Microsoft introduces Surface Laptop 6, Surface Pro 9 and Surface Studio 2 Plus

Microsoft has unveiled its new Surface laptop offering, built for Windows 11 and garnished with advanced artificial intelligence-based technologies. Unveiled alongside other Windows 11 updates, the new Surface laptops are available in both Intel x86 and ARM processor platform versions, the latter of which have the advantage of superior power efficiency, allowing for longer battery life and a slightly more flexible build.

Surface Pro 9

The most exciting of the new releases is the Surface Pro 9. Available in ARM and Intel variants, the new convertible laptop confirms Microsoft’s commitment to developing and expanding ARM support under the Windows 11 ecosystem, especially in terms of the range of apps available.

The ARM variant is powered by Qualcomm SQ3 and also comes with support for 5G connectivity. Both variants are available with matching Type Cover keyboards. The list of features continues with Bluetooth 5.1 and Wi-Fi 6E support, but the Qualcomm version gets more connectivity options, including support for GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and Beidou positioning systems, support for nanoSIM and eSIM, Sub-6 GHz/mmWave 5G networks (mmWave is US only), and LTE support.

The 13-inch display (2880 x 1920 pixels and 3:2 aspect ratio) features PixeSense Flow technology, Surface Slim Pen 2 compatibility and support for a 120 Hz refresh rate.

In Inte trim, the Surface Pro 9 can be ordered with the 12th generation Intel Core i5-1235U or Core i7-1255U processor. Storage options start at 8GB RAM with 128GB storage. In contrast, the ARM hardware is based on the Snapdragon SQ3 chipset with Neural Processing Accelerator (NPU), offering some advantages including automatic image framing and Super Resolution processing.

Battery life is up to 15.5 hours in Intel equipment and up to 19 hours in ARM equipment with 5G connectivity.

Surface Studio 2 Plus

The Surface Studio 2 Plus is a refreshed version of the Studio 2 released in 2018, presented with updated internals, more Thunderbolt 4 ports and improved graphics performance.

Shaped like an all-in-one PC design only good for sleek offices, Surface Studio 2 Plus comes with an 11th generation Intel i7-11370H processor and mobile version of Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 with 6GB of dedicated video memory, complemented by 32GB of DDR4 RAM and 1TB of SSD storage.

The 28-inch Pixel Sense display offers sRGB, DCI-P3 color space coverage and has a non-standard 3:2 aspect ratio with a resolution of 4500 x 3000 pixels. The all-in-one desktop has three USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports, supporting up to three external 4K displays, two USB-A 3.1 ports, 3.5mm headphone jack and a Gigabit Ethernet port.

Microsoft Surface Studio 2 Plus comes with Surface Pen, Surface Keyboard, Surface Mouse accessories and a power cord.

Surface Laptop 5

Billed as a Surface Pro 9 alternative with a more conventional design, the Surface Laptop 5 gets much of the same hardware as the former, but is cheaper. The laptop is offered in several color versions such as Platinum, Sage, Black and Sandstone. The 13.5-inch model has an Alcantara leather keyboard finish.

The Surface Laptop 5 comes with a 13.5-inch screen and a slightly more modest configuration based on the Intel Core i5-1235U or Intel Core i7-1255U processor. The 15-inch equipment only comes in a Core i7-1255U configuration. All models come with 8 GB, 16 GB or 32 GB LPDDR5x RAM and up to 1 TB of storage. The 13.5-inch version is rated at 18 hours of battery life under “typical device use”, while the 15-inch model should last up to 17 hours under similar conditions.