A much more powerful Surface Laptop Studio could be on its way this year, going by a report by our colleagues over at Windows Central. And I’m ready for it.
Windows Central’s Senior Editor Zac Bowden writes that his sources are saying the Surface Laptop Studio 2 will be unveiled this year, featuring a similar design to its 2021 predecessor, but with more notably powerful specs.
Going by this and apparently leaked benchmarks earlier this year, it would appear the Surface Laptop Studio 2 (currently an unofficial nomenclature) will sport chip options in the form of the Intel 13th-Gen Core i7-13700H and Core i7-13800H; it also will have the scope for an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 graphics card. Reportedly added into the mix will be 16GB, 32GB and 64GB RAM options. In our Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio review, one of our criticisms was that the machine didn't offer the performance we wanted, so this tipped specs boost could fix that.
All these specs combined look set to make a rather powerful machine in a pretty slim chassis, with a design that transforms the laptop into a chunky tablet or portable display, ready to watch movies on or play games on when paired with a controller. And it’s the latter that’s got me interested.
Xbox Surface gaming on the horizon?
I’ve long been a champion of the Surface Laptop line for delivering great portable productivity devices, especially thanks to the wonderful keyboards that I feel set a high standard in laptops. But I now use a MacBook Air M2, which has basically blown me away with its build quality, performance, efficiency and generally being a joy to use even some 12 months down the line.
However, with games like Starfield coming to Xbox Game Pass on day one (aka September 6) as well as a suite of multiplatform and PC games available via the Xbox Game Pass PC or Xbox Game Pass Ultimate tiers, the idea of a powerful gaming-ready Surface Laptop has added appeal. While I’ve got both a super-powerful Starforge Systems desktop PC I’m trying out and the Xbox Series X, the idea of being able to play the latest games on the go via Game Pass is still very appealing to me.
Sure one of the best gaming laptops would do this, but I still think the Surface Laptop Studio has one of the most intriguing and appealing designs of many of the best laptops. Yes, it’s a little odd, but it also has MacBook Pro-like looks with the huge flexibility of Windows; add in the tipped new specs and you’ve got a package that’s powerful, portable, literally flexible and doesn’t scream gamer machine or over-earnest creative type when in use.
As Windows 11 has improved since 2021, it’s likely set to take better advantage of the multiple form factors the Surface Laptop Studio offers.
In short, if the rumors come to fruition the Surface Laptop Studio 2 could be one of the more interesting laptops to break cover in 2023.
