We’ve heard rumors and whispers about a Surface PC for a while and it all started with a patent application showing a modular system. What Microsoft just showcased is what we hoped for from all the previous speculations and more, except for the modularity. Still, the new Surface Studio, as it is called, is a pretty impressive piece of machinery.
The first thing we notice on the new Surface Studio is the display and that’s also a big part of what the system is all about. The attached monitor is a 28-inch PixelSense display with a 3:2 aspect ratio, offering 192 pixels per inch in sharpness and with 13.5 million pixels on display in total. That’s 63% more pixels than a 4K TV. The display features 10-point multi-touch and supports both pen and the Surface Dial.
One of the really cool features is the Surface Dial that works both on the screen itself and next to it, allowing you access to color selectors, navigation tools, and much more. In combination with a pen, it allows designers to work with a system the way they want to and with a lot more possibilities in a single system.
There are various hardware options for the new Surface Studio with either 6th generation Core i5 or Core i7 CPUs and with 8GB, 16GB, or 32GB RAM. The graphics option depends on the CPU choice and will either be a GTX 965M with 2GB RAM or a GTX 980M with 4GB DDR5 memory. The GPU choices seem odd for an otherwise powerful system and probably the only downside to these systems.
There are four USB 3.0 ports along with a full sized SDXC card reader, mini DisplayPort for extra monitor and gigabit Ethernet. There’s also integrated Bluetooth and wireless networking along with built-in support for up to four Xbox wireless controllers.
The built-in 5MP Full HD web camera supports Hello face sign-in and the Surface Studio also comes with dual microphones as well as stereo 2.1 Dolby Audio speakers. Included in the box are a pen, a surface keyboard, and mouse, but no Surface Dial. That will cost you an extra $99.
Speaking of costs, you might wonder what such a stunning system will cost you and as you might have guessed by the included monitor and hardware, it’s quite a bit. The fun starts at $2999 with 1TB storage, an Intel Core i5, and 8GB RAM. The next model doubles the RAM and goes up to a Core i7 CPU for $3499 while the largest model with 32GB RAM and GTX 980M as well as 2TB storage will cost you an impressive amount of $4199.
That’s a lot of money, but it’s also a really cool system with a lot of amazing functions. If I had that kind of cash, I surely would get one – not that I need it, but it’s really sweet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzMLA8YIgG0
