Microsoft Launches New Surface Devices

AlphaAtlas

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Alongside the Windows 10 October Update, Microsoft refreshed their Surface product lineup today. The Surface Pro 6 gets a quad core CPU, an allegedly longer battery life, a matte black finish, and a $100 price bump to $899, but is otherwise similar to the last gen Surface Pro 5. The Surface Laptop 2 got a CPU upgrade, featuring a quad core Coffee Lake i5 or i7. The Surface Studio 2 now comes with a GTX 1060 or 1070, as well as an brighter display with better touch feedback, an update to Kaby Lake, and an eye-watering $3500 base price. Microsoft also launched a pair of wireless Bluetooth headphones to go with the new lineup. The "Surface Headphones" feature ambient noise cancellation, a total of 8 integrated microphones, dials on the cups, and Cortana integration.

Surface Pro 6, Surface Laptop 2 and Surface Studio 2, are available for preorder in select markets beginning today with additional market availability expected in 2019*. Surface Headphones will be available in both the US and UK in time for the holidays. And we’re pleased to offer Surface All Access through our Microsoft Stores in the US where you can begin purchasing these new products starting Oct. 16. Surface All Access is a new way to purchase your favorite Surface product with accessories, Office 365, dedicated support, and Microsoft Store benefits for a single low monthly payment, starting at $24.99.
 
$899 for the stripped model. $1899 for the same thing with a slight memory upgrade, and marginally bigger hard drive.

I would have bought a Surface device years ago if their upgrade pricing wasn't such a joke.
 
I don’t know much about these but why would you need a GTX 1060 or 1070 in these? Oh never mind, I just looked up what a Studio is. Starting at $3,500! Yikes.
 
There's still a 4GB option for $750.. The MS gotta be joking.. I've had the Surface devices and they suck. Slammed with slow SSDs, stupid Alcantara keyboard that will look like shit after some use. On top of that, no USB-C.
 
Who buys these things? I have seen ZERO out in the wild.

I have a Surface 3 (not pro), its great. Pretty much like an ipad, but can actually run programs and properly render the web. I am struggling to try replace its use-case with an ipad. Eventually i''l replace it with the Surface Go.
 
I loved my SP3 and would have got a SP5 when I got a new machine and gave my wife my laptop but got an XPS13 instead because of the true 4/8 i7 CPU. If this had been available last Nov I would have gotten it instead. They are great little machines for those that have to be productive but are constantly on the go
 
I have a Surface 3 (not pro), its great. Pretty much like an ipad, but can actually run programs and properly render the web. I am struggling to try replace its use-case with an ipad. Eventually i''l replace it with the Surface Go.


Ok the surface go is right up my alley with a $500 price tag that will do EVERYTHING I need for those type of tasks and run winders.

This is coming from an Ipad Pro user who also wants a Surface book for work.
 
meh im still sticking with my surface pro 4. if this one 2 usbc ports i woulda been in lijne for an upgrade. just hope the battery in mine dont start bulging
 
My Surface Studio was $4200 and I love it, typing this on it now. I like to draw and getting a 27" Cintiq (they ran ~$3000 when I got my surface) with decent internals would have cost me about as much but would have also been less convenient as the Studio takes up a lot less room than a Cintiq, which needs a second monitor (as the Cintiq doesn't transition from horizontal to vertical easily without adding an expensive and large mount to it) and a full/micro tower. My Studio only has a 980M in it but it does well enough, and I have a separate computer for gaming so the 980M is plenty to scribble the occasional stress reliever. Which means it's a decent hobby/entry level professional setup.

My current issues with it are a slow hard drive and it only has 4GB of video memory to drive a 4500x3000 screen. They fixed that in the new one giving it 8GB for the equivalent 1070 model. The monitor is amazing and they made it better on the new one, while I'm not looking to upgrade, if they get the new one to full HDR10 standards, I could see it happening, though I might wait till next year anyway as my current one is working fine.

