Is Microsoft Surface Studio the best all-in-one you can buy?

New computer targets creative professionals, with a touch sensitive display packing 13 million pixels

Microsoft Surface Studio
(Image credit: Microsoft)

Microsoft has just held a glitzy event in New York to introduce a number of new products, but there was only one star of the show – the Surface Studio.

The all-in-one desktop computer is targeted towards creative professionals and even though its design has a strong iMac influence, it's a different proposition to Apple's popular device.

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The display is a huge, an incredibly thin 28ins LCD screen with more than 13 million eye-popping pixels – that's about 63 per cent above a 4K television, says Alphr. It sits on top of a "Zero Gravity" stand, hinged so users can move the screen effortlessly.

As a package, it's enticing and Gizmodo says "it's undoubtedly gorgeous".

Prop the screen up and you can use it as a desktop display, with a mouse and keyboard, while folding it flat brings the Surface Studio to life.

The display is touch sensitive and can be used as a huge drawing surface, making it ideal for the creative types Microsoft is courting.

It works with Microsoft's Surface Pen plus one of the computer's new and very interesting features - the Surface Dial, a small silver cylinder capable of controlling the Surface Studio in a number of ways.

For example, if users place it on to the large screen, it turns into a dial, spawning a web of options around its footprint to allow a change in colour tone or brush type when drawing. It's completely context dependent can be used in different ways depending on the app.

Inside the Surface Studio is an Intel i7 processor, 32GB RAM, a 4GB Nvidia GPU and a huge 2 terabytes solid-state hard drive.

Limited numbers are available to pre-order now. UK prices haven't been revealed but in the US, the basic version will cost $3,000 (£2,460), while the range-topping model will come in at $4,200 (£3,444).

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