Wednesday, October 26th 2016
Microsoft Announces the Surface Studio - A 28-Inch AIO With Skylake and GTX 980M
At the 2016 annual Microsoft Surface Event, Microsoft's corporate vice president for Surface Computing Panos Panay announced a new addition to the company's Surface lineup: a 28-inch All-in-One, with a 3:2 aspect ratio monitor Microsoft calls a "Pixel Sense Display", packing a 4500x3000 resolution (with around 62% more pixels than 4K resolution, combining to provide about 192 pixels per inch), as well as 10-point touch and Microsoft Pen support.
All of that screen real-estate comes in at just 12.5mm thick - the AIO's innards are actually on the monitor's base, with an hinge that promises to allow the display to be moved seamlessly and in a wide variety of angles, as well as allowing it to take on extra weight in studio mode. All of this is powered by an Intel Skylake processor (configurable as an i5 or i7 model), your choice of an NVIDIA GTX 965 M 2GB or an NVIDIA GTX 980 M 4 GB model, 8 through 32 GB of DDR4 RAM, and a 1 TB or 2TB storage - with all configurable options also including in their base specs what Microsoft calls a "Rapid Hybrid Drive", which at the moment, remains unclear as to its nature of either a SATA or PCIe SSD, or even an SSHD.
The product is positioned more towards content creators than consumers, though it can certainly service both of those demographics. For those looking to take a more professional use out of their Surface Studio, Microsoft is advertising the display as supporting both DCI-P3 and sRGB with a simple toggle on the Windows sidebar to switch between the two. Microsoft is also launching what it calls a Microsoft Dial, which when in contact with the Surface Studio's screen, allows users to move along a timeline by simply rotating the dial, or pressing it so as to get a contextual menu related to the app they're currently using.
Pricing for this piece of tech, which looks more like a statement of style rather than technical achievement (with the hardware parts, with exception of the Pixel Sense Screen, being a generation old), is sure to prove eye-watering to any normal consumer: the base model (with a Skylake i5, GTX 965 M, 8 GB DDR4 and 1 TB storage) comes in at $2999, with the top model (packing a Skylake i7, a GTX 980 M, 32 GB of DDR4 RAM and 2 TB storage) upping the ante towards $4199.
All of that screen real-estate comes in at just 12.5mm thick - the AIO's innards are actually on the monitor's base, with an hinge that promises to allow the display to be moved seamlessly and in a wide variety of angles, as well as allowing it to take on extra weight in studio mode. All of this is powered by an Intel Skylake processor (configurable as an i5 or i7 model), your choice of an NVIDIA GTX 965 M 2GB or an NVIDIA GTX 980 M 4 GB model, 8 through 32 GB of DDR4 RAM, and a 1 TB or 2TB storage - with all configurable options also including in their base specs what Microsoft calls a "Rapid Hybrid Drive", which at the moment, remains unclear as to its nature of either a SATA or PCIe SSD, or even an SSHD.
Pricing for this piece of tech, which looks more like a statement of style rather than technical achievement (with the hardware parts, with exception of the Pixel Sense Screen, being a generation old), is sure to prove eye-watering to any normal consumer: the base model (with a Skylake i5, GTX 965 M, 8 GB DDR4 and 1 TB storage) comes in at $2999, with the top model (packing a Skylake i7, a GTX 980 M, 32 GB of DDR4 RAM and 2 TB storage) upping the ante towards $4199.
55 Comments on Microsoft Announces the Surface Studio - A 28-Inch AIO With Skylake and GTX 980M
2. Maxwell because because mobile Pascal is very new
3. The Dial looks really, really cool
Someone on Ars Technica mentioned that it's a PCIe SSD, but that would be insane for that price so I think a hybrid of sorts. That screen, that touch technology and 1TB PCIe SSD for $2999?
I really look forward to the Apple event tomorrow, to see if they come up with anything remotely as cool as this.
If Apple will have a portfolio half as good as Microsoft's one they should consider themselves lucky. I can't imagine this (today) being topped. I just can't.
- The price of a Mac (in fact, way more overpriced)
- The in-mobility of a desktop
- The lousy performance and thermals of a laptop
What a deal! Get it now before they run out of outdated hardware.
The only good thing about this is the screen aspect ratio.
But who knows, maybe it's some lame business/profit driven reason :\
I half expected to see integrated graphics or a 950M with that design, so I'm actually kind-of impressed with the (configurable) specs.
As a product aimed at design industries, this thing is amazing. I would go to the point that Microsoft keeps out-appling Apple, first with the laptop lines, and now with this.
But hardware being a full gen behind (same applies to the new book) puts a downer on things (even if there might be other issues like praze mentions). Whilst it doesn't matter for the wider market, it makes me pause to put down the amount of cash they are after.
"Tycho asked me to compare it to my Cintiq, and I told him that drawing on the Cintiq now felt like drawing on a piece of dirty plexiglass hovering over a CRT monitor from 1997. "
A similar monitor (the 5120x2880 Dell 2715k) alone is €1000). Add the touch and ... nothing even competes with this. There are drawing boards of similar size, but they alone cost close to what this does.
And BTW, my desktop definitelt weighs more than 9.5kg.Ad I said, Pascal is a very new chip and this has been in the works for some time.
This competes nicely against Wacom and Apple. More competition in that part of the market the better.
Plus, most art programs don't really require high end "Gaming" GPUs to do work.DAMN! It blows the Cintiq out!? Ok, I might finally replace my Cintiq with this bad boy. Plus, be easier to setup too instead of my monster 30+ pound Cintiq.
I mean specially for that price....
Of course none of them are cheap. Most monitors in the range are geared to professional work and content creation.
27HD Cintiq runs for $2,799.
Or this lovely lot. www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2402114,00.asp
Of course none of those allow drawing right on the screen. Not many have that tech. Wacom for the longest was king of that hill. At least Microsoft and Apple are competing with them.
Hmmm, Cintiq releasing the MobileStudio 16 next month. Seems these next few months going to be interesting around these types of screens.
....holy moly, I want that dial.
Holy FLIP! Just learn the dial going to be allowed to work with all Windows machines.