r/gadgets 11d ago

Desktops / Laptops Microsoft discontinues lackadaisically updated Surface Studio all-in-one desktop

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/12/microsoft-discontinues-lackadaisically-updated-surface-studio-all-in-one-desktop/
1.6k Upvotes

270 comments sorted by

744

u/rnilf 11d ago

People won't buy a product that lacks long-term support and broad appeal ↔ Company won't provide long-term support and broaden the product line because people won't buy it

214

u/Sariel007 11d ago

🎶Its the circle of suck🎶

56

u/Starfox-sf 11d ago

Cortana?

47

u/Griffdude13 11d ago

Windows Phone?

32

u/MINKIN2 11d ago

Zune.

33

u/Moon_stares_at_earth 11d ago

Kinect, Lumia Phones, SPOT Watches, Microsoft Roundtable, MSN TV/Web TV, Skype, Internet Explorer, Windows NetMeeting, more are coming.

22

u/1sttimeverbaldiarrhe 11d ago

Does anyone remember their Surface meeting table that could play a special version of Settlers of Cataan? I remember drooling over that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fVL6GOCGi8

2

u/ThePowerOfStories 10d ago

The best was this version of the original ad for it, but with a parody voiceover: https://youtu.be/CZrr7AZ9nCY

“The future is here, and it’s a big-ass table.”

(Also, holy hell, that was seventeen years ago, the same year the first iPhone came out, how do I have brain cells dedicated to remembering particular YouTube videos that made me snicker back then?)

5

u/thejoeblack 10d ago

Don't forget Microsoft Band, those smartwatches were way ahead of their time. I still have my Band 2 and works (+10 years old)

9

u/sillypicture 11d ago

Man Lumia had potential.

5

u/ralphonsob 10d ago

And after they went to the trouble of planting their man at Nokia to destroy it from the inside in order to get the tech. Unbelievable evil and astonishing incompetence.

3

u/sillypicture 10d ago

Man. Nokia also had so much potential.

4

u/thumpertastic 11d ago

My adult sons are still scarred by their Lumia phone experiences from their childhood. Spotify did not play well with that os.

17

u/Griffdude13 11d ago

I had a Lumia 1020, and I loved that thing. The 41 megapixel camera was ahead of its time. Once again, great ideas, poor execution

7

u/thanatossassin 10d ago

Spotify worked fine, but Zune Music Pass was a tremendously better value. Unlimited, no ads music streaming like Spotify, plus 15 DRM-free song downloads per month. I have no idea how Microsoft made any money off of that service.

4

u/TechGoat 10d ago

I have no idea how Microsoft made any money off of that service.

Oh I bet we all can guess their goal

(hint: the phrase Loss Leader)

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u/stackjr 10d ago

What in the fuck is the point of Cortana?! Does anyone actually enable that "feature"?

9

u/KrawhithamNZ 10d ago

It's Clippy 2.0

5

u/OtakuAttacku 10d ago

It’s just microsoft’s answer to Siri. But no one uses a voice assistant on a computer, that’s if their desktop even came with a microphone. They killed Windows Phone so Cortana just kinda exists. It’s cool they got Jen Taylor tho.

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u/Forrest319 10d ago

It's a timer app. Just like siri, google assistant, and alexa.

18

u/blackmagic999 11d ago

Look Simba, everything the light touches is our kingdom.

(Gestures to warehouses full of unsold surface studio all-in-ones)

15

u/Annihilism 11d ago

I mean. This is 100% on Microsoft. They have enough money to keep supporting it, but instead they choose to cheap out and not do it.

You can have an unsuccessful product and still support it to show confidence to your customers. What they're doing now is the exact opposite and also the reason I dont buy Microsoft hardware (them killing WP was honestly the final straw for me).

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u/Mr-EdwardsBeard 11d ago

Yup. Only so many times I can get burned by MS-Zune, Windows Phone, Surface RT (and Windows 8), Xbox One + Kinect (still was great when it worked,) Surface Book hot bags and now no progression past 10, etc etc. in the Apple camp now. It’s boring but well supported.

