Surface Laptop Studio review: The ultimate creator laptop from Microsoft

The Surface Laptop Studio is the newest entry to Microsoft’s Surface lineup. Well, technically it takes the place of the Surface Book as Microsoft consolidates its laptop branding. But while this is called the Surface Book 4 in some other dimension, it’s absolutely a new product, coming in an all-new form factor. It fixes the mistakes of Surface Book too.

The Surface Laptop Studio comes in a form factor that’s similar to what we’ve seen from Acer’s ConceptD 3 Ezel and HP’s Elite Folio, although those two products serve very different use cases. Ultimately, it’s similar to the Surface Studio, but on the scale of a laptop, hence the name.

But before we go any further, I just want to say that I really like the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio. It’s probably my favorite Surface of all time, although to be fair, I never liked Surface Book.

Navigate this review:

• Design: It fixes the Surface Book form factor
• Display: The Surface Laptop Studio has a 14.4-inch 3:2 screen
• Keyboard: The Surface Laptop Studio has a haptic touchpad
• Slim Pen 2: It feels like writing on paper
• Performance: The Surface Laptop Studio has the CPU that you actually want for creativity
• Thunderbolt 4: The Surface Laptop Studio finally has it
• Conclusion: Should you buy the Surface Laptop Studio?

Surface Laptop Studio Specs

CPU	Quad-core 11th Gen Intel Core H35 i7-11370H
Graphics	NVIDIA RTX A2000 laptop GPU with 4GB GDDR6 GPU memory
Body	12.72” x 8.98” x 0.746” (323.28 mm x 228.32 mm x 18.94 mm), 4.00 lb (1,820.2 g)
Display	Screen: 14.4” PixelSense Flow Display Refresh rate: up to 120Hz Resolution: 2400 x 1600 (201 PPI) Aspect ratio: 3:2 Contrast ratio: 1500:1 Touch: 10-point multi-touch Dolby Vision support
Storage	1TB SSD
Memory	32GB LPDDR4x RAM
Battery	58WHr, Up to 18 hours of typical device usage
Ports	2 x USB 4.0 with Thunderbolt 4 technologies support 3.5mm headphone jack 1 x Surface Connect port
Security	Hardware TPM 2.0 chip for enterprise security and BitLocker support Enterprise-grade protection with Windows Hello face sign-in Windows enhanced hardware security
Cameras, video, and audio	Windows Hello face authentication camera (front-facing) 1080p resolution front-facing camera Dual far-field Studio Mics Quad Omnisonic speakers with Dolby Atmos
Connectivity	Wi-Fi 6: 802.11ax compatible Bluetooth Wireless 5.1 technology
Keyboard	Activation: Moving (mechanical) keys Layout: QWERTY, full row of function keys (F1-F12) Windows key and dedicated buttons for media controls, screen brightness Backlight
Material	Magnesium
Color	Platinum
Price	~$2,699.99

These are the specs of the unit that Microsoft provided for this review; however, the pricing is estimated based on a similar configuration with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti. This configuration is a Surface Laptop Studio for Business, and there doesn’t seem to be specific pricing for that just yet.

The Surface Laptop Studio actually starts at $1,599.99, and that comes with a Core i5-11300H, 16GB RAM, a 256GB SSD, and Iris Xe graphics. In order to get dedicated graphics, you’ll need to opt for the Core i7 model, which starts at $2,099.99 with 16GB RAM and a 512GB SSD.

Design: It fixes the Surface Book form factor

Now that the Surface Pro 8 is made out of aluminum, the Surface Laptop Studio and the Surface Go are the only Surface devices left made out of the company’s traditional material: magnesium. There are pros and cons to each material, but one of the benefits of magnesium is that it’s much lighter than aluminum. Also, Microsoft’s magnesium builds feel premium when compared to some of the plasticky laptops from competitors.

But of course, you didn’t come here to talk about whether it’s made out of magnesium or aluminum. You want to hear about the form factor, and possibly how it compares to the Surface Book. Let me tell you something about the Surface Book though. When Panos Panay unveiled it in 2015, it was magical. When he played that teaser video for a second time and the display popped off, it was an incredible feeling. In practice, however, it wasn’t so great.

The detachable form factor caused a number of compromises to be made. It was top-heavy, the thermals weren’t great, and more. All of that is solved with the new form factor.

It has three different modes

I would describe the Surface Laptop Studio as a folio form factor, because it’s something that I first saw from the HP Spectre Folio, although I’m sure others have used it over the years. We’ve also seen it in the HP Elite Folio and Acer’s ConceptD Ezel series. It’s a departure from the old 360-degree convertible design, where a display can be folded back into tablet mode.

With the folio design, you can basically pop the display out and place it in different form factors. The benefit of this over, say, a Surface Pro tablet is that when using it as a laptop, it’s just a laptop. It’s not super top-heavy where it’s falling off of your lap like the Surface Book was, and it has a solid base. But at the same time, you can fold the display down to be used as a tablet.

There are three modes. The first is laptop mode, which is obvious. The second is called stage mode, and this lets you prop up the display between the touchpad and the keyboard. This is generally better for viewing content, and in certain situations, it just works better. There’s something about viewing content on a laptop that doesn’t feel quite right. When you can move the screen in front of the keyboard, it makes more sense. You can also use the pen with it this way, if it feels comfortable.

The form factor is similar to the Surface Studio on a smaller scale; however, unlike the Surface Studio, you can’t fold the screen to any angle that you like. It’s really just the three settings.

The attention to detail is clear when you look at how the Slim Pen 2 docks with the Surface Laptop Studio.

