Tablet as third screen ? How did you do that ? I heard of server apps doing that, but it all seemed a bit convoluted...
There's two ways:
one: you control both computer with your usual weapon of choice (ie: keyboard/intuos), using a keyboard mouse switch (I use that for that purpose, quite nice and easy to get working) but they are still different computers.
two: you use maxivista to get the tablet pc as a real third screen (you can pass applications just like the real deal).
I set up some custom UIs so I could easily work without a keyboard. I got a workflow which, while slightly slower, still worked great for sketching and painting (which is all I bought it for)
I'm digging up a semi-old review here, but could you (or someone else) talk about the Custom UI you set up in lieu of a keyboard?? The lack of hotkeys is a drawback but if there's touch-UI shortcuts it might be just as good. Even a name or point in the right direction would be a huge help
bump since my account only recently got verified and the post is a few pages back now.
I'm thinking of using the "Click-N-Type" interface when my slate arrives: http://cnt.lakefolks.com/
Not the best looking app but at least that means it won't use up resources. Also not really sure how well it'll work with touch sensors, but hopefully it'll be fine.
The biggest drawback is I was hoping to find a UI where you could assign shortcuts ie: copy/paste, so if anyone knows of a better (free??) option, that'd be awesome!
Hey BeatK - In both cases, the "tablet as third screen" device wont recognize stylus input, right ?
That's a limitation, wacom tablets don't see the third screen, so the surface is only two screens with the stylus, but if you use the mouse provided by wacom it works.
Just wanted to throw my 2 cents in here about tablets and lag in general...
I use a toshiba tecra m7 (with upgraded 3gbs of ram). It uses the wacom penabled technology with 256 lvls and windows 7 (some of you with driver trouble might want to drop the manufactures drivers and see how wacoms work for you).
I use Zbrush 4 primarily with this and love it. Yes there is some lag, but you have to realize whatever you're doing is going to show up in less than a second and most people paint/sculpt in a somewhat slow manner, and being able to paint/sculpt directly on the screen completely negates this anyways, for me it's far better than using a separate tablet with no screen for that reason alone, I cannot stress enough how much quicker it makes my projects go.
Although this device does seem quite nice I can't get over the price tag. I dropped $180 on my tablet and yes it is bulkier but it is also faster and the screen is larger. However portability does obviously come at a price, but I do think in a situation where pressure sensitivity is an issue that having the right amount of buttons is an even larger one, I keep a mini keyboard at the side of mine at all times.
I think for very basic portable work a regular tablet (by that I mean one with no frills like pressure sens, but still be skinny etc) might be better for most especially considering the cost and it's obvious limitations. I think the ideal portable solution sadly is not here yet, and these companies refuse to understand the importance of having the proper amount of buttons under the screen for real art work.
Digging up an older thread now... but dying to know has anyone used the ASUS SLATE for zbrush, max or maya. How do you like it? what is performance like. Please if you have one let us know!!
Thanks for you help
Zbrush is surprisingly good, you could get to a near finished piece with this. Max is very usable, but you wouldn't want to do extremely heavy things with it. Silo is very natural for base meshes with it.
The painting is great, which is a bit of a given I suppose. Generally a nice experience using it.
My excuse to get one was that I didn't have a laptop and am traveling more lately , with that in mind it has been a perfect fit.
Kary: thank you! just curious what version of max are you using? I ask because max 2012 has far superior poly handling than 2010 or 2011 I am able to spin 10 million polys across different object with out a problem. I wonder what kind of improvment you would see in the slate if you have yet to try 2012
It's just an integrated intel graphics setup -- modern one at least so it's not terrible, but not terrific. Not sure if it'd run better with max2009 or 2012. 2010 and 11 would be pretty terrible . Haven't had max use as a focus yet, so other than 'it runs' and 'GoZ works' I can't tell you too much.
