Last week saw a couple of major product announcements from the Mac vs PC folks. The funny thing is the roles were reversed. Apple had an interesting but ultimately blah announcement with their new Macbook Pros while Microsoft wowed with the new Surface Studio all in one. Both have their issues that I am going to break my usual rule of not reviewing something I have not personally used.
What got announced?
Microsoft launched their Surface Studio all in one PC. Big desktop screen all in one computer ala an iMac. But the party trick is the hinge of the monitor allows the screen to tilt down to a 20 degree angled 'drafting' mode. Because that screen is multi touch capable and compatible with their existing Surface Pen. It also comes with a puck that allows you to have a dial. The puck can sit on the desktop and be used to scroll through options/settings. And when in drafting mode it can actually rest on the surface studio screen and be detected, which allows it to produce graphics along its base to make it a dynamic dial. IE select from a color wheel by turning and the colors shift around on the screen based on you physically twisting the puck dial. This really does look useful and having done a fair amount of digital art work the thing had me salivating once I saw it tilted down and being able to use it as a drafting table. Something old is new again, in a very exciting way.
Apple launched their long overdue Macbook Pro updates and they came with a new 'Touch bar". Basically take the function keys up at the top of your keyboard that a large majority of users do not fully utilize and replace it with an OLED touch screen. This allows you to present dynamic touch based keys and interface items that change based on your current context. Similar to the puck concept for the surface pro you can down make physical touch based sliders as a part of your keyboard for scrolling through option settings etc... Pick through emoji. Scrub through charts/pictures etc... and even have touch screen function keys... namely an 'esc' key which the intertubes blew up over the loss of once the tech leaked. The end result is in theory a seamless addition of touch interface items without requiring the user to lift their hands from the keyboard. Of course, in addition to this they made everything smaller, lighter, more powerful and lasts longer. Oh yeah... and it has touch ID plumbed in.
So first off... I cannot speak to the performance of either. What interests me is Apple finally committing to a touch interface on the Macbook other than the track pad and Microsoft looking to perhaps have figured out how to move touch successfully onto a full desktop sized screen without the dreaded numb arms of death of holding your hands out in front of you at a computer. So in a way both of these product announcements represented Apple and Microsofts take on the way touch should be incorporated into the more traditional computer form factors.
This all goes back to something Steve Jobs (among others) pointed out as something users did not want based on testing. Namely, that interacting with a vertical screen in front of you for any length of time is not a good idea. My questions is did they ever actually consider changing the method by which you interact with your computer screen. Meaning move the screen so it isn't a vertical plane that you are interacting with raised hands? The answer seems to be yes. Just that Apple thought the answer to how to accomplish that was to make the screen as small and light as possible so that you used it in new ways/places. Hence the iPad and their continued refusal to incorporate touch into their traditional computing hardware. On the other hand, the PC world took the opening of large scale capacitive touch and moved it onto laptops where you still traditionally have a vertical screen or in many cases these days, a convertible hinge that alows you to sorta use a laptop like a big clunky tablet. The surface studio though makes a new assumption. That there is a better way to interact with your PC than sitting at a desk interacting with a vertical screen. The tilt down to 'draft table' mode is genius. It is the most 'Apple' thing I have seen since the original iPad announcement and it leverages a fairly common creative setup (standing at or on a stool leaning over at a drafting desk). Funny that it came from Microsoft. But not really surprising. Risk taking is typically something left for those looking to get to the top, rarely by those comfortably at the top. And in computer hardware right now Apple is the undisputed king and has been for 5+ years or so now.
What do I not like?
Surface Studio:
I have to agree with Norman Chan of tested.com who pointed out the Surface Studio concept is less attractive as an expensive all in one with questionable specs (for the cost mind you) than it would be as an expensive stand alone monitor solution that you could pair with any level desktop. The all in one internals on the computing side will get quickly dated... in fact considering it is launching with last generation mobile Nvidia graphics I think it is in fact launching out dated. And this is EXPENSIVE. It also lacks the higher bandwidth newer ports (thunderbolt/USB C) which means you can't drive that gorgeous display from a future system or even add a credible external graphics processing card. Hopefully MS figures this out either in the next generation by adding the necessary future proofing capabilities and or actually releasing this as a stand along monitor solution and not just as an all in one.
