Tablet PC recommendations
polycounter lvl 13
hello 
I just wondered if there are any good tablet PCs that people would recommend. I basically want one for photoshop scribbling in the evening and possibly a bit of Zbrush.
My friend has a samsung slate series 7 which was great to play on and the 4gb of ram means zbrush would be pretty cool still on it. I think wacom do the pen for it too which makes it really responsive.
[ame="
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sivG1vaVy4I"]Samsung Series 7 Slate for Digital Art - YouTube[/ame]
www.gogodigital.co.uk/samsung-slate-700t1a-11-6-64gb-core-i5-black-tablet-pc.html
only problem is that its discontinued now and pretty hard to find in stock at a reasonable price new. So are there any other ones out there that people would recommend?
I just wondered if there are any good tablet PCs that people would recommend. I basically want one for photoshop scribbling in the evening and possibly a bit of Zbrush.
My friend has a samsung slate series 7 which was great to play on and the 4gb of ram means zbrush would be pretty cool still on it. I think wacom do the pen for it too which makes it really responsive.
[ame="
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sivG1vaVy4I"]Samsung Series 7 Slate for Digital Art - YouTube[/ame]www.gogodigital.co.uk/samsung-slate-700t1a-11-6-64gb-core-i5-black-tablet-pc.html
only problem is that its discontinued now and pretty hard to find in stock at a reasonable price new. So are there any other ones out there that people would recommend?
Replies
if you're not married to windows samsung pushed out a 10 inch galaxy note that supports pressure sensitivity and runs on android...which at least supports a form of photoshop.
yep me too.
Yes, the S7S is pressure sensitive using a wacom digitizer. It has 256 levels of pressure sensitivity and supposedly can go up to 512 if you have a pen that supports it (intuos/cintiq pens will not work on this). The pen that comes with the S7S only has one side button and I personally prefer having two buttons. I would recommend getting an axiotron studio pen if you decide to get the S7S.
Also, Samsung released a new model of the S7S that has been renamed to the ATIV Smart PC Pro. You can find it here: http://www.samsung.com/global/ativ/ativ_pc_pro.html
The ATIV has newer hardware and has 1920 x 1080 resolution. It does run windows 8 though, which depending on your preference may or may not be a good thing. Personally I like windows 8 in general, but it has caused some productivity issues that I didn't have in windows 7 on my S7S.
I use a program called Art Dock that provides an on screen keyboard for programs like zbrush, 3ds max, photoshop and etc. In windows 7 you could disable the touch screen (I disable it because the palm rejection does not always work well and it is easy to end up with accidental strokes), but still use the on screen buttons from Art Dock even with touch turned off. In windows 8 when you disable touch you have to logout before it takes effect and once you log back in touch is completely disabled so you can't use the Art Dock on screen buttons. Also, in windows 7 you can do a 4 or 5 finger touch gesture to bring up the OS's on screen keyboard. This is gone in windows 8, you have to click on the keyboard icon on the task bar to bring up the keyboard which can be a pain in programs like zbrush that hide the taskbar.
I have also encountered an issue in 3ds max 2012/2013 in windows 8 on my S7S. For some reason the right click menus are frozen and dont respond to touch or pen input and I have to click the taskbar/middle click to get them to go away. I haven't been able to find anyone else with this same issue yet so it may be an issue on my end.
As for the Surface Pro, I haven't been able to find out what digitizer it uses. So far it seems likely that it will be Microsoft's Perceptive Pixel technology rather than a wacom digitizer, but Microsoft has not specifically stated one way or the other as far as I know.
I have the 1st and 2nd generation iPad, got the stylus for doodling. It was alright.. I could doodle, but I was missing the "computer" aspect and being able to work like I would from a laptop or workstation.
In terms of workstation, I have a decent workhorse of a machine and use an intuos 3 tablet (yes old, but it does the job for me). I have also used the Cintiq as well..
Anyway, when I got the X230, it filled the gap for me in terms of what i missed from a tablet device and my workstation. It is a strong little bugger, and I really love being able to fold my screen back and doodle while on the sofa like on a sketchbook. I don't want to take up more room here, but I am doing a review soon on my blog which you can check out. Stay tuned!
My blog can be found here -- area.autodesk.com/blogs/pointsnap
doesnt run cs6 correctly and ive had many problems with the pen/pen drivers
Same here. Had a bit of trouble getting the drivers updated to enable pressure sensitivity, but once that got sorted out and I had Art Dock installed it's quite a nice machine for Photoshop work. ZBrush seems to run well too, but I haven't used that as much. Looks like that newer model has a higher rez screen which might help with ZB's layout getting a bit cramped up.
I did try to use an ipad for my evening scribbles before, but theres no real good apps and the stylus for them cant really touch wacom level sensitivity I found.
