Microsoft’s big-screen Surface Studio is an engineering marvel

Microsoft’s event unveiling the new Surface Studio just wrapped up, and we had a few minutes to stare straight into the gorgeous display of the company’s first “all-in-one” computer. Based on how Microsoft introduced this new product, the company really wants creators of all types to use the Studio, including visual artists, architects, writers or even accountants. The company thinks that being able to really immerse yourself in a display of this quality, size and capability will change how people do their work.

Unfortunately, in the glare-filled room, it was hard to get a sense of just how brilliant the display is — or what it’s like to really use the computer as Microsoft intends — but there’s no doubt this is an impressive canvas. The 28-inch, 4,500 x 3,000 display looks extremely bright and sharp, as you’d expect, and the degree of thinness here is just shocking. The relatively small bezels mean you lose yourself more in the screen than just about any other device out there.

And unlike many other devices that get thinner with no real reason, there’s an obvious advantage here: the thin screen plus the highly engineered arm and hinge system means it’s very easy to put this display at any angle you might want. Oddly, it reminds me a little bit of the iMac G4 that Apple made so many years ago — that sense of being able to manipulate and move the display into just the right position for the work you’re doing is unique.

All of the polish we’ve grown to expect from the Surface line is here in the Studio. The much-touted ability to tilt the screen down is as smooth as butter. And the display stays in place no matter what angle you set it at, while the hinge is strong enough to stay in place as you draw on it. Once you start to lean on it at all, you’ll end up with the screen as fast as it goes. Though, as we learned when trying it out, you’ll want to keep your desk clear below it if you want it to tilt down to the maximum 20-degrees — otherwise you’ll squash your keyboard or anything else around it.

Obviously, we haven’t had a chance yet to really put this machine through a rigorous test yet, but we did get to try out the pen and Surface Dial. The responsiveness of the Surface Pen feels even better than on the Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book. It could also be that having a sturdy surface and a large display make it easier to write on a touchscreen. But pressure sensitivity and overall response rate is excellent.

The Surface Dial feels entirely new — there’s very little to compare it to. It’s incredibly smooth to spin it, whether you place it on a desk or on the screen. And while there’s nothing that makes it adhere directly to the Surface Studio display, there’s some degree of friction that keeps it in place (when the computer is laying down, anyway). It’s really meant for you to hold up on the display as you’re using it. The Dial has different functions in every app, in Word it could help with formatting, while in Photoshop it can help you manage your palette. It feels pretty great in your hand, and rotating it is fairly smooth as well. But it seems there will be a bit of a learning curve for most people.

It’s going to be all up to developers to integrate the Dial in a way that makes it a compelling accessory, but we imagine at the very least Microsoft’s first-party apps will all have clever Dial functionality built-in by the time the Studio ships.

From a ports perspective, there’s not too much of note here — not surprising, given how small the actual box holding most of the components is. There are four USB 3 ports, an SD card slot, a mini Displayport connector, an ethernet jack and the critical headphone jack. It’s not a bad array, but a few USB-C slots probably wouldn’t have hurt.

Microsoft’s new wireless keyboard and mouse also feel pretty great, but that’s been true of their input devices for decades now. The keyboard has a nice amount of travel, making it easy to start pounding out sentences quickly with no issue. The mouse curves into your hand nicely, and has particularly satisfying clicks.

Ultimately, our first impressions of the Surface Studio are that it’s a remarkable piece of engineering, from the thin display to the hinge to the way the Dial interacts with the touchscreen. But it’s going to take a lot more time and testing to say if Microsoft’s vision of how people can use this computer to create and get things done makes sense. Though, even if you don’t want to put the screen down in canvas mode and start drawing on it, it still appears to be a hell of a computer, one that we’re looking forward to using more as soon as possible.

If you want to try it yourself, you can pre-order the Surface Studio starting today for $2,999, with delivery expected in mid-December. Microsoft did say that supplies will be limited this year, so if you really have your heart set on this machine, don’t dawdle.

Devindra Hardawar contributed to this report.

Microsoft’s 2016 Surface event by the numbers

Microsoft held its Surface 2016 event in New York on Wednesday and spent just over two hours showing off its newest laptop, the Surface Book i7, a slew of forthcoming VR headsets (not to mention a bunch of new ways to create content for them) and a ginormous digital drafting desk slash all-in-one computer, the Surface Studio.

Click here to catch all the latest news from Microsoft’s big Surface event.

