Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 review: Still ahead of its time

Microsoft's Surface Laptop Studio 2 is both an overpriced content-creation laptop and an underappreciated content-consumption device with a hidden turbo boost. Microsoft's Surface Laptop Studio 2 will probably be too expensive for what it can do, comparatively. But this creators' laptop still offers a nearly-unique opportunity to create movies, edit and watch them, then scribble notes all over the screen. Any criticism of its performance dies down once you remind them of Windows' performance slider, too. It arrives at an odd time, though. The Windows world is making waves about AI, and the Surface Laptop Studio 2 calls out the Intel AI chip inside in its specifications. But an even better Intel AI chip -- Intel's 14th-gen Core Ultra processor, known as Meteor Lake -- is just around the corner…though Microsoft's Windows Copilot AI chatbot won't use it, either. So this 14-inch laptop with a high-resolution (but not that high-resolution) screen, superb inking capabilities (but no pen in the box), AI (but only Microsoft's own basic AI apps, for now) and excellent performance potential (but only if you enable it) wants more than $3,000 from your wallet to bring it home. And much of it is the same as the original Surface Laptop Studio, too. This review will tell you how we unraveled it.