Microsoft is preparing its vision for the future of workplace computer technology with the unveiling of the Surface Hub 2.
At the company’s recent Ignite conference in Orlando, Florida, two versions of the easel mounted, rotatable 50.5-inch touchscreen device were announced. A working prototype was able to be tested by press behind closed doors.
While not specifying any exact details about the new Surface Hub – including eventual release date, price and precise tech specs – the announcement and accompanying launch video have so far generated a great deal of interest in Microsoft’s new approach to productivity.
The first version of the device, the Surface Hub 2S, is set to arrive sometime in the second quarter of 2019. It will differ physically from the original 2016 Surface Hub in having a smaller display size within very thin bezels. The original 2016 Surface Hub options of a 55-inch or 84-inch screen with thick black borders look arguably hulking in comparison. Changing the display size also brings the new Hub into 3:2 aspect ratio parity with the rest of the Surface product line.
Another surprising aspect of the Surface Hub 2S’s hardware is its swappable CPU. Microsoft is to make available a cartridge that, when plugged into the back of the device, will improve its software and feature set, including adding the capability to tile several Hub displays to make one giant touchscreen. The release of the CPU upgrade should coincide with the arrival of the Surface Hub 2X in 2020, and adding the cartridge to a Hub 2S should make the two versions essentially the same.
Being mounted on a metal easel that can be wheeled about showcases Microsoft’s intention for customers to use the Surface Hub 2 as a device for productive collaboration. As a single unit or tiled together, teams from different workplace departments will be able to get together with their Surface Hubs to make decisions about and modify data or documents on the fly.
To encourage this approach, Surface Hub 2 will allow up to 16 people to log in to the same device. In its demonstration Microsoft showed how this would work. One user is logged in via fingerprint identification and presents data from an Office 365 file stored in their OneDrive account. Another user decides they could use elements from the data for a document they are working on, so logs in with their fingerprint by touching a button on the bottom edge of the display. They then highlight and copy the data over to their document, all with touch gestures.
More details about the Surface Hub 2 will be revealed at an event in New York City in early October. Many will be wondering what price tag the company will put on the device, with the original Surface Hub costing about £7,000 for the 55-inch version and around £17,000 for the 84-inch model.
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