Microsoft Surface Studio review – CNET

The Good The Surface Studio has a fantastic 28-inch screen with excellent color, mounted on smooth hinges that fold down to an artist-friendly angle. The excellent Surface Pen stylus returns and the new Surface Dial shows promise. Every model has good-to-great dedicated graphics hardware.

The Bad Surface Studio is extremely expensive, and doesn’t include the flashy Dial accessory by default. It skips newer graphics chips that support VR hardware. Support for the Dial is limited right now, and even compatible programs don’t always use it in a practical way. A couple of front-mounted USB ports or a Thunderbolt connection would’ve been nice.

The Bottom Line Microsoft’s ambitious love letter to creative professionals is the touchscreen iMac of your dreams — albeit crazy expensive and running Windows.

Everyone likes an underdog, and in the case of computer hardware, tech giant Microsoft is the dog at the bottom of the pile. After years of letting hardware partners like Dell, HP and Lenovo build an army of Windows laptops and desktops, Microsoft is finally showing the world how to make cool PCs, first with the Surface Pro tablet (now in its fourth iteration), then with the Surface Book laptop, which debuted in 2015.

Now comes the Surface Studio, the company’s first desktop PC. Surface Studio is easily the most attention-grabbing new PC design of the season, even if most of its individual ideas — external control knobs, tabletop PCs — have been seen before in different contexts.

The Studio is a 28-inch all-in-one Windows PC, with a screen that folds all the way down to a low drafting table angle of 20 degrees. Its better-than-4K 4,500×3,000-pixel resolution touchscreen can display a very wide color range (Adobe sRGB or P3 color spaces). It works with the same Surface Pen that came with last year’s Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book, but a new optional wireless knob input device — dubbed Surface Dial — is what really made the Surface Studio feel different.

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After a week of testing — and seeking the input of two creative professionals — we found the Surface Studio to be a promising artistic tool, albeit a pricey one that still needs a bit of polish on the software front. And at this price, we’d like to see a few hardware compromises eliminated, too. But if you ever wanted the Windows equivalent of an artist-friendly touchscreen iMac, the Studio deserves serious consideration.

The Studio debuted just a day before Apple unveiled its the new MacBook Pro and its Touch Bar — and the reactions seemed diametrically opposed. Many longtime Apple fans felt, at least from afar, that the new Macs were full of compromises for power users: just a tiny touchscreen strip above the laptop’s keyboard; Apple’s shock therapy conversion on ports — only Thunderbolt-enabled USB-C; and no updates to the long-neglected iMac and
Mac Pro
lines.

Microsoft’s totally new Studio and Surface Dial provided a stark, inventive contrast, especially for graphic designers, artists and video editors who scooped up new Macs without question in years past.

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Using the Surface Dial on the Studio screen.

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Of course, both the new MacBook Pros and Surface Studio shared one common trait: sticker shock. The Surface Studio, which costs anywhere from $2,999 to $4,199 in the US, doesn’t even come with the $99 Surface Dial in the box. That reminds me of the keyboard cover for the Surface Pro line, which is an extra $129, no matter what configuration of Surface Pro it’s paired with. Note, however, that through December 1, anyone who preorders a Surface Studio from the Microsoft Store will get the Dial included with their system.

The Surface Studio is not available to even preorder yet in most other countries, but that works out to £2,400 or AU$3,950 on the low end, and £3,365 or AU$5,525 for the high-end, plus £79 or AU$130 for the Dial.

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We tested the $4,199 model, which includes a sixth-generation Intel Core i7 processor (the same generation as in the new MacBook Pro), plus 32GB of RAM and a 2TB hard drive. The new MacBook Pro models have been criticised for offering a maximum of 16GB of RAM, while power users working on things like very large 4K video files prefer the flexibility of 32GB, which can make those files more responsive. The high-end Surface Studio also has an Nvidia 980M GPU, which is a generation behind the latest graphics hardware, but still great for video editing and even gaming. The entry level Studio has an Nvidia 965M GPU, which is still a very good mainstream graphics chip.

Microsoft Surface Studio

Looking through a giant window

The Surface Studio is meant to be a big, bold statement product, both for the company behind it, and for anyone who buys and uses one. Microsoft’s first desktop PC is a huge slab of glass and metal, perched on two shiny chrome arms connected to a squat matte gray base. It has a certain amount of iMac DNA in its design, with similarities in color, the glossy black screen bezel and the minimalist one-cable (for power) design.