Had to send out for an rma as the touch screen started to go haywire... (just after I fixed the bsod from bad wacom drivers)
If anybody is having bsod's after installing new wacom drivers try this. Although you cannot set the starting pressure sensitivity to 1... (keeps defaulting to 3, but still better than stock sesitivity)
Anyone knows when the next version is coming out and what kind of updates we can get out of it in hardware?
I would love to sculpt in one of these (I can't draw 2D concept for shit, but I can 3D concept the hell out of my candy flavored buttocks of steel) so a decent budget VGA and 8GB RAM would be a nice welcome.
Ace-Angel: The slate does not offer 8 gig configuration, but the hp touchsmart tablet does, it also uses wacom tech, but from what I understand its an extremely refective screen which for me would be a giant pain to work with
What I want is an i7, 12gigs, 200GB SSD all tightly packed in a small, very portable non reflective tablet using cintiq tech with a battery that won't give up after 1h of intense work... All of this at an affordable price.
And it needs to have tits as well.
I really want one of these, for the color accurate screen and capabilities of running lightroom on the road. I'll probably wait for it to drop in price a bit though.
Ace-Angel: The slate does not offer 8 gig configuration, but the hp touchsmart tablet does, it also uses wacom tech, but from what I understand its an extremely refective screen which for me would be a giant pain to work with
Ugh, don't remind me, I cannot stand HP. Every single item I bought from them broke down like an extremely expensive hooker on steroids who grew a large phallus and proceeded to screw me over.
I'll only buy Asus stuff in terms of portable stuff. I have a beefy Laptop (atleast, from about a year or two ago) and it came with a free 3 year warranty, I'm lucky if I can get 1 year with HP...
Now industrial level hardware (EI: Large Scale Printes, etc...), those are good for some reason.
What I want is an i7, 12gigs, 200GB SSD all tightly packed in a small, very portable non reflective tablet using cintiq tech with a battery that won't give up after 1h of intense work... All of this at an affordable price.
And it needs to have tits as well.
This is a post I made in zbrushcentral but I thought might be good to repost here just to another user review out there.
OK first off its its awesome I love it.
Now for the details
I have the 64 ssd/4 gig of ram version, and I have installed:
Zbrush 4
photoshop cs2
max 2012
the performance of the asus is excellent
zbrush I can get 8 million polys on a sub tool, though there is a pretty decent viewport lag at 8 mil, so I will try to keep my sub tools between 6-7 mil.
Photoshop not really doing anything to intense at the moment working at 1024 x 1024 no lag
max 2012 is aweosme thanks I think in large part to vast improvements in 2012 viewport poly handling ablities, I can get anywhere from 6 million to 12 million polys, and its still usable. 6 million everythings great at 12 million view port start to chug a bit and requires a bit more patience on my end. I have not tested direct x shaders yet, lighting or rendering, but I will.
I may also add a video of mine in the next week or 2 depending on when I can get free from work.
Overall im extremely happy with mine and plan on staying out of my dungeon chained to my desktop beast as much as possible.
Anyway hope this helps anyone considering the purchase.
PS the biggest challenge in getting one of these is finding them in stock, I had to hound stores because they usaully got very small shipments and those shipment sold out that day due to pre-orders, and other people hounding those sites.
Oh man sounds like I need to try that out tonight and see what happens thanks for the heads up. That would be a major bummer not a deal breaker, but still a big big bummer
Not sure about Xiouli's shader and Toon Shaders I have not tried these yet I will look into this weekend. As far dx9 I'm not really sure what version dx I'm using on the slate I will fin that out as well
seems wierd that everyone is bent out of shape over 256 points of pressure.
My tablet PC has 256, and it runs like a dream.
BTW, isn't it nicer to make thing look a little impressionistic over purely gradated?
In fact, most of my brushes I turn down the pressure sensitivity, and create a little more visible brush strokes.
256 in Zbrush is compeltely negligible. I seem to get far better control being able to actually SEE where my pen tip is on my sculpt/texture.