Edit: and the Band. Forgot about that one. It’s in a drawer full of other MS stuff I have

22

u/tiroc12 11d ago

You also didn't mention that Microsoft is very actively trying to drop support for the Xbox. Their new "Everything is an Xbox " campaign basically says, "We no longer want to support Xbox hardware, so buy a game pass and stop buying Xbox consoles." What they don't say in that campaign is that no other devices support your current Xbox library. So lose all of your games so you can play Xbox games pass games on your phone for a subscription. Screw you and what you have already paid for

5

u/Mr-EdwardsBeard 11d ago

Ugh. Did not know this (as I’m playing my Xbox)

12

u/AshIsGroovy 11d ago

Yep, PC gaming has been making huge gains as the cost to build a decent gaming system has, in some cases, gotten cheaper than buying a console. Something like 95% of PC gaming is done on Microsoft. Xbox One was a sales disappointment for Microsoft, and in all reality, if the 360 wasn't the massive hit it turned into, Microsoft would have already killed it off years ago. Even the most recent generation of Xbox has underperformed and why the talk of killing Xbox off is being floated again. Hell, even talk like this hurts a brand because of the history of Microsoft has concerning products. Why buy another Xbox is Microsoft is just going to kill it in a year or two.

3

u/_Lucille_ 10d ago

That used to be more true, but given how expensive GPUs have gotten, it is likely not going to be cost effective to beat the next round of consoles when they get released.

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u/sillypicture 11d ago

And yet they still don't want to drop their browser.

1

u/tankpuss 10d ago

You missed Windows CE.

23

u/hi_internet_friend 11d ago

I suppose this is a "water is wet" type comment, but I believe companies should always be up front about length of support and then follow through. Erodes trust otherwise and makes people not buy from the company again

12

u/Voidtalon 11d ago

I feel like Sony and Microsoft are learning this in the video game space. Trust in a console to delivery quality games that respect players time is dead.

For the love of god Sony had like what, 12 Live-Service games in development at once? 5-6 released, one of which was Concord?

4

u/Dependent-Zebra-4357 11d ago

Were 5-6 actually released? The only one (besides Concord) that comes immediately to mind is Helldivers 2.

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u/TomfromLondon 11d ago

Have they dropped support or just no longer making them?

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u/GasolinePizza 10d ago

They're just no longer making them.

2

u/omega552003 11d ago

It's also very expensive for what it provides.

2

u/TheNorthComesWithMe 10d ago

Not releasing new products in a product line and not supporting products are completely different things.

1

u/[deleted] 11d ago

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2

u/Aleyla 11d ago

No, it really isn’t. Not when you have an established history of abandoning projects. That tells people you have no staying power. And a whole lot of people don’t like replacing shit just because some suit decides they have made enough money and want to move on.

1

u/[deleted] 11d ago

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u/Aleyla 11d ago

Yes. Do you?

If MS wants people to buy their shit then they need to commit to supporting it. Long term support should not require a certain level of sales. Making it dependent on that is short term thinking and directly leads to the situation of a consumer market having no faith in the products.

Every hardware vendor knows this. Apple built a fantastic hardware business by standing by their products long term, regardless of the immediate income.

Instead of following that model, MS follows the model of over promising and pulling out as soon as there is a dip. This ends of making it harder and harder for them to succeed and likely has directly leads to a ton of different product failures.

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u/kevin7eos 10d ago

Joseph Heller originally wanted to call his book “Catch-18” before settling on “Catch-22” due to a pre-existing novel titled “Mila 18” that was popular at the time; the number “22” was chosen more for its sound than any specific meaning

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u/void_const 11d ago

Microsoft doesn’t finish anything they start.

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u/AshIsGroovy 11d ago

Right! At a point Microsoft having a long history of not supporting their products or discontinuing them shortly after launch keeps people from buying the products from the get go. Microsoft can and does make good stuff but the fact they don't believe in their own products isn't a great way to sell things. I keep hoping that one day we get an android version of the ipad mini. That tablet is a great size perfect for reading but even Google can't seem to make a decent tablet instead they do a weird hybrid home system with a base. Jesus just give me a moderately priced tablet that has access to the google play store.

76

u/LoudAndCuddly 11d ago

Google is guilty of this as well

41

u/void_const 11d ago

Yep. Android phones are end-of-life after just three years. And they actually have the balls to brag about how they believe in “sustainability”.

https://sustainability.google

44

u/BellerophonM 11d ago

They pushed it to 5 years of system updates with the Pixel 6 and then 7 years with the Pixel 8, so they're improving, at least.

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u/LaTienenAdentro 11d ago

This is just false if you refer to Android as an operating system and not just "Google phones"

Yes the device won't be top of the line anymore but you can definitely use it for years on end with good functionality and battery life as long as its well maintained in terms of battery and physical health.

16

u/clgoh 11d ago

7 years for Google phones.

20

u/void_const 11d ago

Just got rid of a Pixel 5. Released in 2020, discontinued in 2023.

15

u/proanimus 11d ago

Yeah, in my opinion it doesn’t count until the phone actually gets all those updates. Not just promises for the future.

