MS Surface Pro 3

[robcat2075]

A review of the Surface Pro 3

 

I didn't even know there was a 3 yet.

[largento]

I still think this is a foolish way to go, but you gotta' admire their ability to keep their blinders on. :-)

 

A tablet and a laptop are two separate devices. I don't want a tablet to replace my laptop. A tablet is a terrible laptop and a laptop is a terrible tablet.

[robcat2075]

To me, it looks like a cool thing. I don't have a need for an iPad but when I travel I like the idea of a very light something that runs real Windows programs.

 

I have an old XP tablet that weighs twice as much as that Surface Pro does with probably 1/8th the computing power and battery life and yet it is useful when I travel and fulfills my travel computing needs.

 

So I look at the Surface Pro that can do every thing my current tablet does and do it better... to me that's a valid product.

 

I probably won't buy one, i don't travel enough for it to be a major need, but i can imagine people for whom this fills the gap between iPad and desktop just right.

[Xtaz]

I`m a Surface Pro owner and I couldn`t be more happy. I use it with Sketchbook Pro. Its pressure levels makes draw and paint an amazing experience.

I didn't even know there was a 3 too.

[fae_alba]

Now that I spend as much time on the road as I do working from home, a good tablet such as this would be a boon for me. Trust me, doing a sprint from one end of Chicago's O'Hare airport to the other at 7 am to catch a connecting flight with my laptop slung over my shoulder is no picnic and a tablet that can do the same work as my Dell is a no brainer. Now would I replace my laptop completely? probably not; while at home I'd still gravitate to my trusty laptop.

[Fuchur]

I`m a Surface Pro owner and I couldn`t be more happy. I use it with Sketchbook Pro. Its pressure levels makes draw and paint an amazing experience.

I didn't even know there was a 3 too.

 

3 just has been released to the public...

 

See you

*Fuchur*

[largento]

I don't get why anyone would want to pay so much for a laptop light.

 

The cheapest model is $799. It comes with no keyboard and only 64 gb of hd space. They tout it as weighing 1.75 lbs, but in the picture, they show the keyboard, which isn't factored into the weight. With keyboard and pen, it actually weighs 2.44 lbs, which is about .75 lbs heavier than the iPad Air and only .5 lbs lighter than a MacBook Air with a 13.3" screen.

 

The flimsy keyboard, which you need to have, costs $129.99 extra.

[robcat2075]

It is on the high side in price. It's never going to be a hipster thing like an iPad.

 

If we are comparing it to an iPad it's about 25% to 50% more expensive than an iPad with a similar amount of RAM

 

A 128GB iPad is $799

A 128GB Surface Pro 3 is $999

 

Both are more expensive than I would pay for such a thing but there are many people for whom the difference between this and a cheaper machine is an insignificant amount of money if this fills their functionality needs better.

 

 

 

Endgadget has links to numerous, cautiously positive, reviews on the bottom of its page

 

http://www.engadget.com/products/microsoft/surface/pro/3/

[Fuchur]

I don't get why anyone would want to pay so much for a laptop light.

 

The cheapest model is $799. It comes with no keyboard and only 64 gb of hd space. They tout it as weighing 1.75 lbs, but in the picture, they show the keyboard, which isn't factored into the weight. With keyboard and pen, it actually weighs 2.44 lbs, which is about .75 lbs heavier than the iPad Air and only .5 lbs lighter than a MacBook Air with a 13.3" screen.

 

The flimsy keyboard, which you need to have, costs $129.99 extra.

 

The biggest Pros currently are: Windows Software available for it and Wacom-Pen included.

I do not know if it really is as well as the Cintiq-Series from Wacom, but if they are, they are much much cheaper than those.

(13" Wacom Cintiq costs close to 1900 Euros here...)

 

It may have advantages to have that one (at least compared to other tablet systems). I am not a big fan of tablet devices itself, since I do not like touch as input device (I just need a mouse and a keyboard, because they are that much more precise compared to my fingers... having a hit radius of 25 pixels (and up) is just so much worse than with a mouse (hit radius around 1-3 pixels). A pen is better, since it is closer to a mouse but still for anything but painting this is not an option for me neighter... I will not start on the keyboard thing... no physical responce, not suited for fast writting without looking at the keyboard and while I may not need to carry a keyboard around, I now need to carry a cleaning-solution bottle with me, since otherwise I would get crasy with those finger prints on it... for smartphones they are okay (the mobile thing is more important here), but for anything bigger than that and meant to work with in any reasonable way, they are just crappy...