Will my tablet PC completely crush all the specs and run smoother than the best computer on the market? absolutely not.
Can I sit in a coffee shop sculpting a few Zbrush head doodles, while my girlfriend studies? Or do a few thumbnail concepts while sitting on a train/plane? Yes I can.
I decided to make a video series to show the performance of the asus slate (tablet pc). There is 2 vids I might do a 3rd focusing on DX shaders. I did this for people considering the purchase of the slate, its alot of cash so the more info people have the better. I still love mine and have had it for about 3 months now. The first video focuses on 3d studio max, the second will focus on zbrush. I will post the 2nd tonight when I get home and let everyone know.. I hope this helps
Very cool, snoops, thanks. I've been thinking about getting one of these, but if I do, I'll need to know I can finish a project on it, not just start one.
The performance with max looked good, but when you're using it with a stylus can you touch the screen with your hand at the same time, or does that screw up how the tablet sees what you're doing? Also, shortcut keys when you're out of the house with it, any suggestions?
Jeremy-S: I took a quick look at your website and I think you could finish out a project with this, I would hesitate to say that if you were trying to rebuild texas in Unreal
I did do a couple of initial test with DX shaders in max 2012, I had to revert to Direct 3d for the 3 point shader, and when using the 3point the model would only see one of my omni lights not all 3, but Im not sure if that the asus slate, max or, 3 point shader in max 2012. I tried the the old school metal bump method for the normal map and it seemed to work fine and it interacted with all my lights (but I dont think its a true DX shader). Im gonna load up the same file on max 2012 on my desktop and see if I get the same result using the 3point shader.
as far as the touch screen goes yes your hand will be in the way with finger touch active and can cause odd jumping in art packages, but its super easy to turn touch off and just use the wacom stylus (they are independant of each other). Theres even a tiny program that you can run that lets you turn off finger touch with just click. I dont use max with a stylus tried it once did not like it... I use a wireless mouse.
Hope that helps
As far as shortcut keys, If forced I used the virtual keyboard or better than that I try to use the second button on my pen to as menu function for what I feel is the most critical tools,and I switch that function depending on the applications ie photoshop vs zbrush. I know some tablets offer more tactile short cut keys, but for me when I am using a major package max, ps, zbrush, those few hot key are still not enough. My best solution is bring the small wireless keyboard with you and use it wherver this is how work 99% of the time
Very cool, snoops, thanks. I've been thinking about getting one of these, but if I do, I'll need to know I can finish a project on it, not just start one.
The performance with max looked good, but when you're using it with a stylus can you touch the screen with your hand at the same time, or does that screw up how the tablet sees what you're doing? Also, shortcut keys when you're out of the house with it, any suggestions?
if the stylus is touching the screen, then your fingers won't do anything. So you can have the stylus on the screen and rest your wrist on it at the same time. However, if you life your stylus far enough off the screen that it stops registering, then suddenly your fingers and wrist are active. Also you can touch the screen with multiple fingers for pinch zooms and whatnot.
article: Samsung series 7 vs ASUS eee Slate.
Sammy's wacom digitiser enabled slate has beefier dual core i5, 3g in addition to wi-fi, super PLS screen technology (** better n IPS ), SEVEN HOUR BATTERY, better resolution ( {1366 x 768} vs {1280 x 800} ) and a larger ssd ( 128 gig on the top model $1340ish ). But a half an inch less screen space 11.6 inches vs 12.1 fer ASUS.
price range of models: $1000 to $1340
available by the end of this month ( supposedly )
Upgrade path To tablet friendly windows 8 is supposed to be included. Not sure I would migrate till I knew how zbrush, Maya and Photoshop behaves in the new OS.
