Dell Unveils Canvas, A Surface Studio Competitor, As Well As An 8K Monitor And AIO

At CES, Dell announces three unique products: "Canvas," a 27-inch pen-enabled touchscreen aimed at content creators, the "world's first" desktop monitor with UHD 8k resolution, and an all-in-one system with a built-in soundbar.

Dell Canvas 27 (KV2718D)

Dell described Canvas as an “an entirely new innovation in interactive design and digital content creation.”  Although it seems the screen must be connected to a PC, it's reminiscent of Microsoft’s recently launched “Surface Studio,” which is a stand-alone computer. They both target customers that need large screens on which to draw, create music, or create other content. They both also seem to use physical wheels to control some content creation tools, although Dell seems to have “one-upped” Microsoft here by using a second physical wheel. Dell calls these “totems,” and they come standard with the device.

The touchscreen supports 20 touch points and a “highly precise” pen for sketching. The screen has a QHD (2560x1440) resolution, which is less than Surface Studio’s 4500 x 3000 resolution for its 28” screen. The Dell Canvas supports the Adobe RGB color space, whereas the Surface Studio supports DCI-P3, both of which have similarly wide color gamuts. However, Adobe RGB extends more into the green and blue space, whereas DCI-P3, a standard created mainly for digital projection devices and recently adopted by Apple for its iMac displays, focuses a little more on the red spectrum.

One big advantage the Dell Canvas seems to have is its price, which will be “under $2,000,” when it launches on March 30, 2017 on Dell.com (in the U.S.).

Dell UltraSharp 32 Ultra HD 8K Monitor (UP3218K)

Dell launched the “world’s first 32-inch UHD 8k monitor” at CES for a price of $5,000, as part of its "UltraSharp" monitor lineup. Dell’s new monitor can show four times as many pixels as typical UHD 4k monitors, or 16 times as many as 1080p monitors.

The new monitor is not only high-resolution, but it also completely covers both the sRGB and Adobe RGB color spaces. Users will also be able to calibrate the 1.07 billion colors (through an optional X-rite colorimeter).

The UP3218K monitor will be available for purchase from Dell.com in the U.S. starting March 23, 2017.

Dell XPS 27 All-In-One

The Dell XPS 27 all-in-one is a little different than your typical all-in-one device. The computer comes built-in with not 2, not 5, but 10 speakers producing 50W per channel, all tuned by Grammy award winning producer, Jack Joseph Puig. Dell said it’s also the first PC to use a pair of independent down-firing full range speakers to augment front-firing speakers for an improved sound ambiance.

The XPS 27 is powered by either a Core i5 or a Core i7 previous-generation Intel processors, Intel 530 graphics, or a choice between AMD R9 470X and R9 480X GPUs. The display has a 4k resolution and users can choose between a touch option and an “InfinityEdge” one, which gives them an almost bezel-less screen. The full Adobe RGB color space is supported by the display as well.

The XPS 27 all-in-one device is now available for sale starting at $1499.99.