Microsoft's update to the original Surface Hub is finally coming. The tech giant announced the new Surface Hub 2S in New York City today with a launch date that will be a little more than a year after the company first teased the Surface Hub 2.
The Surface Hub 2S will arrive in the US this June, with more markets to follow thereafter. Those additional markets will be ones where the original Hub was sold. The starting price in the US will be $8,999 (about £6,900, AU$12,680).
In addition to a new form factor and updated specs and features, the Surface Hub 2S was announced alongside two mobility accessories that will be sold separately. The first is a rolling mount made in partnership with office furniture maker Steelcase, and the second is the APC Charge Mobile Battery that allows the Surface Hub 2S to be used without a connection to a wall outlet.
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What's new in the Surface Hub 2S
The new Surface Hub 2S will have a 50-inch screen with a 3:2 aspect ratio and a 4K+ Pixel Sense display. The display will still be a touch panel with support for the Surface Hub 2 Pen, and it has an anti-glare coating. The display has narrow bezels, and has reduced its thickness by 60 percent compared to the original Surface Hub. It's also 40% lighter.
Eight beam-forming microphones, dual speakers and a dedicated subwoofer are built into the Surface Hub 2S. The Surface Hub 2 Camera and Surface Hub 2 Pen are both included and attach to the device, with eight magnetic mounting points for the Pen. The camera has a 4K resolution and 90-degree FOV.
The Surface Hub 2S is built around a computing core that includes an 8th-generation Intel Core i5 quad-core processor with integrated Intel UHD Graphics 620, 8GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD.
While the original Surface Hub models had display panels with 120Hz refresh rates and 100-point multi-touch, these details are currently missing from the Surface Hub 2S specs.
Just a starting point
The 50-inch Surface Hub 2S is just a starting point. A Surface Hub 2 Display is also coming that will not include it's own computing component. Windows 10 Pro and Enterprise configuration options are in the works as well. And, an 85-inch version of the Surface Hub 2S will go into testing in 2020.
The computing component of the Surface Hub 2S is modular, making the device both serviceable and upgradeable. Eventually, the device can be updated to the forthcoming Surface Hub 2X by swapping the computing core, which will allow a multi-unit "tile" setup with multiple devices oriented vertically and placed side-by-side. A second set of dormant speakers and another array of microphones will be activated when switched into the new setup.
However, the Surface Hub 2X – like the 85-inch Surface Hub 2S – will not be available until sometime in 2020.
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