Foreword

This article is the first part of "The Most Complete Microsoft Surface Studio 2+ Evaluation on the Internet". The article has more than 5,000 words and nearly 70 pictures.

The Chinese version will be released on the "Fair Reviews Chinese Site" (https://www.song1118.com/), and the English version will be released later on the "FairReviews English Site" (https://www.song1118.tech/). for the following chapters:

Evaluation: Foreign media can't do it, I will write it!

Purchase: A certain fish is very good and it is fast!

Unboxing: The packaging is good and the unboxing is cool!

Appearance: Three generations of hinges with zero gravity.

Accessories: It is a pity that the workmanship is excellent.

Booting: Regardless of the operating system.

Estimates: What will the full review look like?

Evaluation: Foreign media can't do it, I will write it!

Go back four years:

It was 2018. One evening in the summer of this year, after get off work, two digital enthusiasts and I were wandering around the XX Electronics Mall in Huaqiangbei, Shenzhen. We were deeply attracted by the screen of Microsoft Surface Studio 2 - 28 inches 4: 3 4500x3000 resolution touch screen!

Then, the configuration of its CPU Core i7-7820HQ+GPU NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1070-8GB finally made the author quickly withdraw the drooling, and quickly pressed his wallet with his hand ----- without it, this hardware configuration is too low Yes, the main machine I was using was a ThinkPad P71, the CPU was i7-7820HQ+GPU NVIDIA Quadro P5000-16GB, the graphics card was a professional graphics card, the video memory was 16GB, and the extra memory could be 4 hard drives or 4 hard drives.

Of course, the screen of ThinkPad P71 will never be better than the screen of Surface Studio 2 - 28 inches 4:3 4500x3000 resolution touch screen!

Time moves on:

Four years later, in October 2022, overseas media have published Microsoft Surface Studio 2+ evaluation articles. Of course, the author browsed for the first time, read many articles, and complained in my heart-you overseas media have such a unique advantage. With the right time, place and people, the new machine can be obtained immediately before the official release, and the evaluation works released are so bad-----the text is dry, there are few pictures, the test is not focused, and the data is not good. complete!

What a waste of resources and recklessness!

You can't!

I have to personally write a review of Microsoft Surface Studio 2+!

Purchase: A certain fish is very good and it is fast!

The time came to last month:

On December 15, 2022, in China, Microsoft Surface Studio 2+ will officially go on sale, with prices starting at ¥35,888. (Overseas North American sales price is $4499.99).

After learning about it, the author took the mouse and searched for a while on JD.com, Taobao, and Amazon. The price was indeed extremely firm, and the communication with the merchants was unwavering. Some even said that they could not provide invoices--how can I evade taxes without paying taxes? What about tax evasion?

In addition, when the author recently conducted the final ultimate comparison test between ThinkPad P16 Gen 1 and HP ZBook Fury G9, unfortunately, a 4TB SSD was hung up, and a loss of nearly ¥5,000 was lost. Thinking of the price of Surface Studio 2+, which is close to 36,000 yuan ...

However, unexpectedly, the author has no intention of finding a merchant in Xyuyu who has a much lower price, can provide an invoice, and can deliver the goods to me without paying first--is this merchant trying to bribe the author to make Bring goods?

Delivery first, payment later? no! At first I refused!

In the end, after negotiating with this merchant, an agreement was reached that the author paid one-third of the purchase price at Xianyu in advance, and after SF Express sent the author out of the box to check the machine was correct, an agreement was reached to pay the balance offline.

Therefore, it was delivered by SF Express on January 2, 2023, and the outer packaging was basically perfect after inspection. The author paid the balance quickly and the deal was completed!

Unboxing: The packaging is good and the unboxing is cool!

The time has come to now:

After receiving it on January 2, 2023, because the author was very busy, the Surface Studio 2+ was idle in the author's living room for two days----I was afraid to open the box in the first time because I was worried that the epidemic would spread in the logistics.

Fortunately, it is packaged with a huge eye-catching target, so the author did not forget to start unpacking today.

The outer box of Microsoft Surface Studio 2+ (hereinafter referred to as "SFS2+") is brownish-yellow. There is no Microsoft and product logo on the front and back, only the transportation safety logo.

Only one side of the outer box has a black label on a white background and UN3091 warning label—that is, the lithium ion battery transportation warning label (IATA UN3091 LITHIUM BATTERIES)——indicating that the package contains lithium metal batteries and equipment packed in Together (Lithium metal batteries packed with equipment), it must be transported safely in accordance with relevant regulations.

