The new wacom tablet will be released on the 20th of august
http://comicsalliance.com/wacom-hd-mobile-tablet-two-cameras-programmable-gestures/
let´s hope it features windows!
Thanks for this i was fighting with those Artdock buttons now i’m playing with Zbrush on the surface pro!
Thank you very much! I had to replace my Surface Pro and re download all my software. I had the old script before and was in a panic!
Thanks for this helpful post
Hi Guys I have seen the new Cintq Companin tablet with windows 8. must say I like what I see, but the price is way high for to afford it. The surface pro is sill good buy for someone like me who don’t have a lot of money to spend on a windows 8 tablet with a digitizer. Let me know you thought on it.
I couldn’t agree more. Sure the cintiq companion must be more accurate plus you have the tilt position and 2048 levels of pressure and the express keys but man…how could they charge that price for an already outdated cpu…i don’t get it.
I bought aswell a surface pro some weeks ago and am really happy for what i get for almost a third of the price of a companion.
Things that annoy me on the surface is the lack of accuracy on the borders of the tablet but most of the time when you sculpt you are on the center of the screen so that’s not a big problem for me.
Be sure to get the latest wacom drivers found on the us wacom website and install artdock on your surface pro and you get a pretty smooth experience within zbrush.
Yes, I am very happy with my Surface Pro as well. It has opened up sculpting and art time for me that didn’t exist before.
Also, I love the ability to throw all of my reference photos on the right 1/3rd of the screen while I work.
I have yet to notice any performance issues.
Same here, haven’t seen any performance issues. Just feel like I’m clustered on the size of the screen. If only it were a 13 - 15 inch USABLE screen size…
Yeah but the Wacom tablet has twice the RAM and 4 times the hard drive space and 3 more inches of screen space. Another big advantage is that it can be attached to your main computer and used as a regular 13hd Cintiq. As for the outdated cpu that’s not a big deal, again it’s still a better cpu than the Surface Pro. Also CPUs are overrated, I can’t think of any software that will run on this tablet where the CPU is going to be the bottle neck. It’s a true drawing tablet, which is something we’ve been asking for a long time now as artists.
Yes, Wacom’s products are over-priced, including the companion but that’s because the competition just isn’t there. If it were Wacom’s products would see a nice price decrease, especially for us starving artists.
That’s why surface is good enough for low budget artists in my opinion…it is still wacom technology.
As for the cpu, i agree with you the cpu won’t be the bottleneck and i’m not the one upgrading every cpu generation (still got first gen i7 on my desktop) but the latest ones are more focused on energy saving which is rather important for a portable device. Surface pro is at the same level, the battery doesn’t last long. So i don’t get the companion price even for 3 inches, ram x2 and more hdd space. Just brought up the cpu cause it is eating the battery very fast.
Don’t get me wrong i love wacom and still use my intuos 4 daily but in the end if you want a portable device and have the money go for companion if not go for surface it’s cheaper than the smallest cintiq and you won’t be disapointed…Just my two cents.
Mental Frog - I am almost positive that the Cintiq Companion Hybrid (the Android version) is the only Companion that can be connected to a desktop for use as a regular Cintiq. I believe that is why they call it Hybrid. If the Windows 8 Cintiq Companion could be hooked to a desktop there might be a few more people interested. But only a few.
I am happy with my Surface Pro for the most part and I am thrilled that people (especially in this forum - people who want the same things I want in a portable) are still considering it a viable alternative to the Cintiq Companion.
I agree that the price tag is high on the Companion but I don’t really think it’s outrageous. I am surprised at how many people in the artist community are surprised by the price. It is a wacom product (read pricey) and it is targeting a very small niche market (I wish we were a larger demographic).
I still feel like the only artist in the world annoyed by the fact that regular cintiqs cost as much or more than a computer but still need to be connected to a computer.
It’s like buying a steering wheel for the price of a car… Yet no one else ever seemed to mind.
