Microsoft is now competing against Apple’s iMac.
In an event in New York, Microsoft has ended the numerous leaks and rumors we’ve been hearing for the last couple of months. It’s official, they’re unveiling their first ever desktop PC.
Microsoft Surface Studio is an all-in-one (AIO) PC, which means that all its computer components, as well as its display, are in one whole unit – similar to the iMac.
But unlike Apple’s AIO, Microsoft aspires to do a lot more. It’s got big time specs starting with up to 32GB of RAM and 2TB of storage out of the box. There’s also a built-in Nvidia GPU, for more processing power for resource intensive tasks. Surface Studio also includes 2.1 virtual surround speakers inside the base.
The Microsoft Surface Studio has a ‘zero gravity’ hinge, which lets the screen lay as low as 20 degrees. This is perfect and makes it easier to use when using the Surface Pen. The company says that it feels just like a normal physical pen, because of their cut down in latency.
Microsoft didn’t skimp on ports – offering four USB 3.0 (one high power port), Ethernet, SD card slot, and Mini DisplayPort. Unfortunately, there’s no support for Thunderbolt.
The Microsoft Surface Studio has the thinnest LCD monitor ever, according to Microsoft. It has 28-inches of touch screen display with 4500 x 3000 pixel resolution which is capable of up to 13.5 million pixels – massive difference compared to only 8.3 million of a 4k display. The company also emphasized on its strong drive to get a precise color accuracy. And for its enormous size, it has a spectacular 192 pixels-per-inch.
Related: Microsoft revamps Surface Book: Now with 16-hour battery life and twice the graphics power
Similar to the Surface laptops, Microsoft Surface Studio has a 3:2 aspect ratio. There’s a feature called as ‘True Scale’, which lets users preview the designs by simulating the real-world equivalent in the display. It’s sort of a what you see is what you get type of viewing mode.
https://youtu.be/BzMLA8YIgG0
For the geeks out there, Microsoft is also throwing in a quick way to switch between SRGB and DCI-P3 on the fly.
The Surface Studio will be available in 6th generation i5 and i7 variants. Buyers will have an option of choosing the RAM from 8GB up to 32GB. The rapid hybrid drives are available in either 1TB or 2TB. For the graphics, there’s plenty of options: GeForce GTX 965M 2GB DDR5 (i5 / 8GB), GeForce GTX 965M 2GB DDR5 (i7 / 16GB), and GeForce GTX 980M 4GB DDR5 for the most powerful version.
The Microsoft Surface Studio price starts at $3,000 for the base model and it goes up to $4,199 for the top of the line variant. It’s now available for pre-order.