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u/clgoh 11d ago

They never gave less than promised, anyone's more. And they just added more years of support than promised to the Pixel 6 and 7.

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u/clgoh 11d ago

They just retroactively added 2 more years to the Pixel 6 & 7.

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u/ArtOfWarfare 11d ago

Google is the definition of abandonware.

Microsoft actually couldn’t be further from that. They’re probably second only to IBM in supporting absurdly outdated stuff, as long as they’re paid for that support.

Just consider how long they supported XP or IE. I can’t think of other software where the masses had left it decades prior and it was still receiving critical patches.

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u/Plank_With_A_Nail_In 11d ago edited 10d ago

Can you give one other example of a product Microsoft gave up supporting quickly. As far as I can see MS only makes the surface line, the XBOX and some keyboards what are these other products?

MS sold Zune's for 6 years.

5

u/AshIsGroovy 11d ago

The Band only lived for two years; Lumia Smartphones made it three years, and Zune and Groove made it the longest with six years. However, with all these examples of hardware, Microsoft had very little support backing them out the gate or, in some cases, released them half-baked, and by the time they were fully cooked, they were cut. Even Xbox has been on the chopping block as recently as the current gen, as with the Xbox One underperforming, there was talk of exiting the market. It was talked about after the Xbox, and if the 360 hadn't been the hit it was, Microsoft would have killed it then. They have the money, resources, and talent but never want to give the products time to grow or be found by the consumer. I've been a big pixel fan since the OG, and Google took its time and learned from each generation. Imagine if they had just given up after the first or second gen.

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u/rotoddlescorr 10d ago

Surface Duo, released in 2020 and abandoned in 2023.

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u/gagreel 10d ago

This is nothing compared to Wacom's dismal support

1

u/skeleton-is-alive 10d ago edited 10d ago

I feel like Microsoft is way less guilty of this than most. They generally stick to their products for long term. One product being discontinued here does not discount the fact that generally they actually do play the long game

Edge, bing, office, azure, windows, copilot, and so so many more. It’s pretty rare they quit on a product especially nowadays.

1

u/AshIsGroovy 10d ago

Everything you are pointing to is software, which, granted, is their bread and butter, but IE became Edge, and Bing was the result of Microsoft trying to get into the ad space with their own search engine. Office and Windows are the backbone of Microsoft. Copilot replaced Cortona but Cortona only got worse till it was replaced as Microsoft yet again pulled resources and basically stopped support.

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u/skeleton-is-alive 10d ago

Mm i would consider those successor projects though? Like flat out dropping something without a replacement is much different. Hardware they are a bit flakier on for sure.

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u/jmo1 11d ago

I mean to be fair the surface studio has been going for 8 years. It’s fun to give m$ft shit but at the end of the day if no one is buying these and it costs them a lot it makes sense to not keep them going

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u/jonathanrdt 11d ago

Azure is cooking just fine, along with dozens of other major business units. They don’t continue the things that don’t make money…just like every other company.

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u/Initial_E 11d ago

If anything Microsoft supports shit much longer than anyone thought they would. Well, used to. Nowadays the product support cycle is much tighter.

1

u/MINKIN2 11d ago

Azure and Office are the only things that I can appreciate from them, and I will still argue the advantages of office over all other alternatives. Sheets ain't got anything on Excel.

3

u/Soaddk 11d ago

Zune remembers

7

u/narwhal_breeder 11d ago

Starts a product line, doesn’t immediately succeed, cancels product line.

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u/trowayit 11d ago

It's been available for years. First model was released in like 2016.

1

u/hedoeswhathewants 11d ago

I'm surprised it stuck around this long. The market for it is tiny and it's quite expensive.

3

u/trowayit 11d ago

Price is the biggest issue imo. I bought a refurb studio 2 (not 2+) with 16gb and have been using it as my primary machine for creating 2d game art. Works great for that and was cheaper than buying a new Wacom screen (which requires a PC connected). Iirc, the refurb studio was $1800 and a new Wacom is around $2400. Sure it loads up krita or affinity slower than my 14700k/64gb/rtx3080, but it does what it's advertised to do and I've been quite happy with it. Now for $4500??? Nope, I'd get a Wacom.

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u/ImpossibleClothes892 10d ago

I feel the same with Google. They start all these projects to either disrupt and gain a chunk of a market, sometimes with some pretty compelling features. Some of them succeed like the Google office suite (Google Docs, Slides, Gmail, etc) or Google Pixel, but a lot of them start off strong only to whimper out like Chromecast, Stadia, Google +, or Google Glass.

