I had the pleasure of growing up alongside Microsoft. I watched their software evolve over the years, as many of us have. One distinct memory was of playing around with Windows NT on my family’s computer and hearing that old logon beep straight out of a 1980’s movie (only problem was it was the 1990s). I never thought that I would see a computer produced by Microsoft, because just having that thought would seem crazy.
At Windows 10 October 2016 Event, Microsoft announced their first desktop computer, which they call the Surface Studio. The Surface Studio is a all-in-one desktop that has a 28″ Pixel Stense display, which supports 10 point multi-touch and has a resolution of 4500 x 3000. To put that in prospective, that is roughly 20% higher than 4K. The kicker? It is the thinnest LCD panel ever made. To top it all off, the zero-gravity hinge (they are good with the names) allows for easy manipulation using only a finger tip to make it go from straight up to a 90-degree angle.
Well enough about the monitor. The housing of the main internals is a little box with one wiring coming out of the back. The box holds a sixth generation Intel i5 or i7 Core processor, a 4GB Nvidia GeForce GPU, up to 32GB of RAM and a 2TB hard drive.The single wire coming out of the back is a dedicated power cable. On the back of the housing are four USB 3.0 ports, a Mini Display Port, a SD card slot, and a Ethernet port, so its not lacking in that department either. Additionally, it has Xbox wireless built in and a TPM chip for added security.
With the decline of desktop computer sales in recent years, I can’t help but wonder if Microsoft is attempting to give its old friend the desktop a little boost. The innovation seen in the Surface Studio might just breath some life into the dying product line. The downside is the price. Microsoft has shown that they can charge a premium for their quality laptop hardware, but at a $3000 starting price that will be a hard check to write for the vast majority of us, myself included…
Thornton Technology 