4 ms·

Interesting. We now have an actual niche/use case where the Surface Pro could be a compelling leader, and not just "totally decent." Artists. Also, doesn't a

Interesting. We now have an actual niche/use case where the Surface Pro could be a compelling leader, and not just "totally decent." Artists. Also, doesn't an apple-style commercial where somebody gets an email with a word doc attached, edits it, and emails it back with changes while on the train or something seem obvious....

majormajor 14y ago
Ever since it was first announced I thought it would be an ideal on-the-go photo management/editing program (I could easily get by in Lightroom without a keyboard, and the pen would be tons of fun) so it's cool to see that they hit that mark for that. I'm going to hold off until a cooler/longer battery life revision 2, though. Or possibly a ThinkPad Helix or something, but that's still not really a loss for MS. MS's schizophrenia (or whatever) strikes again on that second one, though: the cheap model comes with Office, the full-featured one doesn't. I guess they're trying to push everyone to subscriptions, but it's one of those cases where having an out-of-box just-works Office doc editing solution would be a great marketing bullet point. The Surface Pro isn't going to replace a laptop for me, but it comes much closer to being something I'd consider taking as my sole device on a trip than an iPad or Android tablet. (Somewhat amusing in that the laptop it would be replacing on that hypothetical trip is a MBP.)
- andrewjshults 14y ago
  Back in the day, I used the original lightroom on a Toshiba m200 (one of the original XP tablet machines). Even with the greater weight, far more limited battery life and relatively limited processing power (I think I had a 2.0GHz single core - mostly processing 4MP files off the 1DmkI so it was able to keep up decently), the Wacom digitizer in screen was amazing for touchups (it makes masking so much faster than anything else). If someone comes up with a case that makes it more usable on the lap as a laptop, I could see replacing my MBA with it for most uses.
  - taude 14y ago
    Modern Lightroom uses WAY more resources than earlier versions, especially when using the newer brush and gradient tools. I find my new 15" MBP/SSD/16 Gigs RAM/etc seems to get pushed pretty hard. I'd be curious how well Lightroom runs on the Surface Pro, or similar.
Tloewald 14y ago
Pages on ios can edit word docs, even round-tripping change tracking. But yes, I -- a hardened Apple guy -- am interested in the Surface Pro for this exact use case and also 3d modeling/painting/sculpting.
Terretta 14y ago
> Also, doesn't an apple-style commercial where somebody gets an email with a word doc attached, edits it, and emails it back with changes while on the train or something seem obvious.... Do that all the time with an iPad. This ad needs to show the pressure sensitive pen. Why not Sketchbook Pro just like in the review? And MSFT needs to pressure Adobe, stat. Get Lightroom pen editing running on it as well.
phaus 14y ago
This use case has been around for at least several years, but it's a niche market. I'm not a professional, but to me drawing is what I consider a serious hobby, so a few years ago I bought an Asus EP121 Slate. Almost everyone likes to doodle from time to time, so I'm hoping that Microsoft's push for tablets with actual digitizers in them catches on. So far, the devices aren't exactly where I'd like them to be, but there's definitely some progress being made. Ideally, I'd like to see Apple (the company that claims to be for creative types) implement a true Wacom digitizer into the iPad. Drawing with a capacitive stylus is like cutting off the tips of your fingers and trying to type. Every attempt at a pressure sensitive workaround for the iPad has thus far been absolutely horrible. If Apple just got over their dislike of the stylus, and implemented a proper digitizer into the iPad, probably every artist in the country would buy one to play around with.
- tripzilch 14y ago
  > Drawing with a capacitive stylus is like cutting off the tips of your fingers and trying to type. Never tried but I can totally imagine :) From my experiences with iPads, I'd compare it to fingerpainting, but I guess your description is more .. vivid :) But I get from the article, and how the author seems pretty satisfied with it, that the Surface uses a different, better technology for t6hat?
  - phaus 14y ago
    Yea, the Surface uses the ideal solution, a Wacom digitizer.
    - slantyyz 14y ago
      The Samsung Note series of phones and tablets also use the Wacom, as does the Atom-based Thinkpad Tablet 2. I was considering the Note 10.1 and ThinkPad Tablet 2 for their pens and stumbled on this comparison last week: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncegf0Em7m4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncegf0Em7m4 It does appear that the more horsepower your tablet has, the better suited it is to doing pen-based art. It's pretty clear in the video that a full-powered desktop CPU is better than the Atom and the mobile CPU for sketching.
jagermo 14y ago
Another niche would be journalists (and of course bloggers). I visit trade shows a lot and every gramm i can could down is nice. I tried the iPad, but it didn't realy work, mostly because I was unable to connect the camera in a decent way (the camera connection kit is a joke).

