Windows 10 Fall Creators Update and mixed reality headsets available today; Announcing Surface Book 2
From the initial launch of Windows 10, we’ve been on a mission to empower the creator in all of us. We believe in the fundamental human need to create to propel the world forward.
Today, we deliver the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update offering breakthroughs in creativity – from bringing mixed reality and 3D to the masses, to faster broadcasting for gaming, to turning photos and videos into real memories, and so much more. The Windows 10 Fall Creators Update can be experienced on a wide variety of Windows 10 PCs and on a range of Windows Mixed Reality headsets available for the first time today.
We believe the PC is the ultimate canvas for creativity and can empower people to create like never before. This is why we are building Surface to be the ultimate laptop and are delighted to introduce the Surface Book 2, the most powerful Surface yet.
Windows 10 Fall Creators Update
The Windows 10 Fall Creators Update is packed with new innovations including, new Inking experiences like inking directly on PDFs, a new Find my Pen feature, Continue on your PC with Cortana or your phone’s browser including, Microsoft Edge for seamless Windows experiences across devices, enhanced security and privacy features, and improvements in accessibility, including Eye Control. I’m excited about these innovations and in particular four big bets that deliver on our vision for creativity:
Mixed reality for the masses
With the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, we introduce mixed reality to the masses. With mixed reality, we seek to fundamentally improve the way you create, communicate and play. You can transcend time and space and immerse yourself in any environment, helping ideas break free from the boundaries of paper or screens.
Until now, any practical use of mixed reality required the use of a headset and for immersive virtual reality, you had to mount cameras in the corners of your home. And you couldn’t take your headset with you to a friend’s house or your workplace.
That changes with the availability of Windows Mixed Reality headsets. For the most immersive mixed reality experience, our partners, Acer, Dell, HP, and Lenovo are launching the very first Windows Mixed Reality headsets today, beginning at $399 for headsets bundled with advanced motion controllers. Samsung’s innovative mixed reality headset, the Samsung HMD Odyssey, will become available on November 6th. Windows Mixed Reality headsets are the only headsets that don’t require you to drill holes into your walls and you can take them on the go.
The Fall Creators Update also includes the Mixed Reality Viewer, which brings mixed reality to the PC. By simply using the camera on your PC, you can see 3D objects mixed into your actual surroundings – people, places, things, or anything you can imagine.
It’s so exciting to see so many components coming together to introduce the world to mixed reality, from innovative and affordable new Windows Mixed Reality headsets to technology to experience mixed reality on your PC. Now you can enjoy travel, sports, live concerts, and gaming like never before in your own virtual home with content from over 20,000 apps in the Windows Store.
3D offers next boost to human productivity
3D will offer the next major boost to human productivity, enabling a next generation of computing that moves far beyond the 2D world we’ve been confined to. This is so powerful because 3D is truly representative of the world you live in – improving the way you comprehend, retain, and learn.
With the Fall Creators Update, we enable anyone to create in 3D. Over 100 million people use Microsoft Paint every single month and now with Paint 3D they can all become 3D creators – easily manipulating objects, creating and sharing in 3D. With the Fall Creators Update, you can now bring 3D objects into your Office files, including PowerPoint presentations and Word documents, to dramatically improve your storytelling and improve comprehension. Objects can rotate and animate within your presentation. And with the Mixed Reality Viewer, you can easily drop your 3D creations into the physical world. 3D is great for students, professionals or anyone who wants to create.
Gaming becomes even more interactive
Gaming is the fastest growing form of entertainment because it is incredibly interactive. And, gaming has never been more popular on Windows, with nearly 200 million monthly active users gaming on Windows 10.
In fact, with an explosion of interest in eSports and interactive game streaming, more people spend time watching gameplay than actually playing games. We launched Mixer, the only near real-time, interactive game streaming service, to help everyone broadcast, watch or interact with other gamers.
With the Fall Creators Update, we are making Mixer even better – you can now launch and jump into a game stream faster than before. And Game Mode enables gamers to access more power of the PC and dedicate it to games, delivering a more performant gaming experience on Windows 10.
The next era of gaming is coming this fall with the new improvements in the Fall Creators Update, immersive gaming experiences for mixed reality, and the upcoming launch on November 7 of Xbox One X, the world’s most powerful console built for true 4K gaming.
Creating memories with photos & videos
Photos and videos have never been more popular on Windows, with more than 250 million active users of Photos on Windows 10. Trillions of photos and videos exist digitally, but how do we ensure these precious images can be retained as memories?
Our Photos app is totally reimagined in the Fall Creators Update, so you can easily convert photos into memories and stories with personalized 3D effects, Ink, transitions, and video – no editing experience required. You can take photos from your vacation and simply and easily edit them into a collage of photos and videos with a soundtrack, theme, Ink, and cinematic transitions. And with 3D, you can make objects dynamic, like a soccer ball bursting into flames as it passes the goalie and soars into the net.
Announcing Surface Book 2
The PC is the platform to power the next wave of creativity and Surface is the tip of the spear of innovation to help drive this next wave forward.
One of the most powerful ways to experience the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update is on the Surface family of devices. We are building Surface to be the ultimate laptop, infusing versatility, performance, and design into every product we make and creating a stage for the best of Windows and Office. More than ever there is a need for a class of high-performance devices that don’t compromise the versatility and style of a laptop customers want.
Today, we’re excited to introduce the latest in the Surface family: Surface Book 2 – a powerhouse laptop with amazing graphics and up to 17 hours of battery life. Now available in a 13” and 15” option, Surface Book 2 is the most powerful Surface we’ve ever built. With the latest 8th Generation Intel Dual-Core and Quad-Core processors and NVIDIA GeForce GPUs, Surface Book 2 has up to five times the graphics performance of the original Surface Book and is twice as powerful as the new MacBook Pro.
But more than just raw power, Surface Book 2 is built for the way you work and create. It gives you the power of a laptop, the versatility of a tablet and the freedom of a portable studio all in one beautifully styled device.
Surface Book 2 is powerful enough to run professional software like Adobe, Autodesk, and Dessault flawlessly and plays popular PC games at 1080p, 60 FPS, including demanding titles like Forza Motorsport 7 and Gears of War 4.
Surface Book 2 joins Surface Laptop and Surface Pro to round out a strong portfolio of laptops that are designed to not only allow people to experience Windows Mixed Reality and gaming, and be productive anywhere, but to empower the artists, designers, developers, and engineers who are leading the next wave of creative innovation.
The new Surface Book 2 laptops start at $1499 and will be available for pre-order on November 9th in the US, with the 13” also available in additional markets. To learn more about Surface Book 2, visit Panos’ blog post.
The need to create has never been more important. We want Surface to continue to inspire and enable creativity and we’re excited to work with our partners to deliver incredible modern devices. The Windows ecosystem fosters incredible innovation, and this holiday, there will be a range of beautifully designed and feature-rich devices. These include new Windows 2-in-1s, laptops, all-in-ones, gaming PCs that feature Intel’s new 8th Generation Intel Core processors, the latest NVIDIA GPUs enabling Windows Mixed Reality experiences, long battery life, and OLED and 4K screens for the most stunning visuals.
From new PCs from Surface or our partners, new Windows Mixed Reality headsets and motion controllers – to the world’s most powerful console in Xbox One X – you can choose a Windows device to empower the creator in you.
