Microsoft refreshes the Surface Laptop, Pro and Studio

Microsoft introduced a deluge of upgraded Surface products during a virtual keynote this morning. Detailed in a blog post penned by Chief Product Officer, Panos Panay, the Laptop 5 gets top billing here. The devoted touchscreen notebook arrives in 13.5- and 15-inch models, powered by Intel Evo, which the company claims will make it “50% more powerful than their predecessor.”

Image Credits: Microsoft

The 13-inch model arrives with a 12th Gen Core i5, upgradable to i7, while the larger version is available with the latter. This time out, AMD won’t be available for the system. Both models do, however, not have Thunderbolt 4 support built in. The 13- and 15-inch models start at $1,000 and $1,300, respectively. Not a huge update this time out, unfortunately.

The company devotes more words to the Surface Pro 9, which is available in both Intel and Arm flavors. The convertible, which celebrates a decade of life this year, has a 13-inch touchscreen, with support for Vision IQ (Intel only, apparently), Dolby’s feature that adjust display settings based on ambient light. That system also starts at $1,000 for the Intel model and $1,300 for the Arm.

The Laptop and Pro arrive October 25.

Lastly, but certainly not leastly is the Surface Studio 2+. As the name suggests, it’s less of a full upgrade to the convertible all-in-one, but instead something more akin to a souped-up version of its predecessor. The design remains the same, with a 28-inch touchscreen display that’s adjustable via the Gravity Hinge. When lowered, artists can interact with it more along the lines of a Wacom Cintiq drawing tablet.

Says Panay.

we’ve rearchitected our Surface Studio processing engine utilizing an updated Intel Core H-35 processor, with up to 50% faster CPU performance. We’ve designed NVIDIA Ge Force RTX 3060 discrete graphics to double the graphics performance, achieving the most realistic ray-traced graphics when you craft 3D design or render models. We’ve enhanced and modernized the display, cameras, Studio Mics, and ports –including USB-C with Thunderbolt 4. With Windows 11, Surface Studio 2+also meets Secured-core PC standards.

Image Credits: Microsoft

Powered by the Intel Core u7, 32GB of RAM and 1TB of storage, the Studio runs $4,300. The company will toss in a mouse, keyboard and stylus for another $200.