back to article Almost £5k for a deskslab: Microsoft's Surface Studio 2 hits UK

Well-heeled Brits can now slide their sticky fingers over the screen of Microsoft's flagship deskslab, the Surface Studio 2. The thing was announced back in October 2018, at the same event where Microsoft surprised the world by unleashing the Windows 10 October 2018 Update. The resulting furore over the cursed update's testing …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    "For the money, we'd have preferred something a bit more recent from Nvidia and Intel"

    I think they could start to have cooling issues if the hardware is pushed too far. Anyway, I don't believe gamers are its target market.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    And we thought that Apple stuff was expensive tat

    This really does take the biscuit.

    I wonder how many of these they'll sell outside the CEO/MD's office?

    1. doublelayer Silver badge

      Re: And we thought that Apple stuff was expensive tat

      It doesn't compare well in price to Apple's iMac 5k; that starts lower in specs but also much lower in price. Then again, I suppose there must be people who want a 28 inch touchscreen for some reason, and Apple doesn't have that. I'm sure people have a reason. I don't know what it is, but it will come to me, maybe.

      In the general scheme of things, both of these machines are much more expensive than will be needed by pretty much everybody. They price themselves out of consumer range, don't include enough processing power to run all the games that serious gamers want to play, and are too screen focused for the massive data processing people. I can see something like this being used by serious graphics users, but that's not a big market, and plenty of them have been satisfied with less.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: And we thought that Apple stuff was expensive tat

        Then again, I suppose there must be people who want a 28 inch touchscreen for some reason, and Apple doesn't have that. I'm sure people have a reason. I don't know what it is, but it will come to me, maybe.

        They really, really like a greasy screen? It's nigh impossible to prevent that with a touch screen, however much you wash your hands and keyboard..

        1. Black Betty

          Re: Greasy screen.

          I find it annoying enough to keep the seven inch screen of the tablet I use primarily as an e-book reader clean. Just a few swipes is enough to put distracting rainbow streaks in the place my thumb "turns" the page. And a game or two of "Jewels" turns my screen into a reasonable facsimile of a petrol station forecourt after rain.

          I hate to think how a 28" screen would look after a CAD/CAM session.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Greasy screen.

            I find it annoying enough to keep the seven inch screen of the tablet I use primarily as an e-book reader clean. Just a few swipes is enough to put distracting rainbow streaks in the place my thumb "turns" the page

            Now you know why all my portable devices have a matte, oleophobic protective screen. I found I'd ended up with an almost compulsive gesture to wipe especially my phone after a call, and I *know* I have clean ears as I shower daily :).

          2. Is It Me

            Re: Greasy screen.

            I don't think you would be using your finger for a CAD session, that is what the Surface pen would be there for.

            I think this is probably aimed at people that might use a Wacom style tablet for working with images etc. there can see the touchscreen with pen paying off.

      2. Bush_rat

        Re: And we thought that Apple stuff was expensive tat

        Me! Me! I have a reason, I use the pen input for drafting work as an engineer. Touch is just an added bonus that I don't really use too much, but when I have the pen already up to the screen, it's nice just to tap UI elements with a spare finger rather that reaching down for the mouse or moving the pen across the whole display.

        It's bloody expensive and I far prefer desktops I build, but it's actually cheaper than building your own.

        https://us-store.wacom.com/Product/wacom-cintiq-pro-32-creative-pen-display-touch#/undefined1

        This is the only >24" pen display worth its salt, and it's more expensive than the entire Surface Studio despite using the same pen and digitizer system.

        1. Jeyell

          Re: And we thought that Apple stuff was expensive tat

          The have a screen only option coming this year.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: And we thought that Apple stuff was expensive tat

      Add also deep-pocket creative types....

    3. Paul Herber Silver badge

      Re: And we thought that Apple stuff was expensive tat

      I can't see someone with a big desk and big leather chair suitable for comfortable leaning back wanting to lean forward enough to use their fingers/thumb on a touchscreen! Tell you what, how about a remote device for controlling the cursor, let's call it a mouse!

    4. Blockchain commentard

      Re: And we thought that Apple stuff was expensive tat

      Wonder how many CEO's will just play solitaire on it !!

    5. JDX Gold badge

      Re: And we thought that Apple stuff was expensive tat

      If you earn 6 figures, or are paying an employee 6 figures, whether a PC costs a grand or 4 grand is largely immaterial and you DO get nice design (packaging) for the money which some people care about. It's a fairly cheap way to make someone feel important :)

      It's a niche kit for rich people, but there are after all a lot of rich people.

  3. commonsense

    It's 2019...

    "For 2018, Microsoft upped the specs and dumped the option for an i5 CPU or spinning rust. All three configurations receive an Intel i7-7820HQ and either a 1TB or 2TB SSD."

