Art Tablets - MS Surface Pro's viable enough?
10 months ago
Keep in mind I live out in the boonies, so aside from rarely having this spending money, keeping up-to-date on tech out in no-where isn't an easy thing.
Also could've sworn I asked about this before but I can't find any relevant journals about it.
Needed to know if those MicroShaftSoft Surface Pros are sufficient for art?
Been seeing the prices on many dropping to around $100 (used), so is in a budget range now.
Would also ironically be better since the nervousness itself in having expensive equipment increases my chance of accidentally'ing stuff (is one of the reasons had to avoid graphics tablets).
Preliminary research suggests a Pro version 4 or 5 might be best for my range (but at least 8GB RAM).
In general, the Pro 8 seems the most recommended but that's too new for my budget.
I'm aware the 4 (& 5 to a lesser degree) are known to have some issues like being too-high-rez(makes text & icons tiny), occasional sleep issues & false menu triggering issues if held vertically.
But I'm poor so I can't be too picky.
*This also might help alleviate the issue with most modern art software refusing to install (on my Win7 machine)(?)
*ALSO - for others considering, it seems the Surface Pros are only so-so for Pro-Artists, their recommendations tend to favor special elite ipads & other things I never heard of for professional use.
Battery;
Would like to know if they can be used without the battery?
Looking it up suggests they use AC adapters but nothing clear on if only recharges or can power it.
I don't trust Li-ion batteries, especially since everything around here is prone to corrosion..
Though I'd might try to rig up some power capacitance like a series of NiMh batteries that could fit, obviously just for short-term uses if unplugged (like power outages), but gotta do more research like make sure the recharging system wont reject that, minimal amperage needed, etc.
Can WiFi be disabled?;
Security concern, aside from people saying things like their devices getting bricked due to auto-updates, Don't like the idea of everything having mics & cams on them - such creeps me out.
UPDATE;
Seems all the versions, at least 8 & below are literally glued together (looked up internals).
Makes repairs & battery issues too much of a problem, so screw that.
Would have to look into alternatives that can be maintained (if any).
Anyway, took forever, but found almost 70% of the items needed for now so far..
But I'm so out of practice it took 3 weeks to find stuff..
Though it seems online stores gotten even less helpful in searches, filling results with too many irrelevant things like unrelated items & crap like "local pickup only, 60+ miles away"(can't shut that off/CANT CARE-STOP IT).
Though the other prob is I keep forgetting about the tax & shipping, so there goes some of the intended items on the list.
Though why is there a tax on the used items now?!
These things were already taxed when new, geez.
I also wonder if there's good but cheap Android mini-tablets that's good for general media & projects
(write notes on the go, can play shows, run (retro) emulators, etc)
But some other day maybe.
For now I gotta wait on this since my paypal account used to order this stuff has that damn usage limit.
Though if anyone wants me to speed this up I could use another 100 or so (but next month).
Also could've sworn I asked about this before but I can't find any relevant journals about it.
Needed to know if those MicroShaftSoft Surface Pros are sufficient for art?
Been seeing the prices on many dropping to around $100 (used), so is in a budget range now.
Would also ironically be better since the nervousness itself in having expensive equipment increases my chance of accidentally'ing stuff (is one of the reasons had to avoid graphics tablets).
Preliminary research suggests a Pro version 4 or 5 might be best for my range (but at least 8GB RAM).
In general, the Pro 8 seems the most recommended but that's too new for my budget.
I'm aware the 4 (& 5 to a lesser degree) are known to have some issues like being too-high-rez(makes text & icons tiny), occasional sleep issues & false menu triggering issues if held vertically.
But I'm poor so I can't be too picky.
*This also might help alleviate the issue with most modern art software refusing to install (on my Win7 machine)(?)
*ALSO - for others considering, it seems the Surface Pros are only so-so for Pro-Artists, their recommendations tend to favor special elite ipads & other things I never heard of for professional use.
Battery;
Would like to know if they can be used without the battery?
Looking it up suggests they use AC adapters but nothing clear on if only recharges or can power it.
I don't trust Li-ion batteries, especially since everything around here is prone to corrosion..
Though I'd might try to rig up some power capacitance like a series of NiMh batteries that could fit, obviously just for short-term uses if unplugged (like power outages), but gotta do more research like make sure the recharging system wont reject that, minimal amperage needed, etc.
Can WiFi be disabled?;
Security concern, aside from people saying things like their devices getting bricked due to auto-updates, Don't like the idea of everything having mics & cams on them - such creeps me out.
UPDATE;
Seems all the versions, at least 8 & below are literally glued together (looked up internals).
Makes repairs & battery issues too much of a problem, so screw that.
Would have to look into alternatives that can be maintained (if any).
Anyway, took forever, but found almost 70% of the items needed for now so far..
But I'm so out of practice it took 3 weeks to find stuff..
Though it seems online stores gotten even less helpful in searches, filling results with too many irrelevant things like unrelated items & crap like "local pickup only, 60+ miles away"(can't shut that off/CANT CARE-STOP IT).
Though the other prob is I keep forgetting about the tax & shipping, so there goes some of the intended items on the list.
Though why is there a tax on the used items now?!
These things were already taxed when new, geez.
I also wonder if there's good but cheap Android mini-tablets that's good for general media & projects
(write notes on the go, can play shows, run (retro) emulators, etc)
But some other day maybe.
For now I gotta wait on this since my paypal account used to order this stuff has that damn usage limit.
Though if anyone wants me to speed this up I could use another 100 or so (but next month).
Twotails
~twotails
OP
Nope, got a nice used graphics tablet of another brand though.
FA+