Surface Studio for Graphic Design?

[Shooby101]

Does anyone have experience of Graphic Design using a Surface Studio? Specifically Adobe CC (InDesign / Photoshop / Illustrator).
I was looking to buy a 2nd hand iMac and this has popped up as an option. With a quad core i7, 32GB RAM and a 2TB hard drive alongside its touch screen and pen capabilities its very tempting. Am I mad to consider this over an iMac?

 

[kazmac]

Someone in this subforum bought a SS2 and loved it. I believe they posted in the Surface Devices thread. My only complaint is the old internals for the astronomical price (which is also true about the iMacs).

If the SS2 was available for $3500 maxed out, I would happily jump. The display is gorgeous and it seems like a very good machine.

I don't think you're crazy, but if it was me and you could hold out until later this year, I"d wait. MS might release the SS3.

 

[AndyMacAndMic]

Someone in this subforum bought a SS2 and loved it. I believe they posted in the Surface Devices thread. My only complaint is the old internals for the astronomical price (which is also true about the iMacs).

If the SS2 was available for $3500 maxed out, I would happily jump. The display is gorgeous and it seems like a very good machine.

I don't think you're crazy, but if it was me and you could hold out until later this year, I"d wait. MS might release the SS3.

I have seen some YouTube channels about upgrading the RAM and the harddrive to SSD in the SS2. It seems relatively easy to do (only screws in the base). But, you are right, if the OP wants to buy a new SS2 it can be sensible to wait for the SS3.

It depends on the price of the SS2/SS3, but (even for the same price as an iMac) for graphical design it seems to have advantages over an iMac (touchscreen, pen, easel-like screen etc.). With the iMac there are extra costs for a drawing tablet (Wacom?) etc. which is not exactly cheap either.

For some people (maybe also the OP) MacOS vs Windows can be a reason to stay with the Mac though. In the case of graphical design however, 99% of the time is spend in the graphical design programs. In my opinion the OS is less relevant in this case.

Edit:
Sorry @Shooby101 that I am speaking about you in the third person, but that is because I was answering @kazmac

 

[Silvestru Hosszu]

Hi,
I have the maxed out SS2.
I use it for Photoshop, Lightroom and Sketchable. I really love it. My only gripe is that it runs very hot under load.
I am not a pro, just a hobbyist so my experience may be limited.
If you have questions, just ask.

 

[Shooby101]

Hi,
I have the maxed out SS2.
I use it for Photoshop, Lightroom and Sketchable. I really love it. My only gripe is that it runs very hot under load.
I am not a pro, just a hobbyist so my experience may be limited.
If you have questions, just ask.

Hi, thanks for your reply. I just did a quick google about the SS2 running hot and it seems it is something quite a few owners have experienced to the point some have had new machines provided by MS. Would you say it is particularly worrying or just annoying at times?

 

[Silvestru Hosszu]

I dont find it worrying but sometimes annoying.
I have the machine since last April and had no issues with it.
My son is using it sometimes for gaming purposes, thats when it gets hot. To be honest, its not very well ventilated either (I`ll have to give it more space for this reason).
What I can tell you is that although it has only a 4 core processor, for my mainly photography purposes it acquits itself very well.
I want to mention that I have at my office a monster of a desktop built around a 16 core threadripper with 64 Gb's of RAM and nVidia 1080 TI graphics card. When using lightroom or photoshop I see no real difference between these machines.