The third one is studio mode, which any normal person would call tablet mode. Keep in mind that when the Surface Book came out with a detachable display, Microsoft firmly called the screen a ‘clipboard’, and refused to call it a tablet. Presumably, it’s just something about a four-pound tablet.

Speaking of the weight, I really think four pounds is the sweet spot for something like this. It’s a powerful machine, and it’s finally properly powerful, which we’ll talk more about in the performance section. I don’t really know of any laptops with powerful internals like this that weigh less.

The pen is stored under the device

The new Slim Pen 2 is stored on a shelf underneath the Surface Laptop Studio, and it’s a bit strange. I would have expected a cutout for it, but creating a shelf that spans the width of the laptop is a bit much. It magnetically attached, and as you can see from the image above, the Slim Pen 2 perfectly aligns with both edges of the shelf. It’s quite nice.

The vents are placed underneath the device, and since this has more powerful internals than the Surface Book 3, it generates more heat. That’s to be expected, but since the vents run along the sides like that, you can actually feel the warm air if you’re using a mouse next to it. It’s a very minor issue, but it’s something that I’ve noticed on a few occasions.

Speaking of the sides, notice that the headphone jack is in a proper location.

Indeed, the right side of the device has a Surface Connect port and a 3.5mm audio jack. If you’ve never used a Surface, then this all seems totally unexceptional. If you have used a Surface Book, then you’ve experienced the pain point of the terrible headphone jack placement, which was on the side, but at the top of the screen. In other words, to use wired headphones with a Surface Book 3, the wire would be dangling from the top of your screen. It was a real pain.

Also, while that Surface Connect may look like an SD card slot at first glance, it’s not. The full-size SD card slot that was on the Surface Book 3 is gone now. In fact, microSD expansion on the Surface Pro 8 is gone too.

On the other side, there are two Thunderbolt 4 ports. Weird fact: Microsoft put the two Thunderbolt 4 ports on the left side of the Surface Laptop Studio, but on the right side of the Surface Pro 8. Anyway, Thunderbolt is another one of those things that Surface fans have been waiting for for a long, long time. It’s finally here.

The Surface Laptop Studio fixes everything that was wrong with the Surface Book 3.

To sum it up, this new design is a winner. It fixes everything that was wrong with the Surface Book. It’s just not unique, and I think it’s important to remember that Surface doesn’t have to be unique anymore. In the early days, it was all about defining new form factors in the PC space. The thing is, the tablet with attachable keyboard form factor is the only one that really took off. There haven’t been any OEM clones of the Surface Book or Surface Studio, and it remains to be seen if the Surface Studio even has a future.

Ever since the firm introduced the Surface Laptop, the brand has seen something of a pivot. Not everything in the Surface lineup had to redefine a category. Some of it can just be great hardware. That’s what the Surface Laptop Studio is. It’s great hardware, in a rarely-used form factor.

Display: The Surface Laptop Studio has a 14.4-inch 3:2 screen

The Surface Laptop Studio has neither a 13.5- or a 15-inch display like its predecessors did, and like the Surface Laptop 4 does. It’s got a 14.4-inch 3:2 display, and the size really feels like the sweet spot. The resolution is 2,400×1,600, which feels low.

Here are some examples. The 13.5-inch Surface Book 3 had a 3,000×2,000 screen, and the Surface Pro 8 has a 2,880×1,920 screen, both of which offer 267ppi pixel densities. The 13.5-inch Surface Laptop 4, on the other hand, is 2,256×1,504 for the same 201ppi pixel density that the Surface Laptop Studio has. I don’t miss the extra pixels; it’s just a strange downgrade to make, although it’s possible that the lower resolution is to make up battery life for the higher refresh rate.

And yes, the screen is 120Hz, which is a big deal. The higher refresh rate means that motion is just smoother, and it’s more pleasant on the eyes. High refresh rates on laptops have traditionally been considered to be a gaming feature, a way to gain that extra millisecond edge over your opponent. But really, it makes for a better experience for everyone, something that we’ve seen with mobile phones for a few years now.

The 120Hz screen on the Surface Laptop Studio is easy on the eyes.

Sadly, it does not come with Dynamic Refresh Rate, a new feature in Windows 11 that adjusts the refresh rate depending on what you’re doing. That can really save battery life. For example, if your screen is on and you’re not doing anything, it can refresh the screen at 30Hz instead of 120Hz, saving power. Microsoft did tell me that this feature is coming later, but it didn’t say when. It ships at 120Hz by default, although you can set it to 60Hz if you want the extra battery.

There are a few other things to note about the screen. Once again, it’s super-glossy. This is the case with every Surface device ever made. If you’re using it outdoors in the sunlight, it’s going to be a pain point.

From my testing, it supports 100% sRGB, 80% NTSC, 83% Adobe RGB, and 87% P3 color gamut, which is pretty great. This is the kind of thing that you want to look for if you’re doing creative work. I do have to point out, however, that Dell’s XPS laptops beat this.

Brightness maxes out at 500.2 nits, and contrast is almost on the quoted point with 1,480:1. If you don’t understand what any of this means, just know that it’s a pretty great display. That’s the important thing.

It’s got narrow bezels around the display, yet still makes room for an IR camera and a solid webcam. However, the webcam isn’t 5MP like we’ve seen from the Surface Pro since 2014. It’s actually 2.1MP, which is enough for 1080p video and nothing more. It’s an improvement over the rest of the Surface Laptop lineup though, as they all have 720p webcams. It’s interesting, because the webcam downgrade and the lower screen resolution make this feel more like a Surface Laptop than a Surface Book, so while this is the successor to the Surface Book 3, it’s definitely a merger of the lineups.

