It’s been nearly a year since Microsoft started shipping its first Surface Hub digital whiteboards to business customers, and the new product category has been a quiet success so far: last month, the company announced that sales were up 20% with a payback period of nine months, which led Microsoft to launch a Surface Hub Try And Buy program to help drive adoption among businesses.
Just like the new Surface Studio all-in-one PC though, the Surface Hub is still a niche product and you may not get the chance to see one in person until more companies start using it. However, those of you wanting to learn more about the interactive collobaration device should really watch the following video, which features Director of Surface Hub engineering Peter Oehler giving a detailed tour of the hardware and design of the 84-inch model.
Here are a couple of highlights:
- The Surface Hub is instantly ready to use thanks to an array of sensors including 2 passive infrared presence sensors and ambiant light sensors that can wake it up from sleep.
- The 84-inch features features a 4K display using an optically bonded screen that supports 100-point touch and inking.
- Two wide-angle 1080p cameras on either sides of the display make sure that the Surface Hub can capture the whole room where it’s installed.
- Two front facing stereo speakers optimized for human voice and a four element, echo-cancelling microphone array makes it great for teleconferencing.
- On the inside, the 84-inch model features an Intel Core i7 processor, 8GB of RAM and a NVIDIA Quadro K2200 GPU with 4GB RAM.
- A custom cooling architecture has been created to minimize fan noise and keep the Surface Hub cool to the touch in all circumstances.
- The Surface Pen is also different from the traditional model and features a larger body nib. It’s possible to use touch and pen (or even multiple pens) simultaneously, with an accurate palm rejection technology leveraging custom sensors.
As of today, 84-inch Surface Hub will cost you $21,999, but Microsoft is also selling a smaller 55-inch model for $8,999. Like we said, it’s clearly aimed at enterprise users but Microsoft seems to be really happy with it. Last month, the company shared that it was ramping up production to meet demand from customers worldwide.