MacBook Pro:
For the Macbook Pro. I like the concept but I sense a firewire type debacle in the long run. Unless the notion of a touch bar interface gains wide acceptance the Mac OS laptop world is a niche market that will ultimately limit its adoption by the wider development community. It is elegant and potentially a very good solution but I question its long term staying power. I think apple needs to dump out a keyboard accessory with touchbar... and perhaps shockingly, I think they need to make it with 1st class PC compatibility in mind. Not likely... and it seems its compatibility will even be somewhat limited on OS X hardware as there does not appear to be SDK tools that would allow say a web developer to make a site that could utilize the touchbar for web interface elements. With the growing use of cloud based software this seems a silly oversight on Apple's part. Thankfully it is one that isn't that hard to rectify. The last thing bugging me on the Apple front is the refusal to offer a top tier mobile graphics solution in a 'PRO' lineup and the ability to add up to 32GB of RAM. RAM configurations are limited to 16GB and these are soldered in RAM chips, not something you can user upgrade. The problem is not the architecture, it is Apple's refusal to allow a configuration that will significantly harm battery life of the models. This further limits the Macbook PRO appeal in the PRO market where RAM is king for most involved creative computing endeavors. How about a novel new RAM management system that allows you to turn off half the RAM when on battery power and utilize full capacity when plugged in? Or *gasp* allow it as a user option to opt for a mode that clearly states it will significantly lower expected battery life? When the Retina systems first launched they were one of the few laptops you could configure with 16GB of RAM. Now they are one of the few higher end machines you can't configure for 32GB. This is the kind of decisions with this line that has continued to narrow the difference between alternate solutions while keeping as high a price premium as when it offered a lot more unique capability.
Both:
Pricing. Holy crap on a stick the pricing. I love me some tech. But wow. The surface Studio starts at 3 grand. And that is with 8GB of Ram only, 1 generation back mobile graphics, and without the latest ports. Top tier cost. Mid tier or worse specs with the exception of its high resolution touch screen tilt hinge. Yes it is impressive, but it is tied to an already creaking system and you can't use it with an independent system. The Macbook Pro line is sticking to its typical nosebleed section. The problem is its distance from the competition has been severely eroded. The touchbar is its first real party piece to give it some market place separation but is it enough? Do I want one? Yes. But my personal laptop use level has tanked since I stopped being able to dual use my personal equipment for work and horsepower and build quality wise I can get similar systems for quite a bit less money. That means I am left paying the Apple tax for OS X over Windows X (much less of a compromise than windows 8 and back) and for the touch bar if I plunk down for one. Probably the biggest problem Apple is facing here from my stand point is the following. For approximately the cost of a top line iPad I can get a decent spec Surface Pro 4 which can meet the needs of a tablet and what I need from a laptop. And for the cost of a well speced Macbook Pro I can get a SurfaceBook that also meets tablet and high end laptop needs. On the Mac side I would want both an iPad and the Laptop which would cost quite a bit more... talking mid 2k cost vs 4k... and a bit. That is a lot of cheddar to stick with an OS and a half inch wide 11 inch long touch screen. This is making me wonder if the success of Surface will finally get Apple to launch an OS X capable iPad. The new chip in the iPhone scaled to iPad release raises some interesting thoughts along those lines... if an ARM architecture can run OS X apps as they sit now seamlessly (doubtful).
What am I exited about?:
Touch is breaking out of small mobile form factors and starting to become a part of the general computing landscape. It is overdue. The notion of a large touch based screen for a desk has a huge appeal and introducing the general population to a drafting desk style interface makes a lot of sense to me. In 5 years we may well look back on this 'small' screen studio as a quaint begining. 60-70" 4k screens are already well under 1000 bucks. In 5 years a true 'desktop' display could be a reality at similar or even higher resolutions. Add in touch and this is starting to merge the power of the pen in hand way of being creative in many many ways that have been traditionally extremely different and.... disconnected when it comes to computer input. The revamping of the keyboard into a dynamic device has been hinted at in the past when some have tried to make dynamic display keys. Apple seems to have cracked how to actually make it work. I really could see sitting at a studio style device with a touchbar style keyboard that then allows you to easily move to a hands on pen and puck based drafting mode and back depending on the tasks you are performing.
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