The big difference in design philosophy between them is that Apple builds its computer components into the back of the display itself, which is tapered at the edges, but expands into a shallow bowl in the center. Microsoft packs the computer hardware into its square base, allowing the display itself to be uniformly thin, at 12.5 mm, which is thinner than most laptops.

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An Apple iMac next to the Surface Studio.

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Apple calls its better-than-4K iMac screen a 5K display, while Microsoft calls its very high-res screen PixelSense. It has 4,500×3,000 pixels, which makes it great for very high-resolution photography, big design projects or 4K video editing. The display is incredibly bright and bold, and includes support for three color profiles, sRGB, DCI-P3 and a “vivid” mode, which seems to overdrive the brightness and color slightly, but it makes for an eye-catching effect. The standard for most people will be sRGB, but 4K content, either streaming or from a 4K Blu-ray player, is usually in DCI-P3, so it’s an important option for video professionals to have.

A desktop that hugs your desk

Dial aside, the big feature that separates the Surface Studio from other all-in-one PCs is its zero-gravity hinge. This means it operates with very little force, and will stay in any position you move it into. The display sits on two chrome arms that Microsoft says operate like the spring-loaded arms of a desk lamp. Give it a gentle tug from the top or bottom, and it effortlessly glides into a new position.

The screen starts a bit past 90 degrees, which puts it perpendicular to the table, then goes all the way down to 20 degrees, where it looks like a drafting table, which is exactly the feel Microsoft is going for to appeal to stylus-loving digital artists.

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It doesn’t go all the way flat, which was a look we encountered several times in systems we referred to as “tabletop” PCs — essentially big-screen tablets with folding hinges that allowed them to lie flat on a surface, or be propped up like a big all-in-one PC. That category was briefly active a few years ago, but we haven’t seen any new models in some time.

When the Surface Studio is folded down to 20 degrees, you’re at a great angle to work on the screen with the optional Surface Dial and the included Surface Pen accessory. The Pen is the same smart stylus from last year’s Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book, which has 1,024 levels of pressure sensitivity and an eraser/click button at the top end. Clicking that button brings up Microsoft’s Windows Inking apps, including sticky notes and a sketchpad, and in other stylus-enabled Windows systems, I’ve found those to be handy if simple tools.

More ports, not fewer

In some ways, Microsoft is taking the exact opposite approach as Apple. Where the new MacBook Pro is rigorously minimalist, with only USB-C Thunderbolt ports, Surface Studio has multiple USB-A ports, an SD card slot, a Mini DisplayPort and even an Ethernet jack. One complaint: all of those ports are on the rear of the Studio’s base — how about moving one USB and the SD slot to the front?

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And while the new MacBook Pro offers AMD Radeon discrete graphics in its 15-inch version, Microsoft is aligned with rival Nvidia. The Surface Book has the Nvidia 965M as a GPU option, and the Surface Studio goes from the 965M all the way to the 980M, a mobile GPU usually seen in laptops that cost at least $2,000.

But, it’s also potentially a sign of just how long the Surface Studio has been in the works. Nvidia has moved on to a new generation of graphics chips, the new 10 series (the equivalent would be the Nvidia GeForce 1060 or 1080), which does away with the line between desktop graphics and mobile graphics, previously marked with the “M” designation. The new GeForce 1080 is more powerful than the old 980M, sure — but the real advantage the Surface Studio misses out on is the ability to officially support virtual reality headsets. For a device targeted at visual artists, a category which could include 3D modelers or game programmers, that seems like a real missed opportunity.

The Surface Studio model we tested is the high-end configuration with the Nvidia 980M graphics chip. While the specs don’t meet the official guidelines for the HTC Vive or Oculus Rift, some VR experiences may run, but your mileage may vary.

Panasonic Lumix LX10 review – CNET

The Good Excellent photo quality for the money, a good lens and a broad feature set highlight the Panasonic Lumix LX10/LX15’s strengths.

The Bad Mediocre battery life, a slippery grip and hard-to-feel record button may annoy some people.

The Bottom Line While it doesn’t stand out in any particular aspect, the Panasonic Lumix LX10/LX15 is a fine camera to consider for everyday photography with advanced controls.

No matter how much I try to come up with a recommendation about the Lumix LX10, I keep circling back to this enthusiast compact as a process-of-elimination choice. The LX10 is the camera to consider: If you don’t want the pocketability of Sony’s RX100 series; don’t want to pay more for the better performance of the higher-end Sony RX100 models; don’t need the long zoom lens of the Lumix ZS100; don’t care about the better photo quality of the larger-sensor Lumix LX100; and don’t care about the better battery life and viewfinder that most of them have. That’s a lot of don’ts.

