2012 Win8 Sketching Tablets

!@#%* They all keep falling short in one way or another! #$%^&

I can’t dumb down to an 11.6" size for sketching, our 14.1" Toshiba Tecras are as small as I’d like to go, but I don’t see anyone venturing into the 14-15-or-above range, so I’ve been looking only at the largest stylus supported tablets.

Here are two good links for summaries of what’s out there (except for the CES stuff, hopefully they’ll add the new ones soon);

https://sites.google.com/site/davidsmithsprojects/other-projects/windows-8-tablets

I got word of the Asus Taichi (there’s an 11.6" version already available but I found out there’s a larger 13.3" version. The CONS include a wimpy graphics engine and the stylus is NTrig (so only 256 pressure levels);

http://taichi.asus.com/

Then this morning I got wind of a BIG tablet just for DESIGNERS, architects and photographers (huh??) The Panasonic 4K Tablet (that’s it’s model designation but might likely end up being its price too). 20" tablet (that’s not a typo), Core i7, lots of ram, NVidia GEForce graphics engine, stylus support…COOL;

Wow, seemingly everything we want - then I dug deeper, the CONS appear to be 2 hr battery life and a fake stylus (it uses the Anoto Live digital pen; http://www.anoto.com/lng/en/pageTag/page:products/mode/view/documentId/998/ and then the dream died.

We’re probably spoiled by our Tecra’s Wacom sensitivity - does anyone have good feedback for NTrig? If it was acceptable, then the Taichi 31 would be worth a look.

So freaking true.

It’s either a too-small screen with a nice ID, or a larger screen/0lder convertible with a less attractive look (that matters to me)

I’d like to hear a sketcher review of the N-Trig too. I’ve heard is that you have to have a battery in the stylus…

ATIV 11.6 Win 8 Slate vs. last year’s 13in Fujitsu Lifebook T902

Makes the lifebook seem like the solid choice, but it’s just not as s e x y …

And of course the MS Surface Tablet. Review here

3rd Gen Intel Core i5 Processor with Intel HD Graphics 4000
4GB RAM—Dual Channel Memory
10.6-inch ClearType Full HD Display
1920 x 1080 resolution

Cost? Date?

Wow - 27 in Tablet! No Stylus (could have one?)… 27" MULTI-USER, MULTIMODE, MULTITOUCH TABLE PC.

IBM IDEA CENTER

I’d assume if it’s a standard capacitive screen you could use any off the shelf capacitive stylus, but it won’t have a Wacom digitizer.

Regarding the big Lenovo (and a similar 27" SONY) as soon as I saw the commercial of the little girl using a kids-paintbrush on the screen I was on SONY.com and chatting with tech support, only to be told it would support a capacitive stylus (like trenching-in tiny sprinkler pipes with a bulldozer).

The Fujitsu is like our Tecras, except I guess the newest Fujitsu’s have a touchscreen so you could at least enjoy Windows 8 touch experience on a bulky convertible - but if I’m not mistaken, none of the convertibles are available anymore with Nvidia graphics, so we’ve kept the Tecras up and running for the time being instead.

There is a Euro unit I’ve posted about before, the Paceblade PM240;
http://tablet-news.com/2012/03/09/cebit-2012-paceblade-pm240-windows-8-tablet-uses-core-i7-processor-video/
http://www.paceblade.com/index.php?products_details=2
So far I haven’t found any US electronics distributors carrying this but I’ll be in Barcelona in March and plan to visit their distributor (I might throw a sketchbook pro installer on a jump drive and see if they’ll let me test it out).
PROS; Core i7, lots of ram, big HD, 2 batteries, 12.1", Wacom stylus, docking port, can order one spec’d as you like.
CONS; hefty, not sure of the graphics engine, ship to the EU in case of service?

That Panasonic 20" is getting my hopes up (even though it is an N-trig stylus).
http://dvice.com/archives/2013/01/panasonic-shows-2.php

@Travissimo, my modbook has been gathering dust. I was using it quite a bit at the beginning but the bezel around the screen and the thickness of the tablet made sketching pretty frustrating. The size of the screen feels pretty cramped too.

