripes with it but by and large, I absolutely love it and it's a big improvement over the Surface Book 3
May I ask what those little gripes are🤔🤔? I really want to buy one but am also leaning towards buying a mac and a drawing tablet instead
@@franbo5365 Of course - the main one for me is that the time never stays synced with windows.time server so I always have to resync the time whenever I boot up the laptop. To be fair, this is very likely a one-off issue with my unit. Other than that, it gets a little warm under load but nothing too bad and the battery life isn't as good as I'd like. It's good, but I was hoping for more. If you're just web browsing, it'll get a whole day very comfortably but if you're using heavier apps, or doing proper drawing I get more like 4 hours. Other than that, it's a dream.
I picked one up last month and I ADORE this thing! The pen is phenomenal. Overall, this is a perfect compliment to my desktop - which I managed to build thanks to the money saved by grabbing the base model.
how is the battery life?
@@michellevella9470 pretty good! If I'm going for a few hours, I plug it in for around 40 minutes - 1 hour and it's pretty much full. Makes work so much more enjoyable!
Thank you so much Brad for swaying me to make one of the best purchases I have ever made.
Was already blown away with this thing but after a month I now realized that I can install android apps and can even do a lot of my gaming on lower settings so I can still be involved in what's going on in my house instead of stuck tucked away in my office space.
Finally staring to really dig into drawing lessons with this as my primary machine.
How is it holding up a year later? Deciding if I should get one or not...
@4lxsha455 amazingly well. I was worried about the hinge wearing out for the screen but it's held on great. Haven't even noticed any wear on the pen nib yet. It's been a great experience. Honestly use it more than my desktop and pretty much take it everywhere. Bought a powerful enough power bank and an external ssd and can just draw on the go.
I bought this because of you! Honestly, I wish you had a code from Microsoft because you honestly deserve it. Amazing Review!
I bought myself this Laptop a month ago for uni. Compared to my previous Lenovo Yoga 730 this is far far better.
What mainly drove me to buy this was the easy switch to tablet mode, battery life and the performance. I'm studying 3d animation and thus needed the performance as well. Sure was very expensive, but got a great deal in a store made me pay less than 2k for warranty, laptop and pen.
It sure is a thick boi but damn that pays off so much in cooling.
My Lenovo became a frying pan if it pushed itself too much, even melted some table tops because of the bottom intake, this maschine does gaming pretty well, very powerfull fans, very quiet, only running when necessary... of course no gaming laptop, but hey...
the pen is what you wanted, right?
Speaking of the pen, im not sure if im used to it yet, in the beginning i struggled to align my lines with each other, probably the shape just made me grab the pen further behind, throwing off my muscle memory. What i miss is having
A. 2 buttons on the pen
B. Be able to customize their functions (would be great for movement of camera in modelling software for example)
wasnt able to use the side button as eraser in leonardo, since its premaped to middle click, which is a special function in leo
i also dont mind it being just 14.4 inch compared to my before 15.6 inch laptop, you really dont notice that its smaller, in fact the size is very handy, my lenovo actually was so heavy it started pressing onto my chest, this laptop doesnt, altho im sure they are around the same weight
as a tablet, i actually think it works, shame theres no side mounted volume rocker and power button, preferably with a build in fingerprint reader, that wouldve made it replace my tab s7+ entierly! (altho of course some more android ui like samsung dex but windows to android ui would make me switch)
so for the surface laptop studio 2: side mounted buttons, fingerprint reader
very powerfull fans, very quiet, only running when necessary
hi! How does it hold up with Blender 2 months later?
A 17-inch version would be perfect. Hope Microsoft or some other laptop OEM makes one in the near future!
wasnt there a dell inspiron 17 inch foldable? idk about pen support though
I've got a 15.6" Lenovo C940 with a pretty tolerable stylus. It's not as nice as a Wacom Cintiq (sp?), or the latest Surface devices. But it is definitely much better than my Surface Pro 3.
the 14.4 inch size is quite nice already actually, thought i mis the 15.6 inch screen i had before. But yeah a more powerful and bigger studio would make a great desktop replacement!
17" with top-notch AMD CPUs and GPUs.
