Microsoft fully unveiled the first iteration of the Surface Hub 2 today, called the 2S. While the software is pretty much the same as the original PC, the hardware is pretty interesting.
Although Microsoft originally announced the Surface Hub 2 almost a year ago, it was last September that the firm announced the Surface Hub 2S and Surface Hub 2X. Coming in 2019, the 2S will have the same software features as the original Surface Hub, while the 2X will be available in 2020 with the fancy features that were originally announced, such as tiling and Dynamic Rotation.
Today, Microsoft announced the Surface Hub 2S in all of its glory, and it will begin shipping in June starting at $8,999. While the software hasn’t changed, the hardware is very different from the original Surface Hub.
First of all, the key takeaway that I got from today’s announcements was modularity. Pretty much everything about the Surface Hub 2 can be easily replaced.
The bottom portion of the unit you see above is the compute unit. When the Surface Hub 2X comes out next year, businesses will be able to easily swap that out and turn their Surface Hub 2S into a Surface Hub 2X.
The 4K webcam is easily replaceable as well, and the display has USB Type-C ports on all sides so you can easily move it or attach multiple webcams. And then of course, there’s the battery.
Yes, this collaboration PC actually has a battery, and Microsoft says that it gets about two hours of battery life and takes about a half hour to charge. That means that you can move it between conference rooms without ever turning it off. You will not be able to replace the battery while the machine is plugged in, in case you were hoping for that.
The battery sits in a compartment in the Steelcase stand, so it’s not actually in the Surface Hub.