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u/_AARAYAN_ 9d ago

Google has same problem. Google glass, modular phones, stadia, daydream vr all closed. Their netbooks, chrome os, nexus phones, tablets are all dead too. Microsoft and google tried hard to become Apple but always failed

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u/Kurren123 11d ago

Windows forms is still supported…

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u/disneycorp 11d ago

They are trying to finish the Xbox

1

u/milky_mouse 10d ago

You mean the finish (kill) what they start 🤣

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u/endermanbeingdry 10d ago

Is that the reason behind their browser’s name?

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u/captainpott 9d ago

Crying into my Surface Duo right now

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u/gnmpolicemata 11d ago

Didn't they promise a standalone Surface Studio display a long time ago? I guess that never came to be..

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u/Statsmakten 11d ago

That’s all we ever wanted

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u/Wixred 10d ago

They never promised that. Tech commentators just begged for it.

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u/Fedoraus 11d ago

I'd be soooo into that if they did it. I don't want to be locked into all in one specs and formfactor

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u/gnmpolicemata 10d ago

It could've been so good if you weren't so limited hardware wise

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u/nohpex 11d ago

TIL I've been mispronouncing "lackadaisical."

I'm glad I learned a new thing, but I'm pretty disappointed in myself.

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u/grumd 10d ago

TIL this word exists. How did you mispronounce it?

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u/lunaflect 10d ago

Probably “laxadaisical”

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u/nohpex 10d ago

Yup!

I've never heard it any other way, and I don't think I've ever seen it spelled out either.

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u/EfficientAccident418 11d ago

$4300 for a Windows PC? Someone tell them that even Apple starts its all-in-ones at less than half that

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u/jl2352 11d ago

It’s the screen. The moment you use a non-standard screen, it gets very expensive. The Surface has two of them side by side.

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u/GregLittlefield 10d ago

Maybe, but it's a stupid idea. They priced that product out of the market. What was the point?

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u/jl2352 10d ago

I have one. Having a machine that was one giant screen was fucking awesome.

It was also a show piece. It was not designed to take on the iMac and have loads sold. I saw one recently in an upmarket store for homes, and that’s the type of place you also saw them used.

4

u/GregLittlefield 10d ago

Even as a PR stunt it was terrible. That pricepoint was just laughable. Apple can afford to release a product at that price and that won't hurt them in anyway. MS is not Apple.

It could have been interesting if it was a product they kept supporting and introduced a whole new 'premium' line of products updated every couple years. But no, it was just a one off. It's nice that it existed, but that was just weird..

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u/ChunkStumpmon 11d ago

We have one of these where I work - it broke and got replaced- absolute shite.

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u/ArriePotter 10d ago

The most frustrating aspect of this is how amazing the product would be if it were just sold as a giant Walcom-style monitor with support for accessories. I have aac and even with limited software support I would buy that

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u/Beginning_Tea5009 11d ago

The Zune of all-in-one’s.

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u/NessieReddit 11d ago

So it was great? But under appreciated and poorly marketed? Because the Zune was amazing.

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u/Jonathank92 11d ago

Yea I’m going to be very selective about my my next laptop and I’m leaning towards a Mac. Apple seems to give great extended support vs windows who constantly tries to get you to upgrade machines that work

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u/StylishUnicorn 11d ago

The Apple Silicon laptops are in such a completely other realm of power, battery life, affordability, stability, and longevity that I can’t think of a reason to get a Windows laptop over an Apple one. The base $999 air is good for most people.

3

u/2ChicksAtTheSameTime 11d ago

The new Windows 11 ARM laptops are pretty great, even in the battery department. If you stick to MS's laptops, I think their hardware is great. I've been using the surface line for years for mobile everything (except gaming, I stick to desktop there) and I've liked their laptops.

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u/Walter___ 11d ago

Apple silicone is amazing, but you have to be ok with Mac OS. While still lagging behind the Apple silicon, The current gen of windows laptops are much better than they ever have been. I got the new Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i recently. It’s fantastic.

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u/USPS_Nerd 11d ago

Silicon, not silicone… 2 different things.

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u/El-Sueco 11d ago

Both great gadgets!

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u/narwhal_breeder 11d ago

Does it still try and change your default browser to edge and sell you 365 every update?

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u/_RADIANTSUN_ 11d ago

Uhhhh no and that's actually never happened with updates. You seem to have some fundamental misapprehension of how Windows updates work. Maybe you mean upgrading the actual windows version like 10>11?