It's surprisingly heavy already... I wonder how heavy a 17 inch screen one would b E 😅
Speaking of sales, I snagged the 2tb version on sale at MS for $2699. At $400 off the cost, it was absolutely worth the money. So totally agree that if you shop around, you can find it much less for more bells and whistles.
Had to pick one up, thanks for the reviews! It will be great for my 2D animation class, and plan on loading Tablet Pro onto it.
Use a drafting table when drawing to get the screen to sit where you want as well as have plenty of strength to support you while in use, that’s how my wife and I worked around the limited angles that the screen provided. We love our Surface.
I flipping love my studio laptop! I have not had any issues, this and the laptop 4 (Ryzen) have been unbelievable in performance. Very impressed with MS hardware. Both of these machines are my daily drivers.
how is the battery life?
@@michellevella9470 it is decent, I get a good 5-7 hrs depending on what I am doing.
I like that you came back and added more. That happens with me with kitchen stuff or even paint. Happy Drawing. Cheers, Ivy.
I really liked this look back at it. I have two thoughts:
1. With the new 12th generation P series processors, the next version of lower end Studios will likely become much more capable machines, and will hopefully offer a large amount of storage as well. MSI and others are selling 1TB 2 in 1s for less than $2000 with excellent specs, so I'd imagine Microsoft will be pressured to keep up.
2.Have you tried using an adjustable laptop stand with your studio? I carry a slim, portable one in my backpack at all times because I prefer the ergonomics of typing and note taking on a slightly raised laptop. It might make the drawing experience better for you overall
Good to know. I'm waiting for the 12th Gen CPU in all products I'm considering, just because of the sizeable gains in output vs heat.
Thank you so much for this review Brad! I'm still hesitating between these, and the surface pro 8. And now the new XPS 13 2-in-1 tablet PC came out. Would love to see your review on the drawing experience with the XPS in comparison to the Surface Pro 8! There are so many choices out there right! Love you work btw.
I use the surface book 2 for video editing and art I absolutely love it. 🥰
I've got the 2 tb ssd one & I LOVE IT, the reason I brought the most expensive one is because I'm turning it into my gaming setup, I have my razer keyboard & mouse with mouse pad, headphones & headphones stand & then I just need to get an external monitor & then finally an external EGPU, however I've been gameing on this & it's been ok sure you won't get 120fps on top setting but you will get a decent fps if you fiddle around with it, so with the EGPU & the 32gb ram & the I7 you should be able to do some decent gaming.
I had the same thoughts about the storage. I installed a 2 TB NVME, and this is it! If you choose to install your own, use a gen 3 NVME, gen 4 will draw more power and cause blue screens and other problems.
Hi, Brad, Finally watched the whole video. Awesome video. after 4 minutes it had all the things I wanted to hear.
I am excited about this machine now.
I've had this since release day and it's an excellent laptop. Though, recently my congregation started in-person meetings again (instead of Zoom). I miss the lightweight portability of the Surface Pro and it's detachable keyboard, but I'm making do with this just fine. It's a bit heavy and there's no way to power off the screen in tablet mode.
The reason I bought the Microsoft Surface Studio is because windows seems to work better with all peripherals than a Mac, most programs are compatible with windows, you can play light to moderate gaming on windows than on Mac. The surface studio also has a great looking display and a dedicated graphics card.
Do you post more of your art online, besides what you have on Instagram? If so, where do you post regularly? Love your art style. Thanks.
Love Surface product, thanks for the great comprehensive review!
Have had Ipad Pro for a long time but will get my studio laptop tomorrow. So excited about it and love hearing your thoughts! Great that you put up this video. I won´t regret this........👍
Hi there how did you find the studio laptop compared to the ipad pro for drawing
Drawing angle - I use a couple of little magnetic building sticks on my Surface Book when flipped over. They give you ~2cm lift and are really stable.
Mouse - get a Bluetooth mouse, no cables
Storage - Get an NVME external drive, the PC has a Thunderbolt 4 port
GPU - Again the Thunderbolt port will support an eGPU case and a GPU
If they bring out Intel 12th gen versions then that will probably address any performance issues, as well as give you better inbuilt graphics.
Great idea on the nvme.. I'd forgotten about the thunderbolt 4 port 😅
Got a link to these magnets?
Also aren't magnets + tech a bad idea?