Panasonic Lumix LX10 full-resolution photo…
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Panasonic’s entry between the more consumer-targeted Lumix ZS100 (aka TZ100, TZ110) and the similarly priced Lumix LX100 just fails to stand out even among its Panasonic siblings. It combines the popular-size 20.1-megapixel 1-inch sensor of the ZS100 with a fast but short-zoom lens like the LX100; the latter has a larger but lower-resolution 12-megapixel Four Thirds-size sensor. But the LX100 still delivers the best photo quality in its price range and the ZS100 has the general-purpose-friendly (relatively) big zoom lens, making them easy choices. The LX10 does provide equal-or-better photo quality overall than competing 1-inch compacts from Sony and Canon. However, its not as fast at many operations as some other cameras, and though the battery life is terrible in a lot of enthusiast compacts, the LX10’s seems shorter than I typically experience.

The LX10 costs $700 and AU$1,000; in the UK it goes by LX15 and runs £600.

Pretty pictures, zippy focus

Overall, photos look excellent for a 1-inch sensor compact — they’re better than the ZS100’s and competitors, in part because of the LX10’s better lens.

Low-light JPEG photos look good through ISO 1600; at ISO 3200 there’s some color noise but still sharp detail in the areas of focus, and beyond that the photos get progressively noisier and muddier as you’d expect. Still, Even at its highest sensitivity level, the LX10’s photos are reasonably good at small sizes, with a surprising among of detail.

On its default color-profile settings (Standard Photo Style) the camera tends to boost contrast, which makes blacks too dense, but shooting raw lets you recover some of the detail, and between about ISO 1600 and ISO 6400 you can get more detail and less smeariness if you’re willing to accept some “grain.” One of the nice aspects of the camera is that it doesn’t look like it’s doing a lot of distortion or fringing correction solely for the JPEGs — it might be doing it before it writes the raw files, or there might not be much to correct — which makes editing the raws a lot easier.

My biggest nitpick here is with the white balance, which looks too blue to me in daylight, and the auto white balance had some trouble with the light color of our test LED panels, rendering with a purplish cast; that’s not unusual, but there are cameras which handle it properly.

The video is also very good. In very low light there’s some noise, it clips highlights and shadows in the default photo Style and blows out areas in bright light like most cameras with the 1-inch sensor. There’s a Natural option that’s lower contrast and you can customize, but the LX10 doesn’t have any of the advanced tonal options for video of the Sony RX100 IV and V.

Analysis samples

At low ISO sensitivities, JPEGs look very clean with sharp detail.

Lori Grunin/CNET

In good light, you’ll start to see a little softening by ISO 1600, and at ISO 3200 and higher JPEGs lose detail progressively.

Lori Grunin/CNET

At its highest ISO sensitivities, the LX10 still retains some distinguishable detail, but there’s significant color noise and smearing from noise reduction.

Lori Grunin.CNET

Under our test lights, the LX10’s automatic white balance produced a notably purple cast; in actual daylight it was a little blue. This isn’t unusual.

Lori Grunin/CNET

In daylight, the LX10 renders very pleasing colors, though the default Photo Style pushes the saturation a little too much for my taste.

Lori Grunin/CNET

The lens produces nice, round out-of-focus highlights and reasonably smooth defocused areas.

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TCL S3750/FP110 series (Roku TV) review – CNET

The Good Roku TV delivers the best smart-TV experience on the market. A superb user interface makes its thousands of apps and streaming video easy to use from the TV’s own simple remote. It’s also less expensive and more frequently updated than just about any other smart TV.

The Bad Competing entry-level TVs, namely Vizio’s E series, deliver better image quality for a bit more money. No Ethernet port.

The Bottom Line For buyers happy with “good enough” picture quality the TCL Roku TV is our favorite entry-level model, thanks to an awesome smart-TV suite and rock-bottom pricing.

This Black Friday and holiday season you can buy any number of dirt-cheap TVs, and many of them might even cost a few bucks less than Roku TVs made by TCL. The 32-inch version sells for an almost unbelievably inexpensive $125 at Walmart, for example, but some Black Friday deals are even cheaper.