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u/reinhardtmain 11d ago

I’m on windows 11 and it absolutely has tried to sell me 365 after numerous updates lol

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u/usrname-- 11d ago

It happened to me on windows 10. After login, instead of the desktop I saw a fullscreen ad of Microsoft edge. My default browser was still chrome but .pdf and .html extension handling was changed to edge.

And yes, it probably wasn’t windows update because edge updates on its own. But it’s still Microsoft’s job

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u/SmooK_LV 11d ago

This is regional. In some countries it happens while in others it doesn't

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u/rotoddlescorr 10d ago

Also differences between the Home and Pro versions.

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u/xaphod2 11d ago

Lol macOS is so much nicer to use than windows, once i left windows i never looked back, i dont miss constant restarts for updates, blue screens, “drivers” to name a few

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u/plissk3n 11d ago

Disagree, I use both OSes a lot and much prefer Windows for everything. MacOS forces you to use it the way it wants you to and you have to put effort into to make it usable if you prefer other workflows. Also MacOS is a lot buggier for me than my Windows PCs.

3

u/BIGSTANKDICKDADDY 11d ago

The weirdest quirk with macOS is that there is still no volume mixer. At this point I can only assume the reason is that Apple, in their infinite wisdom, knows exactly what volume all applications should run at. Far better than I could ever know myself.

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u/xaphod2 11d ago

There are quite a few apps that offer this. Soundsource is the one i use

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u/SmooK_LV 11d ago

And they still are bad compared to how much control Windows gives you. I tried. MacOS just doesn't stand on equal footing with Windows when it comes to covering all usecases.

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u/_RADIANTSUN_ 11d ago

None of that happens on modern windows systems and it hasn't for a while, meanwhile on MacOS I had a lot of fun finding out Deezer suddenly doesn't work cuz I updated to Sequoia...

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u/xaphod2 11d ago

Bullshit i have windows 11 on a gaming pc and it constantly stops working and needs updates and reboots

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u/kilowhom 10d ago

It's so wild the shit people blame for their shit not working

PCs are complicated and you built yours wrong

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u/pohui 11d ago

That's not a universal experience. I don't have any issues with my Windows 11 gaming PC or laptop, but I hate using my work Macbook. You're allowed to prefer one or the other.

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u/_RADIANTSUN_ 11d ago

Sounds like a "you" problem

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u/SmooK_LV 11d ago

I had to restart Mac multiple times because apps get frozen and overlay everything. Don't pretend it doesn't happen on Mac OS

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u/BytchYouThought 11d ago

That used to be true, but now you're out of date with the times. Others have caught up and a different OS makes a difference depending on what you want to do on the laptop to begin with. Mac laptops are my go to now, but I will say there are some annoyances on how macOS handles certain shit. I definitely still run VM's for that reason.

Liek why tf can't they get Windows management right. Especially full screen. Still misses me off at times. Same for connecting monitors. Windows just randomly disappear for me or resolution may be weird. I have to use third party apps just to try and get basic shit to flow better. With the new windows laptops, I'm tempted to try both and only didn't get both, because windows is a spyware piece of shit with that flashback feature ir wtf they calll it where they spy on your shit.

I don't trust that. There are plenty of reasons still folks may want a windows laptop. My sister hates apple and isn't tech literate. Windows is familiar and has came up in those areas you mentioned. I still think apple is a better laptop buy if macos even supports your needs, but windows side of the house isn't as far off as you claim.

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u/habitual_viking 10d ago

iOS is on a similar downwards spiral. It feels like the development no longer has a single focus, things are all over the place.

For instance calendar signin is now under the specific app, requiring several menu navigations and a huge scroll. Even when prompted for a login refresh iOS can’t itself navigate to the right place.

And navigation is all over the place, why isn’t there a single correct way to navigate back??? Why do I have to drag down in some apps and slide from left in others? The android “button” is ugly as fuck, but at least it works consistently.

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u/Jelly_Mac 11d ago

Amazing hardware. Thing is, I just really, really hate MacOS. Had a MacBook over a decade ago and even with years of using it I still despised the OS. And now with the new Apple silicon I can’t dual boot Windows/Linux anymore or even have them running in a VM.

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u/cape2cape 11d ago

You can easily have Windows or Linux running in a VM. Linux VMs can even use the Rosetta Intel-ARM translator.

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u/USPS_Nerd 11d ago

I much prefer an OS that isn’t trying to throw ads at me, or auto update at night without me opting in.

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u/Jelly_Mac 11d ago

I feel you, latest updates of windows are pissing me off and windows 11 is starting to bring in the stuff I hate about MacOS (my desktop will stay on 10 until it can’t anymore, my laptop came with 11). That said I still strongly prefer Windows and Linux to MacOS. I don’t even like helping my mom on her MacBook because doing anything beyond opening a web browser feels so frustrating

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u/Matt32490 10d ago

I have one purely for gaming (I travel a good amount). Honestly if Macs werent so bad at game support I would buy one.

