Microsoft unveiled two new Surface laptops and a series of services driven by AI during its keynote address today. The Surface Laptop Studio 2 (a Best Buy exclusive in Canada!) is the biggest announcement on the hardware side, despite sticking with the same design, while the Surface Laptop Go 3 follows a similar path. They each get better specs and performance upgrades to push them both forward as far as what they can do.
You won’t get radical change with either model, though you can expect them to handle more tasks. They remain highly portable and very touch-friendly, leaving the fundamentals well in place, only now you can view the Laptop Studio 2 as a real workhorse and the Go 4 as more than just a complementary product.
Details on the Surface Laptop Studio 2
It could be a case of “if it ain’t broke, why fix it?” considering how similar this laptop will look compared to its predecessor. Still, Microsoft made some changes that could have an impact on any workflow. Under the hood, it runs on Intel’s i7 H processor, the company’s 13th-generation chipset, along with Nvidia RTX 4050 or RTX 4060 graphics chips. Intel’s Neural Processing Unit, or NPU, makes its debut on a Windows machine, and will be the driving force behind the AI (artificial intelligence) features available.
Microsoft is calling it the most powerful laptop (ever) in its lineup, which is hardly surprising. The Surface Slim Pen 2 comes bundled with it in the box, and it will be even easier to plug in other accessories as well. All told, there are two USB-C ports, one USB-A, a microSDXC memory card reader and headphone jack. Configurations will vary, with storage going up to 2TB and memory hitting a max of 64GB of RAM. If you want this thing to be a powerhouse, the spec flexibility seems to be there.
The touchpad also went through a redesign, particularly in how it feels and reacts. Newer haptics will be the most obvious change, along with more customizations to make it do what you want. The 14.4-inch display still moves forward and backward as you need it, retaining a key design trait, only it now has HDR support through Dolby Vision. The front camera also has a wider field of view to make it easier to squeeze in more people in a video call.
It’s going to be a little heavier if you go with the best specs, topping up at about 4.4 pounds on high end. So, certainly portable, but definitely not like a feather. Switching from a magnesium chassis to aluminum also contributes to that.
About the Surface Laptop Go 3
On the lighter side, the Surface Laptop Go 3 gets a new model, though not necessarily a new look. It’s mostly a carbon copy of its predecessor on the outside, leaving all changes running from the inside. That includes an aging processor in the 12th-generation Intel Core i5 and integrated Intel Xe graphics. You won’t be doing any serious gaming with this machine, but that was never the intention anyway. Modest productivity and consumption tend to be where its strengths lie, and Microsoft did little to change that perception.
Upgrades are very modest from top to bottom anyway. There are no major design shifts, nor spec overhauls to put the Surface Laptop Go 3 onto a different level. You still get an aluminum chassis, along with a 12.4-inch touchscreen that can hit 320 nits peak brightness. Not especially high for outdoor settings, though fine for indoors. The lightweight frame is just 2.7 pounds, so it’s very convenient for travel and commuting.
New AI features
Microsoft didn’t reveal everything it plans to do on the AI side, but it did highlight a few things. Windows 11 receives an update starting September 26 that brings in CoPilot, an AI-driven tool working in tandem with various Microsoft apps. For instance, Office 365 and the Edge browser will enable CoPilot to add context from the web to improve workflows and more. The explanations were mostly vague, so it’s not clear how exactly that would work, but the new update will set things in motion. The apps won’t get the integration until November 1, so Windows 11 kicks things off before the other apps get it, but if you want it for Office, you’re likely to see it on business subscriptions first.
Bing Chat, Microsoft’s own chatbot, will integrate with DALL-E 3, one of the most advanced AI image generators available on the web. Too early to say how all this will look and feel, but the company says it’s committed to making these AI features valuable to end users.
Coming soon
The new Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 and Surface Laptop Go 3 will become available in October 2023, and you pre-order yours now. While you’re at it, check out all the Microsoft Surface devices already available now.
