Apple Fan Boy for 27 years tempted to get his first Windows device

[Centris 650]

I've been an Apple Fan Boy since 1988 and I've never owned a MS product (except the Office software I had to purchase in 1998 while getting my Masters). That being said I'm awfully tempted by the Surface Pro 4 do do artwork on. I REALLY wanted to get the iPad Pro, and I do plan on playing with one before I make my decision, but I have fears the apps won't be there to do what I want.

Any artists out there using the Surface Pro 3 or 4?

What are your impressions/Problems?

Also, how well can the base model handle Photoshop? (I'm not making HUGE or complicated pieces)

I'm really nervous about the idea of buying this machine if I don't like the iPP so any reassuring comments would be appreciated.

 

[ravenvii]

The Surface Pro 4 looks really awesome -- I had the Surface Pro 3 and would recommend it in a heartbeat.

However, your focus seems to be artwork. The Surface pen is not bad by any stretch of the imagination -- it's awesome in fact -- but based on what Apple showed in the video of the Apple Pencil, it's no match to the Apple Pencil. It only has pressure levels -- no angles or anything like the Apple Pencil. And the lines that appear when you write are *slightly* off from where the head of the pen actually hits the screen -- with the Apple Pencil it seems to be directly under the head.

All of that might not matter to you, however. Your best bet, as you said yourself, is to try those devices out in-person first before you buy.

 

[Andres Cantu]

I agree, you should definitely test both products (at least in stores) before you decide to keep one. That is the only way you will not feel buyer's remorse.

Still, it sounds like the iPad Pro would be a better fit for you due to the Apple Pencil.

 

[RickTaylor]

You might be interested in this website, the Surface Pro Artist. There are reviews of other laptops with digitizer pen as well there. Getting acclimated to Windows may take some time; I've been learning about it myself, having gotten a Lenovo Yoga Thinkpad 14 with active pen.

 

[touchstoned]

Surface pro is useful if you need photoshop in a tablet but I would def wait until the iPad pro gets reviewed before you make a decision. It will only be a couple days before reviews are released.


My uncle has surface pro 3 and while it is certainly useful, to compare its build quality or even form factor to an Apple product doesn't leave the surface in the best light. It's very large, the interface is somewhat cumbersome and it doesn't have nearly the sustained performance of even a dedicated notebook. It is still more powerful than any current iPad and rivals the 12" Macbook in speed but it really depends on how useful you find windows and how much you care about privacy. If you like the former and don't care too much about the latter then Surface pro 4 is probably for you.

 

[kasakka]

I was setting up a Surface Pro 3 for a relative yesterday and I was seriously positively surprised how nice it was. While it is a bit thick for a tablet, in general I felt it worked quite well and I was impressed that it ran a full desktop OS too. Having a few USB ports to connect stuff is also useful.

I'd say try to Pro 4 if you can afford one. As a long time Wacom user I've never been able to get much out of the pen angle features so not having those is not really a deal breaker IMO. I'm interested in what the iPad Pro is like with the pencil but it does seem that Apple has done absolutely nothing to make iOS better to use on the larger tablet and there still remains various issues with the lack of a file system, ability to set your default apps etc. While Win 10 is far from perfect or even great, it is still a full-blown desktop OS rather than just a tablet one. While that comes with its own drawbacks (most software is not completely touch friendly but in my tests I didn't have any major issues) I still liked it. An iPad Pro running full OSX would be a treat.

While I'm very happy with my iPad Air 2 as a on-the-go laptop replacement, I did feel that the Surface Pro 3 would be an actual laptop replacement that I could use for my work (I'm a programmer) without issues.