Well yeah you can get more performance if you buy a new desktop 
Portability is always a trade off.
Iāve tried ArtRage and Clip Studio. Both have really good multitouch, but ArtRage doesnāt have good palm rejection. Neither does the full version of Sketchbook, although their simpler metro app does.
I mainly use Photoshop, which has no fingerpainting nonsense. Also donāt get stray marks in ZBrush.
I took the plunge today, ordering the i7 16 gb version. I plugged an exernal hd into it with some pics and a movie of it to see how fast it played. And how well it displayed. And both felt zippy, as did browsing zbrushcentral.
And they only had the one step up from bottom line m processor on display, so I think Iāll be happy. Question:does it come with the variety set of pentips? It was only $10, so I ordered them in case it doesnāt.
Do you have issues activating and deactivating zbrush between your systems? (Iāve pretty much activated on the same single system now for 6 years.)
Looking foreward to more horsepower and a portable systemā¦ and a week after I get this, we also have a ultimaker 2+ extended 3d printer arriving as well. Itās Christmas in Jan here! 
Congrats! Youāll get awesome performance in ZBrush with the i7. And I would go crazy with a 3D printer.
I have sp3, so not sure on the pen tips
Also deactivating/activating across machines is quick and easy, as long as theyāre the same os
Yeah, both will be on windows 10, which Iām pretty happy with.
If you saw the list of things ny wife already wants me to print, you wouldnāt believe itā¦ I might never get to my own original stuff! Lol!
Iām looking forward to seeing what kind of quality I get from some nice zbrush sculpts.
Hi all. I recently picked up a Surface Pro 4, mostly for use as a zBrush sketchbook. I went for the i7 with 8GB ram.
Iāve downloaded winter and disabled flicks and my performance is good but Iām having major stability problems with zBrush.
Basically, I get a crash when I perform a dynamesh operation. My standard test is to load the program and choose the dynamesh 128 ball from the Lightbox. Generally sculpt it a bit and then dynamesh it again. Most of the time the program immediately crashes. If it doesnāt then I can usually continue quite reliably performing more dynamesh without incident. But that first one kills the program about 75% of the time.
Usual error is āzbrush executable has stopped workingā with no real info.
Occasionally I get
INTERNAL ERROR .\List.cpp Line:560
Locked main mem in list-out
Object:
then a message to email pixologic.
Now, before I go ahead on that front I thought Iād see if anyone here had experienced similar and had a fix. Right now the Surface is unusable for zBrush. Which is rather less than ideal. I appreciate any info you guys might have.
Edit: Should say Surface is running a fully updated Win 10 and Iām using 64bit 4R7 P3
From what James said, zbrush should be working fine. Does this happen on every model, or just a specific one?
Hiya
First up just re-edited my previous post. Autocorrect had changed every incidence of the word dynamesh to something else so it must have read very odd. Sorry everyoneā¦
Anyway, itās not a specific model file. I start with the dynamesh128 and thatās been my tryout model. I could do some experiments with loading in other models but a basic dynamesh ball should be bulletproof surely?
Editā¦ and, how weird. Iāve only given it about 15 minutes of testing but, so far it does seem to only be the dynamesh128 ball that crashes it (thatās my normal starting point). Tried the other dynamesh balls and also the fat warrior guy and the dog (both converted to dynamesh). Thatā¦ is bizarre!
Well, at least you can work around that. Since I have a surfave pro coming in a few days, you got me worried.
Any must have specific surface apps or utilities I should snag for it? The included drawing app seemed pretty basic, but at least better than mspaintā¦lol!
Iāve not used my Surface Pro much yet. To be honest its primary usage is for zBrush as I have other machines for other purposes. I hear great things about Sketchbook Pro and Mischief on it though.
