Microsoft Surface Studio Waves Off Desktops

Microsoft All-in-One is here! And as the first iMac, it is meant to change the world of desktops as we know it.

Meet the Surface Studio – the first ever tablet and desktop- all in one.

It is an ultra-thin touch display, built on two chromium reflective supports with revised Zero Gravity adjustable hinges, which is mounted on a box-shaped base. Everything is meant to camouflage with the environment, leaving just the display to look at. With a resolution of 4500 x 3000 and 192 ppi, Microsoft promises we won’t be able to discern a single pixel; no matter the distance from which we watch the screen. You can either use it as a display, or lower it down and use it as a tablet. Which will be convenient, since Microsoft Studio is meant for artist, illustrators and designers. Its top features are True Color and True Scale. With True Color, you can render the world as it is.

With True Scale – you can measure it as it is. The one inch on the screen matches the one inch in reality.

Another jaw-dropping feature of the Surface Studio, is the Surface Dial. It’s a new manipulator with a haptic feedback engine, which can be used either on a table or on the screen. Microsoft engineers have further developed the PixelSense technology, which was first introduced in Surface 2, that could recognize real object put on it. When put on the screen, Surface Dial can change the color palette and creative soft menu of options that work like a real dial. It is back compatible with Surface Pro 3, Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book as well.

Creative software can be very hardware consuming, and Microsoft engineers have tried to make up for that in advance. With a 1 TB or 2 TB hybrid drive, you can be assured that you’ll have enough storage space for your project. And with at least 8 GB of RAM, your system should never lag. Just to be on the safe side however, some people opt for the top model, which has 32 GB of RAM available.

The bad news is, Microsoft stayed with Skylake processors instead of the much rumored Kaby Lake, but dropped i3 iterations of it. Surface Studio is powered with i5 and i7 only. There is no USB 3.1 and USB-type C; just USB 3.0. Obviously, Microsoft concentrated on PixelSense possibilities and didn’t pay much attention to connectivity issues. Nowadays, when even budget laptops sport USB type C, this is a rather strange solution.

Surface Studio supports the Microsoft security system, Windows Hello, and also has a face sign-in camera aboard, in order to complement the front and the rear HD webcams.

The new Microsoft product we saw today is meant primarily for artists and designers, since it’s no home entertainment center. It does support wireless Xbox controls (as much as four of them) however. At $2,999, the price will determine its target audience.