Microsoft to Release Surface Studio Display in 2020

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I’m going to tell you something that you might find a little shocking. Apple isn’t a great inventor. That’s not to say that Apple isn’t innovative. Apple’s rarely the first to release a new product, but, often, they release the best version of a new product category. The end result, is its worldwide adoption. Apple figures out innovative solutions for the innovative products other companies have made. They don’t invent new product categories, they improve upon them.

It’s best to explain with an example. The iPod revolutionized digital music. It changed how we listen, buy, and transport music. But it wasn’t the first MP3 player, not by a long shot. Many companies had made music players before Apple. But they were clunky, with poorly thought out interfaces, and felt more like CD players without the CD. Apple, instead, imagined music without a physical medium, a new digital interface for looking at music as files, and the end result is history. The iPod was the most sought out music player since the first Sony Walkman.

A more recent example is the iPhone. Apple did not release the first smartphone. They didn’t even release the first touchscreen smartphone. However, the smartphone they did release had something no other smartphone had: an interface that actually worked well for its massive screen size. It took elements of the Newton, Palm Pilot, and Blackberry phones and made them easier, more seamless, and simpler. It became something you wanted to use, not something you had to use because you needed email on the go for work.

The Surface Studio

I say all this because of something truly innovative that Microsoft did right the first time. In that way, Apple may have fallen behind the curve of innovation. The Surface Studio is an enviable computer. Taking the Apple approach, Microsoft wasn’t the first to release an all-in-one computer. Instead, it took a design popularized by the iMac, improved it, and released something totally unique. The Surface Studio is a touch screen PC that feels more like a 2-in-1, a desk-sized drawing tablet and a PC.

Now Microsoft will bring that technology to everyone by releasing a Surface Studio monitor. The result will be a touchscreen computer that can bring the technology to innovation-starved Mac users, desperate from something new.

Surface Studio Display

In his book Beneath A Surface, Brad Sams discusses how the Microsoft Surface came to be. Initially, it was a nearly $1 billion loss for Microsoft, but now is a core part of their business. The methods Microsoft took to turn around their brand were drastic, but effective.

Part of that ongoing innovation strategy and reimagining of the Microsoft brand is a Surface Studio monitor. According to Sams, the Surface Studio Display will be out around 2020.

This won’t just be a display with an attractive hinge. It’ll function like the Surface Studio, without the computing parts. That means it’ll work with Microsoft’s Surface Pen peripheral, as well as its Surface Dial. This would allow Microsoft to edge in on Wacom’s territory. While the Wacom Clintiq is the go-to for designers looking for a graphics tablet display, Microsoft’s massive and adjustable Surface Studio is a much more attractive option. It’s slimmer, has a smaller bezel, and can be used as both a graphics tablet and a primary display.

Drawing for Mac (And iPad?) Users

For many designers who prefer to use Macs, this is truly exciting news. Even as a photo editor and occasional graphics editor, I’m putting this on my wish list. While I could never use Windows for anything but playing the few games I want to play on my computer that aren’t on macOS, I don’t hold any grudge against Microsoft. In fact, they’ve been creating some really attractive hardware that has me questioning Apple’s place in computing. Sitting somewhere between Apple and Google in terms of privacy, and releasing incredibly innovative hardware, Microsoft has thrown off it’s boring business branding and has become something exciting.

The Wacom Cintiq looks like something a designer in 2009 came up with that has never been improved upon. It’s large, bulky, barely adjustable, and has huge bezels. It takes up a huge space on your desk without adding any functionality outside of drawing. A better option, now, is an iPad. Pro and a Luna Display from Astropad. While I haven’t had a chance to test this (yet), the Luna Display offers to make your iPad a wireless secondary display, perfect for designers. In fact, paired with a new Mac Mini, and you’ve got a completely new kind of Apple product. However, it’s wireless, has some lag, and is limited by the speed and size of your iPad. Even the 12.9″ iPad Pro might not be large enough for some projects, and that occasional lag could be enough to cause designers to pause.

Enter the Surface Studio. Microsoft’s elegant solution will give users a 27″ touchscreen with poen input, additional accessories, slim design and slim bezels, and no lag. Best of all, the Surface Studio doesn’t take up extra space on your desk, it can be your primary display and your graphics tablet with just a small adjustment.

Microsoft in the Home

Right now, I don’t have Microsoft hardware in my home. I don’t even like to use Microsoft software, which I find janky, ugly, and poorly designed. I have Windows installed on my MacBook Pro in a small bootcamp partition, but that’s just for games that aren’t available on PS4 or macOS, and I haven’t needed it yet.

However, I think the Surface Studio Display would be the perfect product for Microsoft. It’s a great way to make something for Mac users who want a new display or graphics tablet. Microsoft will sell a product to a user they would have otherwise never reached. Furthermore, it’s the perfect Surface. It takes everything good about Microsoft’s product, the touch screen, the hardware, the brilliant design, and removes all the negative aspects, namely, Microsoft’s software. I’m clearing off a space on my desktop already.

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Source: Tom Warren, The Verge