Sure people acknowledge Cintiqs are pricey but they don’t really act like they’re overpriced… I am pretty sure I know more 2d computer artists with cintiqs than without. And the ones who don’t have one pine for one without mention of how odd the pricing seems. And a good number of the tablet friendly 3d artists I know have Cintiqs too. I would rather spend that kind of money on a computer. Hey…
Last I checked there weren’t many tablets with an i7 processor and 8GB RAM.
The Lenovo Helix was the only tablet I found, other than the Surface Pro (despite its i5), that had the kind of specs I wanted when I was looking (mind you, that was a good few months back). and the Helix is in the $2000 range too!
At this point, with a Surface Pro already in my possession, the thing I want most is a Surface Pro compatible pro pen with 2 buttons and tilt control. I wouldn’t even mind if it “only” had 1028 levels of pressure sensitivity.
Sony’s got a 4th gen i7 convertible ultrabook with 8GB RAM and 512GB SSD. It costs $2700. It does have a two button stylus but I do not think it is a Wacom digitizer. My coworker has one and our styli were not interchangeable. Wacom Penabled tablets styli are usually interchangeable.
We checked his tablet and stylus out and it had the same pressure sensitivity issues the Surface Pro had before Wacom updated the drivers (pressure sensitivity in Windows but no pressure sensitivity in popular drawing apps). He doesn’t really care about drawing on his so that was as far as we got.
Maybe the Cintiq Companion will be a flop and we can all pick one up for cheap in 6months. Maybe rumors of the Surface Pro 2 will help. I doubt the Surface Pro 2 will have 2 stylus buttons and tilt control but it is exciting and should quiet the Haswell mongers… 
You are not alone
I am here with you
:lol:
Thank you Kryss13.
Hey Guys,
just wanted to tell you that i have a Microsoft Surface Pro since the european realease 
and i have to say its awesome! you can realy work fluently in Zbrush without any lag, but it is realy not a gameing device… so if you only planing on working in zbrush, or a little bit in photoshop, it is just fine
Sweet! Welcome to the family!
Gabe from Penny Arcade found the Surface Pro reasonable for gaming. Not at the highest game performance settings of course…
BTW - I just ordered a modbook pro pen. It won’t give me tilt control but it has the two button rocker switch. Hello 3 button mouse functionality!
The modbook pen SHOULD work with my Surface Pro since they are both Wacom Penabled devices… I will keep you posted.
Hi guys what do you think about the surface pro 2? I like the 512gb storage version with 8 GB of ram. it also has better battery life than the surface pro, and has the 4th gen intel core i5 cpu. What are you guys thoughts on it, and do you think it will worth upgrading? oh the price tag for the versions of surface pro with 8GB of ram is $1,799.99 for the 512GB storage and $1,299.99 for the 256GB of storage.
Right now I have the Surface Pro 2 pre-ordered. Thinking about getting the wacom companion, though I hate how they didn’t use a haswell chip in them.
If you have the money to spend on a wacom companion i say get it. From what i see it will be a really good device, but if you cant afford it i would go with the surface pro 2. Sure it is not a core i7, and you do get the cool touch strips for quick access to the programs you use, but the surface pro still comes in at a lower price then the wacom companion, and you can still do all of your 3d works and drawings on it.
Surface Pro 3 is out. With 12" screen. http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en-us/products/surface-pro-3
I was thinking about getting one to replace my aging (2007) XPS 15" with attached wacom bamboo. Was zbrush responseive with the older surface 2? And Does it get hot? There is also a choice of the i7 or i5 but its a $250 price difference.
womball i have the surface pro 2 6GB RAM and 512 GB SSD, and zbrush, 3ds max, mudbox, and PS runs very smooth on it. So i know those programs will run just as well on the surface pro 3. And now it comes with a larger screen you will have more view space to work on your projects. With that said i am happy with my surface pro 2, and i don’t think i will be upgrading.