Thursday, October 27, 2016

We rub on the Surface Studio: A Windows-pc to Mac-the audience – PC for All

Microsoft’s Surface Studio attack a territory once held by Apple, where they combine elegant design with a massive, impressive screen and a straightforward price tag. We got the chance to test the company’s first own desktop pc after it was announced yesterday. Here’s what stood out:

Even if the specifications are not really located in the top, I felt the computer fast and responsive. In the basic package of 2 999 dollars (about 26 700 tapers) included a sixth generation (Skylake) Core i5 processor, Nvidia Georce GTX 965M 2GB GPU, a 1TB hybridhårdisk and 8GB in RAM.

The more expensive model costs 4 199 u.s. dollars (about 37 400 sek), and consists of a 6th-generation Core i7, 32GB of RAM and a GTX980M GPU, along with 2TB of storage.

Microsoft Surface Studio.
The amazing screen will catch your attention instantly. Photo: Mark Hachman.

What we like the most with the Surface Studio is how it turns, literally, from a simple workstation to an easel for artistic creation. A couple of hinges, lift gracefully the massive 28-inch 4500×3000 Pixelsense screen from an almost vertical position more than 20 degrees from lying horizontally.

the screen Itself offers Adobe sRGB and DCI-P3s color settings, individually färgkalibrerade. If there is any drawback it is that the screen lacks any other form of positioning capabilities. There is no way to raise it higher up, if you don’t put a book during the course.

Although the Surface Studio is designed for creativity so we discovered a pleasing aspect for the productive: In the monitor mode so the screen was large and detailed enough to allow a lock down of four windows in each corner. Sure, it’s something you can do on any screen connected to a Windows 10 pc, but the Studio-the screen’s enormous size makes this practically possible without some visual compromises come in the way.

Microsoft Surface Studio.
Surface Studio in the lowered position. Photo: Mark Hachman


Surface Studio comes with a standard Surface-pen and updated Microsoft Sculpt mouse and keyboard, wrapped in the Surface shades of gray. We are reluctant to face the accessories (you can certainly replace them with your own). The mouse felt flat and we had hoped that the keyboard would remind more of it to Surface Book rather than the chiclet-feel of the detachable keyboard of the Surface. They both gave us the feeling of plastiga cup holder in a luxury car.

the Mouse to the Surface Studio.
the Mouse to the Surface Studio. Photo: Mark Hachman.


Dial, on the other hand, is more exciting. An optional accessory for 99 dollars (about sek 880), which improves the keyboard with quick and easy access to the shortcuts, packaged in something that looks like a hockey puck.

Even if the Studio does not include the modular functions as it was alluded to in the pantentansökan it has in all cases a 5-megapixel camera on the front and dual array microphones. To get started Windows 10′s Cortana-assistance ("Hey, Cortana!") with the voice functioning surprisingly well in the sorliga the showroom.

the Gates på Surface Studio.
the Ports on the Surface Studio. Photo: Mark Hachman.


We are not sure if we like Microsoft’s decision to embed the outputs in the base rather than the screen. Microsoft took more or less its Surface Hub, and put together it with a usual motherboard, packaged it in plastic, and was satisfied. Studio press four USB 3.0 ports in the base, but they point towards the back, which probably makes it hard to even plug in anything.

There is an SD card reader and a headphone jack – both on the back. Unlike Surface-plates so there is no USB port on the side of the screen, which we lack. Bluetooth 4.0 and 802.11 ac wi-fi round off the whole.

Studio is a wonderful piece of hardware and we are really looking forward to spending more time with it. But remember that it is not necessarily for everyone. Microsoft addressed clearly on the creative market, populated by people who normally would buy a Mac. It will be interesting to see how many that will actually switch.

Translation: Robin Stjernberg.

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