NEVER turn a water damaged laptop on again after only 3 hours. Complete madness.

Yes and needing files off it is not a good reason. Get the files off the disk. Don't fry the $3000 computer.

This is the way.... I had this happened to my Surface Book when I was away from home and I was able to immediately detach the keyboard and flip it around. I managed to get home with the keyboard upside down and placed it on top of a dehumidifier overnight. The next day everything was working perfectly. This was like 5 years ago and my Surface Book still works.

Now the Surface Studio Laptop has everything inside the chassis in contrast to the Book that houses most behind the screen, so you have to be even more careful.

Turn it the hell off first off. Why you would turn it on 3 hours after spilling coffee on it I don't know but you just did way more damage than if you left it off. I would suggest powering it off IMMEDIATELY and lookup how to remove the back cover and battery. Disconnect the SSD to cut all power, then remove the battery cable and back cover. I would then strongly suggest leaving the back cover off and turning it on it's side open like a book. Put it in a well ventilated room away from pets where it can sit like that undisturbed for at least 5 days to fully dry out. Then reassemble and hope you didn't short something by powering it on wet.

I would suggest once it it fully dry doing your best to clean any coffee off the board with 91-99% Isopropyl alcohol and I would then clean the keyboard with distilled water on a microfiber rag. Hopefully it isn't destroyed now, but powering any electronics on after a spill is a really BAD idea.

I had to submit the assignment that I was working on when the incident occurred by the deadline, and the files were on that computer. I also took the back cover off and the motherboard was bone dry. Also, keeping a computer wet for long periods of time could result in rust or other issues. Is there still potential for damage from shorting even if it boots successfully?

As coffee is acidic add some weak base solution that should neutralize it and produce water - dipolar.

May not be the best solution, but like everyone said. Leave it off. Next, sign up for Google Drive, or OneDirve, or Dropbox...somewhere where you can save your flies. Even a good thumb drive would be better.

Then, what I did when I spilled some water on another laptop, I went into the kitchen, put the oven on at about 125 f, and then let the dry heat bake off any water in the laptop. Left it in there for several hours until it was completely cooled, and then turned it on.

No issues with mine as of yet....but, who knows if it would be the same for coffee. I only drink it black, so I imagine it wouldn't be a big deal...but if you use creamer and sugar, this method may not be the best. Then go with the one below with the 91% wood alcohol.

Put it in front of a hot blower heater and blast hot air though it - You need to dry it out completely asap. I spilled a pot of coffee on mine and it went nuts with all sorts of failures. Dried it out quickly and it's been fine since then.

The key is to dry it asap before the damage sets in. A blow heater, a hair dryer or similar - Anything that pushes a lot of hot air through it at force.

OP, it could be the camera but i see a slight bulge around the GHJ area. You might have a r/spicypillows