I’d still take the Roku TV, however. To stream Netflix and other stuff to one of those other TVs you’ll probably have to connect an external device like a Chromecast or Roku Express, and eat into the savings by at least $30. Even if you have a streamer already (like a game console), you’ll have to juggle a second remote. The whole arrangement can’t match the simplicity and range of apps offered by a Roku TV.

The fact that you don’t have to connect an external streaming device, combined with their dirt-cheap prices, makes TCL’s Roku TVs our go-to ultrabudget budget pick at modest screen sizes this year.

TCL S3750 and FP110 series (Roku TV)
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Their main competition, as I see it, comes from Vizio’s entry-level E series. It offers the equivalent of a Chromecast built in, comes in larger screen sizes and, most important, has a better overall picture in its local dimming models (40 inches and up). The downside? It’s more expensive in general, and built-in Roku beats built-in Chromecast hands-down.

If you want a better picture in a cheap TV, then by all means grab one of Vizio’s local dimming sets, or an even nicer TV, and maybe connect a Roku streamer to it. But if you just want a simple, no-frills smart TV with “good enough” image quality for as little cash as possible, TCL’s Roku TVs win.

Editors’ note: The video above was shot with another 2015 series of Roku TVs, but it applies to the models reviewed here in every important way beyond styling.

Series, pricing and alternate model information: I performed a hands-on evaluation of the 32-inch TCL 32S3750 and the 55-inch TCL 55FS3750, but this review also applies to the 28-inch, 40-inch and 48-inch, members of the FS3750 series, as well as the 43-inch TCL 43FP110 and the 49-inch 49FP110. All sizes have identical specs, aside from the 720p resolution and motion specification on the 28-inch and 32-inch sizes (see below for details). Technically the S3750 is a 2015 model (TCL says it remains current, however) and the FP110 is a 2016 model, but according to TCL all of these TVs should provide similar picture quality — their only difference is in design.

Here’s how they stack up. Prices are from Amazon and, in the case of the 32-inch and 55-inch models, Walmart. They’re current as of press time November 17, 2016, but don’t be surprised if they’re different when you check. For example, that $125 price on the 32-inch set will also be available from Amazon for Black Friday.

TCL S3750 and FS110 series Roku TVs

Last year I reviewed the FS3800 series along with Roku TVs from Insignia and Sharp, and all delivered very similar image quality to the FS3750. Earlier this year I reviewed 4K Roku TV models from TCL and Insignia, and again image quality was similar — and not much better than the non-4K versions. TCL’s 4K US5800 series, however, might be even cheaper at 55 inches than the 1080p sets reviewed here. If that’s the case, I recommend the 4K models.

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Smart TV meets simple TV

You’re not paying extra for fancy metal finish or glass accents here. TCL’s sets are bare-bones, with a thin, glossy black frame and prominent logos, including one for HDMI and another for Roku along the bottom.

All of the S3750 and FS110 sets have the two-legged stand design that supposedly helps prevent toppling. The two are “cosmetically differentiated” according to Roku, but they look almost identical. The main difference is in the stand legs, which are more rounded on the FS110 models.

I remain a huge fan of Roku’s simple remote for TVs. It’s tiny, with just a few buttons, and unless you dial in channel numbers from an antenna you probably won’t miss the absent ones. I especially like the side-mounted volume control/mute and the shortcut buttons.

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One issue with buying an S3750 from 2015? One of the remote shortcuts keys goes to Rdio, a music service that shut down last year. Roku’s messaging is (as usual) clear and helpful, however, directing you to other music services on the platform.

Simplicity reigns with Roku’s menu design. The main difference between its streaming devices and its TVs is the handful of icons along the top of the main home screen, like “Antenna TV,” “DVR,” “Blu-Ray player” and “HDMI 3.” You’ll choose a name for your connected gadget during the setup process, and you can easily change it later or hide unused inputs.

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Roku TVs have access to all the thousands of apps found on Roku’s platform, which still offers better coverage than any competitor, smart TV or otherwise. Netflix, Amazon, YouTube, Hulu, Plex, HBO Now, Showtime, Sling TV, PlayStation Vue, Vudu, Google Play Movies and TV, Watch ESPN, Fox Sports Now, FX Now, Comedy Central, Starz, PBS Kids…if there’s a video app that isn’t iTunes, Roku almost certainly has it.

All of the Roku TVs I’ve tested respond quickly and serve up videos with minimal delays. Search is the best in the business overall, and in general the interface is as friendly and simple as it gets. For more info, check out my review of my favorite Roku device, the $50 Streaming Stick.