Along with the solid webcam is a great audio experience. It has quad omnisonic speakers with Dolby Atmos that sound fantastic. Combined with the dual far-field microphones, it makes for a great meeting experience.

Keyboard: The Surface Laptop Studio has a haptic touchpad

The keyboard is another one of those things that’s borrowed from the Surface Laptop. It’s got the plastic, backlit keys that’s familiar to that brand, as opposed to the more premium-feeling keys that we’ve seen on Surface Book. It’s a pretty great keyboard though, and probably one of the best ones that you’ll find on a consumer laptop. I didn’t get any accidental double-clicks or anything like that.

Everything about the keyboard just feels right. The depth is exactly where it should be, with proper resistance. It’s not just about comfort either, as it’s accurate.

The Surface Laptop Studio keyboard is one of the best in a consumer laptop.

The real star of the show, however, is that it has a haptic touchpad. Just like Apple has been doing with its MacBooks for years, the touchpad doesn’t actually move when you press it. It uses haptic feedback to feel like it moves. If you power down the device, you’ll see that there’s no feedback at all.

What’s cool is that Microsoft didn’t buy an off-the-shelf part for this. We’ve seen Lenovo use haptic touchpads that come from a particular supplier, but Microsoft didn’t use that one in the Surface Laptop Studio. It designed its own, and it did a great job. My biggest test is always to try and drag and drop things, because that’s the easiest way to trip these things up. You have to remember that they’re essentially touchscreens instead of a moving mechanism, so multitouch tends to throw them off. The Surface Laptop Studio passes that test. I couldn’t get it to fail.

On a side note, this is also a quiet touchpad, a first for Microsoft. The company loves its clicky noises, and I’m really pleased to say that you can use this in a quiet library without being embarrassed.

Slim Pen 2: It feels like writing on paper

Microsoft announced the Slim Pen 2 alongside its new products, and to me, it’s the star of the show. It provides haptic feedback that makes it feel like you’re writing on paper. It’s way more impressive than you’re expecting. I’ve used a lot of pens with a lot of devices, and this was a wow moment for me.

The Slim Pen 2 looks just like the Slim Pen, although that original model was pretty much only for the Surface Pro X. This one is for the Laptop Studio and the Pro 8, and in fact, those are the only two devices that currently support the haptic feedback. I was told that the Surface Duo 2 would soon support it though, but not at launch.

The Slim Pen 2 actually feels like writing on paper.

The pen charges wirelessly when it’s attached to the Surface Laptop Studio, so it’s always ready to go when you need it. Indeed, the old battery-powered Surface Pen was a pain point to me. Way too often, I’d find myself going to use the pen, only to find that the battery is drained. Wireless charging solves that.

The bad news is that the haptics only work in certain apps, such as Microsoft Whiteboard, Microsoft Journal, Adobe Fresco, Sketchable, LiquidText, Shapr3D, and some Office apps. I’m really bummed to say that OneNote doesn’t work with the haptics. Honestly, considering how much work Microsoft has put into this whole idea of inking over the past few years, you’d think that more apps would support the new pen at launch. And even if you get beyond those apps like OneNote that you’ll write a lot in, I’d love to see it in things like Photos, Edge, and any other app that has any inking features.

Performance: The Surface Laptop Studio has the CPU that you actually want for creativity

Earlier, I mentioned the benefits of the new form factor. Sure, one of them is that it’s not so top-heavy that I’m holding it down to my lap with my palms while also trying to type. But also, a big benefit is performance.

There were limitations with the old design. All of the guts – including the CPU, memory, storage, and a battery – needed to be stored in the screen, so that when the display was detached, it could still function as a full computer. In the base, there was a dedicated GPU and a second battery. But by putting everything in the screen, that meant that everything aside from the graphics could be no more powerful than a Surface Pro. Microsoft is one of very few vendors that made a premium PC with powerful graphics, but a 15W U-series CPU.

Now that everything can be in the base, the company can use proper components for a laptop that’s aimed at creators. The two processor options are from the Intel Tiger Lake H35 family. These chips aren’t the 45W octa-core chips you’d find in a gaming laptop, mobile workstation, or even creator PCs like the Dell XPS 15. These are 35W quad-core chips aimed at powerful laptops that are also meant to be thin and light.

With 11th-gen 35W processors, the Surface Laptop Studio finally has the power you deserve.

This is the first Tiger Lake H35 PC that I’ve reviewed, and I quite like the new CPUs. The CPU performance in general reminds me of the rare 28W SKUs that Intel makes of U-series chips, which are way more powerful than the 15W ones but still don’t seem to suck down power. I quite like it.

If you get the Core i5 model, that’s all you get. Microsoft did the same thing with the Surface Book 2 and 3, where there’s no dedicated graphics option on the Core i5 variant. In fact, that could be a reason that the firm went with Tiger Lake H35 instead of H45. The 35W chips have the same Iris Xe graphics as the U-series chips, while the 45W ones don’t, as they’re more likely to be used with dedicated graphics.

The Core i7 model, which Microsoft sent me, comes with either an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3050 Ti or an RTX A2000, either of which comes with 4GB GDDR6 memory. The latter is exclusive to the business model, and it’s included in the one that Microsoft supplied for review. I did put this thing through its paces, editing tons of photos, playing games, and so on. It’s really impressive as a four-pound creator laptop.

For benchmarks, I used PCMark 8, PCMark 10, 3DMark, Geekbench, and Cinebench.