I have the higher end one and got it on day 1. I love it and agree with all your views. Looking forward to seeing some improvements down the road. I actually use the display mode a bit when travelling.
1. Make it lighter
2. Larger display option (edge to edge screen would be cool)
3. Any angle screen
4. Volume and Power controls off the keyboard so I can control more easily.
5. Add some bevel to the edges, they bother me.
6. Longer battery life. Yes, I actually tested with video playback, and they state 12 hours or something. but you need to have all background apps turned off for this to work. Would be better if it consistently got at least 5-6 hours of battery life usage.
This is a likely upgrade. I've an M1 MacBook air which I love for doing some poly modeling in blender but I would like to be able to draw when not at the computer!
The model with 512 storage and gtx 1050 is what I bought. I use to work on a MacBook Pro and iPad. But I passed those on to my niece when she graduated.
This laptop replaced both of them.
I just wish autodesk sketchbook had a tablet mode for windows.
Disclaimer: I still think the Apple Pencil is better, but not having to carry two devices is clutch af.
I am sure this is a great device especially if you are WFH or office-based, but for portability, say when you are on holiday and want to sketch a vista or just chill out on the beach doodling, then it becomes essential that you also buy another tablet. Saying that, anyone paying these prices will probably be able to afford a good tablet setup as well. For the non-pro that just likes digital artistry then I think this is a tough buy and you would be far better served by a solid tablet, that for the casual user could also easily pass muster as your only device.
So, a very niche device, great for the instagram shots, for "hip" businesses, and for those with disposable income, but def not mainstream and a step back from the flawed Surface Book (battery life of tablet part & limitation of chipset due to thermals; hopefully solved in a couple of years with WOA).
Thanks, for this video, Brad!
I always trust reviews and recommendations from people who have used it thoroughly 'cause it means you've kicked the tires, let things break and made less-obvious problems become more noticeable.
definitely recommending this video to anyone wondering about the Studio Laptop.
You can recommend pretty much any Brad vid
All of the ergonomic issues I have with the device can be fixed with a tablet stand, my one gripe that is much more difficult to handle is that in intense applications the heat is pumped out in probably the worst places at least for my purposes.
I use a tourbox controller for shortcuts, and if I have it directly to the side on the same level as the laptop my hand gets blasted with fresh hot air from the cpu. Played around with deflecting it but it’s hard to figure that out without a 3d printer. On the other side, if I want to game, the gpu blasts hot air directly where I would naturally be using a mouse.
Would love v2 to vent it’s heat towards the back instead, that would make it much more user friendly. Otherwise it’s been the perfect (albeit rather expensive) versatile creative station. Desperately wish I had a 3d printer to test out some ideas I have, like a shim to keep the screen at an ideal drawing angle, or redirects for the exhaust heat, but despite that it’s been a very competent device, especially compared to previous surface pro devices.
Brad, regarding the hinges on this thing: Does it wobble in normal laptop mode? You mentioned this in your original review, but you made it sound as if perhaps it was only when it first snaps into place. I draw in this position frequently. Is the hinge reasonably stable for drawing on in that mode?
Bought one after hours of research and your top 5 artists laptops video was super helpful. Thank you for the 6 month review!!! Can I ask what drawing app is your fav to use on the studio ?
Blender will soon support tarckpad gestures on windows like on IOS :) and for the drawing angle - I like to hold the screen with my left hand in position, which may sound uncomfortable, but it actually works really well. I also use tablet pro so i have to have my hand on the left side of the screen anyways ;)
The viewing angle is really holding me back. I do a lot of sculpting and texture painting in blender and having to hold the laptop up would make it almost impossible to use a wireless keyboard. I'm so tempted to buy it though, reckon its worth it?
I just got this. Do you recommend any accesories for it? Screen protectors, covers, etc?
I've been using the top spec 2tb, 32gb ram version of this and it's been mostly fantastic. I hate windows 11.. but slowly getting used it. The different ways you can draw on it (more than the 3 ways advertised is great.) Slim pen 2 is great in Photoshop, completely bites in illustrator... So use older pen for that. All in all very happy. Dream multi-purpose drawing laptop tablet
Hmm how does the pen respond in illustrator?
How is it with Adobe LR?
I would love to see a review after 1 year of use. I’m curious to know if it still is one of your top choices after some time. Thanks!
