It seems apparent, at this point, that Microsoft is interested not only in creating premium hardware, but creating specialist hardware at that: The Surface Studio is not only eye-wateringly expensive, but a device that can only justify its existence if you really need that pen input. If you’re an artist, video editor, or have some other job where you’re going to lay it flat and write on it, great, but it’s hard for me to imagine anyone else stretching to that price.
To a slightly less extreme degree, Surface Pro and Surface Book are the same: they’re devices that a prosumer might stretch to just because they wanted them, but for the most part they only really make sense if you have that specialized use case. Do you need the pen. Do you need that device type, or would you be better off with a traditional laptop?
But Microsoft doesn’t make that. They don’t make a cheaper, mainstream all in one. They don’t make a mainstream laptop. The OEMs have that covered to a degree, but they’re still loading them down with crapware for the most part, and Signature is still going nowhere, even though its wide adoption might obviate the need for Microsoft to make more mainstream computers. Should they bite the bullet and make a “normal” laptop? A “normal” desktop? Or just stick with the specialized items they’ve produced thusfar?