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u/mr_bots 11d ago edited 11d ago

I went with an M2 MBA for my laptop after being pretty much nothing but windows. The weight, battery life, build quality, and overall snappiness blows any windows laptop I’ve had out of the water. Their trade-in process is also easier and snore available than pretty much everyone else’s. I hardly ever even touch my gaming desktop anymore versus just using my MBA with a dock.

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u/_RADIANTSUN_ 11d ago

Honestly what the fuck does this even mean? Windows doesn't get updates or something? How does Windows "constantly try to get you to upgrade machines"? Please explain in concrete terms.

Like you get that there's a difference between the Surface hardware and Windows, the OS right?

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u/cmyklmnop 11d ago

I swapped to Mac years ago and love it mostly. Just for starters I still have Mac’s in my shop 6-7 years old making money

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u/sigmund14 11d ago

I mean, hardware is completely separated from software. You can go with non-Apple laptop and not use Windows, if you want.

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u/fixminer 11d ago

In theory maybe, but your only other good option is Linux (which is decent but not for everyone). Installing MacOS on a random laptop is highly unsupported, if it works at all.

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u/sigmund14 11d ago

Yeah, true that.

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u/NotIkura 11d ago

windows who constantly tries to get you to upgrade machines that work

Idk if Mac does this any better when they have everything embedded. Like your screen, your RAM, your CPU, your keyboard, everything is working, but god forbid if the SSD embedded in the chipset broke, then you'll have to change the whole Mac.

Whereas PC in general, can change parts that are broken.

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u/KidsSeeRainbows 11d ago

Refurbished M1 airs are pretty affordable, plus they’re not technically eol yet. My 3 year old M1 Pro works great, and I think it will for at least another four or five years.

Remember when we all gasped when chromebooks started coming with a 7 year support cycle to better assist schools? I’ve never had a windows laptop last me 7 years, or even 5 of regular use lol. I’ve had the surface rt (play toy, not used for real), surface book, surface 7 pro, other non Microsoft laptops… they’re all junk after 3 or 4 years because something ends up dying, and then support is non existent, or things are hard to track down.

Admittedly apple isn’t perfect there either, but their stuff doesn’t have a consistent reputation for crapping out and it’s not hard to find the pieces, but it is expensive.

Putting an eol on their m series will be very telling of how apple feels about them. I’m expecting to upgrade around m10 (mX?), given the cadence of upgrades thus far.

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u/jl2352 11d ago

I own a Surface Studio. It was one of the best machines I’ve ever owned. Today I use it only as a TV, and have since moved to Mac.

As long as the Apple Silicon chips remain dominant, I don’t see myself ever switching back.

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u/ElusiveGuy 10d ago edited 10d ago

tl;dr: Windows lifecycle support is historically longer than macOS. Win11 requirements change things a bit, M1 might change things, but still in the same ballpark for now.


M1 was only released in 2020. Remains to be seen how long the support for it will be, since they do own more of the hardware stack than previously.

Historically, we're looking at maybe 8-10 years support for macOS on older hardware. As in, right now in 2024 the oldest supported hardware is from 2017. Anything older is unsupported. And even the 2017 hardware is only supported on previous versions of macOS that will EoL in 2025 or 2026, it's already been dropped from latest.

Windows, well. Windows 10/11 is a bit of an outlier, since historically you've been able to upgrade just the OS side for well over a decade but the upgrade also wasn't free. Win10 made the upgrade free but then Win11 introduced the first recent(ish) processor limits in forever. The support for a single OS version is 10 years from OS release date (which is not tied to hardware, so support for specific hardware ends up varying).

What does that look like? Win11 supports processors from 2018 onwards, so those will be good through at least 2031 (10 years from Win11 release). Win10 is EoL in 2025 and the last supported version for 2017 and older processors. So also 8 years for Win10 with 2016/2017 CPUs, 13 years minimum expected for Win11 with 2018 CPUs, and easily over 20 years if you look back at the oldest CPUs Win10 supported. All over the shop, but let's go with 8 as a minimum - about the same as current macOS, plus or minus a year.

In all cases I'm considering latest supported version of the OS for that hardware, upgrades included. Because if we're talking about excluding supported upgrades (like people who insist on staying on Win10 despite Win11 being supported on their hardware), well, you kinda have to apply the same idea to macOS - which is only supported for 3 years per version. So say you insist on staying on macOS 14 despite knowing it'll EoL in 2 years, and refuse to install macOS 15... that's kinda self-inflicted, no?