I got one for my birthday because the sale was so good! I got the 32gb and 2tb i7 model for about 1500$ and let me tell you, it is phenomenal. The whole device just feels amazing to use, even with window’s window-y-ness. Everything just feels nice, and it has so much power for my needs. Despite it being a couple years old, all of my software works perfectly on it. AND THE BATTERY LIFE IS PHENOMENALLY FOR AN INTEL MACHINE!!! I’m able to get 8-10 hours out of it on a light workload of casual web surfing and downloading software, but gaming I only was able to get a couple hours out of it. A full session of ableton is somwhere in the middle, about 5-7 hours (depending on plugins and number of tracks in a session, aka cpu and ram load), which is phenomenal considering the 4-5 hours at best I got from my last laptop. And it is so nice to draw in my automation with the pen!!! This laptop definitely isn’t for everybody, but it is for me!!!!
The angles of the screen not resting at that sweet spot for drawing really is an unfortunate thing. The moment that graphics card kicks in your battery life is obliterated, which doesn't make it viable on the go for intensive tasks, for long anyway. But otherwise the laptop is truly something special. It's the closest i've come to having a portable creative solution as an artist without too many compromises. The pen! It's such a step up from those cheap battery powered tube sticks, and that magnet is one of the strongest i've ever felt lol. You aren't losing that pen.
The biggest thing i can't really stand about drawing on Windows is the lack of a no compromise pay-once Procreate alternative.
Sketchbook? Basic features missing. Concepts? Vector based with no blending possibilities. Photoshop and Corel Painter? Large and expensive. Krita? Cumbersome and not optimised. Almost none of them are optimised for touch. Clipstudio is as close as you'll get without being locked into a subscription service for Fresco, and the performance with blending and textured brushes is awful.
It surprises me that windows haven't bothered trying to support the creation of a competent daily driver for artists the way Apple do with Procreate.
It's like COME OOON.
I'm drawing on a 2017 12.9 ipad pro. I really don't like the ipad. I hate the OS. The only thing I use it for is procreate and some note writing. Drawing is just a hobby for me but I would like to upgrade since my ipad is getting old. I was considering the new ipad but i'd really rather not since I only use it for procreate. I checked out the surface products but i'm told that the drawing experience is still the best on the ipad. I'd hate to buy into the surface to find out that the drawing experience is still subpar compared to the ipad.
@@orlfane1622 I found that I would use my surface for home and iPad for school/work.
Excellent review. I rarely draw on it - but do some graphic design work or note taking. My experience mirrors yours. It is my favorite computer.
This laptop is definitely top of my list right now for a good all round laptop for graphics and photo editing, a bit of gaming and remote working but I'm still interested in looking at competitors that have a stylus based interface like the Surface line and Galaxy book line. Is there anything else that does that?
What did you buy? I am looking for a new laptop for Photoshop editing
@@valentinmelnik7590 In the end I went with an ASUS Zenbook Duo UX582LR
YES THE LEGEND UPLOADED!
Brad do recommend pc build with Linux to do digital art ? ...
BTW...
Good vid🔆🔆🔆
May be unrelated but, could you attach the link to the glove you're using, please.
I have the Galaxy Book and love it....what didn't you like about the Galaxy Book drawing compared to drawing on the Surface laptop?
I’ll just wait until they make a bigger version of this :)
It could just have flaps on the bottom, like most keyboards, to prop it up and give you that 15-20 degrees angle you need. I think that was a huge oversight
It can be upgraded by installing new m.2 ssd but it needs a professional to so the upgrade for you snice opening this thing is so challenging..
Just got SLS today. Bought from Costco. It came in sealed box and everything looked good. Went to turn on and it had to install Windows 11 first before I could set it up. I thought that was a little weird. I installed Blender and played around. The NVIDIA card was pretty fast to render scenes (then again I'm coming from a MBP, non-M1). As I was exploring the computer I tried the WhiteBoard app and when I opened it there were 2 files already htere, one from 5/31/2022 and one from 12/6/2019. I'm beginning to think this is not a "brand new" laptop. Any thoughts?
