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Microsoft Surface

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  • bounchfx
    Thanks for that! but damn wow that's a shitload of steps to just get it working in a good manner. I'd love to get one but I'm definitely holding off to see what the next version brings to the table. I really hope PS and Zbrush come out with optional touch interfaces too.
  • Denny
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    Denny polycounter lvl 14
    cptSwing wrote: »
    Great post, Denny. Does the resolution scale down well? I agree that full HD seems a little dense for such a relatively small screen.
    1920x1080 is very crisp while 1600x900 appears more like a standard size/resolution ratio. Anything lower becomes grainy.
  • Jeremy Lindstrom
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    Jeremy Lindstrom polycounter lvl 18
    Denny wrote: »
    1920x1080 is very crisp while 1600x900 appears more like a standard size/resolution ratio. Anything lower becomes grainy.

    I run mine at native res, I use the 150% upscaling and remove upscaling on those apps it hinders menu stuff etc.. sketchbook pro and guildwars 2 for example.
  • Disco Stu
    I have never seen a surface exept in stores.
    Has it flopped?
  • Wesley
  • WarrenM
    I think the RT bombed hard but I thought the regular one was doing OK...
  • Wahlgren
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    Wahlgren polycounter lvl 17
    I played around with two at work. I was impressed, especially with the photoshop painting and what not.

    The problem I see tho is that the general population will probably think of it as an ipad and then... well, why would they want the surface when they can have an ipad? You know how people are.
  • Mark Dygert
    Disco Stu wrote: »
    I have never seen a surface exept in stores.
    Has it flopped?

    I see hipster business professionals interpretive dancing with them ALL THE TIME...

    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2KPQNP1Z1s"]Microsoft Surface Pro Commercial - YouTube[/ame]
    See microsoft, it worked for the ipod because it was a device that plays music... <sigh> I just don't underst... you know what? Nevermind...
  • ambershee
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    ambershee polycounter lvl 17
    That's actually the first time I've seen any kind of advertising for Surface. I'd have assumed I was fairly in their target market, so they've clearly done well there.
  • Denny
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    Denny polycounter lvl 14
    Microsoft has done plenty of brand awareness. Keep an eye out in any tv show lately and you'll see the surface being held by the actors when they need to make a search for a victim in a police show or whatever there might be. The show Cult has been obviously supported by Microsoft as every shot of a tablet in the show is a Surface, perfectly held to show it as a valuable product. It's ridiculous when you're aware of similar marketing tactics previously used by companies like Coca Cola. Next time you watch a movie with cars, note the typical 'I'm parking the car'-scene where the front of the car slows down and stops with the grill/license plate in your face with the brand of the car nicely centered.

    They might not have succeeded with the Pro/RT, they might however succeed with brand awareness until the XBOX ONE is released and a tablet may be a perfect accessory. Windows tablets won't be completely new to the mainstream market then and people may be more open to invest in a non-apple/android device.
  • Perfectblue
    For those of you using the Microsoft Surface for 2D drawing and photoshop, are you satisfied enough with the current iteration to suggest a purchase?

    The reason I ask, Microsoft is allowing $200 Microsoft Store credit to trade in your Ipad2 or newer towards a Microsoft surface until the end of October. http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/09/13/microsoft-offering-200-for-ipad-trade-ins
  • oXYnary
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    oXYnary polycounter lvl 18
  • Gusti
    meh.. if I was to throw money at such a unnecessary luxury device, I´d go all in and just get the new Cintiq companion one.
    It might cost 1699 pounds, but at-least its a full blown wacom tablet (not a cut down bamboo, sensitivity and feature wise), its more powerful, has more memory, more storage and a 13" 1080p screen, which I would call an absolute bare minimum size for any sort of graphical work.

    I cant imagine running a 3D package of any kind on an 10" screen and try to stay productive..
    Any piece of software that I tried on my old Cintiq 12UX was terrible if I could not put most of the floating UI bits on my secondary monitor.
    It was trying to put two post-its together and do work on them, after taking the UI space into consideration.

    But thats just my feels on it.
  • ambershee
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    ambershee polycounter lvl 17
    I genuinely like the Surface Pro, but there in the UK it still RRPs for £899 with a £125 keyboard, which is frankly silly (you can get a whole lot of laptop for over £1000...)
  • cptSwing
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    cptSwing polycounter lvl 11
    Gusti wrote: »
    meh.. if I was to throw money at such a unnecessary luxury device, I´d go all in and just get the new Cintiq companion one.
    It might cost 1699 pounds, but at-least its a full blown wacom tablet (not a cut down bamboo, sensitivity and feature wise), its more powerful, has more memory, more storage and a 13" 1080p screen, which I would call an absolute bare minimum size for any sort of graphical work.

    I cant imagine running a 3D package of any kind on an 10" screen and try to stay productive..
    Any piece of software that I tried on my old Cintiq 12UX was terrible if I could not put most of the floating UI bits on my secondary monitor.
    It was trying to put two post-its together and do work on them, after taking the UI space into consideration.