majormajor 14y ago

Ever since it was first announced I thought it would be an ideal on-the-go photo management/editing program (I could easily get by in Lightroom without a keyboard, and the pen would be tons of fun) so it's cool to see that they hit that mark for that. I'm going to hold off until a cooler/longer battery life revision 2, though. Or possibly a ThinkPad Helix or something, but that's still not really a loss for MS. MS's schizophrenia (or whatever) strikes again on that second one, though: the cheap model comes with Office, the full-featured one doesn't. I guess they're trying to push everyone to subscriptions, but it's one of those cases where having an out-of-box just-works Office doc editing solution would be a great marketing bullet point. The Surface Pro isn't going to replace a laptop for me, but it comes much closer to being something I'd consider taking as my sole device on a trip than an iPad or Android tablet. (Somewhat amusing in that the laptop it would be replacing on that hypothetical trip is a MBP.)

andrewjshults 14y ago
Back in the day, I used the original lightroom on a Toshiba m200 (one of the original XP tablet machines). Even with the greater weight, far more limited battery life and relatively limited processing power (I think I had a 2.0GHz single core - mostly processing 4MP files off the 1DmkI so it was able to keep up decently), the Wacom digitizer in screen was amazing for touchups (it makes masking so much faster than anything else). If someone comes up with a case that makes it more usable on the lap as a laptop, I could see replacing my MBA with it for most uses.
- taude 14y ago
  Modern Lightroom uses WAY more resources than earlier versions, especially when using the newer brush and gradient tools. I find my new 15" MBP/SSD/16 Gigs RAM/etc seems to get pushed pretty hard. I'd be curious how well Lightroom runs on the Surface Pro, or similar.

Tloewald 14y ago

Pages on ios can edit word docs, even round-tripping change tracking. But yes, I -- a hardened Apple guy -- am interested in the Surface Pro for this exact use case and also 3d modeling/painting/sculpting.

Terretta 14y ago

> Also, doesn't an apple-style commercial where somebody gets an email with a word doc attached, edits it, and emails it back with changes while on the train or something seem obvious.... Do that all the time with an iPad. This ad needs to show the pressure sensitive pen. Why not Sketchbook Pro just like in the review? And MSFT needs to pressure Adobe, stat. Get Lightroom pen editing running on it as well.

phaus 14y ago

This use case has been around for at least several years, but it's a niche market. I'm not a professional, but to me drawing is what I consider a serious hobby, so a few years ago I bought an Asus EP121 Slate. Almost everyone likes to doodle from time to time, so I'm hoping that Microsoft's push for tablets with actual digitizers in them catches on. So far, the devices aren't exactly where I'd like them to be, but there's definitely some progress being made. Ideally, I'd like to see Apple (the company that claims to be for creative types) implement a true Wacom digitizer into the iPad. Drawing with a capacitive stylus is like cutting off the tips of your fingers and trying to type. Every attempt at a pressure sensitive workaround for the iPad has thus far been absolutely horrible. If Apple just got over their dislike of the stylus, and implemented a proper digitizer into the iPad, probably every artist in the country would buy one to play around with.

tripzilch 14y ago
> Drawing with a capacitive stylus is like cutting off the tips of your fingers and trying to type. Never tried but I can totally imagine :) From my experiences with iPads, I'd compare it to fingerpainting, but I guess your description is more .. vivid :) But I get from the article, and how the author seems pretty satisfied with it, that the Surface uses a different, better technology for t6hat?
- phaus 14y ago
  Yea, the Surface uses the ideal solution, a Wacom digitizer.
  - slantyyz 14y ago
    The Samsung Note series of phones and tablets also use the Wacom, as does the Atom-based Thinkpad Tablet 2. I was considering the Note 10.1 and ThinkPad Tablet 2 for their pens and stumbled on this comparison last week: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncegf0Em7m4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncegf0Em7m4 It does appear that the more horsepower your tablet has, the better suited it is to doing pen-based art. It's pretty clear in the video that a full-powered desktop CPU is better than the Atom and the mobile CPU for sketching.

jagermo 14y ago

Another niche would be journalists (and of course bloggers). I visit trade shows a lot and every gramm i can could down is nice. I tried the iPad, but it didn't realy work, mostly because I was unable to connect the camera in a decent way (the camera connection kit is a joke).