A bit late to the party, but may have some useful info!

Have been looking into this for the past few weeks, as my Lenovo X60t is on its last legs now, which isn’t great, especially if you just want to have a mess around sketching in an evening. My partner has an iPad, but I have never really gotten to grips using a stylus with it due to the lack of palm rejection. What I am really after is a windows 8 tablet…

After a lot of digging I found that the Samsung S Pen is indeed a wacom stylus, just rebranded. This means that pretty much any of the new Samsung tablets, as long as they come with an S Pen, should be fairly good with sketching. The problem then becomes software, as the android version of SBP is fairly paired down in my experience.

The Samsung ATIV Smart PC Pro comes across as a bit slugish in the video that @Travisimo posted, but this is only the standard version using an atom processor - in my opinion the atom is a bit slow to handle SBP with lots of layers. They do however have a pro version, which has increased ram etc. This is currently going for about £1k GBP. That may change things.
It sounds like a real solid contender in my view, but the reviews of the accompanying keyboard are rubbish - so it would have to be a sketch only device rather than a laptop that you can sketch on.

The Fujitsu T902 and its counterpart that splits apart both have wacom enabled stylus’, however despite good reviews in the US, there are no dates on when it will appear in the UK, and like mentioned before, it isn’t as nice looking or as easy to pick up and sling around.

My main question at the moment is regarding the MS Surface Pro - some of the digital arts forums have posted a response from Wacom saying that they do make the screen on the Pro version - would that make it a contender? Has anyone had any hands on experience?

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KenoLeon, thanks for sharing your review - Thinkpad II did seem like it had potential.

about the screen resolution and things being too small - I have the same X60 12in that HRhv has and the resolution is so low that the tool menus cover a third of the screen. 10in seems small anyway

It really seems that going for anything less than an i5 or i7 processor isn’t going to be responsive, and most of the tablets seem to be atom processor

HRhv - Surface Pro does have a wacom… wish they’d release it already, I really want a new machine

I think we’ve settled on a designer desktop scenario (at least until we try the stylus on the Asus Taichi31).

Now that all the hoopla is out there from CES, it’s clear that none of the Win8 tablets seem to hit all the marks, so we’re going to try a two PC approach;

For maximum productivity, we’re going with a desktop Asus AIO 2300 for each designer; http://sg.asus.com/Allinone_PCs/23_inch/ET2300INTI/#specifications 23" is big enough for good CAD work, it’s got the i7 processor, fast RAM, big SSD, all touch capable and Widi for flatscreen/presentation connectivity and most importantly has an Nvidia GeForce GPU.

For maximum portability, we’re also going with an Asus Taichi 31 laptop/tablet hybrid for each designer; http://taichi.asus.com/#SpecDetailList It can be spec’d with an i7 and pretty good RAM and SSD, but I’m iffy on the stylus responsiveness with the crappy Intel GPU but preliminary reports are positive and it’s the only 13.3" model out there, so our 14.1" Toshiba Tecras won’t be missed too much. I can see the two screens being useful.

The 2300 is available now but we’re still waiting to get a crack at a Taichi31 for a sketch test. If anyone out there sees a Taichi31 and gets to play with it, please do fill us in!

Here’s a video regarding the Taichi31 (it’s been released in AUZ) ASUS Taichi 31 Dual Screen Laptop Tablet Review and Unboxing - YouTube

He’s incorrect that it is Wacom, maybe its such a good NTrig he can’t tell the difference?? :wink:

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Great review KenoLeon!
I have a previous version of that (the X60T) which works really well for day to day sketches.

Now for a few updates:
I went to the BETT show last week, which was exceptionally useful for seeking out and trying sketching gear. Here is what I found out:

Lenovo
In addition to the 230 (which KenoLeon just reviewed) and the Thinkpad 2, Lenovo are bringing out another tablet with a wacom penabled stylus. The Helix tablet runs full windows 8 pro with a core i7 processor (I think). I managed to get my hands on it and have a go. First thoughts: Although the tablet looks great, the keyboard joining mechanism is MASSIVELY over engineered. There are prongs all over the place, catches and flaps that fold onto the back. It felt light enough in my hands, but I would be immediately worried that these would snap or break in regular use.
The keypad section though does have some use - unlike a lot of other keypad add ons, it includes an extra battery (the bloke on the stand said it brought it up to 18 hours battery life - not sure how accurate that it) and additional ports.