 

In general I recommend to get a good ultrabook / ultrathin laptop or just get a normal laptop (which may be a small amount thicker (like 2 mm if you get the right laptop) and maybe a little heavier (again, maybe 100g for the right laptop) but are much cheaper, you do not have to worry about breaking it in the middle that much and (in some cases) give you very exciting things like optical drives (I mean, hello? Devices without that would be kicked out the window a few years ago... yes CD / DVD / BluRay-drives are not that important anymore but still very common... for 2mm it is just not worse it to leave them out)...

 

All in all: I think tablets are a bad developement, since they slow down the developement of real computer hardware itself, teach you to only consume and pay for the media instead to creating it and just are not suited to do much with them... a personal computer is as cool as it is because it has wide possibilities... you can use it to do MANY things... video editing, play games (the good kind), create 3d graphics, animate, write books, do audio work, programm software, create games, calculate important stuff, work with it on scientific levels and man things more... and of course you can consume stuff more freely, often with better displays, combine it with microphones, cameras, different input devices and so on... and now I buy a tablet with which I can do much less for the same amout of money (IPads and Co are expensive) to only consume stuff and anything else just does not work or is limited that much that I can not do it or I can only do it because the company selling the tablet does not want me to do it? If I put a SSD into a good laptop you get better and more flexible software and hardware...

 

They are just cool because Steve said they are, but there are very, very small reasons to buy those if you ask me...

 

See you

*Fuchur*

[largento]

I guess that's where the divide is. I see a tablet as a casual entertainment device. It's for when I'm not working. To be honest, I bought my laptop just so that I could read e-comics in bed, but it was too big and clunky and heavy for that purpose. The iPad is EXACTLY what I wanted.

 

I am FAR from a hipster and I can tell you I love my iPad. I use it for all those things I'd hoped I could use my laptop for. Reading comics, surfing the web in bed, reading books, light gaming. I frequently post to this forum using it.

 

I don't use it for heavy lifting (although I have done some scriptwriting on it), because that's not what I wanted it for. My MacPro is my "work" computer. When I work, I want a very large monitor and a good keyboard and mouse and a desk to put them on.

 

My iPad is my fun device.

 

Two different beasties.

 

Scott Kurtz (of PVP fame) switched to a Surface Pro 2 because he was jealous of the portability, but his experience was a bad one. He found the ui was too small to use Photoshop, so he had to switch applications. Even then, he found it was taking him 2-3 times longer to draw a strip. He also complained that what looked good on his Surface's screen, would look bad when it was brought onto his desktop computer and seen at full size. He gave up and went for that 13" Cintiq HD, hoping he'd be able to sell his Surface Pro 2 to recoup his loss. Kurtz acknowledges that what he's doing is replicating pen and ink, not painting, so there may be a difference if you're doing digital paintings.

 

[EDIT] I just read on the Webcomics.com forums that the Surface Pro 3 drops Wacom in favor of something called N-Trig. It also drops the pressure sensitivity from 1024 to 256 levels.

[robcat2075]

I am FAR from a hipster...

 

Mark, you're right! You've made two CG movies that people actually pay to see.

 

That is way beyond hipster.

[Shelton]

I saw 4k raw video being edited on a surface pro. Now would I want to try to edit video that way, no. But it shows the power. As a user of both the ipad and surface both are very useful. but I have a very heavy laptop and the new surface appeals to me . One thing I am thinking about is sound editing. Surface has the windows software audio editing. It would be nice to use the surface and record the voice overs and edit them as they are recorded by something other than the big laptop I have. Plus for larger screen sizes the surface has an HDMI out adapter for large screen and USB for keyboard and mouse that could be used in the office environment.

 

Steve

[robcat2075]

Here's David Pogue's video review...

 

Smart, Versatile Surface Pro 3 Can Do It All — Maybe Even Lift the Windows 8 Curse

[Xtaz]

The biggest Pros currently are: Windows Software available for it and Wacom-Pen included.

I do not know if it really is as well as the Cintiq-Series from Wacom, but if they are, they are much much cheaper than those.

(13" Wacom Cintiq costs close to 1900 Euros here...)