The central opening on the top of the outer box reveals the white plastic handle inside, on which is the English Surface in inscribed text, and the texture and workmanship are beginning to appear.

Cut off the sealing tape, open the outer box, and reveal the white inner box.

The white inner box is printed in full color, the front is a color map of SFS2+, and Microsoft Surface Studio 2+ is prominently visible in the upper left corner.

The back of the white inner box is the posture of the SFS2+ screen sinking to the lowest level, and the digital pen is placed aside.

In the upper right corner of the back of the inner box, the packaging items, supported related technologies, related agreements and related information of this SFS2+ are indicated.

As well as the Chinese energy efficiency label that is necessary for products sold in China, the typical energy efficiency consumption value is 184kWh.

Then you can see Microsoft's official deliberate note:

Product name: All-in-one machine

Importer: Microsoft (China) Co., Ltd., No. 5 Danling Street, Haiding District, Beijing, 100080 (zip code);

Provided to individual consumers - what does this mean? Are the versions purchased by enterprises, governments, educational institutions, etc. different? Or is Microsoft not offering SFS2+ to these non-consumer units?

In the upper left corner of the back of the inner box, under the Microsoft Surface Studio 2+ is the Windows 11 logo, and then it indicates in English that the keyboard equipped with this SFS2+ is an English keyboard.

The lower left corner of the back of the inner box is the main hardware configuration information of this SFS2+, as well as the product serial number and other information.

Open the inner box, the atmosphere is peaceful:

The exposed SFS2+ screen is protected by a matte plastic cover, which indicates the correct way to take out the SFS2+:

The SFS2+ screen needs to be lifted from the flat state to the upright state before it can be taken out.

After raising the screen of the SFS2+ to an upright position, you will see a small inner box placed in front of it.

Inside are 5 paper documents of the SFS2+ sold in China, which are:

Safety guide;

Warranty certificate;

Environmental statement;

Packing List;

Quick start.

Behind the SFS2+ after lifting the screen, there is also a large inner box.

Inside is the SFS2+ standard keyboard, mouse and digital pen.

After taking out the SFS2+ from the inner box, there is a medium-sized inner box under it.

Inside is a Chinese national standard power cord. The color is the same as the SFS2+ in elegant gray. There are corresponding plastic covers on both ends of the power cord. It is well-made and full of comfort at first glance.

Appearance: Three generations of hinge zero gravity

The angle of view returns to the SSF2+, the main character of this article, the front view----the disadvantage of the touch screen: the mirror effect exposes the author who is taking pictures. Due to the limited space of equipment and equipment, the focus of the photo cannot be carried out.

Although SFS2+ is also an all-in-one machine, unlike most all-in-one machines, its host compartment is not integrated with the back of the screen, but exists independently in a small flat case that looks like a monitor base---in fact, It also acts as a support base for the SFS2+ display.

There are no ports or indicators on the front of this base-type flat case, and there is a cooling ventilation grille at the bottom. If you look closely, you can also see that there is a very thin cooling ventilation gap at the top.

These two narrow cooling ventilation channels spread from the front to the sides.

The sides of the SFS2+ pedestal chassis also have no ports other than these.

On the back of SFS2+, the center is of course a huge Microsoft Windows logo (commonly known as the "Tian" word logo).

The connection between the screen and the base chassis below is established by two shiny silver chrome-plated support rod hinges.

The hinge design of these two shiny silver chrome-plated support rods was basically completely reproduced by Lao Luo’s JMGO TNT workstation monitor released in 2018. ~4" article.

The following is a side view of the SFS2+ screen in an upright 90-degree state.

Then gently push the screen with your hand, and the screen will gracefully begin to drop and tilt farther back—to achieve the angle the user wants.

The following is the maximum angle at which the SFS2+ screen can sink and tilt beyond the rear. This angle is about 160 degrees.

The front view of SFS2+ is as follows when the screen sinks and tilts at the maximum angle----the lower base chassis can't be seen at all.

This working form is especially popular with artistic drawing creation users, because the screen becomes a drawing table at this time, which is very convenient to use a digital pen for drawing operations.

The author has conducted multiple tests on it, and determined that when the screen stays at any angle, the strength that needs to be exerted on the hinge of the support rod is basically the same.

And staying at any angle, the hinge can maintain a good support for the screen, and the angle will not change after a long time-this is the so-called "zero screen" that Microsoft SFS2+ is proud of from the first generation. Gravity hinge" design - this is also the iconic design of six years and three generations of products since the birth of the first generation Surface Studio in 2016 to the current Surface Studio 2+.

The whole process can be dynamically operated on the official website.

