When comparing Microsoft Surface Studio vs Apple iMac (27-inch), the Slant community recommends Apple iMac (27-inch) for most people. In the question“What are the best all-in-one desktop computers?” Apple iMac (27-inch) is ranked 2nd while Microsoft Surface Studio is ranked 4th. The most important reason people chose Apple iMac (27-inch) is:
The 27-inch 5K screen is one of the best displays on the market, not only for all-in-one PCs but in general as well. For one it's very bright, reaching a maximum of 496nits. Secondly, it supports one billion colors, covering 167% of the sRGB color gamut and it's extremely color-accurate, having a 0.06 delta-E score (0 is ideal).
Specs
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Pros
Pro Amazing accessories
The Surface Pen (included) is back with the Studio, but a new addition is the Surface Dial (sold separately for $99). This dial provides haptic feedback, and can rotate. It has a grippy rubber base, which means you can place it on the screen and it will stay there. Rotating it can do different things - rotate the image on the screen, change colors of the pen while drawing a continuous line, or rotate images in a 3D space (which Microsoft is pushing in their next update in early 2017).
The Surface Pen works similar to previous versions - it can measure pressure sensitivity, and there are buttons on the side that allow for selection or other functions.
Pro Large, versatile, amazing display
The 28" display has an interesting aspect ratio of 3:2, and it has an extremely high resolution of 4500x3000 (slightly more than 4K). It also has different modes (built into the software) to display Adobe sRGB or Vivid Color Profiles. This allows content creators to both see the true colors, but also how they will likely be displayed on an average display. This display has a pixel density of 192ppi, which allows you to get very close to it without being able to see individual pixels.
The screen is also a touchscreen, with sensors for both the Surface Dial as well as the Surface Pen. In addition to all of this, they are marketing it as the thinnest display on any AIO (all in one) desktop which is technically true - it is the thinnest, however most of the internals are housed in the base.
Pro The screen offers exceptional image quality
The 27-inch 5K screen is one of the best displays on the market, not only for all-in-one PCs but in general as well. For one it's very bright, reaching a maximum of 496nits. Secondly, it supports one billion colors, covering 167% of the sRGB color gamut and it's extremely color-accurate, having a 0.06 delta-E score (0 is ideal).
Pro Great performance for creative professionals
Can be configured to have a Radeon Pro 570, 575, or 580 graphics card. Each one of them, especially the Radeon Pro 580 offers great graphics capabilities which is great for creative professionals who have to do GFX, photo, or video editing work.
Pro Great multitasking performance
You can customize the RAM to be up to 64GB. That can be an overkill for most people's needs. 16GB should be enough for most people for even the most resource-heavy tasks.
With 16GB of memory and a 7th generation Intel Core i5, the iMac has more than enough horsepower for daily tasks. It can handle almost everything you throw at it without any issues. Browsing with 20+ tabs open for example does not strain this PC at all.
Pro The speakers offer great sound quality
Especially bass-heavy tracks sound rich and full. The volume is great as well.
Pro Great for video editing
The 5K display lets you do full resolution 4K video editing and still have all your toolbars and sliders on the screen.
Cons
Con Extremely expensive for the internal hardware
For $3000 starting price you'd expect to get the bleeding edge of performance. But you don't. The internal graphics is either a nVidia GeForce GTX 965M (2GB) or the 980M (4GB), which are mobile graphics from last generation. There is no USB type C or Thunderbolt connections. The base model also starts at an i5 (the specs page doesn't list the specific version) processor.
Con Ports are in an awkward position
All the ports are in the back of the PC, which makes it annoying to insert USB/Ethernet cables since you have to either get up, or turn the screen around to insert a cable.
Con Can't use the mouse when it's charging
The Lightning cable has to be plugged into the bottom of the mouse. This makes it unusable while charging.
Con No touchscreen variant
There's no touchscreen variant for the Apple iMac.