If I could make one recommendation, use Sketchbook Pro for painting/sketching on it. Its one of those programs that not only functions a lot smoother but seems optimised better for pure tablet support (removes the need of a keyboard altogether as well as the artdock).
Sorry to bump this thread, but I am very much interested in discussing my options here about Lenovo because I want to have a digital sketching pad on the go.
I did see few reviews (yes including your blog.) The only thing that I cant find is reviews relevant to the zbrush use on x230T.
Like, to narrow my search down I am actually looking for the Intel HD graphics 4k reviews and if its good enough for CG.
Stuff that I want to use it for? Maya, Modo, Softimage, Zbrush, Photoshop and Painter, some coding stuff and minor gaming.
thanks!
I have a Galaxy Note 10.1
My thoughts on it are split about 50/50. Its good and its bad. I'll try to explain:
good: yes the pen has pressure! thats f-ing rad! using photoshop touch and other drawing software is as close as you can get to portable Cintiq (as far as I know)
bad: the pressure sensitivity isn't that great. Sometimes the surface of the tablet doesn't register the pen until i push hard enough - then it lays down a fat line. Its a bummer.
good: a pen!
bad: the pen is uber small for me. Still shopping around for something a bit more normal pen sized.
overall using it just makes me wish I was just using my intuos instead. Its like drawing with a severe hardware/software handicap. I guess you can say its somewhere in the middle of usings a drawing tablet/cintiq and using a mouse.
Wanna buy mine ?
I'm still trying to decide. I'm also considering the nexus 10. It's something I'm planning on using as a sales tool for my web design business as well.... At least that's how I'm trying to justify buying a new toy
If I decide on the galaxy I'll def shoot u a pm first.
The main downside was I had to have use a mini keyboard for all the shortcuts. Then I saw this thread, and found out about Artdock. Thanks so much for that, it is making it so much easier to use my tablet for art. A little bit of a learning curve, but nothing I won't get used to in a few hours of solid work.
From what I hear, the pen doenst have much to do with the pressure sensitivity. Shogmaster over on the tabletpcreview forums has said that the levels of pressure are decided on what the driver/software tells the digitizer to accept. The reason I bring him up is that he goes around reviewing these devices and seems to know far more about their internal hardware than your average reviewer.
I have a surface Pro and can vouch for the fact it uses a wacom digitizer. The same axiotron pen thats known to work for the EP121 and Samsung Slate 7 works with the surface pro.
The surface pro is probably the best of the tablet PCs so far...that is it would be if it actually worked properly. Microsoft did something so that no wacom drivers work with the digitizer itself. Over on the tabletpcreview forums, they found out it has to do with wintab not being licensed or something along those lines.
To be honest I dont quite understand it myself, other than one party doesnt want to pay a license fee to the other for using certain driver technology.
OP: I would hold out. This summer Wacom is said to release their own tablet pc, which wont be cheap knowing them. Lenovo also has the Helix coming out this year, which will be better...and intel has their haswell chips that will be used for newer tablets. So its best just to wait at this point.
If you need a temp device, then find a used Asus EP121, they go for pretty cheap these days.
Lenovo's Helix is slowly seeping into the market it seems, and reviews are generally favorable - as opposed to Surface Pro it has a keyboard dock with extra battery, and it also has a larger screen to spread that *1080 res over. But it's also very pricey.
Pros
+ Pressure sensitivity is great (though takes a bit of getting used to (its a bit different from the intuos))
+ 4gb RAM means it runs everything really nicely
+ easily handles multiple 4 mil point subtools in Z (usually don't need to go that high)
+ lightweight, about 1.5x iPad weight
+ detachable keyboard design
+ generally lovely sleek design
+ pen feels good
+ micro sd slot for extra hard drive space
+ SSD drive means incredibly fast boot up
+ no drawbacks from windows 8 so far
+ charges quickly
+ really fast USB ports, one on main and one on keyboard
+ artdock means you don't need a keyboard for Z or PS
+ easy docking and undocking
+ comfortable
+ screen resolution is fantastic, 1920x1080 on an 11.6 inch screen
+ doesn't get hot like other tablet pcs, a mild warmth at the the most
Cons
- battery lasts about 6-4 hours
- SSD drive is only 64gb which after system and software stuff is installed leaves me with about 10gb but that's why you have a micro sd slot
- design was so sleek I didn't find the pen for a week and already bought another haha ....idiot!!
- when you move the angle of the keyboard it disconnects for a nano second sometimes
- in zbrush if you detach or it disconnects it switches to next subtool (very minor)
- expensive at around £1000
- screens too small for modelling I felt but is doable
- cats get in the way, GET OFF!!!!
The main thing is the freedom it gives to your creativeness, it's so nice just sitting down infront if the tele or on the balcony and just having fun and not getting bogged down at all. It's never going to replace my desktop but its still a lovely bit of kit.