Surface Pro 3 is using N-trig pen instead Wacom drivers

http://www.winbeta.org/news/surface-pro-3-...tter-n-trig-pen

 

My new gadget will be a Wacom Cintiq Companion

http://cintiqcompanion.wacom.com/CintiqCompanion/en/

[robcat2075]

Surface Pro 3 is using N-trig pen instead Wacom drivers

http://www.winbeta.org/news/surface-pro-3-...tter-n-trig-pen

This pen supports 256 points of pressure and there is reportedly no latency or parallax effects. In fact, when you are writing something on the Surface Pro 3, it will feel as if there were no distance between the tip of the pen and the screen surface.

 

I wonder how there could NOT be parallax? There's got to be some thickness of glass between the display and the pen. No?

 

If it really has no latency that will be better than my Cintiq or any I've tried.

[largento]

I did read that the wacom tech required something in the screen itself. Something that apparently added depth to it. I gather the new one just uses the pen? I think the pen has a battery.

 

I also read that Wacom may not have been thrilled that MS told people their technology was in the Surface Pro 2, since it might have bit into their cintiq sales.

 

So maybe wacom pulled out?

[jakerupert]

Major drawback of the new pen:

You cant use its drawsensitivity with all win software like for example z-brush .

Also Adobe tries to lure you into the cloud again for optimization of use with photoshop.

 

So this excludes the tablet for me .

 

If you compare it pricewise with the wacom companion with its longtime approved tchnology

And drivers its also not that big a difference coming down to some 100 dollar, if you reckon it

All. So that point wont drive my decision.

 

Seems like wacom with its companion can keep its unique position in this field for a while.

 

(There is also the big lenovo thinkpad yoga available with wacom pen, but hard to find at their

Cluttered "business like" website.)

[robcat2075]

I'm sure any mention or non-mention of Wacom technology was negotiated in the licensing before hand so i'd be surprised if anyone was surprised.

 

The "penabled" tablets were always entry-level Wacom stuff. Positionand pressure but no tilt or rotation like the high-end Wacom products have. Probably not intruding on the serious-artist Wacom market.

 

But I'm curious now to see how this N-trig thing performs. If it has a battery in it it must be a tiny one.

[robcat2075]

Major drawback of the new pen:

You cant use its drawsensitivity with all win software like for example z-brush .

 

hmmm... if the pen only works with new software that would be big problem.

 

 

 

Here is a review of the Thinkpad Yoga that ha a wacom pen. 3.5 pounds, that's getting heavy again.

 

Lenovo ThinkPad Yoga review: a good (if slightly heavy) Ultrabook for business users

[pixelplucker]

Price wise I think the Sony Flip pc's might be better, they also have dedicated higher end video cards, bigger screen (up to 15"). As with all touch screens that are Wacom enabled they have a reduced pressure sensitivity (I believe around 256) compared to a bamboo which is 1024, Intuos Pro and Cintiq are 2048.

 

Big drawback (stupid pun) for me with the multi touch and pen combo on the same screen is one doesn't turn off the other when in use. They don't toggle between modes which is probably an OS issue. Try Painter and you will have virtual smudges along with your sketch.

 

Even with that if I could actually try out one of the Sony's first hand I would probably get one, bigger screen and dedicated video for roughly the same price sounds better. Trouble is around here there is no stores that have them to try and I refuse to dish out big bucks for something like that without actually seeing it first hand. Almost like buying a car on Ebay...

[robcat2075]

Big drawback (stupid pun) for me with the multi touch and pen combo on the same screen is one doesn't turn off the other when in use. They don't toggle between modes which is probably an OS issue. Try Painter and you will have virtual smudges along with your sketch.

 

Surface says they have that problem solved and the reviews seem to agree.

 

 

Almost like buying a car on Ebay...

 

I've done that!

[Roger]

I'm very tempted to get the Surface 3 as I would love a cintiq but can't really afford one (unless I look for used ones, then I might swing it).

I've also been looking at the Thinkpad Tablet 10, which should be coming out soon. It has one of the newer Atom chips and is supposedly on par with a lower speed Core i3. It comes with a Wacom digitizer.

 

However, these are very much "wants" and not "needs". I have a Wacom Intuos currently but I have problems with hand/eye coordination given I'm not looking at what I'm drawing. I'm just leery of getting another gadget that will have a limited lifespan.

