Surface Studio / Studio 2 Discussion Thread

@Marty - so basically, nothing is really new, it's all derivative:

 

And despite the 15 years that have passed.....one could argue that this still had a better pen then the Surface Studios

 

Ugly demo if you ask me. I will never understand why it's always the wrong people that get the chance to do these kind of things, it's irritating!

Aside from the excessive distant camera that doesn't allow to see the pen in action, she didn't make use once of anything that makes working on such a large touch screen a different experience: no dial, no image navigation with touch gestures, no onscreen controls, nothing. Just the same old boring one hand on the screen and the other on keyboard.
One might as well buy a mac and a non touch cintiq to work that way, no point going Surface.


P.s.
They have also my same old Dell touch display, I think it's a sign I really have to couple it with a Surface Studio.

 

Sadly, I agree.

She didn't even have pen pressure turned on. Like... What?

Nobody asked about IAF, and it was impossible to tell what the actual line response was. -Other than her echoing the general consensus; "It's a lot better than the SP4, but not quite at the level of a Cintiq."

(Actually, I'm glad that people are openly acknowledging that the line quality sucked with N-Trig. I was beginning to wonder if I was just being an overly sensitive minority or something. -Though, it took the world long enough to catch up to what seemed pretty damned obvious from the get-go. Sheesh.)

Still, I watched pretty much the whole video. I liked her artwork, and she was funky and adorable. And she got her 2000 followers on her streaming service. Cool.

The one thing this demo did do was show how different kinds of graphic designers can find good use for the device. Not all of us are into thin-line precision drawing.

I suspect this was why she was invited to demo the machine; a track record of liking Surface products, a young face with a popular following and an art style which wouldn't highlight the main points of weakness.

Good marketing, for the most part.

 

This is pretty irrelevant to the Surface Studio, but with the comments on the previous page about a right angle connector, I actually couldn't disagree more (and of course can't help myself). I find that it is the Surface's cord that gets bent back unnaturally.

Example: This cable has a gentle curve to it that isn't stressing it:




The Surface Pro 2 charger, on the other hand, is clearly stressing the cable (especially at the part where the cable enters the connector). They've improved the cable relief on newer models, but this design still strains the cable more when at a desk:



I think that the right angle design works great on a traditional laptop where you're plugging into the keyboard part of the device, but it's terrible for something like the Surface when using it at a desk.

 

Guys, so apparently with the back-to-back MS-Apple event coverage, and now the Adobe Max coverage...the Surface Studio is really blowing up.

This is now a thing, trending on YouTube...complete with reaction videos:



I was at first skeptical, but reading previous comments on this thread, it seems like non-techie/non-artist types really are quite entranced by this device.

Now my question is, how much is all this hype affecting your guys' "I want it" factor?

Much to my surprise, I find my 'buy needle' has moved past the MobileStudioPro 16 (you know the GPU-enabled unicorn I've wanted for only a decade ) from "interested" to "seriously considering for work".

Anyone else find themselves being slowly-but-surely swayed?

 

If I could connect my Surface Dock to it I'd be swayed, but then I'm easily swayed.

Twitter is to communications as haiku is to literature.

 

Ha ha!

Well, I suppose if Apple isn't going to be Apple anymore, *somebody* else will fill the void.

Americans apparently just really like minimalist design esthetics and high-quality parts.

Also.., I don't quite know how to put this, but the idea of the artist, (not actual artists, mind you), but the idea of the human occupation, has always carried a kind of mythical sense with it. Respect for the creative principle perhaps..? Something is being tapped into here which previously Apple had touched on. -I think unwittingly, and then lost because they're idiots.

It doesn't however increase my 'want' factor. I'm too close to the medium, I think. -In fact, in certain areas, (manga and anime are a couple of examples), I find I'm so far ahead of the popular curve in terms of awareness of cool ideas, (like decades ahead), that when they finally materialize in culture, I've already studied and absorbed them to the point of strong opinions. The generalized "Wow" factor is long gone and all that remains is critical appraisal. (Don't get me wrong; I still love Wow stuff, but I know the difference between brilliance and shine). The popular mind is never going to be as discerning.

And look at the results, I'm sitting at a digital drafting board right now, and while it isn't as pretty, it does the specific things I got it for better than the Surface Studio. It draws a straight %&*#ing line when I need it to.

But that's not meant to be a criticism. -Microsoft put in a lot of earnest work; they listened to the artist community and they've done their best to build a beautiful machine. I'm really happy to see MS hitting a home run; they deserve it!

And it can only mean good things for those of us in the digital arts.

 

<<...The Surface Pro 2 charger, on the other hand, is clearly stressing the cable...>>

...Dude... Turn the connector upside down! Problem solved!

<<...Anyone else find themselves being slowly-but-surely swayed?..>>

...My Office suite has Sway...?!?? (Nevermind; too corny...)

 

Not trying to sway you, Kuma, but you could use a Displaylink protocol adapter like this one. The latest DisplayLink chip can ran two 4K monitors at 60Hz over USB3.0. I don't use the mDP ports on the Dock because it's not compatible with my monitors. My big monitor (4K) runs through the SP4 mDP port, my smaller monitors connect via DisplayLink adapters over USB3.0. Works great.