I already blew my end of summer savings wad today on completeing my Acer 27 inch 3dvision surround setup rather then getting the eee slate. Sort of glad I did. Hopefully the competition will start a graphic centric slate war. I already have begun brainwashing my friends and family with fear and intimidation that either of these should be their tablet. ( the market is not a fair place fer artists. no time for playing fair )
Hoping the prices drop before xmas in time fer under the tree.
Yeah, i saw the new Samsung Note, a 5" android with a pressure sensetive wacom pen. So i started looking for some more tablets with wacom technique in them and also found that series 7 tablet. Looks fucking awesome!
But for you guys using a tablet with a pen or a wacom cintiq, how dos it feel working with stuff like zbrush or serious 3D work? The "buy-nerv" really tingles when you see that samsung tablet!
Sltrolsson: the ASus slate can handle serious work, I've used it briefly with 3d studio max and zbrush and posted videos of it's performance. That said I recently noticed issues with max 2012 uv editor it's oddly slow and clunky, but I'm not sure it it's the slate or a max bug I will try to update this forum once I know. Check out the posted videos on you tube you'll see first hand
They should come out with a AMD version. It wont be as much a powerhouse, but the new line of integrated graphics should kill the integrated Intel. Like having DX11. Which means we could do more 3d with this versus 2d.
Just (foolishly) put Windows 8 on my eee slate, after some initial teething troubles of the keyboard never but never showing up, everything now seems to be working ok.
I've not played much with drivers, but the drivers I had before were causing the stylus to flicker a lot and to do a double click all the time, which was just about isable for web browsing (I use my fingers for that though) it was totally unusable with onenote which I need for taking lecture notes.
I updated to wacom's latest tablet pc drivers, fixed that problem and destroyed pressure sensitivity in photoshop. So that's not so great, but as I still have my wacom tablet connected to my desktop it isn't the end of the universe. I don't use my tablet for much photoshop work anyhow, just a few minecraft textures here and there.
My opinion on windows 8 is complex and still under formed. I like the new keyboard, but it's totally unworkable with photoshop like I used to use the old win7 keyboard.(I shrunk it as small as it would go then stuck it in the corner of the screen so I could still use all the shortcuts I'd normally use my left hand for)
The transition between the metro stuff and the desktop stuff seems arbitrary and whilst you HAVE to use both to do anything, I can't help but feel having Metro is just a waste of time. If you could use ALL one or ALL the other it would be good and a really nice middle step between the last fully desktop OS (win7) and the first fully Metro OS (Win9 or win10).
I'm willing to give win8 a chance, but if it doesn't radically improve before its formal release, I think I'll be telling people to skip it and wait for win9. But I'm also sure a hell of a lot of people will be doing just that anyway!
I haven't experienced any lag in Sketchbook pr Photoshop CS5. There is sometimes a little hiccup when I'm using a ton of zsketch but I get that on a regular laptop once in awhile. As far as Art Rage, when I use the roller it lags, but other than that I haven't had a problem. When I get a chance I'll sit down and test it out more. But for now all the other programs are running great. My only gripe at the moment is that the Pen doesn't have any side switch and when you order one off the net, the penabled version only has one switch. Which is fine for everything except Maya. When I use Maya I have to switch my pen button to "Middle Mouse" whereas on the Intuos, the top switch is right click and the bottom switch is middle.
And the screen is not interrupted by the case.
Knowing that Zbrush works fine on the Asus slate really makes me want to get a tablet pc. Unfortunately it's never going to be released in Sweden, but after seeing the Samsung 700T which seems even better, I will hope for a release over here, and relatively soon.
Right now looking for some form of wireless controller that I can hold in my left hand with about 8 buttons or so, but not a full fledged keyboard like the Rii.
*EDIT*
According to this review, it has 1024 levels of pressure sensitivity, and judging by a photo on the second page, the pen seems to have at least one side switch. I think it's a UP-714W.
It seems to be coming to Europe in October, just in time for me to buy it for myself for my birthday.