So maybe I'm better off sticking with what I've got than trying to find a budget solution and ending up with something that isn't all that great.

I don't do a ton of digital painting/photoshoppery and would like to do more, but can't quite get used to the disconnect between drawing on the tablet and seeing the output on a monitor.

[largento]

Gabe over at Penny Arcade has been made MS' sort of Surface Pro guinea pig (as he puts it) and after being a big proponent of the Surface Pro 2, was sent a Surface Pro 3 to test.

 

Here are his opinions.

 

MS seems to be working with him to try to resolve issues, which is pretty cool.

[robcat2075]

Gabe over at Penny Arcade has been made MS' sort of Surface Pro guinea pig (as he puts it) and after being a big proponent of the Surface Pro 2, was sent a Surface Pro 3 to test.

 

Here are his opinions.

 

MS seems to be working with him to try to resolve issues, which is pretty cool.

 

 

Still with the lagging cursor! You'd think that with stuff as fast as it is today the cursor should never be more than one video frame behind the position of the pen tip but it's still a lot more than that. That's a problem with every such device i've tried.

[pixelplucker]

With the Sony Flip it has a dual core i7 up to 3gz and the ideal part of a dedicated video card is you can use it on a regular monitor or display on a tv with pc input, I think it has an HDMI jack. Again it's comparable to the Surface Pro in price. As far as hand eye coordination if you can't draw on paper then no tablet or screen will be any better. Downside of drawing on a Cintiq is with the stock stand it get's tiring and I would recommend an Ergotron arm but that adds another $150 to the price tag. It is better than a standard tablet but the larger tablets are pretty nice in the 9x12 size but they don't have the same aspect ratio as the most screens so scaling does make it harder to get used to.

Big downside to tablets and portables is the processing speed isn't there yet. My workstation is a dual chip xeon quad cores thats 8 cores with combined 24mb cache. Dropping back to a the top of the line i7 dual core could be an issue with rendering and with crunching huge files, something I breeze through right now and fear stepping back to something else.

Atom chips are fine for poking around the web but pretty much useless for any graphical work. Stay with i5 or better. With Win8, 8gb minimum for ram.

 

Glad they solved the virtual smudge issue, I'll take another look at them.

 

Good vector drawing application to use is Serif DrawPlus X6, pressure support is nice and the program is realy light on the os, should fly on those little tablets. I use it here for much of my illustration and layout work. Try the free one and you can upgrade from that.

[Roger]

With the Sony Flip it has a dual core i7 up to 3gz and the ideal part of a dedicated video card is you can use it on a regular monitor or display on a tv with pc input, I think it has an HDMI jack. Again it's comparable to the Surface Pro in price. As far as hand eye coordination if you can't draw on paper then no tablet or screen will be any better. Downside of drawing on a Cintiq is with the stock stand it get's tiring and I would recommend an Ergotron arm but that adds another $150 to the price tag. It is better than a standard tablet but the larger tablets are pretty nice in the 9x12 size but they don't have the same aspect ratio as the most screens so scaling does make it harder to get used to.

Big downside to tablets and portables is the processing speed isn't there yet. My workstation is a dual chip xeon quad cores thats 8 cores with combined 24mb cache. Dropping back to a the top of the line i7 dual core could be an issue with rendering and with crunching huge files, something I breeze through right now and fear stepping back to something else.

Atom chips are fine for poking around the web but pretty much useless for any graphical work. Stay with i5 or better. With Win8, 8gb minimum for ram.

 

Glad they solved the virtual smudge issue, I'll take another look at them.

 

Good vector drawing application to use is Serif DrawPlus X6, pressure support is nice and the program is realy light on the os, should fly on those little tablets. I use it here for much of my illustration and layout work. Try the free one and you can upgrade from that.

 

I am perfectly capable of drawing on paper, it is the problem with looking at a monitor and then drawing on a smaller tablet with no display that is difficult for me. Drawing directly on a tablet with a display would be a similar enough experience to paper.

 

But it looks like what will be the case is that I can't afford what I want, anything I get that I can afford will likely have serious compromises, so I'm better off spending $100 on sketchpads and pencils than pissing my money away on an inferior product. Maybe I will revisit the whole drawing tablet thing a few years from now. Or when I can afford $2000 for a proper Cintiq or $1200 for the "lite" version.

