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Microsoft Surface Studio(microsoft.com)

7 years ago from Sam Solomon, Staff Product Designer at Salesloft

  • Stuart McCoyStuart McCoy, 7 years ago

    Too bad it's shackled to Windows. I'd love to have a Mac desktop like this.

    16 points
    • Jrtorrents Dorman , 7 years ago

      As someone who uses both Windows And OSX quite regularly,I don't see any meaningful differences between the two OSes. Besides OSX isn't touch friendly.

      11 points
      • Jim SilvermanJim Silverman, 7 years ago

        the deal-breaker is the lack of Sketch, Xcode, and whatnot. it's not directly a problem with the OS itself, but a lot of design/dev tools are Mac-only.

        13 points
        • Jrtorrents Dorman , 7 years ago

          I don't think this geared towards developers.

          As the "studio" name suggests it's aimed at designers/creatives. Mind you there is a broad soectrum of "designers". Anyone from sketch artist, architect to UI/UX designer can be classified as "designers".

          As I have come to realise, there are a ton of "designer apps" don't work on OSX either (Revit, 3DS max etc) but I do understand your point. Sketch is a big one.

          11 points
          • Jim SilvermanJim Silverman, 7 years ago

            truth. was speaking more to the general windows aversion in the community

            1 point
          • Corin EdwardsCorin Edwards, 7 years ago (edited 7 years ago )

            It's not so much Sketch itself. It's more that an active development community exists for a market that buys new creative tools.

            Windows doesn't have that right now, though Affinity's plans are a hopeful sign.

            If Microsoft continues to produce desirable hardware platforms like this then perhaps those developers and consumers will build and buy there too.

            1 point
            • Jrtorrents Dorman , 7 years ago

              You're idea of who and what a designer is a bit too narrow. Design goes a bit more than app and website design.

              Yes for UI/UX design OSX is by far the better platform (Framer, Principal, Sketch etc) but for other designs like game design, industrial design, architecture etc Windows might be a better platform ( Revit, 3DS max etc )

              4 points
              • Corin EdwardsCorin Edwards, 7 years ago (edited 7 years ago )

                I'm just talking about new tools.

                Windows has plenty of old tools that a lot of industries are stuck with but the Mac is a healthy software ecosystem where people are willing to build entirely new tools and consumers are willing to buy them.

                0 points
        • Hanu ManHanu Man, 7 years ago

          Just use Figma... and go!

          4 points
          • Cody Gallner, 7 years ago

            Or Affinity Designer, better than Sketch IMO.

            6 points
            • Ryan Hicks, 7 years ago

              Better than sketch? Interesting. I could see that comparison to PS, but not sketch. Although I have yet to use AD.

              0 points
              • Ryan MackRyan Mack, 7 years ago

                You may be thinking of Affinity Photo. Affinity Designer is more kin to Sketch and Illustrator. It's very well done for the time it's been around.

                1 point
                • Ryan Hicks, 7 years ago

                  Correct I meant Illustrator as a comparison. Forgot Affinity had multiple software for each use case. Still though from what I've seen it doesn't seem that comparable to sketch... ? Looks neat though. I've always wanted to try their stuff out.

                  0 points
        • Brian HintonBrian Hinton, 7 years ago

          Visual Studio Code, Xamarin tools, React, Node.js a first rate citizen, Atom, Affinity Designer, Bash, Adobe (Photoshop, XD, Illustrator), Inkscape, Figma, Unity, All of the web-based tools (Atomic, InVision, Marvel, etc.)

          Plenty of tools to get the job done.

          2 points
      • Stuart McCoyStuart McCoy, 7 years ago

        Yes, I realize MacOS is not touch friendly (Apple did have Inkwell a long time ago but abandonned pen and touch input for the desktop OS). As for meaningful differences, I think the overall polish of MacOS shows and the endless updates to my Windows machine makes me cringe every time I start it up. Who wants to waste half an hour while Windows runs a bunch of updates?

        My point was that the hardware is nice and innovative. While I think the OLED function bar and e-ink keyboards Apple will eventually have is nice, I think they need to start looking towards more solutions like this and making MacOS touch friendly. Dare I say they should perhaps look into merging iOS and MacOS and bring touch to the desktop (perhaps sell a few extra Apple Pencils as well).

        1 point
        • Jrtorrents Dorman , 7 years ago

          First off windows updates are no more than the updates you get on a mac. They push an update every feww months, and just like a Mac if you skip it today, it's going to ask you again the next time until you update it.,

          6 points
          • Mike ChambersMike Chambers, 7 years ago

            Yeah, I find the macOS updates way more intrusive / annoying (constantly telling it to stop bugging me).

            0 points
      • Todd SielingTodd Sieling, 7 years ago

        I consider the trackpad pretty touch friendly. There are quite a few gestures in there that are pure touch and have no direct mouse/keyboard equivalent. The trackpad isn't the screen, but the move toward natural gestures is moving there.

        2 points
      • Ian GoodeIan Goode, 7 years ago (edited 7 years ago )

        I read that this Surface Studio was designed intentionally to have less resolution than a 5k display, because they wanted the screen to have the exact same dpi as paper. That kind of attention to the detail for creatives is what Apple used to be known for.

        As much as I love the Mac, my next machine will be Windows. I want one for VR & gaming, and looking at my Mac setup, the only app I'd miss is Sketch. The rest are cross-platform or web-based. Plus Apple have been dragging their heels on the desktop for years, I doubt today's event will do anything to change that. It's a shame the Surface Studio isn't a bit more powerful, it's just on the cusp of being a VR machine.

        4 points
    • Mike Johnson, 7 years ago

      I don't think professional designers really care, as long as it has their program (CAD, Photoshop, etc.) supported.

      Unix people (developers, etc.) might care, but this computer isn't really for them.

      8 points
      • Weston VierreggerWeston Vierregger, 7 years ago

        FWIW Bash is now on Windows, with an entire linux subsystem. You can't write iOS apps on Windows PCs, but Microsoft is already lightyears beyond where they were even a year ago with devs.

        4 points