Acer Switch 7

How is the heat on the back in long creative sessions? If you were running say, large files/projects and brushes, on photoshop or CSP do you notice throttling and lag? I wonder this because I also plan to use it for light Zbrushing if possible. I'm trying the Notebook 9 Pro right now and this one seems like a dream device (also available on amazon!). I'm stuck between this, 8gb VAIO Z Canvas, Notebook 9 Pro, or 8 gb Zbook z2 G4.

 

No problems with heat or throttling in standard creative apps! Runs very cool. Performance is what you'd expect from a laptop in terms of large brushes and the such, but the latency and smoothness of the pen is leagues above non EMR devices.

Zbrush...although it uses a weird 2.5D system, it may still behave like a game and require constant CPU and GPU usage, I'll have to test it out and get back to you.

 

Its a tough choice with so few options.

The VAIO was a great model. More portable form factor and a beautiful screen. The processor has the same performance, but is hotter and noisier, and the device will perform worse in creative apps due to the lack of dedicated graphics. It uses the inferior N-Trig for its pen, and it's been discontinued (you are basically buying old, unsupported, overpriced stock).

The Notebook 9 pro (8th gen 16 gig) is a great choice. Same specs as the Switch mostly, but in a larger form factor. I travel, so personally, the Switch is already too big for me, but for extended desk use, the Samsung's 15 inch screen would be nice (though it is only 1080p). The battery is most likely superior too, though the device lacks thundebolt. Also Samsung support > Acer (working with them has been a nightmare).

The 8 gig 7500U Zbook will be significantly slower than all of the above machines, and its a really beefy boi, even larger (side buttons) and thicker than the Samsung. I wouldnt bother with this one unless you were willing to drop the 2kUSD+ on the the better configurations.

Sadly, the Switch, Samsung, and Zbook are the only wacom EMR devices I can find, and we don't have any whiskey lake options yet

 

Yeah it is quite unfortunate. I picked up a notebook 9 pro (it's what I'm trying right now) and it's a bit too clunky and big for drawing with any mobility, and my specific one has a dead pixel, so I will be returning it. The S pen is nice, and the experience would probably be better with a more sizable pen but the experience is not amazing. Also I never realized how important the screen size to res relation is. Notebook 9 pro isn't bad, but it's actually glaring the pixel density vs size when drawing; it's just grainy. The more dense smaller screened tablets like the iPad and surface are way more enjoyable to look at and draw on due to this, so I think I'm going to shoot for lower than the Switch in the end. The Miix 720 seems pretty good, with what I believe is AES 2.0 on the new pen it should be about as good as EMR, and the the thunderbolt port may be helpful. It's not absolutely ideal at 7th gen lowend (8gb) but the aspects around it seem good, I just can't really find many people talking about it. Honestly else than it I can't really think of any significant alternatives. Galaxy Book 2 seems too weak, and this seems a bit too big. Really all this looking around makes me with the iPad Pro was a windows machine , although that would obviously make it run terribly.

 

FYI, the current Samsung Tab S3, S4, Chromebook Plus/Pro, Acer Chromebook Spin 13 all have EMR too....

 

Those are all android and chromebook tablets.

Yea, I hear ya. Its a good device, but ARM running a mobile OS just isn't the same. It is looking better now that ClipStudio has a full version for iOS though, and once Photoshop does the same I'll probably pick one up, but it's still tricky to use one as a primary work device.

I was also tempted by the new Whiskey Lake Spectre x360 13". If you don't mind integrated video and N-Trig, looks like a solid choice for a small form factor.

 

CES 2019 is around the corner. Do you think Acer will update the 7. Acer has no confidence in this product. Should have been a surface killer. I really wanted one. But the battery and extreme price killed it.

 

I dont know, I mean they just got this model out. It's not like its under spec'd really. Just overpriced.

 

This concept had so much potential. But ultimately, it seems to have failed because of many little missteps. Why make it passive cooled in the first place? Why the asymmetrical design? It's pretty heavy and battery life sucks.
There is also no TB3 and no LTE version of it to make it the ultimate computer, both indoors and outdoors.

I fully believe the vision Acer had is the future of computing, but it needs to be better executed. Of course, adding a dGPU in a tablet it not an easy task. But this is the first step into something much better. I mean, a tablet that has the power to do more than light stuff and is actually capable of heavy video editing, photo editing and gaming is definately something I would be every excited for, especially in that form factor with that portability. Those weak Intel iGPUs with less power than a 12 year old Nvidia 8800GT won't cut it anymore. And even Ice Lake won't change that, even though those are more powerful, still way less powerful than the dGPU in my 4 year old laptop.

Maybe we can get something better by the end of 2019 with Intel Ice Lake CPUs and a RTX 2050. This time active cooled, because there's no sense in passive cooling such enormous hardware in a tablet. If the fans are quiet when doing office stuff and browsing, its just as good.

 

Let's hope acer doesn't abandon the switch 7. Agree with the above. Improvements like battery, lighter, smaller bezels. If apple can do it, then Acer can as well. Hope there's an announcement soon because I'm ready to move on.