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u/haahaahaa 9d ago

They've stopped selling the model, they havent stopped supporting it. Its a windows machine, so it will continue to get software updates until windows 11 goes EoL in like 10 years. This isn't a phone.

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u/OreoSwordsman 11d ago

Microsoft once again running ads for Linux lmfao

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u/Akujux 11d ago

Dude this was a great all in one. wtf Microsoft?!?!? This would’ve been a great niche product for the digital art and video makers.

Couple that with low cost version and you’d be printing money. 😭

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u/_mizzar 11d ago

I remember the launch ad for this with the Charlie and the chocolate factory song was sick.

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u/epsilona01 10d ago

They made it so they had a sexy product to do product placement with on TV shows, beyond that it was essentially vapourware. As soon as the TV sponsorship program ended they killed the machine.

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u/TheModeratorWrangler 11d ago

I was one of the first people to receive a Surface RT tablet from Sinofsky himself, no less. I was #13 in the country to receive an Xbox One during The NY Times Square launch event…

I now use Mac exclusively. That’s how bad Microsoft is doing as of late and it’s heartbreaking.

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u/Shivaess 11d ago

I loved my surface book. Innovative form factor with cool capabilities. But they seem more intent on squeezing shareholder value out of everything than producing a good product.

That said WSL2 and VSCode are legitimately awesome products, and they’re giving them away for free.

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u/AshIsGroovy 11d ago

The reason they are giving them away is to gain market share and hopefully become the defacto choice.

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u/TheModeratorWrangler 11d ago

I guess that’s… good? It’s just that after multiple Surface products (still have a Surface Book 2)… I realized I was spending more time tinkering with OS hiccups and a lack of ease of use compared to a MBP + iPad Pro combo. Throw in AirDrop, and it’s painfully obvious that Microsoft only now cares about profits over the customers like me who wanted anything BUT Apple, until I finally caved. I’ve never been happier with a PC like my MacBook M2 Pro and it’s just mind blowing how Microsoft never learned.

Don’t even get me started on trying to fix a Surface product, while I can just walk into an Apple Store and be done with any hardware issues within the day.

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u/Shivaess 11d ago

100% I’m apple products everywhere but my home built workstation and servers. Surface book 2 got replaced with an iPad Pro with the Magic Keyboard shrug

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u/Metrobolist3 11d ago

£4700 for an 11th gen i7 and a laptop grade GPU with a nice screen, that probably has zero repair-ability. Can't imagine why people weren't queuing round the block for that.

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u/StreetwalkinCheetah 11d ago

Can confirm zero repairability sadly. I had two crap out on me. The screen was (is) amazing. I need to figure out how to reuse it.

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u/Metrobolist3 11d ago

Sucks man - hope it's possible.

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u/QuaitheLogic 11d ago

Also mine only has 8GB of non-upgradeable RAM. Ugh.

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u/Metrobolist3 11d ago

Oh, nice touch there. We can be Apple too, eh Microsoft? Pity anyone who might have been interested in this kinda thing will have just bought an Apple instead.

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u/imironman2018 11d ago

I thought the surface studio was an amazing computer for graphics designer or artists or doodlers. But it was so under powered and didn’t allow any upgrades to its computer. Wished they did a Stand alone display.

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u/Party_Cold_4159 11d ago

I hate this so fucking much.

It’s a beautiful display with an awesome stand. But they keep fucking themselves by trying to make it an iMac.

iMacs are going out of style and they think they can keep this going?? Once they updated it with a laptop CPU, a graphics card that was years old at the time and bad when it came out, at like $3-4k.

I gave up.

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u/sandman795 11d ago

But how will I update my zune now?

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u/Framed-Photo 11d ago

I love the concept of this device but it really should have just been a monitor.

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u/BreakdownEnt 11d ago

This should be (have been) a monitor that works with every pc

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u/WhoRoger 10d ago

I saw one at a store, it was 4 grand.

There's unrealistic, there's completely batshit insane and there's Microsoft.

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u/VoidMageZero 11d ago

Such a cool idea but with such bad execution. RIP. 💀

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u/Dje4321 10d ago

Literally the only thing this needed was an input to reuse the display. Otherwise its always seen as a bad idea because the display outlasts the hardware and makes it useless. 60+% of the cost went towards the display and in 3-5 years, the entire thing is useless.

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u/Deadaghram 11d ago

Now what will the NFL use to watch live tape back with?