For people who look at it as a pretty 28" monitor and crappy internals then you probably shouldn't by it as it's way too expensive for a 1070 with a mediocre quad core I7 and very nice but not $4k nice monitor. For anyone who actually produces as a past time or for their job, it's not unreasonably priced when you consider adding an equivalent Cintiq to a current rig is another ~$3000 . I would go with the Cintiq setup specifically if I needed more than the Surface offers but as a hobbyist it's actually nice as it's still a fully functional PC when I'm not drawing which is doable but more difficult with the Cintiq setup.

I went to Cintiq's site to look up the competing product but they aren't selling it currently. Here's the closest competitor you can currently get from them:
https://us-store.wacom.com/Product/wacom-cintiq-pro-24#/undefined1

It's $2500 for a 24" display that doesn't have touch support just pen. To get a stand so it can go upright is another $500, that's $3000 for just part of the functionality of the Studio.

So, maybe the person that would pay it is a person that happens to want pen/touch support on a large screen that seamlessly folds down so you can use it like a drawing board and knows the competition charges similar money for the same thing without a computer built in... Just a thought.
 
M$ are earning their often used dollar sign monicar now! (or have been since they think the world is full of the same over paid exec's that are at their company).
 
Love my surface pro, I’d upgrade to the new line or possibly the laptop but it’s chugging along fine still so I’ll keep it :)
 
The issues nobody is talking about:

-The i7 in the SP6 no longer includes iris graphics which should result in it being only ~50% as fast as the previous gen for graphics
-They no longer include Windows 10 Pro and are only providing "Home" (Why is it the Surface "Pro" then?)
-Still no integrated USB-C despite USB-C being added to surface book 2 refresh and even the Surface Go
-Despite touting it as the cheapest starting price; they are saying that for the i5 version as the M versions have been discontinued.

While I like the new black color; and quad core is nice; they have gimped the options of the lineup in general.
 
While I like the new black color; and quad core is nice; they have gimped the options of the lineup in general.
.. whilst jacking the price up to ridiculous levels every step of the way.

Good list, Sir. Every single point is on my important must have list. :( (especially for the price they are asking. You can't make a product thats high end, costs like high end, but delivers B.S. and takes away high end features/functionality). Welcome to computing and software in the 21st century it seems.
 
The issues nobody is talking about:

-The i7 in the SP6 no longer includes iris graphics which should result in it being only ~50% as fast as the previous gen for graphics
-They no longer include Windows 10 Pro and are only providing "Home" (Why is it the Surface "Pro" then?)
-Still no integrated USB-C despite USB-C being added to surface book 2 refresh and even the Surface Go
-Despite touting it as the cheapest starting price; they are saying that for the i5 version as the M versions have been discontinued.

While I like the new black color; and quad core is nice; they have gimped the options of the lineup in general.


Not to defend MS, but isnt the first item on the list kind of a trade off for more CPU cores?
 
Not to defend MS, but isnt the first item on the list kind of a trade off for more CPU cores?

Surely is.... If you have no need for GPU operations, should be a good performance upgrade from a cpu processing perspective. If you are a user that has an interest in graphically accelerated programs and bought this thinking it the 8th gen i7 graphics would be at least as fast if not faster than last gen's i7 graphics you will be quite sad and misled by Microsoft's marketing.

I still think that microsoft could have fit in the 28 watt 8th gen cpu option that still includes Iris pro (8559U). You can manually configure a TDP to fit the chassis limit; and I've proven in some of my testing that microsoft can maintain 17-18 watts in the Surface Pro chassis over long term and burst tdp rates up to 30+ watts a tdp envelope which that 28 watt processor could have fit into. They could have retained quad core AND iris graphics; sure it would throttle quite a bit compared to what the chip is capable of; but it would still blow the lid off the previous gen surface in all areas vs. being worse than previous gen.
 
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