Surface Studio – The Day After

Yesterday in NYC, Microsoft announced their latest Surface device, the Studio. The AIO (all in one) PC is a premium product that is a hero device for the category and also for Microsoft.

Sure, you could argue that all the Surface devices are hero products for Microsoft but the fact is the Studio is the new show-pony. It’s the new kid at school that everyone wants to meet but is a little unsure if they will be the star quarterback or another rookie who makes big promises and fails deliver.

Now that the lights, fireworks, and glitter have faded a bit and some time has passed, it’s important to look back and evaluate the device again. This is especially important as after the keynote you are able to learn more about the device from Microsoft that may not have been clear during the presentation.

There is no doubt that this device is a premium product. With a starting price of $2999, this is far outside the range of an impulse purchase. In fact, this isn’t the Surface for everyone, not even close – Microsoft is targeting the group of users who use a pen/stylus with their PC. If you don’t use a pen or need a best-in-class display, the Studio is not for you; while you could spend your money to get a sleek looking device, you’d also be wasting a lot of money too.

For $2999, you can build a high-end gaming rig, one that will out-spec the Studio in every way; I am certain of this as I have spent less recently and gotten more than what was announced yesterday. But, what you cannot get, without spending an exuberant amount of money, is a better display.

Even looking at my pictures, some taken with my DSLR or Apple’s (in my opinion) overhyped camera on my iPhone 7, it doesn’t do the display justice. It’s beautiful and has a richness to it that is currently unmatched at the price-point that Microsoft is offering. Further, you get a 3:2 aspect ratio which is a nice change from the 16:9 world we have been living in for far too long.

There are some oddities to the Studio as well, for starters, the GPU is dated; Pascal is all the rage these days and the latest and greatest from Microsoft doesn’t use the latest and greatest available today. Further, the hard drive in the PC is a hybrid setup; it has a traditional platter drive married to a solid state drive. If this sounds familiar, this is what Apple calls its ‘Fusion’ drive.

Microsoft doesn’t have a cute name for its storage devices and it doesn’t need one, which raises the question of why did they go this route. My theory about why they did this is to save money and that many will likely cross-shop this with an iMac that has the same configuration. But, you are still paying at least $2999 for some older-style hardware and that may not sit well with everyone.

While Microsoft did show off same gaming capabilities with the device (it has the receiver for Xbox controller built in), I can’t see many buying this to use for that activity. The LCD, while fanta...

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