Jmonsterman: Wow thats cool Im glad samsung is introducing serious competition to the slate, the more the better I hope that the uh... workstation style tablet finds real competitive market and remains a viable option, the next Tablet I want will be at least an I7 quad core with some kind of dedicated graphics abilities. I would however do more research on the true pressure sensitivity of that tablet all of the tablet and tablet pc tech has been penabled tech and that tops out at 512x512 from what I understand.
So I finally got some money, and I'm about to buy an LE1700, but first I wanna ask if any of you have one already, can you tell me if it will support micro SATA hard drives? I've got one sitting here collecting dust, cause it wouldn't fit my LE1600.
I'm asking cause I've just found conflicting info with google. one place says yes, one place says no...
Replies
There's two ways:
one: you control both computer with your usual weapon of choice (ie: keyboard/intuos), using a keyboard mouse switch (I use that for that purpose, quite nice and easy to get working) but they are still different computers.
two: you use maxivista to get the tablet pc as a real third screen (you can pass applications just like the real deal).
I'm digging up a semi-old review here, but could you (or someone else) talk about the Custom UI you set up in lieu of a keyboard?? The lack of hotkeys is a drawback but if there's touch-UI shortcuts it might be just as good. Even a name or point in the right direction would be a huge help
Thanks dudes!
I'm thinking of using the "Click-N-Type" interface when my slate arrives: http://cnt.lakefolks.com/
Not the best looking app but at least that means it won't use up resources. Also not really sure how well it'll work with touch sensors, but hopefully it'll be fine.
The biggest drawback is I was hoping to find a UI where you could assign shortcuts ie: copy/paste, so if anyone knows of a better (free??) option, that'd be awesome!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826169019&Tpk=n52
Plug that into the usb and reprogram the keys to work with normal PS shortcuts.
I know its still a peripheral you have to cart, but its more portable than a keyboard.
I think you could rig the flick system with a custom shortcut "ctrl+c,v" you can have up to 8 flicks (8 way)
I have a logitec G13 gameboard thing, yet to use it... I find the windows onscreen keyboard ok enough.
http://theperegrine.com/
it's pretty fun... i haven't tried using it for actual work (just doodling during class, mostly)
That's a limitation, wacom tablets don't see the third screen, so the surface is only two screens with the stylus, but if you use the mouse provided by wacom it works.
seems usefull except for gaming hehe. (can't contemplate getting away from a keyboard)
I use a toshiba tecra m7 (with upgraded 3gbs of ram). It uses the wacom penabled technology with 256 lvls and windows 7 (some of you with driver trouble might want to drop the manufactures drivers and see how wacoms work for you).
I use Zbrush 4 primarily with this and love it. Yes there is some lag, but you have to realize whatever you're doing is going to show up in less than a second and most people paint/sculpt in a somewhat slow manner, and being able to paint/sculpt directly on the screen completely negates this anyways, for me it's far better than using a separate tablet with no screen for that reason alone, I cannot stress enough how much quicker it makes my projects go.
Although this device does seem quite nice I can't get over the price tag. I dropped $180 on my tablet and yes it is bulkier but it is also faster and the screen is larger. However portability does obviously come at a price, but I do think in a situation where pressure sensitivity is an issue that having the right amount of buttons is an even larger one, I keep a mini keyboard at the side of mine at all times.
I think for very basic portable work a regular tablet (by that I mean one with no frills like pressure sens, but still be skinny etc) might be better for most especially considering the cost and it's obvious limitations. I think the ideal portable solution sadly is not here yet, and these companies refuse to understand the importance of having the proper amount of buttons under the screen for real art work.
Thanks for you help
The painting is great, which is a bit of a given I suppose. Generally a nice experience using it.
My excuse to get one was that I didn't have a laptop and am traveling more lately
http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/ep121-slate/ good forum for more general stuff on the slate.