	Surface Laptop Studio Core i7-11370H, RTX A2000	Surface Book 3 13.5 Core i7-1065G7, GTX 1650	Surface Laptop 4 15 Ryzen 7 4980U	Dell XPS 15 9510 Core i7-11800H, RTX 3050 Ti
PCMark 8: Home	4,181	3,344	4,072	3,969
PCMark 8: Creative	4,962	2,857	4,702	5,731
PCMark 8: Work	3,843	3,289	3,405	3,571
PCMark 10	5,573	3,805	5,035	5,988
3DMark: Time Spy	5,075	3,191	1,359	4,801
Geekbench	1,546 / 5,826	1,318 / 4,775	1,165 / 7,203	1,538 / 7,514
Cinebench	1,504 / 6,283	1,167 / 3,555	1,256 / 8,173	1,491 / 9,339

You can see that the XPS 15 does better with its more powerful CPU, which also has more cores. But a key thing to look at is just how much the Surface Laptop Studio smokes the Surface Book 3.

As far as battery life goes, the worst I got was around four and a half hours. This is all with regular usage, of course, but I was really impressed that the best I got was six hours and 19 minutes. For a machine with this kind of power, that’s really good. That’s with the power set to recommended performance and the screen on medium brightness, and I do find that the brightness can affect battery life a lot. That’s also with the screen at 120Hz the whole time, so switching to 60Hz is another way that you can save battery life.

Thunderbolt 4: The Surface Laptop Studio finally has it

Listen, we’re over 3,000 words deep here, and I know that you’re tired of reading. I’ll keep this brief before we jump into the conclusion. The Surface Laptop Studio has two Thunderbolt 4 ports. That and the Surface Pro 8 are the first Surface devices to have Thunderbolt ever.

It was absurd. For years and years, Windows OEMs released all of their flagship laptops with Thunderbolt, and Microsoft ignored it. It even pushed back on USB Type-C for as long as it could. It’s finally here.

Many Surface fans defended Microsoft’s choice to omit Thunderbolt over the years, but it’s actually really useful. And even if it’s not useful to you right now, it has the potential to be useful to you in the future. Who wants to spend thousands of dollars on a product, only to find out later on that it can’t do the thing you you want it to do?

First of all, you can use a Thunderbolt dock with this. Any dock should do the trick, since Thunderbolt 4 really isn’t any different from Thunderbolt 3. It just raises the minimum spec so that all Thunderbolt 4 devices can do what some Thunderbolt 3 devices could do. That means that you get 40Gbps data transfer speeds, and you can connect dual 4K monitors or one 8K monitor, all on a single port. You can also connect an external GPU if you want.

And yes, I did connect an external GPU with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 Ti in it. If you want to boost your gaming performance, there you go. It’s a single-cable solution to being an ultimate gaming powerhouse, and then you can still just unplug it and take the laptop on the go with you when you go to work.

Conclusion: Should you buy the Surface Laptop Studio?

Like I said, I never really liked the Surface Book, so replacing it with something that I can properly recommend is a big deal to me. When asking if you should buy it, the answer is a solid maybe. Frankly, it depends on your use case. If you don’t edit photos or videos, or maybe even play some games, you should probably buy something like a Surface Laptop 4. Indeed, the Laptop Studio also depends on you wanting to use the pen. If not, there are more powerful options out there like the Dell XPS 15.

The Surface Laptop Studio feels like it's perfect for every occasion.

But if you look at what this is and it sounds like it might be up your alley, you should totally buy one. I’ve fallen in love with the Surface Laptop Studio in my week with it. For me, it feels like it’s perfect for every occasion, with a phenomenal keyboard, a useful form factor, and a beautiful 120Hz display.

As far as the bad goes, my biggest complaint is that for some reason, Microsoft still doesn’t include the webcams that are on the Surface Book, Surface Pro, and even the Surface Go in anything called Surface Laptop. The webcam is FHD, which is way better than what we’ve seen from the brand, but I still want to see that 5MP sensor that I’ve praised so much over the years. My other complaints are pretty minor. I’m disappointed that the SD card slot has gone away, as that’s such a rarity in laptops these days. Also, it’s upsetting that Microsoft never puts cellular connectivity in laptops. The company has only ever made cellular tablets.

But really, I can’t tell you how smitten I’ve become with this product in the short time that I’ve been using it. It just feels like Microsoft got everything right here. I’ve been so critical of the Surface lineup over the years, and I don’t take back a single thing that I’ve said. The Surface Book was bad, the Surface Pro 7 looked dated, Microsoft should have adopted Thunderbolt earlier, etc. But when being critical, it’s so important to acknowledge when things go right, and the Surface Laptop Studio knocks it out of the park.

The performance is exactly where I want it with Tiger Lake H35 chips that are powerful but don’t suck down battery life. The design is sexy, the keyboard is phenomenal, and so on. The Surface Laptop Studio is just so good.

Surface Laptop Studio

The Surface Laptop Studio comes with an all-new design, more powerful internals, and more.

Features:

Pros: Cons:

See at Amazon

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Michael Kors Access Gen 6 smartwatches with Snapdragon Wear 4100+ go on sale in India

Fossil has launched the Michael Kors Access Gen 6 lineup of Wear OS smartwatches in the Indian market. The new smartwatches are essentially the same as the Fossil Gen 6 lineup that went on sale in the region late last month, but they offer a more premium design.