[Roger]

With the Sony Flip it has a dual core i7 up to 3gz and the ideal part of a dedicated video card is you can use it on a regular monitor or display on a tv with pc input, I think it has an HDMI jack. Again it's comparable to the Surface Pro in price. As far as hand eye coordination if you can't draw on paper then no tablet or screen will be any better. Downside of drawing on a Cintiq is with the stock stand it get's tiring and I would recommend an Ergotron arm but that adds another $150 to the price tag. It is better than a standard tablet but the larger tablets are pretty nice in the 9x12 size but they don't have the same aspect ratio as the most screens so scaling does make it harder to get used to.

Big downside to tablets and portables is the processing speed isn't there yet. My workstation is a dual chip xeon quad cores thats 8 cores with combined 24mb cache. Dropping back to a the top of the line i7 dual core could be an issue with rendering and with crunching huge files, something I breeze through right now and fear stepping back to something else.

Atom chips are fine for poking around the web but pretty much useless for any graphical work. Stay with i5 or better. With Win8, 8gb minimum for ram.

 

Glad they solved the virtual smudge issue, I'll take another look at them.

 

Good vector drawing application to use is Serif DrawPlus X6, pressure support is nice and the program is realy light on the os, should fly on those little tablets. I use it here for much of my illustration and layout work. Try the free one and you can upgrade from that.

 

I am perfectly capable of drawing on paper, it is the problem with looking at a monitor and then drawing on a smaller tablet with no display that is difficult for me. Drawing directly on a tablet with a display would be a similar enough experience to paper.

 

But it looks like what will be the case is that I can't afford what I want, anything I get that I can afford will likely have serious compromises, so I'm better off spending $100 on sketchpads and pencils than pissing my money away on an inferior product. Maybe I will revisit the whole drawing tablet thing a few years from now. Or when I can afford $2000 for a proper Cintiq or $1200 for the "lite" version.

[robcat2075]

Weird... I posted a reply here and what appeared was a copy of Roger's last post.

[pixelplucker]

Robcat You just subliminally wanted to say what Roger said lol

 

Roger as a Cintiq owner I'm not sure if it is something for everyone. What I do like it is where you touch on the screen you interact with, though with a 9x12 approx size tablet and the huge price difference you may do just as well with that. With any touchscreen or tablet/screen you may find it annoying having a fat hand in the way of the over all picture as you work. With a Cintiq you are drawing on a monitor that isn't necessarily flat down like a piece of paper or tablet and will get tiring. There is also the issue of eye focal length, I have 20/20 vision and can find it tiring being close to a screen, keep in mind it isn't reflective light like paper but back lit with a very bright led and being close is a strain on the eyes. A tablet you can lean back some and work.

 

I draw on the Cintiq daily for better than 10 hours a day 5-6 days a week, for me it has more than paid itself off but in many ways it does seem nice to be able to step away or back and work. Thats the reason I looked into the Surface series and others and so far found out of them all that Sony seems to have the best specs and best price. I haven't tried one yet but would love to if there is some place that has one on display...

 

I have an older laptop with 8gb of mem with my old intuos on it and I can draw pretty much as well on that as I can on the Cintiq.

 

I think the tablets have an advantage where you can physically turn them as you work if the application doesn't have a page rotate feature though the Cintiq can be rotated but it is more work than clicking a key and only goes counter clockwise.

 

My past experience with laptops in general is they are usually underpowered and don't have the longevity of a desktop or workstation. Nature of the beast because of the electronic real estate is at a minimum and heat is always an issue.

[robcat2075]

I'll try again...

 

I am perfectly capable of drawing on paper, it is the problem with looking at a monitor and then drawing on a smaller tablet with no display that is difficult for me. Drawing directly on a tablet with a display would be a similar enough experience to paper.

 

I too found a regular Wacom tablet awkward to use. i was doing and re-doing strokes until I got it in the right place. Generally not usable for me.

 

Drawing on the screen is way better.

 

But it looks like what will be the case is that I can't afford what I want, anything I get that I can afford will likely have serious compromises, so I'm better off spending $100 on sketchpads and pencils than pissing my money away on an inferior product. Maybe I will revisit the whole drawing tablet thing a few years from now. Or when I can afford $2000 for a proper Cintiq or $1200 for the "lite" version.

 

I'll note that I got my 18" Cintiq used, for about $600 on ebay several years ago and the same model goes for much much less now. The stand is handy in that it tilts down to a regular drawing angle but I also need my adjustable chair that boosts me up to a high enough level to feel right with the drawing surface.

