Samsung Ativ Q

Well, the memory is old (a month or two old) so it may be inaccurate, but I want to think that LisaG over at Mobile Tech said during one of her product reviews that Samsung paid off Wacom a while ago and Samsung authors their own Wintab. I got the impression that Samsung has someone on staff, who knows how to write Wintab drivers.

Now, I also know that I read a technical blog entry, on a non-tech site, by an artist bemoaning how the Samsung driver was not up-to-snuff (his opinion) for some Ativ product, and he went scrounging around the web for a better driver for his device.

 

Wacom released the Windows 8 driver last month so even if it wasn't installed by default (which would be odd with the S-Pen being such a touted feature) it would only be a case of a quick install and you're up and running.

Agreed that an i7 and 8GB RAM variant would be nice, but even if we don't get that, this is my next device. Finally time to upgrade the Series 7 slate later this year and unless someone else comes out with something better, this ticks all the boxes, I think I literally shouted out when they showed the pen during the presentation, lol!

 

Yeah, I knew about the ability to install the recently released ones, but I liked the idea of it coming with its "own" right out of the box

LOL! I was right there with you. I think i was watching it intently, like a football game, and it was nearing the end. I was either thinking or audibly saying, Come on man, where's the pen, where's the pen, while thinking to myself there's no room on either slice, Keyboard or screen, for a pen, and then rationalizing immediately after, wait, this is Samsung, they fit one on my Galaxy Note II. And then it happened, the pen! Was like a touchdown baby! And I celebrated it as such and I'm not embarrassed to admit it

 

i love the size of the screen and the resolution, but i wish they made it detachable instead of a slider. 3lbs is quite hefty to be spinning around on your lap drawing for an artist. I do love using my ATIV 500t as my sketchbook, but want something with a bit more power and screen real estate while maintaining battery life. I'll take a look, but it's not a Day One purchase for me. I'll wait for reviews and hopefully a hands on at a Microsoft store locally.

 

I type a lot (I'm a developer who does art on the side). No trackpad means I'm not interested.

The idea of being able to develop for Win and Android at the same time on one machine is interesting. But it being in a VM means that at best it's a test environment a step up from the simulator.

 

Aspect ratio is crap, it is less than 16.9, it is an equivalent to a panel with 1920x900

And Im sorry, I want 16.10 not 16.9 and much less 19.9

 

Whoa, I didn't even read about the aspect ratio, what the hey?

I don't really mind the 16:9 ratio when using Manga Studio though, it allows me to put the Tool Windows on the sides, leaving a square in the middle to do the actual work.

 

Indeed... ...This is why I actually prefer the 16:9 ratio. We all have our unique wants and needs in these gadgets. Shame they can't and/or won't produce devices with the same internals but different screen ratios.

 

16:9 can benefit some programs like Photoshop and Manga Studio since you can put the tool windows on the elongated sides...but thats only if you use the Tablet in Landscape mode.

Portrait Mode is a whole different story. And if you going to be using the tablet on the go....or holding it as you use it (life drawing, etc)....16:9 Landscape is just too wide, and when you use it in Portrait mode its too long. Just using the tablet becomes rather awkward.

 

I don't have any problem with the aspect ratio. I have problem with the resolution.

3200x1800 on a 13" screen is not usable for Wacom pen and legacy art apps that don't have scalable UI. It's hard enough to tap on some UI elements for Manga Studio 5 on my 1600x900 13.3" T902, it would be downright nightmare at 1/4 the size.

Retina is all fine and dandy when every single app is doing vector UI, but when the hell is that gonna happen on Windows?

This is another case of marketing bulletpoint ruining a product.