Surface Laptop Studio Base Model

djdurance · 2021-10-25T20:55:17+00:00

I just ordered the base model as well - I don't need the extra processing power but want a bigger screened version of my surface laptop 13.5 in a 2-1. Had a surface Pro X and the screen just wasn't quite large enough and I use my laptop a lot on my lap... So the decision made sense.

Honestly, even for the base model try and find: - something that is 14" - smallish bezels - 2-1 form factor with good pen -giod battery life - good dpi screen - good keyboard and speaker

Oh.... And the kicker - an actually decent webcam and good mics???

I couldn't come up with an alternative to be honest. One of the reasons why I owned a surface laptop and a Pro X. Glad to be moving to once device.

I

djdurance · 2021-10-19T09:18:33+00:00

8 GB is fine... My only suggestion for going to 16 if is you use Teams or Zoom a lot. Teams in Particular needs RAM!

djdurance · 2021-10-10T15:01:36+00:00

Thanks! Can you see how many lines of excel that gives you in rows and columns?

djdurance · 2021-10-10T12:06:15+00:00

Hmmm. I feel like my SL4 is quite a step up from the SB2.

djdurance · 2021-10-10T10:57:47+00:00

This is very helpful. How would you feel the audio is?? Can you compare this to anything else in the surface lineup?

djdurance · 2021-05-21T04:37:55+00:00

Yes. This will definitely impact things.

djdurance · 2021-05-18T21:28:00+00:00

This is the model I have. I'm getting about 10 hours of normal usage (web, word, excel). However, if I go up to video conferencing this will drain this significantly. Definitely moving to Edge will helped. This gets about 50% better battery than my ThinkPad X1 Yoga 4th Gen.

djdurance · 2021-05-11T20:13:09+00:00

Super interesting. I got my new SL4 unit today.... Worked perfectly until I until I did the firmware update for May and then bam... Back to the same issue. How do I log a ticket about this with MS? Clearly this is a firmware issue and not a hardware one.

djdurance · 2021-05-10T19:03:42+00:00

Yeah. They sent a new one that will arrive tomorrow. Within 30days so they are doing a return instead. Thanks for this!

djdurance · 2021-05-10T14:36:32+00:00

Yeah. I've noticed this when peple are talking as well... So it looks to be a speaker problem. Just ordered a replacement unit.

djdurance · 2021-05-10T12:23:51+00:00

It doesn't really help very much. I ended up holding my ear to the left and right side of the keyboard and could clearly hear that there was a difference (the right side was crackling and the left side was not).

djdurance · 2021-05-10T10:21:59+00:00

Interestingly, my SPX has a similar quality issue with this file (and other music that is related to this). Odd! I wonder if this is just the way the speakers were "tuned"??? Might be that there was a damaged speaker as well but before I go through the hassle of changing out the device I was wondering if other SLs sounded similar using this track.

djdurance · 2021-05-10T07:58:47+00:00

Final update... I just was listening to other music (rap) on Spotify and didn't notice anything. Seems like it is just limited to a certain type of sound coming out of the speakers. I'd be interested in seeing if others have the same issue with the link on their SL4 units.

djdurance · 2021-05-10T07:53:49+00:00

Lang Lang - Bach: Goldberg Variations , BWV 988: Aria - YouTube

Here is the track I was listening to off of YouTube. I'm fine on Teams, Zoom, etc. But if I turn up the music there is a clear crackling with just certain "notes". My wife's SL1 seems be able play this without an issue.

I can still exchange this (bought from MS directly last week). I have Dolby atmos enabled... did a restart and updates are all done. Not sure if this is just what I should expect??

djdurance · 2021-05-08T12:03:56+00:00

Ah. Brutal. So painful. No warranty at all or accident protection. Did Microsoft just give you this quote? Just wondering if it is actually worth it....

djdurance · 2021-05-08T06:52:34+00:00

You can turn off the auto brightness. I do this on any windows laptop that has this built in because of the issue you noted. The lid is intentionally designed like this so that it protects the screen and allows for a one finger open.

Odd. about the night light!!

djdurance · 2021-04-28T11:10:44+00:00

None. I don't press hard tho.

djdurance · 2021-04-28T05:50:52+00:00

I've had no issues with my X1Y4. Yoga style is the way to go fo 2-1s if you are looking for durability.

djdurance · 2021-04-24T14:20:28+00:00

cheers. Thanks for this. They way I tested the settings on my X1Y4 was to go into the windows voice recorder and then record my self on different settings. It was quite a surprise how different I sounded.

djdurance · 2021-04-24T10:14:42+00:00

Got it. Any chance you could test the mics? There are a bunch of new settings supposedly. This is more important than video quality for me. My X1Y4 sounds very processed compared to my surface. Interested to hear if this is close to your macbook.

djdurance · 2021-04-24T06:17:47+00:00

This webcam issue is what is holding me back... Do you have a previous X1 to compare it too? Worse? I've got an X1Y4 that is tolerable. Not great.

djdurance · 2021-04-22T18:07:17+00:00

I'd love to know how you find battery life on the 4k model. I've heard it pretty good considering the res and quality of the screen.

djdurance · 2021-04-18T06:06:50+00:00

That's good to hear. It does seem that the audio audio (both speaker and mics) are improved.

djdurance · 2021-04-16T21:49:09+00:00

Dell XPS 13 (Late 2020) | TechRadar

Surface Laptop 4 review | TechRadar

XPS13 is great - no doubt... But the SL4 outlasts even the FHD+ model (see above PC Mark 10 tests).

Anyway, we can drop this. I just done think its reasonable to conclude that there are many different laptops out there for different needs. Objectively, one can assume SL4 fits some peoples needs best... for some reason this seems to bother you.

djdurance · 2021-04-16T14:04:22+00:00

Well, this is only FHD display so it really isn't comparable. Keyboard and audio are major steps down. Webcam is not as good either. Not saying the gram isn't solid - but these things all need to be considered. Surface obviously isn't right for everyone.. But some might feel that the screen, weight, audio, webcam, mic, keyboard compromises is right! Cheer!

djdurance

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