[Roger]

I'll try again...

 

I am perfectly capable of drawing on paper, it is the problem with looking at a monitor and then drawing on a smaller tablet with no display that is difficult for me. Drawing directly on a tablet with a display would be a similar enough experience to paper.

 

I too found a regular Wacom tablet awkward to use. i was doing and re-doing strokes until I got it in the right place. Generally not usable for me.

 

Drawing on the screen is way better.

 

But it looks like what will be the case is that I can't afford what I want, anything I get that I can afford will likely have serious compromises, so I'm better off spending $100 on sketchpads and pencils than pissing my money away on an inferior product. Maybe I will revisit the whole drawing tablet thing a few years from now. Or when I can afford $2000 for a proper Cintiq or $1200 for the "lite" version.

 

I'll note that I got my 18" Cintiq used, for about $600 on ebay several years ago and the same model goes for much much less now. The stand is handy in that it tilts down to a regular drawing angle but I also need my adjustable chair that boosts me up to a high enough level to feel right with the drawing surface.

 

That's more in my range but a ways down the road. Maybe next tax refund.

[pixelplucker]

I honestly think the Surface and other tablets are still toys if you intend to try to use it for work Screens in general too small especially once you try to access any menus. So far 15" seems to be the largest of the portables.

 

Wacom isn't the only ones that make high end tablets, there is also CalComp. I used to use one from them back in the late 80's. The pucks are fully programmable too which is ideal for 3d apps. I had looked into getting one but at the time my monitor was getting tired and I ended up with the Cintiq.

Wacom is 2048 dpi and the Calcomp is 12700.

http://www.gtcocalcomp.com/graphics-tablets

 

If you do find a used Cintiq and the screen looks like the bottom of a cat box, Wacom charges around $300 for replacement/repair.

[robcat2075]

If you do find a used Cintiq and the screen looks like the bottom of a cat box, Wacom charges around $300 for replacement/repair.

 

 

I wonder if I could send them my catbox and get a Cintiq back for $300?

 

 

 

 

I think 12" is enough for drawing purposes, the sketch book I carried around for drawing out-and-about is only 8.5 x 5.75... lessee... that would be a diagonal size of about 10"

 

 

2160 x 1440 pixels ought to be enough res to use most programs. I'd have to actually look at it to see if that is packing too many pixels in too small a size for the menus to be readable with normal eyes.

 

 

The big negative for me is that it's more expensive than I can justify for my need for it. But maybe a used one someday...

[pixelplucker]

Small screen and super high res, I can't imagine running MS Office or any of the Adobe products with those tiny triangle menu buttons. I think I would find that one dead pixel on the screen and keep clicking on it hoping something would happen.

[robcat2075]

Small screen and super high res, I can't imagine running MS Office or any of the Adobe products with those tiny triangle menu buttons.

 

Maybe that's what the special version of Photoshop they hyped was about? I haven't seen any screen shots so i don't know what was different about it.

[Wildsided]

I Was looking at the surface pro yesterday at future shop and it was a little rich for my blood right now. But I did pick up a Samsung Galaxy note 8 and am loving it. The S-pen works beautifully combined with sketchbook. It's the device I've been looking for years from a functionality perspective.

 

The surface comes across to me as a note with full Windows OS which really isn't to be sniffed at. But the storage space was awful. 64gb would be no good for people who make large video files and it's price alienates the market of people looking for a mobile office companion. Just my opinion take it for what it's worth.

[pixelplucker]

S-pen pressure sensitive? I take it the Galaxy is Android right?

 

I think the Surface pro is way overpriced for what it is especially when you can get an i7 system with a dedicated video card, larger screen and a terabyte drive for around the same price running the same os.

 

Haven't tried the new Photoslop, ever version they come out with they add another 20-30 sec load time (feature). I think it is done intentionally to build on the anticipation of something great might happen when it loads. Oh the drama of it all!

 

Who was the dork that came out with those tiny option arrows on menus anyways?

[Wildsided]

S-pen pressure sensitive? I take it the Galaxy is Android right?

 

I think the Surface pro is way overpriced for what it is especially when you can get an i7 system with a dedicated video card, larger screen and a terabyte drive for around the same price running the same os.

