Offtopic: Any interest in Surface Pro3 review

vilts

vilts

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Hello people,

From my last trip to US I scored Microsoft's Surface Pro3 tablet/laptop thingy. Main purpose being a drawing medium for engraving designs.

Would there be an interest for its review from that perspective? I have also previous Pro2, so I could also do a little comparison. It is a rather nice machine, having laptop and quite good drawing capability in one package.
 
M

Mike Fennell

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Apr 6, 2007
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Matteson, a south suburb of Chicago.
Yes, Vilts, we are interested your experience with it. We would be using it in Federal Court for real-time reporting, since the software we use in that setting is incompatible with the iPad.

I also want to use it for the same things you are using it for - art work, design, sketching, etc. I presently use the iPad for the art work, but transferring files is cumbersome without a USB port. Apple wants to chain me to a mac, which I don't own and don't intend to own since we already have several rooms and offices equipped with PC systems. I would like to be able to back up files to a thumb drive or portable hard drive wherever I happen to be. The cloud is not accessible in some of the places I travel.
 
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vilts

vilts

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512
Location
Estonia
Ok, it'll take me couple of days do get my thoughts down and make a small vid. Unfortunately I don't have first hand experience with Cintiq, so can't do that comparison now.
 
vilts

vilts

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Messages
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Allright then. I thought I would do video review of it, but as there are many excellent ones already on youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alpaxt7gGZU&list=UUiDJtJKMICpb9B1qf7qjEOA) I will just write it.

For a start I'd suggest you watch the above review by Tested.com as I pretty much agree with everything they say there. I've been using it for about a month now and there are many things to like about the device.

PROs:
  • Screen is just awesome. 2160 x 1440 in 12" size. Good colors, contrast
  • Device form factor - it's light, big enough, kickstand is very useful and works well
  • Works as a tablet
  • Fully functioning Win8, all programs work (compared to Surface RT which is weird, as you need to have special programs, so Adobe suit wont work etc)
  • You can draw on it and pen is actually quite precise (in certain situations)
  • Better than Surface Pro 2 in almost all aspects.

CONs
  • It is impossible to draw slowly and precisely. There's something wrong with the N-Trig tech. When you draw slowly and diagonally, the cursor just jumps around and makes jagged waves, not straight line. This "feature" really ****ed me off, because I just couldn't trace my engraving designs as I am used to. I had to really zoom in and then draw them quickly.
  • Pen lag. It is there, not a problem for me, but if your drawing style is different, it might be a problem. One Cintiq user tried it and that really annoyed her.
  • Thermal design on the device leaves wanting. When you do something CPU intensive, then the fan really starts up and after a while it starts to slow down the CPU, as it can't keep it cool enough. Though this doesn't happen during drawing, so not that big of a problem for me.

So, in conclusion. I am actually selling it and replacing with Cintiq 13HD.

If I'd need a laptop and make some notes from time to time, it would be nearly perfect device. Unfortunately I can't recommend it just for drawing. If only it would have Wacom-like digitizer, like previous Surface Pro 2 (it wasn't perfect either, but worked much better IMO)...
 
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