Michael Kors Access Gen 6: Specifications

Specification	Michael Kors Access Gen 6
Build	Stainless steel
Size(s)	44mm
Display	1.28-inch AMOLED 326 PPI
SoC	Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 4100+
RAM & Storage	1GB RAM 8GB storage
Battery & Charging	4-pin USB fast charger with a magnetic puck Fast charging support (80% in just over 30 minutes)
Connectivity	Bluetooth 5.0 LE Wi-Fi GPS NFC
Sensors	Accelerometer Gyroscope Compass Altimeter PPG Heart rate sensor SpO2 Off-body IR Ambient light
Audio	Built-in speakers and microphone for calls
Software	Wear OS by Google
Other features	Customizable watch faces and buttons Interchangeable straps and bracelets Swimproof

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Like the Fossil Gen 6 lineup, the Michael Kors Access Gen 6 features Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Wear 4100+ SoC, a 1.28-inch display, 1GB RAM, and 8GB of onboard storage. However, it’s only available in a single 44mm size variant. The Access Gen 6 supports all the fitness tracking features that you get with the Fossil Gen 6 smartwatches, including blood-oxygen monitoring, continuous heart rate monitoring, various workout modes, and more.

As mentioned earlier, the only noteworthy difference between the Fossil Gen 6 and the Michael Kors Access Gen 6 models is the design. The latter is a more premium offering that features stainless steel bracelets, sparkling pavé accents, and more. Therefore, it commands a higher price. The Gen 6 Bradshaw starts at ₹24,995 and goes up to ₹32,495. It is available through select online and offline retail stores in India. For additional details, check out our coverage of the Fossil Gen 6 lineup.

Michael Kors Access Gen 6

The Michael Kors Access Gen 6 is a Wear OS smartwatch that packs Qualcomm's Snapdragon Wear 4100+ SoC, a 1.28-inch AMOLED display, and features a premium design.

Buy from Amazon

The Michael Kors Access Gen 6 Bradshaw is also available for purchase in the US. If you’re interested in getting one for yourself or a loved one, you can follow the link above.

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Get a free Stadia Premiere Edition with any $59.99+ Stadia purchase

Google Stadia is a platform that I have personally enjoyed quite a lot, though it’s hard for it to overcome some of its biggest technological barriers. It’s hard to say where the platform stands exactly, and many feel right in saying that the writing has been on the wall ever since the company shut down its in-house game studio. When Stadia first launched, Google not only promised the service would be the future of gaming, but also that they were committed to developing first-party titles that would be exclusive to the platform. However it seems Google isn’t done yet trying to push it, as for a limited time only, you’ll get a free Stadia Premiere Edition with any $59.99+ purchase.

The Stadia Premiere Edition comes with a Stadia controller and a Chromecast Ultra, both of which make it much, much easier to play Stadia on your TV. Stadia’s Phone Link makes it possible to not use the official controller, but it’s much easier to get the bundle if you plan on playing a lot on your TV. Typically it costs $79.99, meaning you more than get your money back with this deal.

To claim a Stadia Premiere Edition, you’ll need to purchase a game or game bundle on the Stadia store for $59.99 USD or above between September 26, 2021 12:01 am PT, and October 10, 2021 11:59 pm PT. The offer is also available if you pre-order a game or game bundle for $59.99 USD or above that launches on Stadia between September 26, 2021 12:01 am PT, and October 10, 2021 11:59 pm PT. Codes that can be used for redeeming your Stadia Premiere Edition will be sent out by October 20th and must be redeemed by November 20th. 

This offer is valid in the U.S., U.K., Ireland, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Austria, and Switzerland. There are many games you can choose from, such as the newly-released FIFA 22 or you could pre-order Far Cry 6. Let us know in the comments which you choose!

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iPhone 13 Review: Good value, but not as great as the Pros

Most of us at XDA agreed last year that the standard iPhone 12 was the best iPhone option for most people because the differences between it and the iPhone 12 Pro mostly came down to a single telephoto camera, which wasn’t enough to justify the extra $200 in our opinions. But this year, Apple widened the gap between the Pro and non-Pro iPhones by giving the iPhone 13 Pro several more features than the standard iPhone 13, while keeping the price gap between models the same as last year.

Is the standard iPhone 13 still the best iPhone for most people?

Navigate this review:

• Hardware & Design
  • Display
  • iPhone 13 vs iPhone 13 Pro: What are the differences … and do they matter?
• Camera
  • The Pro over-exposure problem
  • Low light shots
  • Zoom shots
  • Cinematic Mode
• Software
• Battery life and other bits
• Conclusion

