Surface Studio

[Basic 2]

Looking impressive but waiting for the real reviews!

 

http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/microsoft-introduces-surface-studio-shows-apple-rivalry-alive-and-well-20161026-gsbmjx.html

[oeuf 0]

Someone posted this on slack:

 

https://www.penny-arcade.com/news/post/2016/10/26/the-surface-studio

 

It's definitely promising.

I would love to see Microsoft make a version of this that plugs into your existing box for use.

[Basic 2]

Thats great! I was waiting for a review! Reads well and I'm keen. I don't see an immediate need as I'm pretty heavy with AE but it seems like a step in the right direction!

[C.Smith 0]

Wow. This feels weird replying in mograph after quite a while. I have to say, After being a Machead for a couple of decades+, I am very disillusioned with Apple since Steve passed away. Everything MS seems to be doing in the last few years is doing Apple better than Apple. This Surface and the surface notebook look pretty amazing I have to say. I think my only reservation with switching over would be that I use ProRes constantly for everything and am unsure how integrated you can have ProRes in Win10. Between releasing a "Pro" computer once recently 3 years ago and now down to stupid changes like a 'cancel' key instead of 'esc', I just don't know what the hell Apple is up to anymore. I may get a Surface book as my gateway experience.

 

With the Surface Studio, what are the primary means of using connected hardware like RAIDs and Video SDI boxes and such? On MacPro everything is Thunderbolt. Is PC using Thunderbolt as well or other solution?

[Carey 0]

Wow. This feels weird replying in mograph after quite a while.

 

GTFO, you casual.

 

Seriously, switching all over to windows would be monumentally painful, but holy snaps that studio is lookin hot.

And yeah, it looks to be usb 3.

4 USB 3.0

Full-size SD card reader (SDXC compatible)

Mini Displayport

3.5mm headset jack

[Basic 2]

I did just see this...

 

[destro 0]

That's a laptop with a really nice touch screen attached.

[vozzz 2]

honestly, i have very limited use for it, but i just REALLY want one

[C.Smith 0]

 

GTFO, you casual.

 

Seriously, switching all over to windows would be monumentally painful

 

Would it though? (Hi Binky. Miss you, Boo)

I've been thinking a lot about this the last few days. I feel I represent a lot of folks in software use and everything is so cloud based now, would it really make a difference? Like I use my computers as a dummy terminal already as of late:

 

Music : Spotify - cloud based / runs on PC

Files: Dropbox / Cloud based. I never store files on my computers directly anymore. All SAVEs go to my dropbox account. No more Documents folder or Desktop or what have you. So I buy windows , install Dropbox Desktop app and continue with life.

Adobe CC: Cloud based / Runs on PC

Editing / Color / Composite: DaVinci Resolve / Nuke / Fusion. All PC compatible

Music: Ableton Live & ProTools / PC compatible

Email: Cloud Based

Chat: Slack / Cloud based

Text based notes and files : Evernote / Cloud based

Game Dev: Unity / PC compatible

 

My only issue is how "Native" ProRes works on Windows. Outside of that I feel like I would buy a PC and set in a shitload of passwords and download all the same software and life moves on.

 

Possible hang-ups:

 

My giant library of Mac Formatted drives.

Film business only passes around mac formatted drives from shoots.

Drives / Drives / Drives

Even if I format my new drives as exFAT, I only interact with people who assume Mac formatting.

 

 

Advantages:

- Touch with a real OS and not iOS.

- Video game mecca

- I like how Windows has universal apps that are for mobile and PC. Not that I would own a Windows phone. But I think it's slick on your PC with touch to watch Hulu / Netflix / YouTube and all that as apps and not websites.

 

Disadvantages (assuming switch out my laptop to PC as well)

- No iMessage which the majority of my friends, family, and colleagues use. Windows has "people" but I know one person with a PC.

- No more making/receiving calls from my laptop with the iPhone.

 

All of this justification so I can have a giant surface studio on a laptop stand in bed to watch giant movies with my fingers

[zook 0]

I've been thinking about this too. I'd consider keeping an iMac, MacBook or even a Mac Mini at the side of the PC would solve the problems of transferring data or accessing archived projects. You could use your current Mac if you have room; my aging 2010 tower needs updating but I'd consider a PC and leave the older Mac for swapping stuff about or doing the odd thing it'd be easer to do using the Mac rather than on the PC.

[Basic 2]

Possible hang-ups:

 

My giant library of Mac Formatted drives.

Film business only passes around mac formatted drives from shoots.

Drives / Drives / Drives

Even if I format my new drives as exFAT, I only interact with people who assume Mac formatting.

 

Correct me if I'm wrong but you can just get a simple app that lets you access Mac formatted drives on your windows machine. I have something similar to access PC formatting drives. I'm sure the utility was free (not on my home machine atm) but I've had no issues. In saying that I have not had to transfer large quantities of data.

[Basic 2]

honestly, i have very limited use for it, but i just REALLY want one

 

Haha same! I wish I drew more...

[C.Smith 0]

 

Correct me if I'm wrong but you can just get a simple app that lets you access Mac formatted drives on your windows machine. I have something similar to access PC formatting drives. I'm sure the utility was free (not on my home machine atm) but I've had no issues. In saying that I have not had to transfer large quantities of data.

