Surface Studio hands-on reviews reveal dealbreakers and drawbacks

First things first: Microsoft’s Surface Studio isn’t an iMac killer.

Not because it’s not a good machine — it’s got great hardware and innovative accessories—but because it’s not even meant to compete with Apple’s all-in-one.

Instead, this is what the Surface Studio is competing against:

Photo credit: Wacom.

Wacom’s Cintiq 27QHD Touch.

It’s got a 27-inch touch display, a pressure-sensitive pen, and an accessory with a touch ring that you can lay on top of the screen. It’s even got an optional ergonomic stand that allows you to tilt the screen to almost any angle for comfortable drawing. You can almost see the source of inspiration behind Microsoft’s Surface Studio.

You can almost see the source of inspiration behind Microsoft’s Surface Studio.

Released in 2015, the Wacom Cintiq 27QHD was the ultimate drawing device for pro digital artists. The Surface Studio essentially targets the same niche creative market as the Cintiq.

So how useful is the Surface Studio in a creative’s workflow — and will it unseat Wacom’s Cintiq as the ultimate tool? A week ago, hands-on, in-depth video reviews were uploaded onto YouTube. Unfortunately, they revealed a couple of key deal-breakers, as well as a few other drawbacks of the Surface Studio.

Let’s take a look.

Deal-breaker 1: Surface Pen detects input before it touches the screen

A review by Tested channel invited a couple of artists to try out the device. The first artist, Marty Cooper, who is a cartoonist and storyboarder, realized that the Surface Pen registered input before its tip touched the screen of the Surface Studio.

This created a series of “hooks” and “tails” on the lines being drawn by Marty, who was drawing at a reasonably fast speed as he usually does. These marks, Marty says, will not be acceptable in his line of work.

Deal-breaker 2: Pressure sensitivity of Surface Pen just isn’t as good as on a Cintiq

Palm detection problems

Surface Dial problems