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Wacom Cintiq Companion

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  • Xelioth
    Seems cool for a very specific market. Not for me, but I definitely see the appeal!
  • Count Vertsalot
    http://reviews.cnet.com/tablets/wacom-cintiq-companion-hybrid/4505-3126_7-35826676.html

    I'd consider it if they even bothered putting in a new Haswell CPU in it for $2500.

    Who was the genius that thought only 4 buttons would be a good idea on a mobile tablet? That's the biggest issue with tablets thus far and Wacom didn't even realize it.
  • Zipfinator
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    Zipfinator polycounter lvl 9
    If the time ever comes where I need a laptop to work on I'd most likely purchase one of these over carrying around a laptop and my intuos but I don't really see how that'd be necessary anytime soon for me personally as a 3d artist. Maybe it'd be more suited to concept artists who want to get some painting done in the park but there's already cheaper options for that.
  • bounchfx
    crap!! dat price. only concern I have is the GPU in the top end one... it doesn't sound zbrush worthy, guess I will have to wait and see what people say
  • DerekLeBrun
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    DerekLeBrun polycounter lvl 11
    Zbrush runs fine on my Samsung series 7 slate which has far worse specs (i5/4gb ram/intel HD GPU). They really should have put a haswell in these new Wacoms though.
  • The Lama
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    The Lama polycounter lvl 5
    I just got my regular Cintiq 13HD a week ago and when I saw the article I freaked out a little bit because I thought Wacom would drop the standard 13HD price and sell these starting at what I paid for my 13HD a few days prior.

    Personally I wouldn't use the stand-alone functionality enough to justify the extra cost, though I could see a lot of people really loving these.
  • Selaznog
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    Selaznog polycounter lvl 8
    I'm on the bus/train 16 hours a week. Commutes are between 1 and 2 hours, and apparently this would barely even last that long :(
  • bounchfx
    source? I have a really hard time believing the battery would be less than 2 hours. That would be insane. I imagine 5-7? ...ideally?
  • Neox
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    Neox veteran polycounter
    bounchfx wrote: »
    source? I have a really hard time believing the battery would be less than 2 hours. That would be insane. I imagine 5-7? ...ideally?

    "Battery life64.4 Wh
    Power ConsumptionMax. power consumption: 65 W, 0.3 W when asleep, 0.1 W or less when off"

    if its 64.4Wh and the thing eats 65W per hour thats roughly 59 minutes, yay
  • bounchfx
    O_O. then it would be practically useless. looking forward to the reviews now lol.
  • joebount
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    joebount polycounter lvl 12
    They really gotta explain how they can justify this kind of prices, that's becoming obscene really quick now... And dat battery....
  • Gusti
    meh.. better off buying a regular 13HD and a second hand macbook air or 13" pro :P

    I say macs because at the lower spec end they generally feel more snappy using a wacom than a windows PC does, and generally from my experience have a longer lasting battery.

    My old Core2Duo iMac felt more responsive in photoshop using my intuos than my current monster i7 based desktop PC does >.<
    Differs slightly in zbrush, but the difference wasn´t that great untill you get to the higher millions of polys.
    For general sketching, it would be the same I suspect.

    edit: bah never mind.. in a fit of lunacy I forgot the powerpack for the 13HD :P
    I guess for mobility the regular usb powered tablets are still the only way to go short of something like the Slate 7 or 8 or a Windows tablet with the wacom pen digitizer built in.
  • sefice
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    sefice polycounter lvl 8
    bounchfx wrote: »
    crap!! dat price. only concern I have is the GPU in the top end one... it doesn't sound zbrush worthy, guess I will have to wait and see what people say

    Zbrush uses a software renderer so it doesn't utilize the GPU.

    On topic, you can't really blame them on the pricing, it is a Tablet AND a Cintiq after all. The Companion is a luxury from the get-go, but it would be sweet to own one of these bad boys.
  • Vysuki
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    Vysuki polycounter lvl 9
    Not sure about battery specs but I had a vaio laptop a couple of years ago, using photoshop I'd get 2 hours on the battery. If I pushed it to max watt usage by playing games on it I'd hardly get 30 minutes on the battery.

