The Surface Studio is one of the most impressive
all-in-one PCs on the market, but is it any good?
Today, I'll share with you
the pros and cons in my full review.
Stay tuned.
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When it comes to Microsoft Surface Studio,
there's a lot of things to like about this device,
but there are some errors I think that Microsoft has made.
Now, it is a really interesting concept device,
I'm not sure I would personally drop $4,000 on it.
Then again, when I do use it, I happen to like it a lot.
There are a few questions though that we need to answer.
Specifically, who is this for and who's it not for?
And there I think Microsoft has muddied the waters
a little bit and maybe went
a little too narrow in their focus.
Let's get right to the hardware.
There are three different SKUs of the Surface Studio
that you can buy from Microsoft
and this is where it gets a little bit messy.
I find some of the choices a little bit baffling.
The first version is an Intel Core i5 processor
and the two higher versions are Intel Core i7s.
Both of these go into the 3.6 gigahert range,
and while they're good processors,
they are a technically high-end laptop processors,
and not necessary desktop-class ones.
There are only 45 watts and because of that,
while powerful, they're not the most powerful
available on the market.
There are also the older Sky lake versions,
and not the Kaby Lakes, which are just about
to hit the market here, in early 2017.
There are also three options for RAM,
eight gigabytes, 16 gigabytes, and 32 gigabytes.
None of that is too surprising,
although the eight gigabyte model is a little bit strange.
When it comes to internal storage, Microsoft has
three choices and it's all a little bit confusing.
These are rapid hybrid drives, which means part of the OS
lives on a faster SSD system, while the slower part
lives on a traditional hard disk drive.
It's a little bit unusual for such a high-end system,
and it does affect the performance.
The three versions include a 64 gigabyte SSD with
a one terabyte hard drive, a 128 gig SSD with
a one terabyte hard drive, and a 128 gig SSD with
a two terabyte hard drive.
Now what makes all of this a little bit weird is the fact
that this is such an expensive system.
We're talking around $4,000 for the high-end one.
And when you basically go with a rapid hybrid drive,
you're gonna have a lot of performance degradation.
If you're shooting for the professional class,
I'm not sure who would actually want this.
Now, you can actually swap out the drives yourself,
but it's not easy.
In fact, we'll do a separate tutorial on this,
but it's a lot of work compared to say, a laptop.
You're not just gonna slap in this drive.
I'm not really sure why Microsoft made this decision,
but they did.
So, we'll just have to kinda live with it.
Microsoft give users four USB 3.0 ports,
which is really nice, but there's no
USB Type-C port for a Thunderbolt 3.
That's a little bit strange for such an expensive device,
in two years you're definitely going to want a Type-C port,
especially one with Thunderbolt 3.
There's also a mini display port, which allows you to
daisy chain external monitors to the Surface Studio.
However, you can't input devices into the Studio.
So if you have a Surface Book or a high-end PC,
you can't just use a Surface Studio as a dummy monitor.
Microsoft also included the Xbox wireless accessory.
It's built into the Studio.
That's really cool.
That means you can take your old Xbox One controller
and connect it wirelessly up to this machine.
However, this is not a gaming PC, so while you could
play Gears of War 4 on there, it's going to struggle.
You'd be looking at this amazing display
and be thinking to yourself why can't it do more?
Let's turn our attention to the 28 inch Pixel Sense display
of the Surface Studio.
It's literally the hallmark feature of this PC.
Featuring a resolution of 4500 by 3000, or 192 DPI,
the Surface Studio looks fantastic.
It is easily the best display I've ever seen with my eyes.
It has sRGB support, DCI-P3, and Vivid color profiles
all built into Windows 10.
It's also individually color calibrated,
and we found it to be very accurate.
It's also a 10 point multi-touch display
and also features an aspect ratio of three by two.
That sounds a little strange.
It's because most monitors are 16 by 9,
including a lot of laptops.
Surface though, as a brand, features
three by two on all it's devices
including the Surface Pro and Surface Book.
That carries over here. And it works very well.
I'm a huge fan of three by two aspect ratio.
Things just look bigger and look more natural to me.
There's also of course the Surface Pen and
Zero Gravity Hinge, which all work well here.
One of the biggest questions about the Studio
is who is this device for?
Now, clearly I am not an artist.
And that makes this review a little bit
difficult for me to do.
I draw terribly and I'm not a huge a pen user.
However, I do like that Zero Gravity Hinge.
It does allow me to bring down the display.
