Huh, I had the same issue with buying a Vaio Duo 11 and the support was non-existent. I had to return it, it was so unusable. At that time, there was no driver which enabled Photoshop support. So none of my programs worked at all. It was a little bit finicky as well, I think... but not so sure on that one. I returned the thing hyper-fast once I realized the programs I relied on wouldn't work. I now use a Samsung ATIV Tab 7, about equivalent to the Surface Pro 1, and it's pretty nice. Though the touch screen often gets phantom touches which require a little fidgeting with sleep and power cable to fix...

First off, every tablet seems to have a slight lag when starting a line. You notice it takes a split second for the line to pop over to where you're actually at once you start a new line, right? If that's the case, (or even if it isn't, change this if you haven't), go into your generic tablet pen settings and turn off the option for holding to right click. For touch it's fine to keep that on, but if you have that setting on pen, there's an invisible region where you first lay your pen on the screen, and as long as it's in that region, the driver doesn't recognize clicks, strokes, etc because it's waiting to see if it remains there long enough to count a right-click. And it royally screws up drawing.

Second, since I'm currently in love with Clip Studio Paint and I think it does have support for N-Trig's drivers, you should give the trial a shot and see how it runs. The interface is perfect for tablets like these. It allows for touch panning, zooming, rotation, has great interface customization and settings to make the buttons large enough for touch, and better still, makes it very easy to hide panels you don't need and use the maximum amount of screen real-estate available for drawing. And the brush settings actually manage to be more in-depth than Photoshop's, believe it or not.

I'm curious, though, what made you choose the Vaio Duo 13? The 11 was probably one of the most expensive tablets on the market at the time, and it looks like the 13 isn't exactly on the affordable side either. I'm not sure what your needs are, resolution- and processing-wise (as well as what else you might want the tablet for if it's your only computer), but if you're just using it for drawing, and especially if you can make something like Clip Studio Paint work, you might be able to get away with one of the Atom tablets, which can be found with Wacom digitizer in the $300 range. At that price, you could potentially get a cheap gaming laptop and have your ultra-portable small Atom tablet purely for drawing, at the same cost as one of the more powerful tablets.

By the sound of it, the Surface Pro 2 isn't a bad choice for a ~$1000 range tablet if that's what you have your heart set on and the Vaio Duo 13 you have just doesn't work out. I used this place a lot when I was looking for tablet advice so it might be useful to prod around there if you're looking for alternatives: http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/forums/hardware.1/ I wonder if the Cintiq Companion 2 might have a model in your price range?

And a handy thread: http://forum.tabletpcreview.com/thr.....-stylus.52592/

Hope some of this is helpful, at least! I've been through quite the odyssey with all this drawing tablet business, so might as well spread the wealth of knowledge I've worked so hard to build up x3

First of all, thank you so so much for your input. I really appreciate you taking the time to help me out. Might sound silly, but it means a lot. Reason I haven't responded was that some bad driver update had killed my touchscreen altogether, but I managed to fix it.. I think.. for now x3c

Also, yes, from the little bit I got to test it, your trick worked PERFECTLY. I had tried EVERYTHING and I couldn't figure out how to improve that response time. I hate how they put that option in about 3 different places/manners, so you have to disable ALL of them to get the desired effect. I really hope Windows 10 is more straightforward as far as settings goes, instead of this convoluted mish-mash of menus we have now. Thank you so much! Once I get this thing up and running properly again I'm gonna give it some more extensive testing, but it did seem to make a WORLD of difference, so thank you thank you thank you! ^^

I gave it more than a shot, I think I actually bought it a year or two ago, but I just never could really get into it. I believe I might've drawn enough on it to pay for it in commissions, and that was about it. I know you should never be bound to a particular tool but I just find Photoshop delightful to use (to a certain extent - it REALLY isn't meant for touchscreens, even the 2015 CC, they never really revamped the UI to handle it properly). I say if you got along with Clip Studio then more power to you, it's a phenomenal program and I can only wish I would've got along with it~ >.o

I bought this laptop at a pretty good moment in my life. I was making very very reasonable money, I couldn't find time to fit all of my comissions in, I spent a lot of time with friends at Starbucks and so on, and I had been using a very old, very very very slow Toshiba Satellite laptop. It WAS an expensive purchase, but it was probably the only thing I ever "splurged" on in my life. Yes, it is a little overkill, but I wanted an ultrabook that was sleek, light and would serve me well for just about any purpose.

My reasoning was that I've grown used to painting on relatively large documents on Photoshop, probably larger than I needed to be using, but it is a habit I acquired that's hard to get rid off. I was also getting into music production at the time. Had a digital keyboard, FL Studio and all, and I knew I wanted to be able to fiddle with it on a mobile platform. Most of all, I wanted to get something future-proof.