    Wouldn't this be the same?
  • soulstice
  • almighty_gir
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    almighty_gir ngon master
    bounchfx wrote: »
    crap!! dat price. only concern I have is the GPU in the top end one... it doesn't sound zbrush worthy, guess I will have to wait and see what people say

    zbrush is a CPU program, not GPU.
  • WarrenM
    I've never seen an iPad stylus that was even close to worth using. So if you're considering that thing, be wary.
  • fmnoor
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    fmnoor polycounter lvl 17
    The android one sounds kinda neat since it seems to be basically the 13" one with an added functionality of being able to operate standalone. Not sure I'd pay the extra price for that though.
  • Justin Meisse
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    Justin Meisse polycounter lvl 18
    TeeJay wrote: »
    *big image of a monopoly board*

    I haven't heard of Wacom being involved in any anti-competitive practices. The only accusations are users going "Wacom tablets are expensive, therefore Monopoly!!!".

    The patent on their stylus technology has expired as well so their competitors don't have to use battery powered pens anymore.
  • Brandon.LaFrance
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    I find it odd that although the Android version can be used like a Cintiq when connected to your main workstation, the Windows version seems to lack that functionality.

    I've been looking into picking up both a Cintiq as well as a notebook for work on the go, and was hoping I'd be able to kill two birds with one stone. Its looking like neither of these devices will let me do that. Bummer...
  • ExcessiveZero
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    ExcessiveZero polycounter lvl 6
    if the stylus is any good ill be getting it for my note 10.1.

    just a shame cant get manga studio on the Note
  • Gnarf
    To elaborate a bit further on the statement by Neox about the battery life span of the Companion.
    The 1h life span will only be true in worst case, max. power consumption scenario. You'll have to ride the device through rough waters to make it drain so much power. The average battery life span will probably be longer. Wacom states it will be 7hours, but i have my doubts about that.

    7h battery life span means 9.2Wh power consumption. While its too early for tests for the Companion, we can look at other products for comparison. E.G. a surface pro or surface RT.
    Displaying a white BG with power saving management turned of -> max. brightness takes up ~20Wh.
    Running a HD Video from the SSD with power management turned on ~20Wh.
    Transferring data from/to a USB device ~20Wh.
    There's a study by microsoft showing that running chrome and watching youtube-videos will already consume ~18Wh average. IE is supposedly better with "only" ~16Wh power consumption.

    Now i imagine my average workday with all the software i have running simultaneously. That'd be Thunderbird, Multi-Tab Chrome, FontExplorer, Photoshop with multiple documents open, Indesign, Bridge, Skype, Tweetdeck, Dropbox, Filezilla, Toggl, XnView, BeyondCompare, MediaMonkey, Blender, AcrobatReader.
    How much battery life span will i get out of a Companion if i don't "adapt" my Workflow, if i don't go the extra mile and constantly close and reopen software & documents? I can only guess but i'll bet that it will be closer to the 1h than it will be to the 7h Wacom states.
    This is a device supposedly for professionals, so i think it should be able to handle a professional workload.

    Just my 2cents though.
  • squeaklin
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    squeaklin polycounter lvl 8
    whats the cheapest way of running zbrush on a tablet. curiosity peeked
    ^,^ *
    o-*
  • Neox
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    Neox veteran polycounter
    asus eee slate i think it's the cheapest but i'd always suggest the samsung slate with Windows7 not it's second generation with windows8
  • oXYnary
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    oXYnary polycounter lvl 18
    I dont know, for $500 more than a 13" regular cintiq.. That Hybrid sounds very tasty. You would pay about that much for a Tegra 4 Tablet, with non of those extra buttons, and 10" at the most (though higher rez screen) . That said, it only has one speaker.

    30 W, 2.8 W when asleep, 0.4 W when off
    Battery operated: 15W"
    Battery 7.4 V, Li-polymer
    Battery life 48.5 Wh or 72.8 Wh

    Not a mathy guy, what would that equal? Sure, you would be limited to 2d Android programs like Sketchbook on the go, but with pressure sensitivity, it shouldn't be that bad.

