Though much of the focus remains on Windows Copilot and the new Surface Laptop Studio 2 and Laptop Go 3 following Microsoft’s September event, there was one stealth announcement that may have slipped under your radar: the new Surface Hub 3.
The updated all-in-one meeting and collaboration device got some welcome upgrades, including the ability to rotate. If that doesn’t hype you up, nothing will.
Beyond rotation, the new Surface Hub 3 joins the Teams Rooms family, offering a unified Teams Rooms experience running on Windows. That should make for a more consistent experience across meetings.
The Teams Rooms shift also means that some long-requested features are finally available on the Surface Hub 3, including persistent chat and the popular Front Row layout.
The Hub 3 comes in two sizes: the 50-inch version (which rotates) and the 85-inch (which does not).
In a demo at the event, the 50-inch Hub 3 looked excellent. Meeting features like inking and accessing Copilot were smooth, as was rotating from portrait to landscape.
Notably, the camera orientation does not rotate with the Hub 3. Instead, users have to disconnect the camera and move it to the appropriate mount point for the orientation they’re using. Or, if you’ve got two compatible cameras, you can mount one for landscape and one for portrait, allowing for seamless switching. Microsoft spokespeople I chatted with at the event said several businesses had upgraded to a newer version of the camera but still had the old version around, and can now utilize the old camera this way. Plus, the Hub 3 comes with a camera.
On the technical side, the Hub 3 sports a 4K PixelSense display with an anti-glare coating. The Hub 3 boasts a 60 percent boost in processing power and a 160 percent improvement in graphics performance.
Customers sporting the older Surface Hub 2S won’t be left behind, with Microsoft’s new Surface Hub 3 Pack, a cartridge that can be hooked into the Hub 2S to enable Hub 3 features.
Although the Hub 3 will be available to purchase later this year, Microsoft hasn’t shared pricing yet.