More than a month after first breaking cover at Microsoft's October Surface event, the new Surface Studio 2 is now available. With prices starting at $3,500, the Surface Studio 2 is avaiable to order at Microsoft. Preorders should be shipping out today, and new orders are set to arrive by December 6.
The Surface Studio 2 is largely the same as its predecessor on the outside, with the addition of a USB-C port being the only obvious giveaway that this is a new model. But on the inside, Microsoft has cranked up the power, both in terms of processing and graphics.
Discover a world of passion and creativity at your fingertips with the new total touch #SurfaceStudio2. Buy yours today: https://t.co/wlpTkbZz2B pic.twitter.com/QdVF1S8PmZDiscover a world of passion and creativity at your fingertips with the new total touch #SurfaceStudio2. Buy yours today: https://t.co/wlpTkbZz2B pic.twitter.com/QdVF1S8PmZ— Microsoft Surface (@surface) November 15, 2018November 15, 2018
On the graphics front, the Surface Studio 2 is equipped with either an NVIDIA GTX 1060 or 1070, depending on the model you choose. Both are major steps up from the GTX 980M graphics that the original Surface Studio shipped with. The processor has also been beefed up to Intel's 7th Gen Core i7-7820HQ chip, which isn't the latest bit of tech from Intel, but should provide a significant boost over the 6th Gen chip included in the first Surface Studio.
The Surface Studio 2 comes in three different models, but, at least currently, only the base $3,500 model with 1TB of storage and 16GB of RAM is available to order. The other two models, which pack 1TB of storage and 32GB of RAM or 2TB of storage and 32GB of RAM for $4,200 and $4,800, respectively, are currently listed as out of stock.
Updated November 15, 2018: If you preordered the mid-range or top-end model, it looks like initial shipments have been delayed past November 15. Microsoft is sending the following message to at least some preorder customers: "We apologize for the delay in getting this message to you, but we wanted to inform you that an issue prevented the shipment of your order by the expected ship date of November 15th. Your order is now expected to ship by Friday, December 7th."
If you're ready to dive in, you can order Surface Studio 2 now from the Microsoft Store. And if you're still on the fence, check out our initial hands-on look for more.
