For Microsoft fans, cheer up! Microsoft has just released Surface Studio, its first desktop PC that now proves to be a stiff rival to Apple's Mac series.
It's a big launch for Microsoft owing to Mac's astonishing success with 4.886 million Macs sold just for the fourth quarter of 2016, a "real disappointment" for Apple executives with 5.709 million sold for the same quarter last year. That's a lot of trust and buyer confidence to gain for Surface Studio.
Microsoft's Surface Studio sells out as an all-in-one desktop PC built not just for home users, but also for digital professionals. This is a unique pitch with most PCs in the market sold separately as for home and for business. Sold at a retail price of $2,999 in the US, the Surface Studio is a cost-effective option compared to specialized laptops for graphic design and software professionals. As of November 2016, Surface Studio is only available in the US; however, plans to export it to the UK are in tow for 2017.
The Surface Studio's launch appears as a precursor to Microsoft's Windows 10 "Creators Edition" which is due for release in early 2017. The goal is to integrate the increasing need for seamless and natural-looking graphics with the traditional use of PCs for documents, graphs and presentation. With the exponential number of social media users-Facebook now with 1.71 billion monthly users, Instagram with 500 million, and Tumblr with more than 555 million-it is no surprise that Microsoft had to keep up with consumer demands.
What is special with Surface Studio?
First off, Surface Studio comes with a 4.5k ultra HD screen capable of delivering a spectrum of color that cannot be seen in 99% of PCs available in the market today. This means, this PC can bring the integrity of colors together and apart, something that is very important for creative art professionals. All these graphic features come in an ultra-sleek touchscreen monitor standing at just 12.55 mm. Aside from a stylus, the monitor set comes with a Surface Dial which works much like a real pen or paintbrush, where the user does not have to lift the Dial off the screen when making changes. This intuitive design is built especially for digital artists.
As an all-in-one PC, it is not surprising for Surface Studio to have a powerful NVIDIA GeForce graphics processor capable of running not just memory-dense digital projects, but also virtual reality games with the option of having Microsoft game consoles integrated. The likes of Xbox Wireless can also be connected to Surface Studio, especially with this PC's premium audio functions courtesy of Dolby.
