Microsoft Goes Big with Surface Studio All-in-One PC Michael Kwan October 26, 2016 News Microsoft certainly wasn’t the first company to make a Windows-powered tablet, but the Surface line demonstrates that they might be doing it the best. And so, just as was rumored last month, the Windows maker has come forward with an all-in-one PC of its own and they’re calling it the Surface Studio. Because, you know, artists use studios. And artists have a few thousand dollars to spend? Let’s quickly run through some of the highlights. Yes, this is an all-in-one PC but unlike some other versions where the “PC” part is built into the monitor, the Surface Studio has a little brick on the bottom to house all the actual “computer” components. That brick looks quite small, but it packs quite a punch with a quad-core Intel Core i7 processor, 2TB of hybrid storage, 32GB of RAM (wow!), an NVIDIA GPU and integrated 2.1 speakers. Connectivity includes Ethernet, four USB 3.0 ports, and mini DisplayPort, but no Thunderbolt. The 28-inch PixelSense display is fully touchscreen compatible and rocks a rather unconventional 3:2 aspect ratio. It’s got TrueColor to switch between color modes and True Scale, to display print projects at the size they’ll actually be in real life. And then there’s that magical hinge so you can fold the Surface Studio down to be, well, an actual “surface” on your desk to handle your artwork. In addition to the Surface Pen, because artsy people like pens, the Surface Studio is also accompanied by a new accessory called the Surface Dial. The puck-shaped device interacts with the touchscreen in interesting ways. When you’re in a graphics app, for example, you can put the Surface Dial on the screen and spin it around to reveal a color palette. The haptic feedback helps to make it feel like a real dial tool. But you don’t need a new Surface Studio to use the Surface Dial, because it’ll also work with the Surface Pro 3, Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book for “off-screen functions.” Of course, Microsoft will be even happier if you own all of those and use the puck across all of them too. And then, there’s the price. The Surface Studio starts at $2,999 and is available for pre-order now. That’s quite the pretty penny and I imagine you can build a much more powerful PC for that money, but you won’t get all that cool Surface-specific functionality. Shipments will be ready “in limited quantities” this holiday season with in-store demos arriving tomorrow. Via TC Share This With The World!