In fact, every time I write on Windows 10 and
talk about inking, I find it weird because I'm at a
desktop PC and I can't do any of that.
Sure, the Surface Book is great, but I don't work
on my Surface Book exclusively.
This is the first PC and all-in-one device that allows
me to actually use inking flawlessly and with ease,
and that's a really big achievement.
Unless you're an artist or an engineer or someone who
needs this kind of PC, it's definitely hard to justify.
Although, I totally understand the lust-worthy nature
of the Surface Studio.
I guess that's a big hole in this review right now.
I'm not a professional artist so it's hard for me
to evaluate the Surface Studio.
We will be getting a professional artist in to actually
take a look at it and we'll do that in a separate video.
But, if you're just a regular consumer who's looking
at this device as something for their home,
it's definitely a tough sell.
I want one myself, but I can't necessarily tell you
to go get a $4,000 machine.
Now, if you're a gamer, I'd totally understand why
you'd want this device, but you definitely
should not buy it.
I didn't even talk about the GPU,
which there are two weird options here.
You have a 965m, with two gigabytes of video memory,
but there's also a higher end 980m,
with four gigabytes of video memory.
Those aren't terrible, and it's better than nothing,
but compared to the Pascal Series,
or the 1060, 1070, and 1080, which are now on the market,
it definitely seems antiquated.
I can't stress enough how impressive
Nvidia's Pascal Series really is.
We run it on a Razer Blade and it's phenomenal.
Why they couldn't wait a few months to put that
into this device, I'm really not too sure.
But, it's definitely a big hole in the game
of the Surface Studio.
Let's talk about some of the odds and ends
of the Surface Studio.
For instance, there's the Windows Hello camera
which is really, really nice.
It has dual IR lenses on it, which basically
helps illuminate you.
Had no issues with it and it's one of the best cameras
I've actually used on a desktop PC.
So, that's really nice.
The accessories are also pretty good.
You do have a keyboard and mouse that come with it.
They're not the best out there, but for an all-in-one system
they're definitely pretty good.
I really enjoy typing on the Surface keyboard,
although I prefer the ergonomic version myself.
Of course, these are Bluetooth devices.
You can actually connect up anything you want to the Studio,
so bring your own keyboard, bring your own mouse,
wired or wireless, it doesn't matter.
But the ones that are included in the box are pretty decent.
In terms of audio fidelity, the Surface Studio is
actually very, very good.
It features Dolby 2.1 audio with a subwoofer
in the base itself, and it's really good.
It's more impressive than would think it would be,
and I think Microsoft did a really great job here
considering the constraints that they had
to deal with when engineering it.
When it comes to design, Microsoft has done
an outstanding job, they deserve all the praise here.
The engineering of this device is just fantastic,
and I bet you agree it looks really phenomenal.
I also like how you can move this device with ease.
It's easy just to pick up and slide around,
so if you have a desk at an office
and you just wanna move it, no problem whatsoever.
So what's the takeaway?
I think Microsoft did a really good job
with the Surface Studio when it comes to its design
and I know you agree with me on that.
But, when it comes to the hardware itself,
there are some holes in the game
and it really kinda bothers me.
Now, it also depends on what you need this device for.
Actually, for my job, I could actually use this device
and be very happy with it.
I had no problems for my day to day activities,
but if you're doing say, video processing,
or you want to do gaming or high-end stuff,
you are gonna hit some walls here.
And it's because Microsoft made some really odd choices.
I don't know why they went with these older GPUs
instead of waiting a few months,
or why they went with a hybrid drive system,
instead of just pure SSD, which would've
greatly improved things.
Now, I totally understand.
Microsoft had some budgetary and engineering constraints
to deal with when making this device,
but I think they went a little too narrow here.
If you're just going after artists and basically
engineering professionals, why make a device
that looks so great that others just can't buy?
Why put in Xbox wireless controller support when
you really can't be a high-end gaming PC?
Now, it's hard to make a device that's for everybody,
but Microsoft, I think, could've shot
a little bit wider here and made this device
a little bit more accessible to people who are willing
to spend the money on it.
For that, we're just gonna have to wait
until version two comes out.
I think they're gonna get a lot of positive feedback
from people who want these changes,
and I think they'll deliver.
But for now, you may wanna hold off on the Surface Studio.
So, that's my review of the Microsoft Surface Studio.
If you want the full review, head to Windows Central
for more high-quality photos and benchmarks.
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Thanks for watching, take care everybody.
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