    Might note this as well on the forefront: http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/08/pictures-of-nvidia-tegra-tab-point-to-more-conventional-tegra-4-tablet/

    Note the space for what may very well be a stylus area.
  • Xoliul
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    Xoliul polycounter lvl 14
    oXYnary wrote: »
    I dont know, for $500 more than a 13" regular cintiq.. That Hybrid sounds very tasty. You would pay about that much for a Tegra 4 Tablet, with non of those extra buttons, and 10" at the most (though higher rez screen) . That said, it only has one speaker.

    You sure about that? The HP Slatebook X2 is closest i could find, Tegra 4, 10.1" and that is $480 !! That's a fifth of this thing..
  • crazyfool
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    crazyfool polycounter lvl 13
    the tablet devices are really good, but I only use mine when I cant get to a desktop. Couldnt imagine trying to model stuff on them for long without getting a headache or severe eye strain haha. fantastic for zbrush sketching and photoshop doodling.

    Neox - what didnt you like about the newer samsungs, I much prefer the newer ones, my friend has the slate 7 and is why I wanted one but the ativ pro is soooo much better. windows 8 isnt great but the better screen res and better specs make up for it I thought.
  • Gnarf
    oXYnary wrote: »

    30 W, 2.8 W when asleep, 0.4 W when off
    Battery operated: 15W"
    Battery 7.4 V, Li-polymer
    Battery life 48.5 Wh or 72.8 Wh

    Battery life 72.8Wh
    max. power consumption: 15W
    -> 72.8Wh/15W = 4.853h = 291.2min
    But again, that's worst case scenario.
    The 30W max. power consumption you quoted above will only happen when used when plugged in. Running on battery the max. power consumption is limited to 15W.
    Even in worst case scenario the hybrid will run for 4-5hours. When used moderately i imagine ~7h of use.
  • Neox
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    Neox veteran polycounter
    crazyfool wrote: »
    the tablet devices are really good, but I only use mine when I cant get to a desktop. Couldnt imagine trying to model stuff on them for long without getting a headache or severe eye strain haha. fantastic for zbrush sketching and photoshop doodling.

    Neox - what didnt you like about the newer samsungs, I much prefer the newer ones, my friend has the slate 7 and is why I wanted one but the ativ pro is soooo much better. windows 8 isnt great but the better screen res and better specs make up for it I thought.

    a friend of mine had a lot of issues with getting pressure sensitivity to work, then PS didn't really run cool on it, pressure was lost all the time, windows8 was something HE (i only tested it shortly, and use mine only for zbrush and surfing) really didn't like.
    Also the whole artdock didn't really work on windows 8 which is definitely crucial to me, couldn't use zbrush without it.
  • crazyfool
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    crazyfool polycounter lvl 13
    thats a shame, I remember having to play with a few settings to get photoshop running nicely, was definetly frustrating at the time as it was all juddery but easy enough to fix. art dock just doesnt do that lock thingey but Ive never used that, some of the shortcuts needed changing in the .txt file but otherwise it runs like butter Ive found :)

    can see why hes not fond of windows 8 though haha
  • Neox
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    Neox veteran polycounter
    even installing windows 7 wasn't possible, well ubnless he wanted 8 and 7 running on the same machine, which is crazy considering the size of it's ssd :X
  • Bertmac
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    Bertmac polycounter lvl 17
    http://reviews.cnet.com/tablets/wacom-cintiq-companion-hybrid/4505-3126_7-35826676.html


    Who was the genius that thought only 4 buttons would be a good idea on a mobile tablet? That's the biggest issue with tablets thus far and Wacom didn't even realize it.

    +1
    I have the lenovo x220t and the x201 each year they have less buttons "WHY"
    The old x61t has still the best button config for a slate/tablet in my opinion

    16 programmable buttons with 13 on the nav circle

    27.jpg


    Yeah, so why did Wacom copy this badly. there's enough examples on how it should be done. shame

    M-Pad concept 2011
    mpad1.jpg
  • soulstice
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    soulstice polycounter lvl 9
    We need more competition in the stylus/pen tablet market. Otherwise innovation will continue to remain stagnant. :(
  • Jonas Ronnegard
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    Jonas Ronnegard polycount sponsor
    Tried out the Android version today

    uoaw.jpg
  • Brandon.LaFrance
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    Brandon.LaFrance polycount sponsor
    Tried out the Android version today

    You forgot to tell us what you thought of it. :poly121:
  • Jonas Ronnegard
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    Jonas Ronnegard polycount sponsor
    very true hehe,

    Worked as expected for 2k pressure sensitivity, screen was clear and nice, guess it should be comparable to the 13inch cintic,

    Design I didn't really like though, I guess the roundness is good for the grip, and well that's ofcourse most important, but it didn't really feel new.