If anybody is having bsod's after installing new wacom drivers try this. Although you cannot set the starting pressure sensitivity to 1... (keeps defaulting to 3, but still better than stock sesitivity)
http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/ep121-slate/40666-wacom-enhanced-driver-penable-device.html
I would love to sculpt in one of these (I can't draw 2D concept for shit, but I can 3D concept the hell out of my candy flavored buttocks of steel) so a decent budget VGA and 8GB RAM would be a nice welcome.
And it needs to have tits as well.
[ame]
Ugh, don't remind me, I cannot stand HP. Every single item I bought from them broke down like an extremely expensive hooker on steroids who grew a large phallus and proceeded to screw me over.
I'll only buy Asus stuff in terms of portable stuff. I have a beefy Laptop (atleast, from about a year or two ago) and it came with a free 3 year warranty, I'm lucky if I can get 1 year with HP...
Now industrial level hardware (EI: Large Scale Printes, etc...), those are good for some reason.
Those tits need to be on fire and be anaglyphic.
This is a post I made in zbrushcentral but I thought might be good to repost here just to another user review out there.
OK first off its its awesome I love it.
Now for the details
I have the 64 ssd/4 gig of ram version, and I have installed:
Zbrush 4
photoshop cs2
max 2012
the performance of the asus is excellent
zbrush I can get 8 million polys on a sub tool, though there is a pretty decent viewport lag at 8 mil, so I will try to keep my sub tools between 6-7 mil.
Photoshop not really doing anything to intense at the moment working at 1024 x 1024 no lag
max 2012 is aweosme thanks I think in large part to vast improvements in 2012 viewport poly handling ablities, I can get anywhere from 6 million to 12 million polys, and its still usable. 6 million everythings great at 12 million view port start to chug a bit and requires a bit more patience on my end. I have not tested direct x shaders yet, lighting or rendering, but I will.
I may also add a video of mine in the next week or 2 depending on when I can get free from work.
Overall im extremely happy with mine and plan on staying out of my dungeon chained to my desktop beast as much as possible.
Anyway hope this helps anyone considering the purchase.
PS the biggest challenge in getting one of these is finding them in stock, I had to hound stores because they usaully got very small shipments and those shipment sold out that day due to pre-orders, and other people hounding those sites.
Snoops3d.com
My tablet PC has 256, and it runs like a dream.
BTW, isn't it nicer to make thing look a little impressionistic over purely gradated?
In fact, most of my brushes I turn down the pressure sensitivity, and create a little more visible brush strokes.
256 in Zbrush is compeltely negligible. I seem to get far better control being able to actually SEE where my pen tip is on my sculpt/texture.
Will my tablet PC completely crush all the specs and run smoother than the best computer on the market? absolutely not.
Can I sit in a coffee shop sculpting a few Zbrush head doodles, while my girlfriend studies? Or do a few thumbnail concepts while sitting on a train/plane? Yes I can.
I decided to make a video series to show the performance of the asus slate (tablet pc). There is 2 vids I might do a 3rd focusing on DX shaders. I did this for people considering the purchase of the slate, its alot of cash so the more info people have the better. I still love mine and have had it for about 3 months now. The first video focuses on 3d studio max, the second will focus on zbrush. I will post the 2nd tonight when I get home and let everyone know.. I hope this helps
[ame]
The performance with max looked good, but when you're using it with a stylus can you touch the screen with your hand at the same time, or does that screw up how the tablet sees what you're doing? Also, shortcut keys when you're out of the house with it, any suggestions?
