Microsoft Surface Studio 2 release date and specs: Everything you need to know

Following months of rumours and rampant speculation, Microsoft has finally unveiled the Surface Studio 2. The successor to last year’s excellent all-in-one PC was unleashed during the Californian tech giant’s launch event in New York, alongside upgraded Surface Pro 6 and Surface Laptop 2 devices.

While we wait for a review unit to arrive at the office, we’ve gathered all of the essential bits of information you need to know about Microsoft’s Surface Studio 2 including UK price, release date and specifications. Let’s get started.

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Microsoft Surface Studio 2 UK release date and price: How much and when?

Microsoft’s Surface Studio 2 is expected to launch in the US in November this year, although we don’t know when it will arrive in UK shops just yet. Looking at last year’s release schedule, though, the original Surface Studio arrived in the US in December but took a further six months to arrive in Blighty. Buckle up, it might be a long wait.

The same can be said about the Surface Studio 2’s UK price. Our fellow PC aficionados across the pond can expect to fork over at least $3,499 for one, with 16GB of RAM and 1TB of SSD storage, and a whopping $4,799 for the 32GB, 2TB SSD model.

When the original model first arrived in the US it cost $2,999, which directly translated to £2,999 in the UK. I expect a similar like-for-like price comparison when the Studio 2 appears on UK shores.

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Microsoft Surface Studio 2 specs and features: What’s inside?

Like its predecessor, the Surface Studio 2 is an all-in-one PC that’s aimed at creative types, with top-tier internal components and stylus support. Once more, the iMac competitor’s articulating hinge is its raison d’etre, which supports the massive 28in, 4,500 x 3,000 resolution screen.

That’s the same specifications as last year’s PC, but Microsoft says there is a bump to the display’s overall brightness – a 38% increase – and contrast has improved by 22%. How has Microsoft done this? Well, the firm says they’ve incorporated similar technology from their other Surface devices. Essentially, the new screen has smaller transistors controlling the individual pixels, meaning more light passes through.

All of this graphical goodness is powered by either a Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 GPU with 6GB of GDDR5 SDRAM or a GTX 1070 paired with 8GB. Microsoft claims these graphics cards, which are substantial upgrades on the onboard GTX 965M or 980M chips from before, will provide a 50% bump in graphics processing.

There’s an upgrade to the CPU too, in the form of the somewhat-outdated 7th-gen Intel i7-7820HQ, a quad-core processor with base clock speed of 2.9GHz and overclockable speeds up to a maximum 3.9GHz. Storage-wise, you can choose from either a 1TB or 2TB SSD – an upgrade on the hybrid drives of the previous model – with 16GB or 32GB of RAM.

The Surface Pen stylus makes a welcome return, which is included in the box, along with the Surface Keyboard and Surface Mouse. The Surface Dial, another accessory used to interact with the massive touch-sensitive screen, will also be supported.

Lastly, while both the Surface Pro 6 and Surface Laptop 2 don’t support USB-C connection, the Studio 2 includes a solitary USB-C port, alongside four full-fat USB 3.0 ports, mini DisplayPort and an SD card reader.