    Asked about battery life, and was told 6 hours, even when using photoshop or Zbrush? ofourse, I was told, That's most certainly a very big lie.
  • WarrenM
    Does the little "Wacom" keyboard come with it?
  • Krypteia
    Hey Jonas,

    Any word on whether the battery would be user replaceable?

    Wacom Creatives Europe posted on their Facebook page saying that their use cases with creative software were giving an average of 4-5 hours of battery life.
  • Jonas Ronnegard
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    I would have thought it comes together with the keyboard, but I didn't see it there.

    Sorry didn't ask about that, going there again tomorrow, so if they are still there I could ask.

    Also this is Japan so what is included or not, might not be the same, no idea.
  • Kwramm
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    Kwramm interpolator
    damn, Japan has all the cool stuff...
  • DrunkShaman
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    DrunkShaman polycounter lvl 14
    very true hehe,

    Worked as expected for 2k pressure sensitivity, screen was clear and nice, guess it should be comparable to the 13inch cintic,

    Design I didn't really like though, I guess the roundness is good for the grip, and well that's ofcourse most important, but it didn't really feel new.

    Asked about battery life, and was told 6 hours, even when using photoshop or Zbrush? ofourse, I was told, That's most certainly a very big lie.

    Since this is like a tablet on the go (finally something that I truly wanted was released,) did you ask about the heat up issue? Like if you use Zbrush or photoshop / corel will it heat up and drain the battery?

    Also:

    -Will the zbrush and photoshop would size up to the resolution of this tablet especially with windows 8 version?
    -Would you recommend it?

    and so on.

    EDIT: I know that I have been asking these questions alot but the last tablet that I bought was completely lame (MS surface pro.)
  • Jonas Ronnegard
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    It was on the whole day, and I didn't really feel any heat when I was holding it, but it was only running a simple painting program so that should be expected, would guess there would be some heat if using zbrush and such, but I didn't really ask them much, as they just wanted to tell me what I wanted to hear.

    Also I was only able to play with the android version, they didn't have the windows 8 versions there :(.

    It feels like a cintiq, so it would be really great to bring this on trips and such, but It's all about if the battery life is as good as they say.

    I wouldn't pay that amount for it though, the guy I was talking to
    looked really embarrassed when I asked the price.
  • Kwramm
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    Kwramm interpolator

    I wouldn't pay that amount for it though, the guy I was talking to
    looked really embarrassed when I asked the price.

    lol. 1500 puts it a the same price range of a 22 HD Cintiq (at least here in China). The intel version though is really obscenely expensive.
  • sprunghunt
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    sprunghunt polycounter

    Asked about battery life, and was told 6 hours, even when using photoshop or Zbrush? ofourse, I was told, That's most certainly a very big lie.

    Why would you be able to run Photoshop or zbrush on the android version? I wouldn't be surprised if the android version did run for 6 hours or so.
  • Jonas Ronnegard
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    I asked that more as a general question, and I was expecting that he knew that it would require the windows version, but he might not even have known what I was talking about (^_^:)
  • Count Vertsalot
    Is there even a place to store the pen in the tablet or is it up to the user to not lose it?
  • Jonas Ronnegard
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    didn't look like there was any space for that, and he kept showing off the pen case
    so I'm guessing that's where you should keep it.
  • WarrenM
    That's brilliant. *eye roll*
  • throttlekitty
    I'm pretty new to the tablet world here. What is the need for a Windows 8/Android version of the hardware? The blurbs on Wacom's website don't really answer that very well for me. Are there any Android-specific art apps worth using?
  • aesir
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    aesir polycounter lvl 18
    I'm pretty new to the tablet world here. What is the need for a Windows 8/Android version of the hardware? The blurbs on Wacom's website don't really answer that very well for me. Are there any Android-specific art apps worth using?

    Yes, there are many android apps for 2d art. Autodesk sketchbook is one.
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