Click to expand: Apple iPhone 13 Series Specifications

Apple iPhone 13 Series: Specifications

Specifications	Apple iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Mini	Apple iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max
Build	Aluminum mid-frame Glass front and back “Ceramic Shield” for front glass	Stainless steel mid-frame Glass front and back “Ceramic Shield” for front glass
Dimensions & Weight	iPhone 13 Mini: 131.5mm x 64.2mm x 7.65mm 141g iPhone 13: 146.7mm x 71.5mm x 7.65mm 174g	iPhone 13 Pro: 146.7mm x 71.5mm x 7.65mm 204g iPhone 13 Pro Max: 160.8mm x 78.1mm x 7.65mm 240g
Display	Super Retina XDR OLED: iPhone 13 Mini: 5.4″ iPhone 13: 6.1″ 60Hz	Super Retina XDR OLED: iPhone 13 Pro: 6.1″ iPhone 13 Pro Max: 6.7″ ProMotion 120Hz refresh rate
SoC	Apple A15 Bionic	Apple A15 Bionic
RAM & Storage	RAM not disclosed 128GB/256GB/512GB	RAM not disclosed 128GB/256GB/512GB/1TB
Battery & Charging	Battery size not disclosed; Approximate size from regulatory filings: iPhone 13 Mini: 2,438 mAh iPhone 13: 3,240 mAh Wired charging up to 20W Wireless charging up to 7.5W MagSafe charging up to 15W	Battery size not disclosed; Approximate size from regulatory filings: iPhone 13 Pro: 3,125 mAh iPhone 13 Pro Max: 4,373 mAh Wired charging up to 20W Wireless charging up to 7.5W MagSafe charging up to 15W
Security	Face ID	Face ID
Rear Camera(s)	Primary: 12MP wide, f/1.6 aperture, 1.6μm Secondary: 12MP ultra-wide, f/2.4 aperture	Primary: 12MP wide, f/1.5 aperture, 1.9μm Secondary: 12MP ultra-wide, f/1.8 aperture Tertiary: 12MP telephoto, 3x optical zoom, f/2.8 LiDAR camera
Front Camera(s)	12MP TrueDepth camera system	12MP TrueDepth camera system
Port(s)	Lightning	Lightning
Audio	Stereo speakers	Stereo speakers
Connectivity	5G (sub-6 GHz and mmWave) Gigabit LTE with 4×4 MIMO and LAA Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) with 2×2 MIMO Bluetooth 5.0	5G (sub-6 GHz and mmWave) Gigabit LTE with 4×4 MIMO and LAA Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) with 2×2 MIMO Bluetooth 5.0
Software	iOS 15	iOS 15
Other Features	Dual physical SIM or Dual eSIM support	Dual physical SIM or Dual eSIM support

About this review: Apple loaned me all four iPhones to test. This review was written after using the iPhone 13 as my main phone for six days, and as my secondary phone for another week. Apple did not have input in this review.

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iPhone 13: Hardware & Design

The iPhone 13 continues the boxy, flat sides design language Apple is introducing across all of its devices. It’s got a 6.1-inch OLED screen interrupted by a notch. The front side is covered by what Apple calls “Ceramic Shield” technology.

Around the back, we have a slightly glossy glass back (but still doesn’t attract fingerprints as much as, say, an iPhone X or Galaxy S10) with a dual-camera system consisting of a 12MP main (wide) lens and a 12MP ultra-wide lens. Both rear cameras’ sensors are new and larger than the iPhone 12’s sensors.

The flat railing around the iPhone 13 is crafted out of aluminum and it has a matte finish that I prefer over the Pro’s glossy stainless steel railings. But I’ll elaborate on the differences between the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro in the next section.

iPhone 13’s matte aluminum chassis (bottom) compared to the glossy stainless steel chassis of the 13 Pro (top).

Whether in real-world scenarios or benchmark numbers, the A15 Bionic beats the Snapdragon 888+

Inside the iPhone 13 is the A15 Bionic silicon, and it’s the most powerful mobile SoC hands-down. Whether in real-world scenarios (like exporting/rendering videos) or benchmark numbers, it beats the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888+ quite easily. Apple’s A15 Bionic bleeding-edge processing power is also what makes the new “Cinematic mode” possible. This is one area where Apple truly leads heads and shoulders above the rest. And with the iPhone 13 series, you get the same chip across all four phones, so there are no real compromises to be had in choosing a cheaper phone over the other. You can read more about the performance in our iPhone 13 Pro review.

iPhone 13 (left) and iPhone 13 Pro (right).

Apple does not disclose RAM or battery size, but thanks to third-party teardowns, we know the iPhone 13 runs on 4GB of RAM and a 3,240 mAh cell. Both of these numbers are small compared to Android phones but worry not — the iPhone 13’s UI zips around fine and battery life is strong. This is another testament to the A15 Bionic’s efficiency and Apple’s unrivaled hardware-software synergy.

Overall the iPhone 13 is light at 174g and sort of easy to hold. I say “sort of” because the iPhone 13 is still slightly wide at 71.5mm (2.81-inches) horizontally, so the hard corners of the flat sides will still dig into your palm. There’s just no getting around this: flat sides with angular corners do not feel as comfortable in the palm as rounded, curvy sides (like on the iPhone 11 or almost every Android).

Display

Let’s elaborate on the screen a bit more: the 2,340 x 1,080 panel looks great, with a maximum brightness of 1,200 nits. It refreshes at 60 Hz only, but Apple’s 60Hz is better optimized than Android’s 60Hz in my opinion, so animations and UI fluidity doesn’t feel as outdated as, say, picking up a 60Hz Android device today.

The iPhone 13 is the third phone from the left.

The notch is smaller, but it almost doesn’t matter because Apple’s UI does not take advantage of the extra space. You’re still getting the same number of icons and information in the areas next to the notch. The only time you will “see more” is if you’re watching a video that’s zoomed in to expand the entire screen.

iPhone 13 vs iPhone 13 Pro: What are the differences … and do they matter?

As mentioned, there are a myriad of differences between the iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro:

• Chassis material: iPhone 13 uses an aluminum frame; iPhone 13 Pro uses a stainless steel frame
• GPU: iPhone 13 has a four-core GPU; iPhone 13 Pro has a five-core GPU
• Weight: iPhone 13 weighs 174g; iPhone 13 Pro weighs 204g
• Screen refresh rate: iPhone 13 display has a 60Hz refresh rate; iPhone 13 Pro display has a variable refresh rate up to 120Hz
• Camera array: iPhone 13 has two rear cameras (wide and ultra-wide); iPhone 13 Pro has three rear cameras (wide, ultra-wide, and telephoto)
• Camera image sensor size: iPhone 13’s wide camera uses a smaller image sensor than iPhone 13 Pro’s wide camera image sensor
• Camera aperture: iPhone 13’s ultra-wide camera has a slower aperture than iPhone 13 Pro’s ultra-wide camera
• Macro mode: iPhone 13 has no macro mode; the iPhone 13 Pro’s ultra-wide lens can double as a macro sensor
• Battery capacity: iPhone 13’s 3,227 mAh battery is larger than the iPhone 13 Pro’s 3,095 mAh

