Acer Switch 7

Yeap, none of the Wacom drivers help much. Even after force installing, the software states the device is not found.
I did find a repository for AutoHotKey that detects input from HID devices, and managed to get a script working that converts barrel button clicks to whatever you want though. It's not as good as full control over advanced features like pressure curves and stuff, but its something. I'll post that later.

Two ports; one thunderbolt and one 3.1 type A. This thing does have a dedicated graphics card, and unfortunately in almost all cases, laptops with those run 2 lane thunderbolt instead of four, but I haven't been able to test it.

It comes with a few replacement nibs, and they appear to follow the s-pen standard, though I'd have to check. I recommend buying a larger stylus if you do hard work, as the one that comes with it is spen sized. Im using the Zbook x2 pen.

 

Thanks for the info, based on this I fully reformatted, and installed windows from an official MS ISO, and still no luck.

So here she is on a somewhat cloudy day, around 1:30pm, in battery performance mode. I found it to be pretty usable in these conditions...BUT the screen being a strong glossy glass, the reflections were brutal at the wrong angle, and it wasn't bright enough to overcome hard glare.



It was better to the human eye IRL (doesnt help that my phone was focusing on the glare), but I wouldn't want to do work in those conditions.

So yes to shady outdoor seat, maybe at a coffee shop, especially if you can boost the brightness with a plug or perhaps in the evening or morning. I'd say a hard no to sunny open areas, like a park bench.

 

Surprisingly decent! Super thin with zero noise on an i7!

I tend to idle in the 30s, 40 when watching HD video, Peaked in the 50s when doing the same while charging on high performance mode. So sound for casual use.

When doing some light benchmarking, it throttled to down to 90%, so you can expect some heat issues in long winded sessions, like encoding/rendering or gaming. I would probably recommend something cool with fans if thats your primary use, maybe even an i5 if going tablet/ultrabook.

In burst CPU usage, like Photoshop strokes/filters or using lightroom sliders, you should get the full benefit of the i7.

 

In Soviet Russia, Ipad cools heatsink!

 

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.