On the eve before Apple is expected to unveil the future of the Mac, Microsoft fired its biggest shot at taking down the Mac with its first ever all-in-one PC.
It’s beautiful. It’s powerful. And it could give the iMac some serious competition.
[contextly_auto_sidebar] With its massive 28-inch touchscreen display, the Surface Studio is aimed at designers and artists, though not the starving type. IT costs a whopping $2,999 but all that cash buys you some insanely impressive hardware.
More pixels than you can handle
The Surface Studio’s display features 13.5 million pixels. That’s 63% more than 4K. You can also tilt the screen down to turn it into a drawing board. It also comes with the Surface Pen allowing you can draw directly on the screen in certain apps.
Microsoft also created a new accessory called the Surface Dial. It’s supposed to replace your mouse for certain tasks, like scrolling through timelines while video editing, or picking colors while editing photos. Studio users can also attach it on the screen to access certain features.
Photo: Microsoft
The MacBook Pro got some new competition from Microsoft today too in the form of a new Surface Book. The new version packs an Intel i7 processor and a bigger battery that gives users up to 16 hours of use age on a single charge. The display can be removed and used as a tablet too, but at $2,399 it’d be cheaper to get a new MacBook and iPad Pro.
Apple is expected to unveil new iMacs and MacBooks during a press event at the company’s headquarters in Cupertino, CA. Images of the new MacBook Pro leaked ahead of the event, but Apple could pull out a few surprises.
Buster Hein is a freelance writer who lives in Phoenix, Arizona. Twitter: @bst3r.
17 responses to “Microsoft’s giant touchscreen PC takes on iMac”
Anyone have $3K they don’t need ?
The full blown one cost over $4000.
No Thunderbolt Support? FAIL.
Plus, it still has Windows which is not going to be used in my house. Not gonna happen. Been there, done that, had the headaches, and it’s just not allowed in my house. :-)
It’d be interesting to have a figure about the proportion of thunderbolt mac equipped users actually using these ports. My bet is it would not be a big number…
Feel your pain. Reasoning the same; not over my doorstep ever again.
Been there, took the blood pressure pills…
I also feel that the Corp behind the driest shit in the universe; Excel, Word, Powerpointzzzz suddenly switches every gear into hipster mode and create, wow!, Experience, do creative stuff!
– Eh? On a windows machine? It cant even handle typefaces in a good way.
Are we all creators, aren’t we ?
I think anyone with a half a brain would know that it may be a nice piece of overpriced hardware, but they would surely know that it’s still running on the worst OS that’s available. That makes all of the difference in the world.
I think anyone with half a brain would know that if you used anything other than Windows 10 on this nice hardware, that would be a major waste of money. The touchscreen experience is key on this device. That makes all of the difference in the world.
This kind of concept is what Apple should be doing. That said, the price point is a non-starter and I seriously doubt Apple would do it any cheaper.
Shame about the “club” foot!
And then…in just a couple of years: DISCONTINUED
3 months, you mean.
And then, sorry, no drivers in Windows 12 for that screen, for that wonky volume button…
The Studio looks beautiful, it’s certainly not targeted at the mainstream crowd, Microsoft has other brand manufacturers doing their own all-in-one PCs so this is clearly targeted at the creative industry. I honestly think it’s amazing, and innovative, something I never thought I’d say about a Microsoft product, and now that creative tools like Adobe are the industry leaders, it’s probably relying on users who were on Macs using Adobe software, looking to up their game. The Surface Pro and Surface Book? They’re alright I guess.
At least its something different from Microsoft. Shame Apple don’t innovate anymore :( I really hope they announce something big at todays event
Can you imagine how sore your arms are going to get holding them up and swooping across that screen, while constantly moving back and forth from the keyboard? There’s a reason Apple has avoided large touch screens, especially with separate keyboards.
This pc looks amazing. Shame that Microsoft doesn’t have something like bootcamp to install OS X in it.
The surface book looks also pretty cool. Again, shame that bootcamp doesn’t exist on windows.
You can install Mac OS on PC, in fact just google “Hackintosh”, there’s a bunch of tutorials teaching how to do it. The problem is that Apple usually uses some unique hardware on their devices, so their SO just don’t offer support to, for instance, some computer boards. And this fact ends up making it harder to install their SO on PCs.
This PC looks great. It is not made for everyone, but at least Microsoft is is innovating, offering different things for anyone who needs it. On the contrary, Apple seems freezed in the past, without revolutionary ideas. That Surface Dial is really amazing, fresh, true innovation.
If all continues the same, the succesors of my iMac and Macbook Pro will be a Microsoft product.