Stylus-enabled art/graphics platforms - Surface, iPad Pro, etc.

[eloic]

I was hunting for a Yoga-like laptop thing with a pressure sensitive pen about a year ago, my daughter has been in love with it ever since. (And I got a better price on it than that!) She still prefers here Wacom over the pen on screen, but the pen on screen is good enough to do little stuff and touch ups so it is actually pretty useful and she likes it because she can still draw pretty good with it and not have to carry around her Wacom.

Just my .02, you've given me enough great anime recommends.

Hey! Thank you for the info.

I'm aiming at a "better specked" device, though. So maybe I will get a Yoga 720 or so.

 

[ultragpu]

@ultragpu , I use MyPaint. Very occasionally, though, since I don't have much time. I use it with a Wacom Bamboo tablet, but I'm thinking of buying a 2-in-1 with which I can draw. I like Lenovo's Yogas, and I posted some questions in this thread. Do you have any recommendations? Thank you!

I'm old school too on a Wacom tablet , thinking about upgrading to Surface Pro 2017 and get all fancy. But really, all you need is Surface Pro 4 to get everything done and saves you a lot more money than the 2017 model. That said, if you're catering for long term investment then go Pro 2017 for much longer battery life and much faster pixel reaction time especially dealing with high res brushes. I'm not too familiar with Yogas tho.

 

[eloic]

I'm old school too on a Wacom tablet , thinking about upgrading to Surface Pro 2017 and get all fancy. But really, all you need is Surface Pro 4 to get everything done and saves you a lot more money than the 2017 model. That said, if you're catering for long term investment then go Pro 2017 for much longer battery life and much faster pixel reaction time especially dealing with high res brushes. I'm not too familiar with Yogas tho.

I like the Surface... except for the detachable keyboard design. Lenovo has also the Miix models, which are quite the same, but I don't know... at this moment I prefer the sturdier design of the Yogas. The problem is that I would like to see these devices and try the pen before I buy one, but it's so difficult to find them, sometimes...

I will keep on looking.

EDIT: oh, thanks to the mod that moved the messages here.

 

[Sxotty]

The mix thing is not the great IMO. I have used a yoga, but to me the surface is better. I am messing about with surface Book right now and it is pretty cool. I have been debating between yoga, surface, hp envy etc. Lenovo gives you 5-10%off if you loiter on their site for awhile. Kind of weird. I wish more companies would use surface lcd. The aspect ratio is way better.

 

[eloic]

The mix thing is not the great IMO. I have used a yoga, but to me the surface is better. I am messing about with surface Book right now and it is pretty cool. I have been debating between yoga, surface, hp envy etc. Lenovo gives you 5-10%off if you loiter on their site for awhile. Kind of weird. I wish more companies would use surface lcd. The aspect ratio is way better.

Hey, thanks for your comment.

What Yoga have you used and why do you think the Surface is better, besides the screen and the aspect ratio?

If I don't buy a Yoga, the Surface is my second option. It's just that I don't like the detachable keyboard. :-S If I can, I would rather choose the sturdier design of a Yoga. I think a 720 will suffice, I don't think I need the 900~ models' higher specs, as long as the screen is good for drawing and the performance is capable of handling painting apps in multitask with one or two more apps (I'm not looking for a supergamer PC nor a device capable of running lots of highly demanding apps at the same time either).

 

[Shifty Geezer]

The mix thing is not the great IMO. I have used a yoga, but to me the surface is better. I am messing about with surface Book right now and it is pretty cool. I have been debating between yoga, surface, hp envy etc. Lenovo gives you 5-10%off if you loiter on their site for awhile. Kind of weird. I wish more companies would use surface lcd. The aspect ratio is way better.

Just be sure to use a hack to provide alternative 3:2 aspect resolutions. MS laughably let you pick from dozens of different resolutions like 1920x1080, none of which is actually the correct aspect for the screen. I use a 2/3rds res (about 1800x1200) as a compromise between clarity and other-app functionality (Art Rage).

 

[Sxotty]

Shifty I have just used the surface book at native resolution and it seems fine.

Eloyc
I used an x1. I actually like the idea of the pen gong into the device. The consequence is that the pen doesn't work as well for drawing. I am not an artist though. I wish I were I have been doodling on the surface book in sketchable, but honestly there were some frustrating things. Mainly the app requires you to buy different brush sizes etc... I really don't need all the fancy stuff most people seem to want. I simply want to emulate a pencil on a notebook and since it is digital be able to zoom way in for fine detail. Obviously a person can smudge a pencil so I need that. That is all though. Maybe if I get better I would want more, but for now most of the programs are overkill. I tried the autodesk free one as well. Eventually I will buy something, I am happy to pay, but I want to be sure if is easy to use and takes good advantage of active stylus. The free autodesk one doesn't allow you to turn off finger input so you can accidentally draw with your fingers when manipulating canvas. Sketchable did that as well sometimes. The surface book I have is for someone else I am just doing them a favor and getting everything setup so I got to play around with it a bit. I am personally trying to wait until Intel finally integrates their thunderbolt controller into the CPU as they said they would.

I don't want to waste a trial on software till I actually get the device I will keep for awhile. I was tempted just to get the eve tablet, but restrained myself. The surface book is pretty cheap on amazon now (or it was), but only the low capacity model. The one I am borrowing is a 512GB so it was ridiculously expensive IMO. $1000 more to get 384 more GB of HDD space.

 

[eloic]

Eloyc

Hey, thanks for your input!

I used an x1.

The first Surface device, you mean?

I actually like the idea of the pen gong into the device.

What is a "pen gong"? It's the first time I hear of it, and I've done a Google search and nothing relevant came up.

About the other things you comment on... well, I don't mind paying more than 1000$, but I want a reliable, durable and capable device. I don't mind if the storage is not the best nor if I can't play the latest games. On software, many people use free stuff, like Krita or MyPaint. I currently use MyPaint with my Wacom Bamboo tablet.

 

[bdmosky]

What is a "pen gong"? It's the first time I hear of it, and I've done a Google search and nothing relevant came up.

I assume a typo for the pen going into the device for storage.

 

[eloic]

I assume a typo for the pen going into the device for storage.

Woops...

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Shifty I have just used the surface book at native resolution and it seems fine.

Depends what app you use. Some using bitmap icons are impossibly tiny at that res, while using high-res mode that doubles pixels gives you too small a working environment (about 1400x900).

 

[Sxotty]

Sorry Eloyc.

Yoga x1 was their business version. It had a thin stylus that slid into machine to charge. It is a good trade off IMO. The new surface Book looks awesome and explains why the old one was cheap. I found flipping display around to draw made it quite pleasant on current version, but the new stylus with tilt support seems nice.

 

[eloic]

Yoga x1 was their business version.

Oh, I've never considered those models... I'm thinking about a Yoga 720. I don't think I need the extra power/screen size of the 900 series.