Surface Studio Destroys The iMac…..For Designers.

In an unexpected Turn of events, Microsoft is the new Desktop king, atleast for designers,creators and/or architects. Shocked? So was I.

Yesterday, Microsoft shunned everybody in it’s event by introducing the new Surface Studio, A Desktop computer that has crazy tricks up it’s sleeves. Designers, Architect etc. went crazy after seeing the features that it has to offer.

Screen

Surface Studio comes with a gorgeous 28 inch 4500 x 3000 display (192 PPI) that’s barely more than a centimeter thick. The display is so bright and beautiful it will put your Full HD screens to shame. Surprisingly, The screen resolution is not the best thing about the screen, It’s the fact that it is foldable and can tilt to your heart’s content , You can fold it as much as to only 20 degrees between the table and the screen, perfect for drawing or painting.

The screen is a touchscreen but has good wrist detection and palm detection features when you are drawing or editing on it.

Dial and Pen

The Surface Studio comes with the surface pen out of the box.  It’s the same surface pen found on the Surfacebook and that is not a bad thing at all.

The interesting bit is the Surface Dial. It’s phenomenal to say the least. The Dial offers human interaction with the Desktop never seen before, I would go as far as to say it’s as useful as a mouse. What you can do with it is Tilt the screen  (Dial is rotatable and capacitive), Change colours of your pen without even picking the nib up or getting distracted in any what way, change brush thickness, scroll webpages, change volume etc. Its unusual feature is that it can be used off the screen, or, when in studio mode, on the screen. When used on the screen, the Surface Studio knows exactly where the dial is, and can draw radial menus or other controls around the device.

The Dial will come out of the box if you buy the Surface Studio before December, After which it will cost 99$.

Specifications & Price

Now here is where things start getting a bit tricky. Although you’re getting an amazing desktop, It lags somewhat in graphic performance and well, The Price is a bit steep!

It starts at $2,999 for a Core i5, 8GB RAM, 1TB storage, and a GTX 965M GPU, ranging up to $4,199 for a Core i7, 32GB RAM, 2TB storage, and a GTX 980M which feels eyewatering compared to traditional all-in-ones.

The computer tucked away in its base isn’t as powerful as I would like—I’d like a stronger GPU than the Nvidia GeForce GTX 980M—but can still handle reasonable gaming, although not at the full screen resolution.

iMac Vs Surface Studio

Now, For Artists and Designers this is a no brainer. Go with the Surface Studio , if you can afford it. But for ALL the others, Well.. I would not recommend it and here’s why. The Non Retina iMac starts at just 1099$, That’s over 1800$ less than the base model Surface Studio! 1800$, Imagine what you could do with that extra money! Even the Retina iMac with 1TB of storage , 8Gb RAM and 3.1 Ghz Intel i5 processor starts at 1499$, which is a considerable amount lower than the 2999$ price tag of base level Studio.

Also, It’s not just about the price tag. It’s about value and functionality for the common person and Nobody describes it better than Peter Bright –

“The Studio a very desirable machine, smartly designed and nicely put together. It’s just it flies in the face of what an all-in-one system really is.

While all-in-ones have long been part of the computing landscape, it was arguably Apple’s original CRT iMacs that truly made them into desirable, and even iconic, systems. And those iMacs are computers for everyone. The Surface Studio, however, is not. It’s a highly specialised system designed for artists and similar creative types.”

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So, There you have it, The Surface Studio is a wonderful machine but it’s the kind of product people desire than actually buy it. And that makes all the difference. Still, Here is a clip that you must watch to see the Surface Studio in action – 

What do you think about the Surface Studio? Let us know in the comments below.