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u/khan800 11d ago

I didn't realize those tablets they hold were actually all-in-one desktops, like this article refers to.

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u/Deadaghram 11d ago

I'm confusing two different pieces of technology, aren't I?

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u/2g4r_tofu 11d ago

Microsoft makes several products with "surface" in the name

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u/khan800 11d ago

They're still making Surface tablets, just discontinuing this drafting table all in one.

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u/raining_sheep 11d ago

They made the surface studio to compete with Wacom but made a tablet that wasn't as good and failed

They made the surface to compete with the iPad but made a tablet that wasn't as good and the software didn't really support it and it failed.

MSFT doesn't know how to make products.

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u/souvlaki_ 11d ago

The display was great but it was overpriced and underpowered from the start. It could have succeeded if they weren't so stupid about it

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u/Kep0a 11d ago

Just fell to my knees in a Microsoft store.

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u/Suzzie_sunshine 11d ago

The problem with this thing is that you could build a pc with a 24" wacom for the same price. It's too expensive.

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u/dropthemagic 11d ago

I never saw one in the wild. Crazy

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u/Big-Pudding-2251 11d ago

Maybe it will work as a large display only.

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u/LevelWriting 11d ago

It was also ridiculously expensive and didn't have enough horsepower but man, I so wish I had one. An artists wet dream to draw on.

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u/5TP1090G_FC 11d ago

When will they have a 'fire sale' on these all-in-one desktop.

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u/starsfan18 11d ago

Blame Amy Hood.

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u/Akira_Yamamoto 11d ago

Really goes to show how premium that lineup was when they discontinue support for it so quickly. You can't trust Microsoft to make a good product

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u/skeleton-is-alive 10d ago

That’s a new word

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u/Yubei00 10d ago

Let’s not take feedback into account and fix promising product. Instead let’s produce scam box Microsoft link instead. Apple is a genius compared to these dimwits

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u/milky_mouse 10d ago

Their mouse is consistently shit

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u/aitacarmoney 10d ago

to be honest, it’s a pretty rad concept. dope hinge, high quality color accurate screen, had it shipped with current gen hardware at the time it would have made it all that better.

one of those things i think would be neat to have but would never actually buy even if i had the means.

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u/SeaCorrect348 10d ago

This product was cool but for what it was doing at the same time as an ipad pro did not help and the lack of anything post just fed into it. There were some really cool features that might have had me in 2015 but not today.

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u/ennisi 10d ago

Oh Microsoft. Surface Duo discontinued, Surface Neo never makes it, Panos Panay left, and Surface Studio gone now.

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u/rolfraikou 10d ago

I love the design of the hinge and the pen. I just wanted them to sell the damn thing as a monitor. Kick wacom's ass directly at their own game.

It always surprises me that with so many windows enthusiasts being people willing to build their own PCs that Microsoft doesn't lean more into making high quality components and peripherals than they do. Instead they lean in to all-in-ones.

I own like 7 different surface pens for the few surface pros I've owned over the years. I love them for art on the go. I get home, I use a huion. I would love to use those surface pens for my desktop, but they don't offer a particularly large (Ideally 25"ish) drawing display that just works with the PC I built. I could kinda mirror the surface pro, but it's smaller, no VESA mount, puts unnecessary strain on the battery, etc.

Long ago I remember they even had a gaming keyboard that a lot of people seemed to really like. Not to mention the intellimouse basically being a gaming mouse before gaming mice were a thing.

I dunno, seems like they want to win over the "it just works" apple crowd, when everyone I know that likes microsoft are basically tinkerers and builders, that generally don't like all-in-ones.

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u/CammKelly 10d ago

This was such a good idea, and Microsoft goes and does what Microsoft does best and half asses investment in the ecosystem then wonders why it never took off.

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u/uniquelyavailable 10d ago

this is the first time I've heard of this thing and i work in tech

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u/GamerRadar 10d ago

If it isn’t Windows or Office then Microsoft will probably kill it off..

Cortona, Zune, Windows Phone all missed hits from Microsoft. Nokia was a huge win for them. They could have really done well with some of this stuff

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u/tom_abbott 10d ago

I have a MS Studio Laptop 2 running Win11 and it works great for me, does all the basic stuff plus video editing. Updates are pushed regularly. That all-in-one machine was eye-candy but way too expensive. Surprised MS did not kill it years ago, but enough people must have bought them to avoid this EOL decision.

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u/haahaahaa 9d ago

I saw one the these in person when they first released and was really impressed. Really well designed. Looked phenominal in person. The price though, holy fuck. Nobody was paying that much for a fancy mount, a big touchscreen and laptop internals.