Is Surface Studio still worth it in 2023? I didn't know of its release (because I didn't really need a new laptop at the time) but now that I need this or this alike soon, I wonder whether can have better alternatives that holds the features that this product offers
Hey Brad... If you had a go to drawing tablet... which one would you choose 1) ipad or 2) S8ultra tab or 3) Surface pro?
A fun torture for you to choose from😅🤩😂
The drawing angle problem is why I wish they would have refreshed the Surface Book. As you can take off the screen and put it on a drawing stand. RIP Surface Book.
I'm getting the Surface Pro 9 in blue!!! woohoo!!!
Hey Brad, Keep up the amazing content 😁 I'd really like that you review the 2022 Lenovo Yoga 9i 14", especially with adobe apps.
I just trust your reviews completely, gracias!!!
I'm still shocked at how well M$ was able to correct the quality of the pen. I actually replaced my ipad and galaxy book with surface this year.
how would you rate your drawing experience? ( Since the Surface uses N-Trig and the galaxy uses the EMR (Wacom) and I whatever one Apple uses on the IPad)
@@robertgill2759 I like it more than EMR because there is zero drift no matter how you tilt of how close you are to the display edge. Its about 90% as good as apple for pure inking, virtually unnoticeable on quality... but i prefer windows and the fact that the surface pen has eraser and side buttons that can be reprogrammed.
Seriously speaking, i had surface 4, and surface 7... both of them got sold because the drawing was totally unpredictable and wobbly. With the new surface pen, its been an absolute delight.
Hi, I bought the high spec's of the surface studio laptop from your last video and I use it for graphic designing, drawing and video editing and I am still impressed with, so thank you for you review on this....1
Do you think they will create a whole surface laptop studio line up? Like a surface laptop studio 2 or 3
can you please do a review on light brush? it's a lesser known web painting tool.
I got mine a couple of weeks ago. I went all in. 1 TB HD, Corei7, 32 GB ram because I DO plan on doing a lot of video and photo editing. The quiet fans and solid battery life are big pluses I did not expect going in. The fans on my Surface Pro 7 ran constantly. This machine is a massive improvement in every way. Loving it so far.
I wonder if the storage is soldered or if its just an NVME drive? My mom disliked her built in storage on her 2-in-1 and it wasn’t too difficult to pop open and swap out with an ifixit guide. Though it would definitely be more daunting for someone with no experience in tech hardware.
Hey Brad, I got a lower specked model and return and got the 2tb model, love it. Just posted a video a week ago on 6 months later 😊. I’m sending you an email. I have something for you. Will solve the angle issue
Oooo ... secretive.
wanna share this info? Super tempted to get it but the angle issue really holds me back
Do you have any thoughts about the repairability of the laptop? It's come up in recent months that users are having difficulty opening the backplate due to hidden screws, which concerns me since I maintain my laptops by opening up the back and blowing dust out annually. I plan on buying and keeping this device for at least 4-5 years before even considering an upgrade so I'm curious about your thoughts on this. Blowing out dust would definitely increase the life of the device. Otherwise, I'd definitely get this product.
That's a really good point. This thing (and all of MS's Surface devices) suck at repairability. That's something I should cover more in my reviews 🤔
The good thing is, Microsoft has published the guide to open the laptop in their TH-cam channel. The bad thing is, yeah, it kinda sucks. There's a lot of steps involved just to open the back (and might ruin the cosmetic sticker that hide some of the screws).
@@jeffriart The problem for me is reassembly. The feet and the cosmetic plate don't look like they can easily be put back on
@@fidyyam9470 yeah, unfortunately that's the thing with this machine. And it doesn't seem like Microsoft sell the replacement part either.
What do you think about Asus X16? Looks amazing, and performance is there too.
If you are a little tech savvy, you can actually upgrade the SSD capacity yourself. It's pretty simple to take apart. Just a few screws, and you can pop in a new SSD and copy over or reinstall windows. Much cheaper than getting the high capacity version.
I am looking at this laptop to do video editing primarily so the base model would definitely not do it for me. I am seeing that prices have thankfully gone down a lot but since my current laptop is good enough, i will wait until I can find the highest end model for under 2k. So hopefully on black Friday i can snag a good deal.
Quick question Brad! I currently use iPad Pro with Paperlike screen protector.
I am going to get this Surface studio and wonder if I will need a matte screen protector as well, or have you had this great experience drawing on it directly?