 

Haven't tried the new Photoslop, ever version they come out with they add another 20-30 sec load time (feature). I think it is done intentionally to build on the anticipation of something great might happen when it loads. Oh the drama of it all!

 

Who was the dork that came out with those tiny option arrows on menus anyways?

 

Yeah it's running android 4.1 and yeah the s-pen is pressure sensitive. I looked it up and it's apparently got 1024 levels of sensitivity. Which is doubtlessly less than the cintiqs of the world but still not awful.

[pixelplucker]

1024 is nice, bambo and the old graphires are all 1024, only the Intuos Pro and Cintiq are higher but doubt you can tell the difference, most applications only support 1024. Bummer its android all my programs are windows

[robcat2075]

I just looked up the original price of my Cintiq 18SX... $3499.95!

 

I'm glad someone else took the initial depreciation on that.

[pixelplucker]

Wow that is $1700 more than I paid for mine and mine was new. One thing I do regret is not getting one of those protective surfaces for it. The pens had a nasty habit of picking up tiny dust that can scratch the surface, and left mine with a couple of small marks.

 

You should check out the Ergotron arms for yours, make is much better to work with.

[robcat2075]

I notice that a used Surface Pro 1 goes for as little as $99 on ebay if one is not picky about details like a shattered screen and missing essentials like the charger and pen.

[pixelplucker]

Scrap the Flip PC, looks like Sony is bailing on the desktop and lap top markets and focusing on the tablets. Too bad because the Flip was ahead of it's time.

[robcat2075]

Scrap the Flip PC, looks like Sony is bailing on the desktop and lap top markets and focusing on the tablets. Too bad because the Flip was ahead of it's time.

 

A worst case scenario I see is that so many companies exit the desktop PC market that they become expensive items again, sold as "workstations".

[pixelplucker]

Sony had a slew of problems in the past with input issues to poor wifi and performance that probably many people shied away from their systems. I think laptops as we know them are going away for the most part and this is Sony's chance to concentrate their efforts in that area.

I never considered Sony as a big player when it came to systems.

 

Bottom line for me is not so much getting a tablet that I can draw on but rather the cost of getting extra licenses of the software I use to load on it. Under 2k for a tablet isn't that big a deal but add up all the programs and ouch!

[robcat2075]

I suppose that's the touted advantage of Adobe's Cloud subscriptions? You can use it on whatever machine you're on? I'm not sure it that is the deal or not...

[pixelplucker]

I don't use CC, think it's computer bound and huge downfall is it calls back every time you launch it and sluggish as all hell. The last thing I need is some network connection fart and I can't work because the program can't call home. Couple of my customers use Illustrator and they send me all the production work, they basically use it to print to their rip's. Editing is horrible in it.

[Rodney]

...and huge downfall is it calls back every time you launch it...

 

You may be glad to know that isn't the case.

Of course... updating the software... (through the creative cloud interface or through each programs update function) requires an internet connection but then again you'd have to be connected to the internet to download that update anyway.

 

Folks often confuse 'the cloud' aspect of CC with running of the software.

The cloud app which lets you know if there are updates available to install needs to connect to the internet to know if there are new updates but one need not run that application to run the currently installed CC software (Illustrator, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, After Effects, Premiere, Flash, Audition, Acrobat, etc.). As with most software subscription services, after installation one need not be in the cloud in order to routinely run the software. I suppose the software might periodically check against whatever subscription expiry date is embedded but certainly not every time the software is launched.

 

Edit: I will guess that those who pay per month (i.e. a credit card is charged monthly) can expect to have the software validate that a payment has been made each month.

When paying a year in advance there isn't much of a need for the software to phone home as often. I've read an online validation for annual subscribers is run every 99 days but it is unlikely that any CC subscriber will be offline for more than 99 days. But that's not the reason I recommend the yearly subscription... I recommend subscribing annually because it provides a substantial discount... and for us poor folks... it's too easy to forget to reserve the funds and/or forget to make a payment each month.

[jakerupert]

And how about not being able to work with your files anymore, if you run out of money?

 

Thats the biggest risk of the cloud in my opinion.

If you bought your software you can freeze your updates anytime, without loosing your ability to work.

With the cloud, of you are broke you really get broken.

[robcat2075]

And how about not being able to work with your files anymore, if you run out of money?

 

It doesn't really require you to save your work to the cloud and no where else, does it?