Returning to the introduction of the appearance of SFS2+ from the praise of "zero-power hinge", there are many interfaces behind the base chassis of SFS2+, which are in order from left to right:

Two USB-A 3.0 ports;

One RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet port;

power interface

Three Thunderbolt 4 ports (English is Thunderbolt 4 - the Chinese name is "Thunderbolt", only Apple and its vassals call it "Thunderbolt"), all compatible with USB-C, whether it is a full-featured USB4 , the author will conduct actual measurements, but it is basically certain that it does not support DP charging.

One 3.5mm headphone jack

At the same time, you can also see the bottom behind the base chassis, which also has a cooling ventilation grille.

The bottom of the SFS2+ chassis is black, and the serial number of the SFS2+ is marked under Microsoft. At the bottom are many safety and environmental protection certification marks.

There is a round silicone foot pad at each corner.

From this angle, you can clearly see the grilles that surround the bottom of the base chassis.

In addition, SFS+ also has stereo 2.1 speakers that support Dolby Atmos™ 3. According to the author's careful observation, these 3 speakers should also be placed in these grilles.

Look at the bottom, then look at the top.

In the center of the upper border of the SFC2+ screen is an enhanced 1080p high-definition camera and an infrared camera. As a Microsoft product, it must naturally support Windows Hello face authentication.

In addition, there is a matrix far-field pickup system assembled with dual microphones, and an ambient light sensor.

Below the right side of the screen of SFS2+ are the volume adjustment button and the power button.

Accessories: excellent workmanship, regrettable

The appearance and details of the main body of SFC2+ are introduced, and the following is the introduction of its accessories.

The accessories of SFC2+ are keyboard, mouse and digital pen.

The wireless keyboard of SFC2+ is a Bluetooth connection. The official name is Surface Keyboard, which can be applied to all Surface PCs and mobile phones. Of course, due to the universal Bluetooth connection method, it can also be connected to other PCs or mobile phones in theory. 

Its layout is standard QWERTY with a full row of function keys (F1 – F12) that allow control of media playback and screen brightness, as well as keyboard backlighting.

A look at the bottom of the Surface Keyboard:

There are two built-in AAA (size 7) batteries for power supply. The battery compartment is well-designed, and even the battery contacts use a high-standard design that is rarely seen.

The Surface mouse attached to this SFS2+ is also a Bluetooth wireless connection.

Its shape tends to be flat, and when I hold it and use it, it feels far worse than the Logitech M720 on the right side of the picture below.

Surface mouse bottom:

The battery compartment of the Surface Mouse is equally well-crafted.

The digital pen attached to this SFS2+ is officially called Surface Stylus.

Combine it with the ThinkPad X1 Tablet Gen 3 and ThinkPad X12 Detachable Gen 1 owned by the author (also known as ThinkPad X12 2021 in China - for details, please refer to the "ThinkPad X12 Detachable Gen 1 Evaluation Series Part 1: Three Years" issued by the author in 2021 "The Covenant" article) to compare the digital pens of the two.

The top black is ThinkPad X1 Tablet Gen 3 is Lenovo Pen Pro;

The slightly lighter middle color is the Lenovo Digital Pen for ThinkPad X12 2021;

It can be seen that the design of the three is similar, but the front button of the Surface Pen near the tip has only one button.

Surface The other end of the e stylus - the design of the tip is also different: it supports the eraser function.

The Surface Stylus attached to this SFS2+ is powered by a built-in AAAA (No. 9) battery. It is placed in the center of the right side of the SFS2+ screen by magnetic adsorption. It is a convenient storage location when it is not in use.

The random accessories of SFS2+ have been pre-paired and can be used after turning on the phone.

However, it is a pity that the SFS2+ purchased by the author this time does not come with the Surface Dial screen interactive device, which needs to be purchased separately. The current price on JD.com is RMB 688.

So far, the introduction of the accessories of this SFS2+ is completed, and the SFS2+ is ready to go!

A reader: Evaluator! You hurry up and turn it on! There are almost 50 pictures here, and I haven't seen you turn it on yet!

Booting: Regardless of the operating system.

After I turned it on, I entered the UEFI-BIOS system settings of SFS2+ for the first time, and then checked it carefully.

It should be noted that - SFS2+ needs to enter the UEFI system settings, and then confirm the shutdown, press and hold the "Volume Up" button, and press and release the "Power" button at the same time, when the Microsoft or Surface logo appears on the screen When you are on, continue to hold down the "Volume Up" button and do not let go until the screen appears on the screen to enter the UEFI setup system, then let go.