Anyways check out this review
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63tLJ2qwZdg
Silly sod
I had the Slate 7 for about 8 months, and it is a lovely piece of kit (I found Autodesk Sketchbook Pro fantastic to use on it and became my preference for sketching over Photoshop) however I just never used it anywhere near as much as my PC so I sold it to a mate at work.
As I said before though, they are nice but no way as good as a nice desktop, mine serves more to compliment it. For people who have freelanced alot it's really good as it gets you away from the desk now and then.
Baj I'm gonna take a photo and see if you can find it haha
The tablet PCs I used required a stylus, it didn't work using just my fingers. So I guess that you would need to use the stylus to flip pages when reading an e-book, which I would find cumbersome. With touch enabled e-readers (or iPad), you can flip pages by swiping your finger. On e-readers without touch, you have special buttons to flip pages.
I've not seen tablet PCs with dedicated buttons for page flipping.
Back to topic: Kind of excited about the Ativ Q by Samsung. Needs more Ram though.
The new 'Enhanced' version has the newest i7-4650 with the next generation HD5000.. combined with 8GB of Ram it seems to me to be the most powerful Haswell tablet we've seen to date?
Here's a vid of Gabe using the MS Surface Pro, I'd highly suggest anyone wanting a lower end cintiq or tablet PC to look at a Microsoft Surface Pro.
http://www.penny-arcade.com/patv/episode/provisions-8x
thinking about making a setup like this one.. it's still small enough to be viable..
http://jonathancase.net/my-transition-to-surface-pro-and-manga-studio/
It is OLD tech though so it won't really do 3d. But you can get them on Ebay for like $100-150 USD. If all you need is a mobile sketchpad then its great.
The brand seems pretty solid, though I've yet to have a go with their modern models.
I have samsung tablet now, it's very good.
Would love to hear if someone has tested it with ZBrush
http://zbrushtablet.blogspot.com/
I've recently started saving $$ for this and doing research. I can't count the number of times I'm sitting on the couch with my wife while she's reading a book and wishing I could do ZBrush, or the number of times I'm in the car waiting in a parking lot to pick up my kids.
[ame="
Not sure I'd buy a tablet now that doesn't have a Haswell running things.. Battery life and GPU power are a lot better.
Great machine, could be improved with cleaner drivers, better support and better sales reps. Machine really needs a dedicated GPU. I'm looking into upgrading this machine with an external GPU setup for when I'm not traveling, so that at least it's fully powered when I'm at my desk (aka the floor).
I like the machine, but it's not been a flawless experience. Runs ZBrush flawlessly but doesn't run Mudbox because it has no dedicated GPU (Nvidia etc.) It runs other 3D software and games favorably well. The built in tablet works basically like a cintique. The dock in pen only has one button and does not support tilt or barrel rotation, not that big of a deal. I believe the Helix supports additional multi-touch points, but this machine only supports two. Touch and pen used simultaneously doesn't work that well as you have to move the pen far enough away from the screen before touch gestures will register so it's a bit of a let-down in that area.
These style machines can be made to do mostly what you want to do with a lot of tinkering, but at the high costs, it isn't quite worth it. Keep in mind, that while companies who make these tablets love your buisiness and sales, they are not designing these things specifically with artists in mind. My X220 has a very low screen resolution of 1336x768 but for a small screen it's surprisingly comfortable and I really like the way Softimage and painting applications look at that resolution. It works well, surprisingly so. I believe the new Helix has an HD resolution anyways but if you get a deal on an older used unit I wouldn't let the screen resolution scare you away, it works great.
Another critique on the X220 and likely all other models (except the helix which detaches). The tablet mode (without a keyboard) isn't too useful. It's very fat and heavy and nothing like holding a regular tablet, it isn't comfortable and very few software applications built for Windows are designed for use without a keyboard in mind so pretty much write off the fact that screen and fold down into tablet mode, it's useless IMO. Perhaps others have different workflows that I could learn from, but I'm always using it as a regular laptop with pen and touch enabled and it's great to have that.
Screen stays in place nicely while painting and drawing. Pressure sensitivity seems the same to me in practice as my Intuos 3
Another interesting thing to note. I prefer a regular tablet not built into the screen. Sounds strange but your hand is never in the way of the picture you are painting and I got so used to that, that not having direct access to the screen for paint/sculpt doesn't matter 1 bit. The nice thing is, that I don't have to carry around extra stuff with me and I am set up and ready to go with good battery life from anywhere with no hassle.
My next Laptop replacement (hopefully a few more years away) will have to have a dedicated NVidia GPU in it. Other than that, I really like the looks of the Helix but I'm not going for another machine without dedicated built in mobile GPU.
Final thought. I'd recommend them to any Digital Artist or the (Fuji/etc. equivalents) but these things could be a lot better. If you don't need 3D access or full windows access I'd get one of the other recommendations for more portable painting and sketching.
There are also overpriced hacks you can buy for MacBook pro's if that is your system of choice that are similar.