It was James’ all-clear in another thread that got me to pull the trigger on the SurfacePro4 configuration you’re asking about. Been using mine since the start of 2016.
Prior to that, I had been training on my i7 MacBook Pro (bootcamped) with a Wacom Bamboo, but since getting the SP4, the sheer convenience of its form factor has me sculpting on that 100% of the time:
http://www.zbrushcentral.com/showthread.php?204944-Carter-s-Sketchbook
Currently working on my 6th likeness sculpt, but haven’t had time to post into my sketchbook thread.
Huge majority of my ZBrush sessions, I’m absolutely amazed the SP4 fan isn’t kicking in. Typically keeping my sculpts somewhere in the 500k-2million polygon count per subtool. I credit this to the i7 not breaking a sweat but also due to ZBrush’s reknown efficiency.
By comparison a semi-baked inefficient app like Affinity Photo will make this same machine activate some mild cooling when merely opened for a few minutes.
The kickstand is absolutely brilliant putting the SurfacePro4 at an optimal angle when I’m sculpting at a desk. The robust hinge has held up splendidly after some 15 months of near-daily usage.
The very first thing I readied when pulling it out of the box was applying a hardened glass screen protector on it. Figuring if I could learn to live with it, it’d be my first-chance opportunity to forever protect the factory glass. Absolute worst case if I hated it, it could always be removed. Within a week, I became acclimated. Didn’t even bother looking for a protector with a texture. I’m not one of those guys who need a 100% paper-graphite simulation. Instead of just getting the $10 nib-tip set, I got a 2nd pen. One has the factory rubber pin-tip, the other has their #2 tip.
Perhaps it’s due partly to the screen protector, but if I had to critically guage, the nTrig pen provides around 70% of the pressure sensitivity I remember in the previous setup using the Wacom Bamboo. Given the overwhelming benefits, I’m perfectly fine with the SurfacePro4’s pressure sensitivity in ZBrush.
Microsoft has designed the thermal cooling on this to the very limits. When you ARE doing overly intensive things, the SP4 relies heavily on convection cooling to move warm air out of the edge vents. This has kept me from putting a protective jacket on it. In the non-sculpting times I’m using it and the cooling kicks in, the unit WILL start getting hot if it’s laid flat on a table somewhat impeding that vertical convection rise. Most of the jacket protectors out there don’t seem to offer enough clearance in these areas to ease my concerns… plus MOST of them obstruct the kickstand and overlay their own shoddy version. I’ve been very careful with mine. It’s kept in an inexpensive Moko padded sleeve when in motion.
I’ve grown accustomed to using the ZBrush interface buttons for moving/scaling. Some of the other finger-gymnastics, I’ve put into the RadialMenu utility. My own personal manifesto is that if I need anything beyond the Surface Pen, I’ll consider this a failure in mobile sculpting. So far, this experiment has worked out quite well.
It WOULD be nice if Pixologic would put tablet-friendly features in a future ZBrush… I can rotate and finger-tap the brush button, but pinch-to-zoom is a GLARING disconnect in this experience. Pixologic’s coziness with Wacom is presuming you’ll ONLY use a Wacom product and thus their dedicated physical buttons and dial when sculpting. IMO, Pixologic ought to put UI changes in ZBrush that’d make it cooperate more globally with people who want to sculpt with other touch-screen devices whether it be a SurfacePro or Lenovo’s Yoga products. (ALT, CTRL, Shift buttons I can put on a dockable palette )
Surface Pro 4, i7, 16gig RAM, 512GB HD, 64GB microSD under the hinge slot, 2 pens, iCarez HD glass screen protector, Windows 10 Creator update, ZBrush 4R7 (patch 3)