The web’s appetite for rumors didn’t let Microsoft keep all the details about its big event under wraps. The main leak pointed to a new all-in-one member of the Surface family. But the Surface Studio is far more than that. With a giant display, top-tier accessories, a design of variable geometry, and respectable hardware, the Surface Studio is shaping up to be Microsoft’s solid “first desktop computer” and also the market’s first “anti-iMac” system.
From interactive surface to desktop computer
Before we go on, a small trick question: do you remember the Microsoft Surface? Not the current product line, but the hybrid between a computer and an interactive table announced in May 2007. Over the years, that Surface became PixelSense, but what I want to emphasize is that Microsoft has been playing with object recognition and smart surfaces for almost a decade. Back then we wondered how long it would take for that Surface to reach homes and offices. Well, Microsoft gave us the answer yesterday with the Surface Studio. History will call it the company’s first desktop computer, but in users’ eyes it sits well above that generic description.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/BzMLA8YIgG0A display that changes shape
The first thing to highlight about the Surface Studio is its size. The main components are packed into a relatively small volume, but the display is like a distant cousin of an aircraft carrier: 28 inches, 4,500 by 3,000 pixels in a 3:2 aspect ratio, and multi-touch support with ten simultaneous points. Of the 9.5 kilograms the Surface Studio weighs, 6.1 belong to the display. The machine is already impressive in its “desktop mode,” but the so-called “Zero Gravity Hinge” lets users adjust the screen’s angle with extreme ease, down to a minimum of 20 degrees, to switch to “studio mode” and start drawing.
Of course, that implies a stylus, but there’s another element in the equation: the Surface Dial. Volume control, auxiliary button, advanced function menu, a “digital stamp” that duplicates elements… the list goes on. The Dial works on the screen or off it, and Microsoft has said there will be an API for developers to add support to their products.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/jurc3SxztGwInside the Surface Studio
If we focus a bit more on the Surface Studio’s internals, we find sixth-generation Intel Core i5 and i7 chips, accompanied by Nvidia GeForce GTX 965M and 980M graphics, RAM from 8 to 32 GB, and hybrid storage options of 1 or 2 TB (a hard drive with an SSD as cache).
What creators think
To close, I asked for and sought out opinions from those Microsoft is trying to win over with this computer: designers, illustrators, architects, engineers. Creators, in a word. Some watched the keynote, others stuck to the ads, and the responses, to my surprise, are quite similar: The iMac is no longer alone in the ring. Others added that it’s the end of the Wacom Cintiq family, unless it adopts a much more aggressive price. And regarding price... the Surface Studio goes without anesthesia: $2,999, $3,499, and $4,199, depending on configuration.