I couldn't get the i7 version (which went out of production in Canada as soon as it went into it o.o), so I settled for the i5. It works BRILLIANTLY.. if you can get over the worst WiFi adapter in the history of laptops (probably not exaggerating by saying that). It was a really nice purchase but I just could never get that "right" feeling you get when using a Wacom tablet, even if a simple one.

I think I might give the Surface Pro 2 a try just because a friend of mine offered me a special price that's.. hard to refuse. Especially because.. if I really dislike it, or can't find a good, justifiable use for it then I could definitely sell it for nearly double what I'd pay for it, and put that money towards a Companion 1 or 2 in the future.

The Companion 2 does interest me a lot, especially because of that whole.. synergy, where no matter if you're home or at a coffee shop, you are essentially using the exact same hardware/software combination to produce artwork, and that's a kind of freedom I've always yearned for. The second edition (Standard) seems to be the best cost-benefit. I hear the two higher end ones have been having extremely disappointing reviews, and that the i7 (which costs over $400 extra) benchmarks almost exactly as the i5, AND uses more power to get there. The i3 is just a waste of money in my opinion - you'd be buying a $1200 piece of hardware that could barely run Photoshop. Sure, if you're intent on getting a tablet that can also be mobile it's a good deal, but my interest is reverse - I want a portable work station first, and a desktop accessory second.

So I figured I'd keep my eyes out and see how Wacom goes about fixing the issues people have been having. If they ever get up to par I could always sell this ultrabook and the Surface Pro 2 and I'd pretty much be able to afford the Companion 2.

What is your opinion on it so far? Have you heard good things about it? Because I've honestly only seem terrible user reviews. Sure, the corporate-ish reviews are pretty high, but as far as actual user feedback it really feels like a generation to be skipped, unless they reaaaally get things fixed.

Oh, and just a thought, but the issues you might be having with phantom touch are probably due to faulty grounding on the device. Might look into possibly getting it fixed under warranty or swapped, as some companies due own up to that kind of issue within' a certain time frame ^^

Once again, thank you so much for taking your time to help me out. It is really appreciated~! <3

Glad to hear that fix worked~ I don't know why it isn't more documented out there; I had to figure out the problem and solution myself. Thankfully on 10, you can easily search for settings, so you just pop "pen" into the Start screen and one of the settings results that comes up will be the one~

I think with Clip Studio, it has its downsides like every program I've used (Gimp, PS, SAI, Krita) but the benefit of it being light on the processor along with the best touch controls I've seen in an art program yet, it was a no-brainer to stick to. I haven't quite gotten to the point where I'm painting well, though. I guess the tools might not handle that as well. The one thing no program has yet to beat from my Photoshop days is the Smudge tool. Both SAI and Krita had basically no capability comparable to that at all. Though it seems Clip Studio might come close, with some tweaking. I still use PS all the time on desktop, because it has a lot of advanced tools, blend modes, layer effects and other fun stuff.

Hehee, yeah, I'm pretty aggravated about the fact I have to wait until November for Sony to release Win10 drivers for the Vaio. This is the one thing I was considering being an early adopter of. If I get my desktop up and running before them I think I'll sacrifice the Vaio and give it a try. As long as I'm not left without "a" computer I should be fine ^^

I'm sure you're right about the brushes on Clip Studio, though. I feel like they look a lot better and feel a lot more natural than Photoshop. PS brushes always felt VERY artificial looking to me, but at the same time that's what attracted me and has kept me faithful to it x3

the surface pro 2 has no friction on it's screen, meaning that the pen glides a fair bit easy over it for loss of accuracy
the pen feels a bit more weighted due to the battery, near the corners of the screen the n-trig loses accuracy and it still has issues with a lot of software working properly, the pen itself doesn't really feel as good as a cintiq's
a huge drawback is actually the lack of physical shortcut buttons, which means you will almost always have to have a bluetooth keyboard or remote that you can customize
that, compared to the 1600$ asking point of the cintiq companion 2 is honestly worth the price, but the companion 2 you can also use as a cintiq, meaning you can draw the power from a desktop/laptop which is substantially more powerful than any mobile device and for heavy rendering/high DPI art it's absolutely necessary
in addition, the surface pro 2 has lower resolution, lower color accuracy compared to the companion's 97%

i will say the surface pro 2 is a nice drawing tool, but be careful about it, i heard a lot of webcomic artists complaining about it quite a bit~

-if- you want a legitimate drawing setup with portability, you will seriously not find anything better than the companion 2
-if- you want just a portable sketchpad that you use here and there for smaller artwork and whatnot, the surface pro 2 is pretty neat :3

First of all... hater~ :3c

But naw, I really really appreciate the feedback. Most of those issues I don't really mind, 'cause the Duo 13 is the same. But are you sure you're not getting your Surfaces mixed up? The Surface Pro 2 is the one with the passive Wacom digitizer, the first and the third are the ones with the N-Trigs, which I'm trying to run as far away from since Adobe and N-Trig seem to be a modern version of the Capuletto and the Montacchio, and we're the ones who end up hurting.