Everything else not mentioned above is identical across the two phones: selfie camera hardware, CPU, software, overall dimensions, etc. Whether these differences matter should vary from person to person. I’ll share my opinions on whether they matter to me:

• Chassis material: The stainless steel frame should be sturdier in theory, but when we drop our phones we are likely more concerned with the screen’s durability than the frame? I also like the look and feel of the matte coating Apple gave to its aluminum frame than the glossy, fingerprint-magnet stainless steel material.
• GPU: The Apple A15 Bionic is already complete overkill for a smartphone SoC, I’m not sure the extra GPU brings many benefits unless you do heavy, serious mobile gaming or video editing sessions.
• Weight: I find the iPhone 13 easier to hold because it’s 30g lighter.
• Screen refresh rate: Right now, the differences between 120Hz and 60Hz on the iPhones are minor, because it’s only really noticeable in first-party apps thanks to a bug. Apple has promised to open up 120Hz to all apps, so I think this will matter down the line. High refresh rates are always good.
• Camera array: Before this year, I would say the non-Pro iPhones skipping the telephoto zoom lens is fine because Apple’s previous 2x telephoto zoom was mediocre anyway. But this year, Apple improved the Pro telephoto cameras to 3x optical and 15x digital zoom, so I think it matters. I enjoy zooming 5x, 10x into things around the city. The standard iPhone 13’s digital zoom looks bad beyond 2x.
• Camera image sensor size: The 13 Pro having larger image sensors matter if you enjoy natural bokeh when shooting objects up close, or if you take low light photos often. The iPhone 13 will have to resort to night mode more often. The good news is Apple’s night mode works seamlessly, and well.
• Camera aperture: The iPhone 13 ultrawide’s slower aperture means that in low light conditions, it will have to resort to night mode more often than not. This matters to me, but I’m guessing not many.
• Macro mode: Being able to get closer to an object/subject when shooting or filming is important, so I’d say it matters that the iPhone 13 omits the macro shooting capability.
• Battery capacity: Despite the difference in battery size, I find battery life between the standard iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro to be similar — I think the variable refresh rate of the Pro models helps it conserve battery.

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iPhone 13: Cameras

As mentioned earlier, the iPhone 13’s rear cameras gain larger sensors compared to last year’s iPhone 12 cameras, but the increase in size is not as significant as what the iPhone 13 Pro got. In other words, the iPhone 13’s main camera sensor is larger, but still smaller than the iPhone 13 Pro’s main camera sensor.

The iPhone 13's rear cameras gain larger sensors compared to last year's iPhone 12

A larger sensor size brings two benefits: it pulls in more light, which benefits night photography/videography, and larger sensors bring shallower depth-of-field, which creates stronger separation between an object and background. The latter is noticeably in the below samples.

You can see the iPhone 13 Pro’s image shows the strongest natural bokeh, creating a sense of depth separation between the camera and the things behind it (soda can, iPhone box, and plant). The iPhone 12, with the smallest sensor of the three, has the faintest amount of bokeh, resulting in an image that looks flatter. The iPhone 13 is somewhere in between — while there’s decent bokeh for the plant, the soda can and iPhone box are not as nicely separated from the camera.

For the most part, if you are shooting in ideal conditions (good lighting that’s not too harsh), iPhone 13’s dual-camera system produces great images that look very close to the iPhone 13 Pro in quality. The iPhone’s selfie camera is mostly the same as before, it produces shots with consistent balance and natural skin tones without any of the beautifying tricks that Android brands resort to.

The Pro over-exposure problem

The over-exposure problem is thankfully less severe on the standard iPhone 13

In my review of the iPhone 13 Pro,  I highlighted the fact that the phone has a tendency to over-expose in certain situations. This is particularly noticeable when shooting high-contrast scenes, like neon lights-drenched Hong Kong night scenes, or shooting towards the sun on a sunny day. I concluded the problem was likely due to Apple dealing with new, larger sensors and not having had enough time to fine-tune software yet.

I’m happy to report the problem is less severe on the standard iPhone 13, ironically because the iPhone 13’s camera hardware is not as powerful as the Pro’s. Both the iPhone 13’s main and ultra-wide cameras have smaller image sensors than the Pro’s and in the case of the ultra-wide, the 13 shooter has a slower aperture too (all of which means the iPhone 13 cameras take in less light than the 13 Pro).

You should be able to see in the above samples that the iPhone 13 Pro blows out the sky in the first set and neon light logo in the second set. The iPhone 13 image, ironically, looks slightly better because its image sensor is smaller. But this is a niche situation (I purposely shot against the sun to test exposure in the first set). For the most part, the Pro cameras will be better as soon as the sun sets, or if we step indoors and the lighting isn’t perfect.

Low light shots

So the iPhone 13’s cameras do not take in as much light as the Pro models, but the iPhone’s night mode is still so good. Night mode kicks in seamlessly, for example, unlike many Android phones which require you to swipe a few times to turn it on. When you let night mode work its magic, the iPhone 13’s low-light image can look almost as good as the 13 Pro. But if you turn off night mode, then you can see the iPhone 13 Pro’s main camera produces a brighter image.

This is even more noticeable if shooting with the ultra-wide. If we don’t use night mode, the iPhone 13’s ultra-wide produces a far darker shot.

