If No Z Canvas 2nd Ed, Is There A Logical Alternative?

Where would you say our ZCs sit performance wise now? Crazy this chip is 3 generations old already!

I'm very happy with this machine. It's perfect as a medical school device. I'm in class from 8-5 and I usually charge it during lunch. The other day I didn't charge it and I still had ~30% battery come day's end. I definitely jumped to conclusions way too soon with this device.

I have MS Complete through Feb 2018 so I want to try lasting that long with this (lol). The only thing that interests me is TB3 for eGPU at this point.

 

Again, you forget I've been buying Japanese laptops for over 10 years. I remember the good old days of Sony and the different colors and tops for things like the Z, SZ, T, etc. Vaio has already done this with Beams and the Z, the Disney S11, etc. But the problem as we've talked about is that nearly everyone has announced their Kaby Lake machines or updates to existing ones. Vaio is silent. We know MS will announce some time in the spring, and they did a band aid in the fall to tide things over with the SP from what I remember. If they announce in March/April, they'll be behind in a tough market.

Based on the price I saw in Japan, the new U is way overpriced. It may be a good machine, but it's not worth the money.

 

I know that the XZ's USB-C port is TB3, but what matters more for me in that regard is that it is the only port on the tablet and that there is no USB-A port on the tablet. For me, I would often have to use the keyboard base just for its USB-A port(s). It is not that much of a dealbreaker because the keyboard base is relatively lightweight, but still somewhat annoying not being able to just plug existing stuff directly into the tablet.

As for perfomance, I would argue that the eDRAM that comes with Iris graphics matters more than the CPU-generational jump. And in two months or so the Kaby-Lake advantage of the XZ will be gone if the SP5 arrives, and 16TB and PCIe SSD are already available in the Surface line.
I think MS improved thermal engineering on the SP4 significantly over the SP3. Is it flawless? Hell no, but I don't know of any ~12" tablet that does it better apart from the ZC?

If I could justify spending the money on the XZ, I would get it. For me personally, the added functionality matters more than raw performance.

Since you played around with the XZ, two questions:
1. How is the glare of the screen?
2. How wobbly is the screen? That was one of my major disappontments with the Surface Book, as I find it way too wobbly.

 

<<...I'm sorry but the SP line is a big fail from my perspective...>>

...To each their own regarding opinions, but for me this is not the case. Surface Pro was designed around a specific set of ground rules, and I think it is a successful design. I have not found it to be laggy (although the ZC has always been "snappier"). But hey; quad core, eh?

<<...Where would you say our ZCs sit performance wise now?..>>

...Based on something I was doing last night, I'd say it's still at the top of the heap in terms of computing power. Where it's going to start showing its age (especially whenever the SP 5 debuts) is probably in the pen / inking interface. The upcoming Wacom "dual protocol" pen may mitigate this a bit, but there's no stopping the march of user interface progress!

 

How adventurous are you with modding?

A while back, @FedericoQA made an interesting suggestion to use the 2nd PCIe m.2 slot as an external GPU connector, to which I responded with a possibility for a PCIe adapter card.

Unfortunately, the thick adapter cable will be difficult to thread through the case. Anyone have any experience drilling through aluminum?

An alternative is to try to get a m.2 "extender" to externalize the m.2 slot. Does anyone know of a PCIe m.2 ribbon connector that might fit through one of the speaker vents?

 

That would be a pretty incredible mod. I'm definitely not doing it while under warranty!

 

The whole point about TB3 is you can get a dongle (yes, inconvenient but I'd be using it more in laptop mode anyway and the fact it's full TB3 I'd use that port for an external drive to get the speed).

We have different use case scenarios here. I don't care about the graphics inside, being honest. I care more about how many VMs and things like compute power. I would say the advantage is even given the fact the top end SP and SBv2 will use the 7600 or 7650, and the same gen NVMe. Net net, at that point it's about what form factor appeals to you most.

I need inking mainly for presos, nothing else.

Here's where I'll say the jury is out on the XZ. It's not out yet, but based on the design I'm seeing, the cooling design seems to have taken a page from the ZC playbook which would in theory put it ahead of the SP (which sucks for my usage - I could cook eggs on it lol). The ZC will be the king, on that I think everyone can agree.

Same answer to both: didn't seem bad, but plan on playing with it once more before I go It seems much more stable than the SB, mainly due to the way the attach/detach works and it doesn't have that silly rounded hinge design of the SB.

 

Just checked out the XZ again at Yodobashi. I found its fatal flaw for me: you cannot use the pen if docked which is asinine. That would have been an expensive mistake if I got it. That blue Z Flip is looking more attractive.

 

Now I see what you were thinking about an extension ribbon. I've NEVER used the pen clip spot on the right. I wonder if the plastic could be popped out and the ribbon threaded through that spot; no drilling.

http://www.adexelec.com/m2.htm?

 

Blue is my favorite color - navy, actually. I saw the sample of the color when I was in Yodobashi this evening. It was pretty sharp which is why I'm kinda considering it. The 6567 is still a better processor from a compute perspective than a regular U like the 7500/7600. I did play with the mechanism a bit - the Z Flip did get a lot right ... and you can ink while it's not in a tablet only mode. I can't begin to express my disappontment at what Panasonic did. They nailed so much on that and ruined it.