    Shame they released it in 2019.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I think machines like this are a direct response to the fact that most people are keeping hardware longer. In the past upgrading anything (a phone, a desktop/laptop, TV, etc) always tended to bring huge differences and benefits. We've got to a point where the device you bought a few years ago is still perfectly good enough and there's no advantage - perceived or otherwise - in upgrading. It does make me wonder who the target market for these things is. But I guess there must be people willing to buy them.

    1. Wellyboot Silver badge

      Like Apple desktops it's built to complement & match the overall style of...er... hang on, this is MS.

      Doesn't matter I'll never see one in the wild, One might make it onto the set of a certain US crime drama that has pushed the surface in the past. (so easy even Gibbs can use it)

    2. Siberian Hamster

      Au contraire mon ami, machines like this are a direct response to seeing the likes of Apple (read Apple!) being able to sell machines at significant margins compared to their competitors and Microsoft wanting to jump on that bandwagon.

      I completely agree with you the real world advantage of upgrading to the latest tech is fairly marginal nowadays with the likes of computers or phones, as we have got to the point where outside of 'power users' even three year old kit can easily do 99% of tasks.

      As for the target market, I would say firmly planted in the 'large disposable income, keeping ahead of the Jones' group that Apple target. Working in an academic field, I hear on occasion of staff buying Apple computers from their budgets then complaining that a specialized bit of software only runs on Windows!

  5. Efer Brick

    Niche

    Capiche

  6. Roland6 Silver badge
    Pint

    Bets on when MS bricks it with a Win10 update...

    My money is on the October 2019 Update...

  7. Claverhouse

    SSD Mistake

    I've always thought Microsoft labelled hardware was pretty solid, unlike their wretched software --- however on the spec page the only difference given between models 2 and 3 is 1TB SSD or 2TB SSD for another £500.

    Since a 1TB SSD can be had for £120 and a 2TB SSD for £250, from Ebuyer, it looks like their maths is as poor as their OSes...

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: SSD Mistake

      I suspect they're trying an Apple here, using the tried and trusted, yet forever failing Microsoft approach to try something as "new" that others have been doing for years and failing miserably at it.

    2. JDX Gold badge

      Re: SSD Mistake

      What exactly are you expecting them to do, sell you the upgrade at cost price?

      Is the disk user-upgradeable?

  8. scoobiesnacks

    Crazy pricing

  9. FrankAlphaXII

    Workstation prices for consumer hardware, no thanks

    For more than a Z4 or Z6 workstation with Xeon processors and Quadro GPU hardware, the pricing on this thing is insane and it doesn't look like its all that serviceable given how small the chassis is. I mean I could be wrong, there are small form factor PCs out there that are just as easy to work on as a traditional tower but I don't know for certain and I'm not likely to find out, since most people I know would buy the workstation, a gaming PC, or a Mac instead.

    Its obviously targeting the more money than sense and form over function crowd like a good deal of Apple's garbage, and while the tilty display thing is sort of interesting, it looks like its something that can get messed up easily and definitely not worth almost $5k for older hardware.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Workstation prices for consumer hardware, no thanks

      That's not a competitor of muscle workstations, nor consumer hardware, it's more a device aimed at people for which a "convertible desktop" with pen and disc input make sense (or just to show off, off course). If you're a designer, architect, graphic artist, engineer, etc, this can be useful, at least to impress customers, even if the heavier work could be done (maybe by other people) on other hardware.

  10. wobball

    I mean why, just why!

    Another hit and wild, wide miss following through straight into your own ass.

    I'd need to HAVE MS to think this was a good idea! Maybe it's all because their department of words and pictures aren't allowed the Mac's they crave!

    1. Adrian 4

      I don't normally correct this sort of error, but you might not realise that MS (Multiple Sclerosis) is best known for afflicting the control of muscles and nerves .. it doesn't usually mean that the sufferer lacks good judgement.

      1. wobball

        Yes, accepted to a point (it's effect are widespread in advanced states) but it doesn't scan quite as well with any other lazy acronym, hence my lazy use of this one to suit my point.

        I know it's not clever but thought it made the point with the tiniest degree of humour.

        Just saying!

        Mine the one with the Bernard Manning joke book in the pocket.

  11. HmmmYes

    Ah, the 1$ 1£ exchange rate still roles on....

    Why would you spend that much to run something as shitty as windows 10 or whatever.

    Maybe if it was ws2008r2, which is the cloest to a successor that w2k has.

  12. Christian Berger

    It needs to be expensive

    That's part of the brand image. I mean they have looked at Apple and realized that "products that people can work with" has very narrow margins. Instead you position yourself as a company selling fashionable accessories. Allow people to distract from their lack of talent by giving them something they can believe it makes them a better person.

    Being expensive both to buy and to maintain was a basic design goal not an accident.

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like