Now you might be asking “if night mode is so good then why bother testing without night mode?”. Well, night mode isn’t always ideal. Because you have to wait 2-3 seconds for night mode to capture, that means if you’re shooting action scenes, or shots with lots of moving things, night mode could produce a wonky blurry shot. Ultimately, night mode is good insurance, it’s still better to just have a camera that can natively take in more light.

Zoom shots

Since the iPhone 13 doesn’t have a zoom lens at all, this means any zooming will be digital zoom, and Apple caps it at 5x. In other words, don’t expect much: any phone with a zoom lens will produce sharper zoom images than the iPhone 13.

As I wrote earlier: the iPhone 12 missing the zoom lens last year wasn’t that big of a deal because the iPhone 12 Pro only had a mediocre 2x zoom lens anyway. But the iPhone 13 Pro this year got a big upgrade to a 3x zoom lens (with a larger sensor) that can digitally zoom up to 15x. So compared to the Pro this year, the iPhone 13’s lack of zoom is a more glaring omission.

Cinematic Mode

The best new camera feature to the iPhone 13 in my opinion is “Cinematic mode.” I’ve written about this feature in several articles already, and the gist of it is that it’s portrait mode for video: when you film a clip in Cinematic mode, you can choose to focus on an object/subject in the foreground or background, and then Apple’s A15 Bionic will use its neural engine to process the scene and produce an artificial bokeh (blur) in the out-of-focus areas.

This feature is not perfect — trained eyes will be able to spot it’s not a real bokeh from a real full-frame camera right away — but it’s good enough in certain conditions that it does add cinematic flair to what otherwise used to be flat-looking smartphone videos. The ability to change focus points on the fly also allows the iPhone 13 to pull off a “rack focus,” — a cinematic trick in which the focus shifts from an object/subject in the foreground to background (and vice versa).

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iPhone 13: Software

The iPhone 13, like all the other iPhone 13 models, run iOS 15 out of the box, but within days, it received an update to iOS 15.1. This newest version of iOS is mostly an iterative upgrade over iOS 14, bringing the same visual elements and changes, such as the App Library (Apple’s version of the Android app drawer) and widgets on the homescreen.

New additions to iOS 15 include a new FaceTime app that allows you to send a link to Android phone owners to join the call. FaceTime is not widely used in Hong Kong, but from my testing it works.

There are minor visual overhauls, like a redesigned notification panel that will display contact photos, as well as larger app icons. But let’s face it, iOS’ handling of notifications is still inferior compared to Android.

There’s a new Focus mode in iOS 15 that essentially allows you to set specific profiles (like “work,” “weekend,” “night”) and then allow only specific contacts and apps to reach you when you’re in that mode.

One of the more useful new additions to iOS 15 is its spotlight search can now search within the photos you’ve taken too. For example, I can search “photos Los Angeles” and it will show me photos I’ve taken while in Los Angeles, directly within the search results.

Overall, iOS is a smooth and fast OS with the best app ecosystem as well as the best third-party accessory ecosystem around. However, most of my gripes with iOS are still here. The lack of a truly free homescreen grid, the inability to get rid of notification bubbles, the fact that I have to swipe all the way from the upper right corner to access control center.

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iPhone 13: Battery life and other bits

The battery life on the iPhone 13 is great, thanks to the larger cell. In a week of use, the phone can last me a full 14-hour day consistently, with only really heavy usage weekend days resulting in me needing to top up before my night is finished. Apple promised better battery life, and it did deliver. Surprisingly, there is not much of a difference in battery life between the iPhone 13 and the iPhone 13 Pro: I expected the regular device to last longer, but it’s just about the same on both. The variable refresh rate on the iPhone 13 Pro (and the iOS bug limiting the higher refresh rate to just Apple apps) helps the Pro conserve battery. So there’s no real and immediate battery benefit in getting the regular iPhone 13 over the iPhone 13 Pro.

Gaming and watching videos on the iPhone 13 is a solid experience. Obviously, the phone is powerful enough to handle any game, and the stereo speakers sound excellent. But I find the 6.1-inch screen with a notch a bit cramped, likely because I’m usually using a 6.7-inch Android with a hole-punch instead.

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iPhone 13 Conclusion: Good value, but it’s clearly the little brother this time around

At a time when every top Android flagship reaches or well surpasses the four-digit price range, the iPhone 13’s $799 starting price can be considered a very good value, especially since Apple has doubled the base storage this year to 128GB instead. Is the iPhone 13 worth the wait for older iPhone users? It is.

At a time when every top Android flagship reaches the four-digit price range, iPhone 13's $799 starting price is good value

However, while last year’s iPhone 12 kept close enough to the 12 Pro in features and power, this year’s iPhone 13 is clearly a level below the iPhone 13 Pro. It’s one thing to lose out on the zoom lens, but to also lose the macro lens, 120Hz refresh rate, and noticeably smaller image sensors? This makes the iPhone 13 not quite an Apple flagship. It’s an almost-flagship, the way the Galaxy S21 and Pixel 5 are almost-flagships to my (admittedly very nitpicky) eyes.

Apple iPhone 13

The iPhone 13 brings the powerful A15 Bionic and a really good main camera along with the usual Apple package of great software and eco-system.

Pros:

Cons:

View at Best Buy

The iPhone 13 Pro is the phone that truly shows off what Apple wanted to flex this year. But if you really cannot (or refuse to) pay more than $800, then the standard iPhone 13 is still a fine option. You’re still getting the best SoC and video capabilities in the smartphone space.

The post iPhone 13 Review: Good value, but not as great as the Pros appeared first on xda-developers.

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