    But thats just my feels on it.


    No Haswells on the Companion though..
  • Gusti
    haswell smjaswell.. 9% overall speed increase or bigger screen + decent wacom tablet built in... I´ll take the latter :P

    Yes I say 9% because thats what the pcworld benchmark suggested from speed tests from the original surface pro.

    Only downside of the wacom is the batterylife.
  • Krypteia
    I see hipster business professionals interpretive dancing with them ALL THE TIME...

    On an unrelated note, the guy's outfit in the cream vest is great and definitely one I'd like to wear myself.

    Fashion moment over, we can return to technology now.
  • Perfectblue
    Gusti wrote: »
    meh.. if I was to throw money at such a unnecessary luxury device, I´d go all in and just get the new Cintiq companion one.
    It might cost 1699 pounds, but at-least its a full blown wacom tablet (not a cut down bamboo, sensitivity and feature wise),

    I was under the impression the sensitivity issues with the Pro had been corrected long ago with a patch. Painting on the pro should be just as responsive/sensitive as a wacom tablet now.
  • Denny
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    Denny polycounter lvl 14
    It's still not as sensitive as an intuos, but it's definitely sensitive enough to do light sketching. I've owned both an Intuos 4 and the Surface Pro and the freedom it gives greatly surpasses the need for that last gram of sensitivity.

    The main issues with drawing on the SP has to do with the Wacom bug, when the calibration data doesn't load on some startups (reboot works), and that the magnetic field is inaccurate near the corners. If you get used to pointing your pen perpendicular to the screen when you're near the corners it's no issue, small annoyance mostly. Otherwise, 90% of the screen where you're at most of the time, it's a breeze to draw on it.

    I hope these small issues have been solved with the Surface Pro 2. The Surface Pro + Win8 is really nice to work with when you learn all the new tricks it has in store. The screen is awesome despite it's small size. I'm so used to the 10" screen that 13" seems huge! Let alone... 22".

    As for choosing between the Wacom tablet and SP2? I think you'll be happy with whichever you choose. The portability factor is enough to make anyone happy.
  • oXYnary
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    oXYnary polycounter lvl 18
    Gusti wrote: »
    meh.. if I was to throw money at such a unnecessary luxury device, I´d go all in and just get the new Cintiq companion one.
    It might cost 1699 pounds, but at-least its a full blown wacom tablet (not a cut down bamboo, sensitivity and feature wise), its more powerful, has more memory, more storage and a 13" 1080p screen, which I would call an absolute bare minimum size for any sort of graphical work.

    I cant imagine running a 3D package of any kind on an 10" screen and try to stay productive..
    Any piece of software that I tried on my old Cintiq 12UX was terrible if I could not put most of the floating UI bits on my secondary monitor.
    It was trying to put two post-its together and do work on them, after taking the UI space into consideration.

    But thats just my feels on it.

    Umm. What? Companion is not more powerful. Its a Tesla 4 Arm processor. With 2 gigs and not as much storage space nor input/ output. It only runs a 32bit Android os.

    It has a low resolution for a 13" since you can get a higher ppi in smaller sizes (including surface pro).

    The advantages of the companion is it has would be its double use as a cintiq on your main computer, slightly larger drawing area, and finally the full functionality/sensitivity of a cintiq.

    You could not use it on the go for much more than sketchbook pro android version. So the companikn has limited functionality as a portable device other than your play store purchases. Which honestly most of us alre have a separate device for such versus carrying an expensive piece of hardware.

    There is another area you havent researched yet. Those percentages from the article? Are for cpu results. NOT gpu results. One of thebbig things about the haswell other than being more energy effecient is its gpu is supposedly near 2x as powerful as the ivy bridge. Which means in theory you could now do basic work in mudbox to UDK on the surface.
  • Computron
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    Computron polycounter lvl 7
    So what is the performance like in UDK/Cry3/Mud on the Surface Pro, and What should I expect with the Surface Pro 2?
  • illo
  • Computron
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    Computron polycounter lvl 7
    Yup,. I read that one, I was wondering if someone with a Surface Pro 1 whos run that software could tell me what to expect.

    Benchmarks are great, however the actual DCC tool performance is what interests me.
  • moose
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    moose polycount sponsor
    Haven't used udk, crytek, or mudbox on it, but I did play Borderlands 2 for a while on a planeride. It runs great at lower quality settings, but will dominate your battery. Ate through 50% charge in a very short time.
  • bounchfx
    didn't realize the second one came out today! I'm actually considering a surface pro 1, since the price difference is massive between the pro 2 and the cintiq.. plus I want to make sure I'm actually going to use and enjoy painting on the go, with the semi-gimped touch controls instead of a keyboard.

    Gonna see if I can find one for under $500 bucks.. shouldn't be TOO hard but shit I still see ones on craigslist for 800-900$! for the first one! I mean shit the first one is only 650 on the MS store. Does anyone actually purchase from people like that? heh
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