Microsoft Surface Studio compatible with CC?

[Hessel]

Hi,

Does anyone use the Microsoft Surface Studio? and if so, could you tell me if it's fully compatible with Adobe Creative cloud?

(Like the extra tools the use with the studio, pen and magnetic turn device).

Best regards,

Hessel

[kglad]

[moved from Adobe Creative Cloud to Hardware Forum]

[RjL190365]

I do not have one, but the original Surface Studio series uses last-generation hardware such as a quad-core Skylake CPU and a Maxwell (as opposed to the newer Pascal) GPU (and a mobile one, at that). It is equipped with a lousy SATA III hybrid combo drive instead of a good, fast m.2 PCIe SSD.

Because of this and also because of its very high price, the overall performance is nowhere near commensurate with the total cost (or put it this way, at its current street price that particular all-in-one Windows desktop PC is way too expensive for what performance it delivers).

[jacobp8069057]

What a completely useless reply. Why even bother if you have nothing to add to this conversation?

[RjL190365]

Sorry that I wasn't more specific, but I was only speaking for its performance in Premiere Pro, as well as the relative cost of that system versus the sum of all of its hardware and software parts at the time I made that post. I should have stated that in my post. I cannot speak for its performance in everything else.

[jacobp8069057]

But you said you didn't have one so what are you contributing then? Nobody expects the specs to match up to a standalone desktop machine, a major part of what you are paying for is the display and the ability to draw on said display. If you want to complain about the system do it elsewhere.

[RjL190365]

Actually, I am comparing it to a laptop with the same internal components. And I have, since that time, borrowed both of those machines that I described, and tested them both. Both performed about the same as the other; however, the laptop cost only one-third of that Surface Studio's price. That's what I was complaining about. And I did not feel that even the Surface Studio's display (at least on the one that I tested) justified anywhere near that huge price difference. And last-gen internal components notwithstanding, the deal breaker is that the Surface Studio is unavailable with a true SSD - it's only available with the hybrid HDD with an SSD cache that for all practical purposes performs more like a typical 5400 RPM laptop HDD.

With that said, I am leaving this discussion to others. I might check back for any updates, but other than that...

[grantj80069314]

Its not a typical 5400 RPM drive. Its a hybrid with an SSD.  So this makes it much much faster than you suppose.

Also, it has USB 3 ports, and you can hook up a 2TB Samsung T5 SSD external drive to it, permanently, and get that incredible 500 MB/sec transfer speed that is about 15 to 20 times faster than the 5400 RPM drive you inferred was the speed of this machine. It doesn't have to be that way.  It is a very easy upgrade.

Get the i7 quad core model, and get the 32 GB of RAM.  It will be a killer machine.

What is really GREAT about this machine, is that is has a super high quality DIGITIZER built in with an incredibly large 28" display size. There is nothing like it on the market, not the Apple offerings, this is a game changer, and I like it.  It has this wheel that has a circular graphic pop up on the screen to let you choose colors and a variety of brushes and other tools. Its incredibly versatile and way better than the Wacom offerings.

Did you know that Wacom DISCONTINUED their 27" touch screen digitizer with monitor, because they kept going dead? Wacom is dead. Microsoft has stepped up, and Apple can't keep up as their screens are not even touch sensitive, let alone digitizer sensitive. The Microsoft Surface Studio is BOTH, and does it elegantly.  I have two new macbook Pros, one with 2TB SSD, two new iMacs, and two mac mini servers, and I can say, honestly, this Microsoft Surface Studio is a game changer for creative artists. Apple has instead chosen to focus on video makers... and have left the artists with lousy tools. You don't need 128 GB of RAM to draw pictures or run Adobe CC stuff... so they have really pigeon holed themselves with their iMac pros, which are very very expensive anyway!

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[Zoe7traveller]

I use the Surface Pro 3 (500gb, 8gb ram) and I LOVE it;  It handles almost all Lightroom, Lightroom plugins, and Photoshop very well.   O It can also handle alot of basic Premiere stuff -- you start getting into problems with Lumetri use.  The rendering times can be kidna slow -- it's it's really nice to render on the go.  Especially while doing video, it's a good idea to shut down other sames to save memory and resources.  I have to say, I'v elearned a lot abnout Adobe on this Surface Pro.  Now tat I'm getting more serious with video, I'm looking at larger systems

[Hessel]

Hi Thank you for your respons!

So, it works and it's compatible?! I understand that the power under the hood is essential for the line of work you do. Main reason I ask this question is that I need to know if Adobe is compatible with the touch features of the device. Any experience with Illustrator and the Surface?

Thanks again.

[Zoe7traveller]

I've only barely scratched the surface with Illustrator, but from what I could tell, it works perfectly with the stylus, etc.  I used some other illustration programs and also had great results.

I think you'll have no difficulties.

[anthonyl33136497]

I have the top of the line Surface Studio.  It works great with parts of CC.

Photoshop - amazing.  I will never use a wacom tablet again.  Seems to handle anything I throw at it in PS (I do a lot of composite work so can have literally hundreds of layers).  For people that do a lot of selections and cut outs this machine is a game changer.

Lightroom - Awesome.  No complaints.

Illustrator - no complaints but I have only done some basic graphics so far.  I like using the pen with the pen tool, though...

Premiere - Not really.  It can do ok if you like to wait around for rendering and deal with crashes. I think it is just too much even with running usb hardrives for cache and projects.

After Effects - Same deal

Audition - seems to work ok for what I do but that is related back to the Premiere so I likely will use my rendering machine for that work.

[jacobp8069057]

Thanks! I am considering one and I spend a ton of time in Photoshop. I wish they would add Photoshop (at least) to the software on the demo units in the stores. I use a Wacom tablet and really would like to test drive the SS before I buy. Also curious how Indesign handles on it.

[grantj80069314]

I use the Microsoft Surface Studio 32 GB of RAM and i7 quad core processor, and the 2TB hard fusion drive. I also hook up a 2TB Samsung 500 MB/sec mini external hard drive to it to expand storage and have blazing speeds for working with files and data. It runs Windows 10, and runs all of the Adobe CC apps, and runs them very well.

This machine is a killer machine, and the size of the display is so wonderfully large, it is truly inspiring and helpful.  It is so much more different than working with my iPAD Pro and the Apple pencil.  The Apple idea is OK, but this is so much better!  IT IS Awesome in comparison to the Apple offerings. It is also way better than working on a small screen MS Surface tablet. no comparison!

Apple has a great computer in the iMac Pro, but its cost starts at $5000, a thousand more than this complete machine, but it does not have the touch screen let alone the digitizer screen to use with the surface pencil/brush.  The Microsoft Surface Studio has TWO artist technologies that are completely missing from the Apple iMac or even Macbook Pro computers: touch screen, and DIGITIZER screen.  its a game changer. Apple chose to focus instead on FCPX for making videos, and left the artists without good tools.

Even the Wacom tablet monitors are very small, and they discontinued their large 27" monitor/digitizer recently, because it FAILED. They kept dying, and people complained that it failed also on touch screen tech. Wacom has fallen from graces, and MS Surface Studio is a real machine that works, and it works great.

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