I did do a couple of initial test with DX shaders in max 2012, I had to revert to Direct 3d for the 3 point shader, and when using the 3point the model would only see one of my omni lights not all 3, but Im not sure if that the asus slate, max or, 3 point shader in max 2012. I tried the the old school metal bump method for the normal map and it seemed to work fine and it interacted with all my lights (but I dont think its a true DX shader). Im gonna load up the same file on max 2012 on my desktop and see if I get the same result using the 3point shader.
as far as the touch screen goes yes your hand will be in the way with finger touch active and can cause odd jumping in art packages, but its super easy to turn touch off and just use the wacom stylus (they are independant of each other). Theres even a tiny program that you can run that lets you turn off finger touch with just click. I dont use max with a stylus
Hope that helps
As far as shortcut keys, If forced I used the virtual keyboard or better than that I try to use the second button on my pen to as menu function for what I feel is the most critical tools,and I switch that function depending on the applications ie photoshop vs zbrush. I know some tablets offer more tactile short cut keys, but for me when I am using a major package max, ps, zbrush, those few hot key are still not enough. My best solution is bring the small wireless keyboard with you and use it wherver this is how work 99% of the time
if the stylus is touching the screen, then your fingers won't do anything. So you can have the stylus on the screen and rest your wrist on it at the same time. However, if you life your stylus far enough off the screen that it stops registering, then suddenly your fingers and wrist are active. Also you can touch the screen with multiple fingers for pinch zooms and whatnot.
I have posted part2 of the asus slate demo, this one focuses on zbrush. Hope it helps
[ame]
was wondering if the ssd is easily upgradeable? Can the tablet be opened without killing yer warranty?
article: Samsung series 7 vs ASUS eee Slate.
Sammy's wacom digitiser enabled slate has beefier dual core i5, 3g in addition to wi-fi, super PLS screen technology (** better n IPS ), SEVEN HOUR BATTERY, better resolution ( {1366 x 768} vs {1280 x 800} ) and a larger ssd ( 128 gig on the top model $1340ish ). But a half an inch less screen space 11.6 inches vs 12.1 fer ASUS.
price range of models: $1000 to $1340
available by the end of this month ( supposedly )
Upgrade path To tablet friendly windows 8 is supposed to be included. Not sure I would migrate till I knew how zbrush, Maya and Photoshop behaves in the new OS.
Hoping the prices drop before xmas in time fer under the tree.
But for you guys using a tablet with a pen or a wacom cintiq, how dos it feel working with stuff like zbrush or serious 3D work? The "buy-nerv" really tingles when you see that samsung tablet!
I've not played much with drivers, but the drivers I had before were causing the stylus to flicker a lot and to do a double click all the time, which was just about isable for web browsing (I use my fingers for that though) it was totally unusable with onenote which I need for taking lecture notes.
I updated to wacom's latest tablet pc drivers, fixed that problem and destroyed pressure sensitivity in photoshop. So that's not so great, but as I still have my wacom tablet connected to my desktop it isn't the end of the universe. I don't use my tablet for much photoshop work anyhow, just a few minecraft textures here and there.
My opinion on windows 8 is complex and still under formed. I like the new keyboard, but it's totally unworkable with photoshop like I used to use the old win7 keyboard.(I shrunk it as small as it would go then stuck it in the corner of the screen so I could still use all the shortcuts I'd normally use my left hand for)
The transition between the metro stuff and the desktop stuff seems arbitrary and whilst you HAVE to use both to do anything, I can't help but feel having Metro is just a waste of time. If you could use ALL one or ALL the other it would be good and a really nice middle step between the last fully desktop OS (win7) and the first fully Metro OS (Win9 or win10).
I'm willing to give win8 a chance, but if it doesn't radically improve before its formal release, I think I'll be telling people to skip it and wait for win9. But I'm also sure a hell of a lot of people will be doing just that anyway!
And the screen is not interrupted by the case.
Right now looking for some form of wireless controller that I can hold in my left hand with about 8 buttons or so, but not a full fledged keyboard like the Rii.
*EDIT*
According to this review, it has 1024 levels of pressure sensitivity, and judging by a photo on the second page, the pen seems to have at least one side switch. I think it's a UP-714W.
It seems to be coming to Europe in October, just in time for me to buy it for myself for my birthday.
I'm asking cause I've just found conflicting info with google. one place says yes, one place says no...