Unlike most of the computers on the stands, the Helix had sketchbook installed on the demo unit. This is where I found the problem. Although the stylus is small, it is still quite comfortable to use, but the accuracy was way off. Similar to the review of the thinkpad 2, the digitiser was about 2-3mm out when sketching, and despite going to the very depths of the settings of the device, I couldn’t change or recalibrate it. This for me is a deal breaker - I am looking for the tablet for purely sketching, and this coupled with the clunky mechanism and hinge rule it out.

Microsoft
Typically, the MS stand didn’t have any Surface Pros to show, but they did have some info on it. The stylus definitely is wacom, and is pressure sensitive. If the price point is low enough, this could be really good. The reviews Review: Microsoft Surface Pro | WIRED of the pro came out today, and the stylus actually looks pretty neat - much bigger than the likes of the lenovo or the samsung.

Samsung
We have talked before about the ATIV Smart PC - I managed to have a real play around with the Pro version. This for me looks like the best choice out there. There is a noticeable weight difference between it and the standard Smart PC, but it still feels light enough to hold and sketch on comfortably. The stylus (S Pen) is again made by wacom (and seems to be getting a lot of support, hence samsung buying big shares in wacom last week), and is contained really nicely in the back of the tablet. If the stylus does seem to be a bug bare in terms of size, I took out my lenovo stylus from my x60t (which is quite a bulky pen) and it worked perfectly on it - a good solution if you want a different feel when you sketch.
The machine was fast. The pro version has full windows and a core i5 processor, which makes it easily capable of running SBP and even CAD with some efficiency. I may see if I can trial one for a few weeks, or even just buy one outright. At £900 it is also one of the cheapest options out there.

Help all that helps!

In case anyone was interested in a review of the ASUS Taichi 31 (I wanted to try it out because of it’s 13.3" size) it is now apparently delayed until December 2013 (I’d bet they have their hands full attempting to gain traction with the Taichi 21 (11.6" screen)). http://www.digitaltrends.com/laptop-reviews/asus-taichi-31-review/

We can’t wait another year to upgrade sketching hardware so I’m now back on track to test a Paceblade 240 later this month.

Came to the same conclusion myself, Hywel… just pulled the trigger on a Samsung Ativ yesterday and the wife is going to pick it up in Houston next week.

I really wanted something sleek and and it fit the bill without waiting til summer or fall. Plus I don’t need that much power for sketching and presentations, as I have other computers for that

It’s got an i5, even if it is a slower one, so it should be plenty fast. If it isn’t , then it’ll go right onto ebay

That stinks Scott…

Another update on potential winners (or losers): Talked with the Paceblade folks in Sweden, who directed me to the folks they buy it from. Who would’ve thought it’s a US company;

http://www.tabletkiosk.com/products/sahara/i500_overview.asp

I’d heard of TabletKiosk before, but not for PCs…that Paceblade PM240 unit is the same as the Sahara i550, a new version of the unit above (Sahara i500).

PROs
i7 processor
WACOM (yayyyy)
widi
displayport (for multiple monitors)
5 finger multi-touch (for Windows 8 )
fingerprint reader security
12.1" touchscreen (better than 11.6!)
dual batteries

CONs
HEAVY (3.3lb)
Intel HD graphics engine (but he claims it works great in this configuration)
only a 12.1" screen (worse than a 13.3", 14.1" or bigger)
only WXGA (1280x800) screen resolution.

An interesting product with some new and some aging spec’s but still better suited to our specific needs than these mainstream Win 8 tablets we’re seeing (if you’re doing field research or serious sketching / CAD work while traveling, this is probably going to be a great unit). I’ve asked the TabeltKiosk folks to get one to us for a tryout, I’ll try to video how well it works.