I mean, they did release N-Trig Photoshop drivers but.. I don't know what it is about it, but Photoshop just runs like crap on them. I can do painting on every other program, but Photoshop is just insanely slow, especially for painting brush strokes, which is pretty much the core of my style =/

See, I was looking into the Companion 2 and all I can say is I've seen MANY mixed reviews. I've seen people using the $2600 dollar one with the new Brodequillenbrachenwurst or whatever Intel's new processor is called, and say that it's both slower and laggier than the original Companion 1.

So I wanna wait on the Companion 2. Especially 'cause the super overpriced versions do interest me a lot. But as far as the Companion 1, you can get a refurbished one with a 1 year warranty from Wacom for about $1000. I feel that might be my present choice, honestly ^^

Thing is I have a friend who's willing to sell me his Surface Pro 2, the high end model, for about 60% of what it's going for. So I figured I could give that a try, and if it doesn't work out, that plus my Vaio would get me plenty of money to buy the refurbished Companion 1, and then maybe, in the future, I could resell that and my Intuos and get a Companion 2, depending on how the other review go and stuff :3

I really appreciate the feedback, though, Northy~ <3

first of all, <3

hmmm, actually, the only big complaint i heard of the companion 2 was that it has somewhat loud fan noises
the companion 1 uses a semi-high end 4th generation CPU which means it'll outperform companion 2 for the time being, but at like 1-2 hours of battery life at most while using it
the main issue with that one was the low color accuracy[75%] and the charging port which didn't work on a lot of the units, i'm taking a wild guess that the refurbished ones they are selling now are the ones sent back for that reason, having their charging port fixed
companion 2 uses hashwell, 5th generation, specifically the U series, which stands for ultra-low voltage
the CPUs are much weaker, but they -are- 5th generation, so it's not all that bad and the integrated GPU is far better, most notably, the battery should easily last into the 6-12 hours range which for being a portable sketchbook is really nice

the sad thing is is that regardless of what portable drawing device you look at, they are all far too underpowered for legitimate rendering or 3d modelling
the saving grace of the companion 2 is that it can be connected to the computer as a cintiq, which the surface pros can't be nor can the companion 1 actually![only the hybrid from the first generation companions]
so you're technically also buying a 13inch cintiq

i did hear that the surface pro 2 is better than 3 and i guess that would explain why, if you'll use it for sketching and doing low-key work, i think you'd honestly make a good decision getting the high-end cheap surface pro 2
but if you need a new art setup, i can't recommend anything less than the companion 2 x03 [maybe the hybrid, because that can also be connected to a PC~]

See.. finally.. as in... in the end, I feel like I want to get to the i5 Companion 2, which is exactly the one you suggested, the $1599 one I think. The second model in the tier. I've been reading a lot more into it and learned some interesting things.

For one, the refurbished Cintiq Companions ARE actually better than the originals. Marginally, but there have been design revisions that Wacom never advertised, like shaving off the power button or improving the latching mechanism for the stand, not to mention real issues such as the edge-accuracy of the digitizer and stronger charging plugs/cables. I just realized this ultrabook is 128 Gb, so I figured I could EASILY live with the Companion 1 256 Gb. Which means I could get a solid, proven Companion 1 for $1100~

Second, you are correct - as far as the Companion 2 goes.. APPARENTLY.. if you get the i5 (second tier model) it is a pretty good performer. ANY of the other options are apparently a big dud. The i3 for obvious reasons - if you can't properly run digital painting programs having a $1200 sketchpad seems pretty stupid. The i7 and the next generation Intel seem to both be a humongous mishap.

The i7, for instance, performs almost equally to the i5, while spending more power and costing $400 more. As people said, if the storage is not an issue (and I frankly feel I could LIVE with 128 Gb), then getting the i5 is a no-brainer, especially because it seems with the higher end models.. there must be something with the drivers, I'm guessing, but I've read of multiple people who've received 5 of them that just blatantly could not perform at all.

Out of all I've read, I really have more faith in the Companion 1, but the ability to use the Companion 2 as an actual desktop-tethered tablet is a massive bonus, as well, like you mentioned, the colour accuracy and slightly higher performance.

So we'll just have to see how I deal with it and how I make my way there, and what Wacom does to "fix" those issues (though it REALLY seems they're not doing anything about it =/)

you basically wrote down my exact thought process in regards to them x03~
that's where i stand too :3

Hehee, we did always think alike~ :3c

it's almost suspicious~

Yer suspicious~ x3

~~~~

Really is too bad you can't get a tablet that's the best of all worlds. They all seem to have some fairly significant drawbacks in one way or another. But at least with the Companion 2, you have a sort of "future-proof" element in being able to plug it into a PC to use as a standard Cintiq.

Curious, if you have the Vaio still, did you try my suggestion in my first comment? I wonder if that would fix the lag. Probably wouldn't be enough to salvage the whole N-Trig driver situation, but just wondering if I was wrong about the cause of that issue.