 

You may be right. Here is a page describing options. Option #3 looks pretty good. Appears that it makes it seamless so that File Explorer treats it native. I wonder if speed is affected. Any normal documents I don't care about as I'll have it on Dropbox. The issue is shit tons of camera data from shoots that are unrealistic to keep on Dropbox and you need hella speed from your RAID.

 

But if Mac drives in general appear as native, that will help a lot in the feeling comfortable with it area.

[parallax 0]

I'm almost 50/50 cross platform.

 

Since switching my days are filled with dread.

[Basic 2]

The issue is shit tons of camera data from shoots that are unrealistic to keep on Dropbox and you need hella speed from your RAID.

 

But if Mac drives in general appear as native, that will help a lot in the feeling comfortable with it area.

 

Yeah option 3 does look good. Yeah that's the question. In theory I don't see why transfer speeds would be any different but it would be great if someone could chime in.

 

I'm almost 50/50 cross platform.

 

Since switching my days are filled with dread.

 

Interesting, what have your issues been? I've very close to building a windows rig...

[Basic 2]

My only issue is how "Native" ProRes works on Windows. Outside of that I feel like I would buy a PC and set in a shitload of passwords and download all the same software and life moves on.

 

Again I have no experience of this but I believe I've read a few threads / articles that talk about gamma shift on export but I don't know if that's just a codec issue or a windows specific issue. Very happy for someone else to speak of their experience.

[ClintVideo 1]

I use MediaFour's "MacDrive" at home and at work to deal with Mac hard drives when they come in. It's fantastic. I have a virtual PowerPC Mac to run my old games that resides on a CompactFlash card - it even works with that old legacy stuff. I've even repaired corrupted Mac drives with it from my PC.

 

Cf

[magictea 0]

I've not had any problems working with prores on pc the decoder part works fine, the problem is there is no encoder for pc so you would have to change your workflow to DNX or something. That might cause difficulty client or co-worker side as they would have to install extra codecs etc. I use exfat for everything these days anyway and not had any problems switching between operating systems.

 

Fonts always seem to be the biggest issue for me, also missing all the little things that you rely on like quicklook and expose. Windows is getting better for those kind of things but its still not as fluid at doing things like support for image thumbnails etc.

[Basic 2]

I read that a lot about quick look. EDIT:

 

I did just find this though...

 

http://www.howtogeek.com/249557/how-to-add-os-xs-quick-look-feature-to-windows/

Edited November 2, 2016 by Basic

[jeickholt 0]

I switched to pc completely a few years ago and here are some things that made it easy

 

Read write Mac drives on windows. They show up with all the other drives

 

https://www.paragon-software.com/home/hfs-windows/

 

A explorer replacement the is mac like (or better than)

 

https://www.gpsoft.com.au

 

Prores encoder/decoder

 

http://www.miraizon.com/products/codecsoverview.html

 

Windows 10 works really well and there isn't really anything you can't do in the mograph/animation world with it.

[Carey 0]

Friend of mine walked into a microsoft store to check it out. Said it was pretty cool, but you can't really rest your hand on it and draw comfortably because it registers the touch as a command, although it's not supposed to. Sample size of 1 suggests a major flaw here. Still lookin to play with it myself, because maybe just maybe he's got weird hands.

[C.Smith 0]

Friend of mine walked into a microsoft store to check it out. Said it was pretty cool, but you can't really rest your hand on it and draw comfortably because it registers the touch as a command, although it's not supposed to. Sample size of 1 suggests a major flaw here. Still lookin to play with it myself, because maybe just maybe he's got weird hands.

 

I went to the MS store last week for the first time ever to check it out. The store was dead in the middle of the day (whereas the Apple store nearby was packed). I played with it for about 20 minutes. I found the opposite. The palm rejection was impressive. I'm not a pro drawerererer, but I could sketch on it with my hand laying on it just fine and it only picked up what the pen was doing. That being said, the minimum threshold of a stroke was pretty high. So don't excited about drawing wispy hairs on it.

 

But after playing with it and poking around Win10 a little bit, it seemed lovely to use and look at. I like how it has that snapping system. So when you want to make an app full screen or share a screen it always felt very clean and well organized. Obviously you can still have a bunch of oddly shaped windows scattered all around if that's your preference, but I found it had a better system than OSX about having screens full size and not being a pain in the ass to switch between or get out of that mode.

[ClintVideo 1]

Yeah, I've wondered for years how people who like hotkeys and maximizing windows can possibly stand working on a Mac - because that drives me nuts about MacOS. Windows reminds me of a JCPenney newspaper ad in its current iteration, but as always I can move around in it very quickly.

 

Cf

[superegophobia 0]

I also like the window snapping function in Win10. Ended up installing a similar functionality called 'Moom' for OSX that lets you do the full/half/quarter screen by dragging to sides/corners.

https://manytricks.com/moom/

[C.Smith 0]

I also like the window snapping function in Win10. Ended up installing a similar functionality called 'Moom' for OSX that lets you do the full/half/quarter screen by dragging to sides/corners.

https://manytricks.com/moom/

 

Bought it. LOVE IT. That is what MacOS should have been doing for 20 years.