The Dell XPS 15 9510, with an 8-core Core i7-11800H and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti GPU.The Surface Laptop Studio, with a quad-core Core i7-11370H and an Nvidia RTX A2000 GPU.Here are the key specs for the Laptop Studio we reviewed, as well as some other PCs we’re using to put its performance into context: But performance is definitely where the Laptop Studio falls short compared to other similarly priced thin-and-light workstation laptops. We’ll get into the actual numbers below, but the short version is that the system is just fine for design work and light gaming, and its quad-core Intel processors and the dedicated Nvidia graphics options complement each other well. I wouldn’t say that performance is a problem for the Surface Laptop Studio. And that means you can do better with similar-priced options like Dell’s XPS 13.Performance and battery life: Quad-core woes But yet again it feels like it has a foot stuck in the past with some ancient ports, a 720p webcam and large bezels. In some ways the Laptop 5 is very much of the moment, with latest-gen Intel hardware and one of the best displays around. You can charge via USB-C, so why does Microsoft feel it needs its own port at all? Surface Laptop 5 verdict The Thunderbolt 4 port is presented beside an older USB-A… and the Surface Connect, which Microsoft seems bizarrely wedded to. The wedge-shaped design still looks pretty swanky, but we wonder if Microsoft could knock a bit more weight off to align it with the Apple MacBook Air and Dell XPS 13.

And although others have now improved, these are still the best laptop keyboards around. The keys and touchpad work extremely well, as usual – the keyboards on Surface devices had Apple playing catchup for some time. There is a bit of Microsoft bloat in terms of the widget sidebar, which seems designed just to push you towards Microsoft content. Windows 11 is pleasant enough now that the creases have been ironed out – it’s reliable and easy to use.

Microsoft surface studio laptop