What They Say
Microsoft has a new Surface Studio 2+ All-in-one PC which has a 3:2 aspect ratio 28″ IPS LCD with resolution of 4500 x 3000 (193ppi). Output is 500 cd/m² and contrast is 1,200:1. It has 10-point touch and is protected with Gorilla Glass 3. Dolby Vision is supported. The stand allows the monitor to used almost flat as well as like a normal monitor. (there is neat animation if you scroll down the page here)
The PC uses an Intel Core i7-11370H (4 cores, 8 threads, up to 4.8 GHz), 32 GB DDR4 RAM, a GeForce RTX 3060 laptop GPU (with 6 GB GDDR6 VRAM) and a 1-TB SSD. There is a fullHD webcam and has an optional pen.
On the interface side, there is Bluetooth 5.1, RJ-45, USB-A 3.1, WLAN 802.11ax, Thunderbolt 4 (with USB-C 4 and daisy chaining) and a headphone output.
Pricing starts at €5,589 in Europe.
What We Think
This PC is clearly aimed at those that might be looking at Apple’s iMac 24″ which has a 4480 x 2520 display (218 ppi). That’s equivalent to a 40″ 8K 16:9 display at the Apple ppi, or 46″ at the same ppi as the Surface Studio 2+.
I’ve been thinking about this topic since I heard that there will be a bit of a rush of new 8K monitors around CES in January, partly because of the new version of DisplayPort. (Changes in Interfaces Could Really Help 8K Adoption). One of the challenges when Dell launched its 8K monitor in 2017 was that the menus and prompts were just too small for heavy use. The Dell display was 32″, so had 275ppi. I haven’t, yet, played with Windows 11, but even 10 was much better in dealing with different displays than earlier versions. (BR)
