While it's faster than the GTX 980M graphics in the first Studio, the new model still isn't powerful enough to play many games at the display's full 4,500-by-3,000 pixel resolution (that's even tougher to handle than 4K) -- at least, not if you want to reach a smooth 60 FPS. Forza Horizon 4 reached around 32 FPS at that insane resolution, which could be decent for some gamers, but it simply looked too sluggish for me. But I'll always value higher frame rates over more pixels on the screen.

Nobody will be buying one as a gaming rig, but it would have been nice to see Microsoft cram in the more powerful GTX 1080 GPU. Even better, a Thunderbolt 3 port would have been a huge addition, because it would have let you use external GPU docks to bump up its graphics capabilities even more.

The machine's CPU upgrade is a similar story — now it includes the seventh-generation Core i7 7820HQ, which is better at handling 4K video than the sixth-generation processor from its predecessor. But once again, the Studio is a step behind everyone else. Intel's eighth-generation CPUs have been out for over a year — it's confusing that Microsoft didn't use one of those instead.

Clearly, this is a machine made for productivity. And it has all of the ports you'd need to get some serious work done. There are four USB 3.0 ports (including one high-power), an SD card reader, USB-C, gigabit ethernet and, of course, a headphone jack.

The Surface Pen is bundled in the box, and it remains one of the best digital styluses around. It's comfortable, feels great when writing on the screen and when you're not using it, it sticks to the side of the screen magnetically. Microsoft isn't promoting the $100 Surface Dial as much this time around, but it's still available and is useful for anyone working in supported apps like OneNote and AutoDesk Sketchbook. I didn't have one to test this time, but with the last model, I was impressed with the potential for its off-hand controls, because you could tweak settings without dropping the stylus.

In use