Microsoft Announces Surface Book i7, Desktop PC ‘Surface Studio,’ and Windows 10 Creators Update

At its media event today in New York City, Microsoft announced a new update coming to Windows 10 devices that’s focused on creativity and productivity tools, as well as two major new pieces of hardware: the Surface Book i7 and Surface Studio. The Surface Book is the second generation of last year’s original model, while the Surface Studio is the company’s all new, all-in-one desktop PC that’s aimed at the high-end, enterprise market with a starting price of $2,999.

Windows 10 Creators Update

Coming in early 2017, Microsoft today announced the newest update for Windows 10 devices, which it calls the “Creators Update.” In the update, the company aims to enhance user productivity with a collection of 3D creation tools, including a new update to Paint called “Paint 3D,” that use simplified interfaces to let anyone work and produce fully 3D artwork and projects. With a Windows Phone — and eventually coming to more devices — users can even scan real-world objects into digital form to send to friends and family.

Microsoft also showed off the upcoming “3D magic” in the Creators Update using Hololens, including a way for users to preview pieces of furniture in their own homes from a web browser. Windows 10 is gaining support for various VR headsets from companies like HP, Lenovo, Asus, and Acer, that all let users interact with the Creators Update’s “mixed-reality” abilities, including a feature called “Holo Tours” that transports Windows 10 users into 360-degree videos taken around the world.

Priority contacts will be placed on the Windows 10 toolbar in the Creators Update, making it easy to send documents, PowerPoint presentations, pictures, videos, and more by simply dragging and dropping the information onto the corresponding contact. Likewise, these contacts will gain urgent priority when sending anything to you so users can “cut through the noise,” and avoid missing emails and texts from close family and friends.

Surface Book i7

The first piece of hardware that Microsoft announced today was the Surface Book i7, which has doubled performance from last year’s model and an improved 16 hours of battery life, 30 percent more than the first generation. The laptop’s name comes from its included Intel Core i7 Processor, and Microsoft said the top-of-the-line version outperforms the high-end MacBook Pro three times over.

Surface Book i7 with Performance Base, which includes professional software meant for intensive tasks, starts at $2,399 (256GB with 8GB RAM) and goes up to $3,299 (1TB with 16GB RAM). The laptop will be launching next month, on November 10.

Surface Studio

As a companion to Surface Book i7, Microsoft also announced an all-in-one PC called Surface Studio that has the “thinnest LCD monitor ever built” and a 12.5mm thin touch screen. The 28-inch PixelSense Display has 13.5 million pixels and a feature called “TrueColor” that displays colors as close to they are in real life. The company said that there’s “no monitor like this on the planet.”

The PC can also fold down and lay at an angle, enhancing the “studio” aspect of the title and aimed at artists and drawing programs. The computer can be pushed down to a 20 degree angle using a “zero gravity hinge,” making it easy to adjust the viewing angle of the Surface Studio with just one hand. To help with adding new creation tools, Microsoft also introduced the “Surface Dial,” which can work off the Studio’s screen with various scrolling and adjustment controls.

When placed on the screen, the Surface Studio recognizes Surface Dial’s location dynamically and offers up new prompts, buttons, and toolsets for artists in apps like Photoshop. This allows users to “more seamlessly move through their workflow,” according to Microsoft, without having to fiddle with other toolbar options or programs while they’re working.

The Surface Studio’s processing unit is housed in the small silver box at its base. The cheapest model of Surface Studio includes an Intel Core i5 processor, 1TB SSD, 8GB RAM, and a 2GB GPU for $2,999. That jumps up to $3,499 for an Intel Core i7 processor and 16GB RAM, with the top-of-the-line model running for $4,199 with a 2TB SSD, i7 processor, 32GB RAM, and 4GB GPU. Pre-orders are up now, but the Surface Studio ships slightly later in the year, on December 15.

Miscellaneous

On the gaming side of things, the company said that the Creators Update will even stretch into the company’s Xbox platform, including a new focus on e-sports and streaming broadcasts through a new partnership with Beam. With a new tournament creation mode, users will be able to set up and customize brackets and invite their friends to duke it out in games like Killer Instinct, without having to focus on the administrative side of the experience.

Besides the Surface Book and Surface Studio, users can also pre-order the Surface Dial for $99, with an expected ship date on November 10. Anyone who pre-orders the Surface Studio will get a Dial included in the box. The company has updated its online storefront with information on all of the new devices, including a comparison chart for anyone trying to figure out which Surface is right for them.

Tags: Microsoft, Microsoft Surface
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