Incidentally, other than the crashing problem (that is hopefully an isolated problem) zBrush seems really good. Iām expecting to make myself a custom interface for it though as itās a bit fiddly. Probably going to pair it with small bluetooth keyboard for the keys rather than an on screen solution. It works pretty well with the keyboard cover but Iād like something a bit smaller as the surface is a little too far along my legs on my lap with the keyboard cover attached (the trackpad adds a lot to the size).
My only real warning is that you should be prepared for a lot of time to do all the initial updates. Took me nearly four hours of downloading, installing and rebootingā¦
Oh, Iām used to long update times between 2 desktops, 1 laptop, one tablet, and 2 smartphones. Manga studio is supposed to be the premier sketching/inking app all the cool kids are using. Iāll add that, flipboard, lightwave 3d, and zbrush as my basic apps. Iām really concerned about limited hd space, but I have a ps4 hd in an external case that worked perfectly at the store for data storage. Iām hoping to fin or make a lap table thing for sitting on the couch and working while my wife does homework.
I havenāt had any dynamesh crashes, and use it heavily. Will try that preloaded zpr later
I was back to the office today so tried the dynamesh 128 ball on my workstation installā¦ lo and beholdā¦ it immediately crashed upon trying to dynamesh it.
Seems itās not a Surface problem at all. Looks like that project file is somehow not working right.
I have that problem too.
If I load the projectfile with 128 dynamesh ball in 64bit zbrush, latest version,
do some modeling with the move brush and do a re-dynamesh with ctrl-leftmouse drag,
zbrush crashes.
I run Zbrush on a 64bit win 7 ultimate machine.
in 32bit version of zbrush I get this errors.
not a big problem of course,
as you can always use another sphere and dynamesh that to start with.
Iāve been reading up more, and it looks like the surface pro 4 throttles to conserve battery. There is also a way to create a āpower userā power profile so the processors run full speed.
I should get mine on Wedsā¦ I canāt wait!
Edit: There is a beta driver you can install that supposedly cures sleep power drain issues:
http://www.neowin.net/news/new-intel-drivers-appear-to-solve-surface-pro-4-sleep-power-consumption-issue
Any throttling happens when the fans spin fast and cpu temp gets high. Itās also to keep it from getting too hot. Trust me, it can cook. Especially when rendering, but youāll be thankful for that high gear.
The good news is ZBrush doesnāt really kick the fans in (not on sp3 i7 anyway). Sometimes a whisper, but mostly nothing. You wonāt experience throttling while sculpting. Maybe some when doing complex keyshot renders, gaming, etc
Iām on the surface nowā¦ its SO speedy compared with my old system. installing zbrush after dinner.
Iāve been on my Surface Book since it came out, but only have done some minor Zbrushing. So far itās fantastic, and I love it more than anything. My only complaint is sometimes when I try to zoom in or out I have to hold alt and move the model up or down first, then let go of alt and start zooming. If I try it too quickly it doesnāt exactly register. But thatās only about a 1 sec delay in my time so itās not a big deal.
I canāt get used to the radial menu, so I normally leave it in normal laptop mode (instead of flipping it over and using it like a tablet) so I can use the keyboard for my modifier keys.
I canāt rave about the Surface book enough, and Iāve had no lagging/loading issues that I didnāt have on my ASUS ROG suped up gaming PC.
Initial thoughts on Expresskey Remote
Great build quality. Feels great in hand, very natural to use.
Compared to RadialMenu, which I love, itās a bit more consistent. Iāve had random dropouts while holding a hotkey in RM. (not too bad though)
Instantly responsive
17 buttons + 3 touch rings + wacom radial menu w/ sublevels. Just a ton of possible commands.
Opens up precious screen space
I donāt think itās a must have vs. RM or a keyboard, but itās damn good. 
Any idea what memory settings I should use for 16 gb ram?
Iāve been out of 3D for a long time, but plan to get a Surface Pro to get my hands dirty in ZBrush again. Iām on a bit of a budget so Iām looking for a hardware spec recommendation. If I can only get either an i5 with 16GB or an i7 with 8GBā¦ which would perform better for ZBrush?