Disappointed at the pricing and specs for sure, although I love the vision and innovation of that Surface Dial. It makes so much sense now that I wonder why it wasn't thought of before.
Since it is Bluetooth, maybe they can expand it to other non-Surface PCs. I guess you lose some of the functionality due to non-touch screen PCs though.
The price is actually quite good when you compare it to its main competition, the Wacom Cintiq.
Some choice quotes from Penny Arcade's Gabe (
https://www.penny-arcade.com/news/post/2016/10/26/the-surface-studio }
Tycho asked me to compare it to my Cintiq, and I told him that drawing on the Cintiq now felt like drawing on a piece of dirty plexiglass hovering over a CRT monitor from 1997
The feeling of drawing on the Studio’s screen is hard to describe. I will say that the first time you do it, it feels wrong. Like you’re going to get in trouble because you clearly are not supposed to drag a fucking stylus across this thing! I’ve been drawing on it for a week now and it has gone from feeling naughty to just plain magical.
And the price of the two?
The Studio sits at about $3000 which might sound high but consider that I paid $2500 for my Wacom Cintiq 27"HD and that isn’t even a computer. I still had to get a machine to run it!
His overall impression and conclusion.
I spend 6 to 10 hours a day drawing digitally and I have for more than a decade. The Cintiq and the Surface, these are like my tools or my instruments. I am intimately familiar with how it feels to create things on these sorts of devices and the Studio honestly feels like a generational leap forward. If you are a digital artist and you are currently working on a Cintiq you have to go to a MS store and look at the Studio.
That's a big change compared to how disappointed he was in the Surface Pro 3 after how much he loved the Surface Pro 2. Microsoft was very serious about targeting digital artists with this machine as they had him in early in the development cycle for the machine to make sure they got it right from an artist's POV.
About a year ago they invited me over to show me a brand new device. I ended up in a little tiny room with a sheet covering something on a table in front of me. There was a one way mirror on my left and I was informed that there were people back there watching. I was super curious what it was all about and when they pulled the sheet off I saw the Surface Studio.
I drew on the device for a while and even though it was early, I came away really impressed. We talked for a long time about how it worked and how it should work. They filmed me drawing on it and took all sorts of notes. Just to be clear, I don’t get paid to do any of this stuff but I enjoy doing it and I like to think I’m helping make the Surface better for artists. I saw it a handful of times after that and each time I got my hands on it I got more and more excited.
I really want to get one, but not being a digital artist, I can't really justify the price. But for digital artists, this is going to be an incredibly compelling device. It does play games reasonably well on the 965m of his test machine.
It’s not designed to be a gaming powerhouse but I was impressed with what I saw. The monitor is obviously a big help as no matter what you play, it looks bright and beautiful. Overwatch was fast and fun on medium settings. Civ VI is what I’ve played the most on the Studio and it looks and runs fantastic. The included keyboard and mouse feel solid and work great for gaming but you can also connect up to four of the new Xbox controllers. Let’s be honest though, if you are getting a Studio it’s not because you want a badass gaming rig. This device to me is a very obvious replacement for artists who currently work on a Cintiq. It is for professional creators and the fact that I can play some games is nice but it’s not the selling point.
Also, note that if anyone reads the source post, I didn't quote it in chronological order. The quotes I grabbed were pasted in to fit the flow of this post.
I really REALLY want one, but I'd be really naughty getting one. I wish I was a digital artist and thus could justify getting it.
Also on a side note. Now that I've experience what working on a really large monitor is like, I'd love to be able to get a 49" 3:2 ratio monitor to replace my 49" 16:9 monitor. One of the things he notices is also one of my niggles with a very large 16:9 monitor.
The 3:2 aspect ratio is also great. The screen seems to take up more of my vertical field of vision and when I’m working on it I feel like there is MUCH less wasted space on the sides.
Back when I was limited to a 24" or even 30" monitor, 16:10 was really great as you could fit 2 standard sized document pages side by side for easy reading/editing. With a monitor as large as mine, there's no need to have it full screen. The screen could be put to much better use with more vertical space and less horizontal space when actually doing work.
And as I do all my gaming in a window, a 16:9 ratio offers no benefits to gaming as I can set the game window to any arbitrary size. And as I don't really watch media on my work machine, a 16:9 ratio again offers no benefits. I doubt any monitor maker will ever make a large 3:2 monitor, but I certainly wish one would. Maybe Microsoft will eventually release a 3:2 monitor.
Regards,
SB