Just to leave a data point, my SLS just experienced the most impressive crash in a while. I was in the middle of typing in a TPCR reply box, and in the span of about a tenth of a second I went from typing to staring at the Windows boot logo on a black screen on my SLS. Gulp… Windows bug, SLS error, nation state attack? Off to read the event viewer logs…
I’m sure it’s fine, I’m sure it’s fine (changes password) I’m sure it’s fine…
So a general and specific question for the Studio owners here. One of my relatives is considering purchasing one for her own use. She currently uses a Pro 6 and wants a bit more graphics power.
She also frequently puts her Pro 6 on an easel when she uses the pen extensively and thinks that the pull over mode might be a good alternative. That and she’s not a fan of the keyboard cover for the Pro 6 (too "bouncy’)
First the general question, now that you have had it for a few months, what are your overall impressions of it, especially if you are using it as a primary system?
Second the specific question which to me tells a lot about the relative merits of a system which is, knowing what you know now after significant use, would you buy it again and/or will you be upgrading to the next version (assuming there is one) ?
Thanks
Former owner here but that was due to moving to a Mac mini for full Apple ecosystem. No reflection on the SLS, which I loved till the end; it wouldn’t have mattered what non-Mac I was using.
I feel the same way about the “floppy” Surface keyboards. Never could use them. SLS keyboard is as stable as they come, no issues. I suppose my ThinkPad X1 Extreme had a nicer keyboard. YMMV.
The Xe Graphics 96EU integrated GPU is leaps and bounds better than what’s in the SP6 and sips power lightly. The Nvidia RTX 3050ti is a good match for its thin shell/cooling and does the job when playing newer AAA games at moderate settings or art programs like Rebelle 5 with dripping paint all over the place.
I sound like an advertisement 
. If I had stayed in the Windows ecosystem I would still have it and likely would have upgraded to a next gen version (or the next after), especially if they went AMD next time. But not if they decided to throw a power hog 12th gen Intel in there. Or a watt-thirsty and hot more powerful RTX—a big part of my love for the SLS was due to its efficiency and the performance level was just about right for me (again, an AMD 6800u with RDNA2 iGPU would have been even better.)
Thanks Ted, that’s helpful. I think that the SLS is one of those devices that really need to be evaluated for an extensive period to determine it it’s a fit.
That’s not true of even most devices, but is in some cases, something of which I was reminded of recently with my Fold 3 experience where I was initially in love with it, but as I used it on a daily basis, over time its drawbacks and compromises overwhelmed its benefits, at least for me.
Kind of depends on what the next version would bring to the table. I like the performance (even on just the i5 iGPU version) and how cool it usually runs. I don’t like that the display regularly makes kind of crunchy/creaking/snapping sounds as I flip it around. I don’t like how the display flexes when you lay your hand on it and write on it in tablet mode. And I still don’t love the weight, this thing is a brick, or rather a pavestone. So in all it does everything I need it to do quite well, but I’m not in love with the hardware/industrial design.
Yeah our users have commented on the creaking/cracking sounds as well. The surface books sort of did that as well though to a lesser degree especially when connecting or disconnecting the base.
With those, I’ve seen more than one new user cringe at first until they get used to it.
BTW: as far as overall ruggedness, one our internal users who is to say the least, not the most gentle with his systems, has had the SLS from release day, and so far anyway it’s held up for him, though the outer case looks like he’s done a tour in Somalia 
Yeah oddly I’m not actually all that worried about the screen or the hinge breaking, but it does leave a bad impression.
The other ding that I hope the next model will resolve is the relative difficulty of getting to the SSD. I’m glad it’s possible to get to it at all, but as I said in my security freakout thread, I’d love to be able to stick the SSD in a drive enclosure to investigate it, but that’s not exactly a fun exercise on the SLS. That’s not something the typical buyer will care about though. All in all for my purposes I give it a 7.5 out of 10.
MS should add a SSD hatch like they did with the Pro 8. I would also love to see a (micro)sd port but that probably will not happen (even though it would make sense for potential buyers). Cool design otherwise, especially like the easy dockable pen.
That would be great, although I will say I appreciate that the SSD slot is full length, unlike the 30mm ones in the latest Surface tablets. If they would simply do away with the plastic strip held by double sided tape (or flattened glue?) I’d already be a lot happier.
Perhaps they should go for magnets like eg Framework Laptop.
Question related to earlier security concerns, did or could anyone here try to boot the SLS into Safe Mode with networking? I don’t recall if you need your bitlocker key to do that, so if you’re going to try make sure you have a copy of your bitlocker key somewhere (good idea in general!).
My reason for asking, on my SLS it doesn’t work: seems like there is no generic wifi adapter loaded in “safe mode with networking”, which kind of defeats the purpose! I’d be interested to know whether that’s just me or a general problem with the SLS Win11 install.
FWIW I did the usual SFC and DISM steps, and they claim “all good, no fixes”.
FWIW the only network adapters that work are wired ones that connect via USBC or TB. The good news is that if you can put hands on one most of the more common ones seem to work
Thanks. I tried one of those, no luck. Let me know if you have any suggested models. No worries if it doesn’t work, returns on Amazon prime are free.
Well since you’d have to buy one anyway, I’m almost 100% certain this one works.
I initially was going to suggest a Belkin that we use, but apparently, it’s been discontinued and isn’t showing as available from any of our suppliers
Kind of pleased with myself: I mapped a long-press on the back of the slim pen 2 to an autohotkey script that sends CTRL-W, closing the active document. No more hunting for the tiny “close PDF” icon in one of the tabs of Drawboard PDF. Hold the button, tap save, done. Also basically no chance of accidentally doing this. Nice. I feel like a hacker every time I use it. 
In today’s observation that nobody asked for: I can hear coil whine from the SLS when touch panning. In a totally quiet room I can hear the distinct ‘electronic hiss’ only during the scrolling. Funny. Not a big deal, it’s basically unnoticeable unless it’s dead quiet around.
New Firmware release, claiming Windows Hello improvements. I’ve definitely have had instances where the SLS couldn’t use Windows Hello because of some software issue, so hopefully this fixes that.
Apologies if this has been addressed already: From time to time, very good deals on the Microsoft SLS can be had where I live. Currently there is one vendor who offers excellent deals on the i7/32GB Ram/1Tb option, but with the RTX A2000 mobile GPU.
Is there a difference between the RTX A2000 mobile and the RTX 3050ti? I´m working mainly in Photoshop as a freelance illustrator, but am also doing a lot of photography with RAW file editing.
Would I notice any differences between both GPUs?
Good question! From the information on Microsoft’s website it looks like if anything the RTX A2000 perform better, but I don’t recall reading any first-person impressions comparing these.
And FWIW, Ars Technica came to the same conclusion in their review, writing the following below one of their performance comparison charts:
Note that the Nvidia RTX A2000 in our review unit is only available to people buying the Laptop Studio for businesses. The consumer versions use an RTX 3050 Ti. Gaming performance should be nearly identical between the two, since they share essentially the same key specs and underlying GPU architecture.
FWIW at launch MS told us that the RTX A2000 was chosen for it’s above average performance in higher end graphics applications, a use which they believe best fits the likely buyer of a device like this.
Of course that could be just spin by MS…