The UEFI BIOS system of SFS2+ is set as a graphical interface with only 8 menus.

The first one is PC information, which shows the model, system UUID and serial number of this SFS2+.

There are also many versions of Firmware firmware.

The second is the Security (Security) menu, you can set the UEFI password, Secure Boot (secure boot) and SMT (simultaneous multi-threading) settings.

The third is the Devices menu, which can enable or disable the camera, onboard sound card, microphone, wireless Bluetooth, and Ethernet card.

The fourth is the Boot configuration menu, where you can choose to disable or enable the corresponding boot device and set the boot sequence, as well as related advanced options.

Before entering the pre-installed operating system, the author wants to make a full backup of the original system of SFS2+, so set the USB device as the first boot device, and close all other boot devices.

The fifth is the date and time, which I don’t need to explain. I didn’t want to post it at first, but first, the integrity of the data is maintained. Second, it can prove that the author’s boot time is 1pm on January 4, 2023.

The sixth is the Management (management) menu, which is the Zero Touch UEFI (zero distance UEFI) management import settings, the management of importing configuration files from USB devices.

Zero Touch UEFI management allows remote management of UEFI settings using a device profile in Intune called the Device Firmware Configuration Interface (DFCI).

According to the official description, this function is a management module based on the cloud----Surface UEFI management integrates the Device Firmware Configuration Interface (DFCI) configuration file into Microsoft Intune, which can extend the management to the UEFI hardware level----if supported Zero-touch provisioning eliminates BIOS passwords and provides control over security settings including boot options and built-in peripherals, laying the foundation for future advanced security solutions.

According to the author's understanding, in other words, this function is basically useless for individual users, and it belongs to an enterprise-level management module. To a certain extent, it can be understood as a module similar to the function of intel VPro.

The seventh is the Secured Core menu, which only enables and disables the secure core——I came in with great interest, but left in a daze (I don’t use popular words like “dumb”)— ---The author will check its function in the future.

The last one is the Exit (exit) menu, which seems to need no explanation at all. However, it is different from the common exit menu of ordinary PCs. Restart (Restart now) a button.

why?

After SFS2+ enters UEFI settings, it only supports touch operations, and the opening, disabling, and moving operations performed by the user's touch are all immediately saved and effective, so there are no options for saving, saving and restarting, or not saving and restarting.

But why is there no option to restore the original factory settings?

The author believes that this is because the UEFI setting system of SFS2+ has very few places for users to manually in-depth operation, it is very simple, and generally no mistakes can be made.

The author pointed to restart immediately (Restart now), and SFS2+ entered the WinPE system on the U disk inserted by the author.

You can see part of the hardware configuration of this SFS2+:

The CPU is intel Core i7-11370H;

The memory is 8 pieces of 4GB LDDR4-4267, 8x4GB=32GB;

The hard drive is a Samsung MZVL21T0HCLR-00BMV 1TB.

The author does not enter the original factory system for the first time, but enters WinPE for the first time, in order to make a full backup of the original factory pre-installed system at the first time, and make complete preparations for subsequent tests.

After the backup is complete, pull out the U disk to restart, and enter the unpacking and installation interface of the SFS2+ original factory pre-installed system:

Although Microsoft officially claims that the random accessories of SFS2+ have been pre-paired and can be used after booting, but in the installation interface, the author found that the Surface mouse can be used normally, but the Surface keyboard cannot be used. 11 22H2 Installation must be connected to the Internet to log in to the Microsoft Live ID to continue the interface.

Estimates: What will the full review look like?

After entering the official pre-installed Windows 11 system, the author's comprehensive test of SFS2+ began!

For now, the public seems to be dissatisfied with the evaluation of Microsoft Surface Studio 2+. The most important point is that its CPU configuration and time are wrong. How can the products launched in the second half of 2022 be equipped with Intel's 11th generation CPU? ?

It should use Intel's 12th generation CPU!

The author also has this point of view.

However, I bought Surface Studio 2+ for three purposes:

First: From 2016 to the present, Surface Studio has been released for three generations, and few reviews can satisfy the author;

Second: The author has always been obsessed with the screen of Surface Studio;

Third: Of course it’s for readers: even if you can’t afford it, you won’t be charged a penny for watching the author’s review.

At this point in this article, the text is full of 5000, and the pictures are close to 70. According to the author's management, I will review the introduction in the previous article.

Let’s make an estimate, readers: After the author’s comprehensive evaluation of Surface Studio 2+ is completed, what will be the author’s evaluation of it?

The second part of "Microsoft Surface Studio 2+ Review Part 1", so stay tuned!