You reviewed the huion h610 before not the h610pro v2 just in case you were wondering
Hey good afternoon, love your work and reviews I was wondering if this would be a good recommendation for me to try my luck as a graphic novelists? All of this is new to me so Thanks for any advice on this you may have. Namaste 💕🙏
Yes, I love mine
Great vid! Just wondering how this compares to the acer ezel 7?
you can upgrade the ssd... its not too hard to do. Just did it yesterday.
I have the surface book 3 and really love it. Pretty great for drawing, has a 1660Ti for a bit of gaming and detachable screen. Its great, apart from the battery life, which makes the detachable screen pointless unless its plugged in. 256gig of storage is nowhere near enough for me, but I have an external SSD for my games which works well enough. Sometimes when I detach the screen and then put it back on later, it will have some trouble finding my GPU and will just use the integrated GPU until I either restart it or detach and reattach a few times. Overall, I really love the surface series though. Like you say, its cool. The keyboard is amazing and the trackpad is great too. Its absolutely fine with drawing (for my needs) and the surface button works amazing with Clip Studio. It was expensive though, but its a bit of a jack of all trades master of none kinda laptop
What app is that? 1:22
Hi! Great as always-can you do the review for the ROG flow z13 for comparison please?
Can you not put it on a 15 degree ‘stand’ so that it is an the right angle when ‘flat’?
What windows art app would you recommend if not using the Adobe suite, or is the price for Adobe worth it compared to all the other apps.
Great video as always though, waiting for Microsoft to refine this design in the next version.
Bought this months ago after watching your review for my job as a high school teacher. Since using the OG Surface Pro, I've bought and returned SP4 and SP7 and stayed with the original because of the darn pen just not feeling right. NTrig just wasn't the solution. After seeing your review, I figured it was time to try again. Am not disappointed at all.
The only downside I feel I've experienced is that the Slim Pen 2 is definitely wearing away now. Instead of the round ball shape, it's now beveled heavily in one direction.
Could someone please tell me which pen is the one he is using in this exact video for the laptop?
Hey Brad, did you find the screen ran hot after drawing on it for a while?
Liked the video and info. Had one, but mine stopped charging and I wasn’t able to correct the problem. Returned it. Thinking of getting another. Have you had any charging problems in the previous 6 mos? Thanks!
Would you recommend this over an iPad for those getting into digital art? I recently broke my old surface book from water damage and an looking for another 2 in 1.
Hey you should check out the Asus Flow X16 and Flow Z13
Can you review the huion h610pro v2 next if you didnt yet?
Can you use the „normal“ surface pen on this laptop. Yk the round one.
Waiting for the studio laptop 2 if it ever comes out. If it isnt this year im gettung the 1tb 32gb rtx one. GAMING AND WORK IN 1 AND MOBILE LOVE IT
Hey brad... could you compare this and the acer conceptd 7??
Hi! Brad can you suggest which laptop will be better if I am just getting started with digital drawing
Now the studio 2 is coming out price has dropped on this some. I think I may get it. My concerns is how it will perform on blender and fusion 360. I don't render anything. My current laptop really struggles if my models get complex at all though.
How would you say the pen goes against a Cintiq pro?
I'm very indecisive since the the touch and the screen on the surface seems to be better, but not sure if the Cintiq pen is really on another level as for now with the new pen.
I'm currently on an ipad pro 12.6" but really wanted the windows os and keep the touch sensitivity
Question for anyone who uses art programs on this, does pinch in and out work, and does two finger and three finger tap work. Or is it only the pen that has touch surface?
u can do a review for the ugee u1200?
Hey Brad off topic but I use an iPad 8 and fresco since i cant get procreate
Can u make a course on fr? Please
Which pen is the good surface pen that I should get with this laptop? And I'm also curious to see how other pens would work with this laptop, because I saw an article online saying a wacom pen would also work
*please do one for surace pro 8!*
I would love to get this to replace my older Macbook Pro and newer iPad Pro 11. I also want to do 3D with Blender in addition to illustration. Would the higher end version with the 16 GB, 512Gb SSD and the NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3050Ti be a good choice?
Is the tip of the slim pen replaceable? I'm concerned if anything happens to it i would have to buy a whole new one....
Does include the art software?