Microsoft Surface Studio - A new drawing monitor / computer / deskop

[RaNaketh]

Hi All,

I was checking out the general news of the world and noticed this just popped up. Not sure how it compares to other high-end drawing setups, but looks kind of cool.

Microsoft Surface Studio

Official Site:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/surf...surface-studio

Blog Post from someone who's used it:
https://www.penny-arcade.com/news/po...surface-studio

Enjoy,
Ra.

[Grover White]

I saw that too, it looks amazing. The top end (there's 3 models) goes for $4200 (US). If only I had the talent, ...and the spare cash lying about I suppose.

[J.Edward]

I saw that too. Didn't notice price though. :O
That's more expensive than a good computer and a wacom cintiq.
Maybe it would be worth it.... maybe not.
I would love to play around with one and see how effective it is.

[Chashio]

Oooooh. Very nice!

[waldronate]

That's more expensive than a good computer and a wacom cintiq.

The cintiq is only 27 inches and 2560x1440 resolution, though, and at a cost of $2800. Plus it's another $400 for the cintiq stand and the equivalent computer is on the order of $1500. The Surface Studio is 28 inches and 4500x3200 pixels (full Adobe sRGB and DCI-P3 gamut, if I read correctly) plus it includes the fancy stand. The Dial accessory looks interesting, too, and it's included for a limited time. It's on the order of the cost of the computer+cintiq and it's a hugely better monitor.

Now I just need to find a way to come up with $5k... Who am I kidding? I have a wife and kids and a degree from a low-end online "university" along with the pile of debt associated with thoooose. Time to pry the Cheerios out of my keyboard again, I think. Maybe get to work on FT4.

[zhar2]

FT4!! thats the best news ive heard all year!!

[waldronate]

FT4!! thats the best news ive heard all year!!

The year part being the shortest possible period after which you might see it. More likely longer than that.

[Jaxilon]

Yeah, I was looking this over myself. I'm very happy to see some decent competition for WACOM because these things all cost so much. I hope they have great success. I'd love to have one but there are a few things I'm not sold on...

I'm not sold on the computer portion of this thing. If I wanted to upgrade my graphics card in a few years is that even possible? I like to upgrade over time and do not like it when forced to junk/rebuy entire systems.
You have to know it's not worth diddle unless you buy the top of the line version and that's over $ 4k - It's just not possible to have enough power for an artist machine. That's pricey but I don't think it's completely ridiculous, it's just painful all at once.

I like the dial thing even though I'm pretty sure it's not quite as groovy as they make it seem. I have a dial on the side of my Intous 4 and I love it for zooming in and out but when it comes to radial menus and having to click in order to change it's function...well it's not worth it to me. I'm pretty sure I'd set it for one thing and not bother clicking it to death in order to change functions. Still, I can't tell you how many times I wish my spinner worked in other applications.

What happens if the screen has a glitch? I'm guessing it's like those all in one computers that you have to send in and live without anything while it's being repaired. I don't like that.

Then again, the clutter on my desk...it sure would be nice and clean to have something like this.

Of course, I'm set pretty well at the moment for my devices so I'm not in need of one of these but in the future (hopefully after any bugs are worked out) I could see myself really looking into one of them.

Anyone know how well the pen response compare with what Wacom offers? It seems like nobody has come close to their tilt/pressure performance so I'm hopeful this is real competition.

[RaNaketh]

From what i saw the dial can be placed on the screen and interact that way with radial menus. Also, as it's a Windows 10 'PC' I wonder if you can add exteral graphics cards in some way to increase graphics processing?

[kacey]

This is exciting, I use a surface pro 4 now, and if this is anything like it only bigger then I'd pay top dollar for it in a second if only I had that kind of money. The surface pen is a joy to draw with, it's very precise, and I don't get any lag at all, even with really big brushes. I will never go back to a desk top, and Wacom again after using my surface for the last year, and the Surface studio has allot more under the hood then what I have now so I can't see there being any issues with performance.

And I should also mention that I did have one hiccup with my surface recently, and when I contacted Microsoft customer service they sent me a brand new machine right away. From the time I dropped it off at ups I received my replacement in 4 days. I was really impressed by their customer service, and the fact that they sent me a brand new machine for only a little problem.