> That said, one could probably produce something to a pretty similar effect with an external pen display (like Xencelabs 24"), VESA arm, and an M4 Mac mini, and it’d be more powerful, upgradable, flexible, and maybe even cheaper to boot.
You mean the price? Minimum spec Mini and a Xencelabs Pen Display 24” (which comes with a VESA mounted pivot stand) gets you reasonably close and would cost $2500, where the Surface Studio 2 (as per the article) started at $3k. Screen size is a little less (24” vs 28”), but digitizer quality is better (on par with Wacom) as is pixel density. Setting it up is just plugging the display into the Mini with USB-C.
Sure! What's the number to get this working?