What's your take on Tablet PC's?

**Main Loop** · August 17th, 2006, 01:42 PM

Are they worth it yet for professional artists? will they get better anytime soon? Im about to start looking for something portable to use on the go, if they're good enough yet, a tablet pc would be perfect... Whats your reccomendation?

**Mirana** · August 17th, 2006, 01:52 PM

I've heard that they aren't as sensitive as a Wacom, but Vilppu uses one and loves it (his has major scratching and denting in the middle of the screen, though).

**Senira** · August 17th, 2006, 01:55 PM

I asked one of my teachers the same question, once. He said they're good in that they emulate actual drawing better, but he also said they tend to break fairly easily. I'm not sure if he meant physically or OS wise, but it's something to consider.

**Main Loop** · August 17th, 2006, 02:04 PM

has anyone here used one? how do they compare to say, a wacom intuos 2?

**Interceptor** · August 17th, 2006, 02:15 PM

WE have a toshiba tablet PC at my work that I tried. I did'nt find it quitw as comfortable as a wacom. I thought it was hard to hold it up at the proper angle for myself. and the screen was'nt quite as precise as just seeing my cursor on the screen.

**rogfa** · August 17th, 2006, 02:24 PM

There was another thread like this a couple weeks ago, you may find some more info in it. I've used an older Fujitsu Stylus or Stylistic (not sure of the exact name). It was a true tablet PC, not the cool laptop models that you can spin the monitor around and hold it flat.

There was cursor lag. Meaning you would move the stylus and the dot would trail behind. I think that's something you can get use to and I hope it's improved with today's models. I considered getting one but I figured I could get a lot more hardware for my money by getting a budget line laptop and an Intuous3, which is the way I went. As far as I know, tablet pcs only have 256 levels of pressure which I don't think really comes into play with just sketching.

Good luck!

**asoir** · August 17th, 2006, 02:27 PM

Gah, cursor lag..that'd annoy the living piss out of me...Maybe in the future.

**Blue** · August 17th, 2006, 02:47 PM

Originally Posted by Mirana

I've heard that they aren't as sensitive as a Wacom, but Vilppu uses one and loves it (his has major scratching and denting in the middle of the screen, though).

This is actually completely false. I didnt know this until i called wacom support, myself. Wacom actually provides the technology to 90% of the tablet pc market. The salewomen from wacom told me that the only tablet pcs they for sure dont make the hardware for is any widescreen tablet pc.

This is Wacom's list of "penabled" tablet PCs. (aka, the ones whos technology is from wacom)
http://www.wacom.com/tabletpc/oem.cfm

Upon further inquiry, i found out that most of the new laptops have 1024 pressure levels and the pens are "standard" graphire pens, i believe. A good portion of the new tablets are actually intuos quality.

I am looking at the Toshiba m400, myself. It seems to get some of the better reviews from artists on Tabletpcbuzz.com. And from what i can see, the more RAM you grab, the least point lag you'll get.

**blacky** · August 17th, 2006, 02:59 PM

Unfortunately I can't provide any advise, but I've seen Koshime's tablepc and was completely blown away by how handy that thingy was.

**charger** · August 17th, 2006, 06:46 PM

well the new gateway doesnt use a wacom but the old one like mine(m275 i think) does. i have never used a normal tablet but i know mine will lag when in photoshop and doing alot but i think thats just a lack of ram prob.

**aesir** · August 17th, 2006, 06:53 PM

I think the basic consensus is, they're not as sensitive as a wacom, and theres some lag for some of them, and a lot of em dont have great system specs, but all in all, they'll get the job done just fine.

**Simon.Rain** · August 17th, 2006, 11:26 PM

I tried on of the recent toshiba tablet pc with the revolving screen and I have to say that in theory it looks pretty nice but for drawing, it s horrible

I m not sure which model it is ( I ll ask my friend when he ll be online) but the lag was enough to drive you nuts and there wasnt any pressure sensitivity.

I saw the one NOX use and it looked amazing (tho I have no clue what the brand is)

as for comparing it to intuos, I think there s no place for comparison. Invest in a good apple 17" widescreen laptop and an intuos 3 and you wont regret it... I prsonnaly regret not getting an Apple in the first place and especially not getting a laptop =/ (but I have a 21 inch sony trinitron screen and I love it)

**bumskee** · August 17th, 2006, 11:29 PM

i have tried toshiba m4.. two my co workers have them.

pros, well portable! just damn handy when u go out.. this is a big news!

cons, the lag.. is there.. when u go for a faster stroke, you can feel it. and the best response was actually from using artrage, I am sure if you shut down most crap running u can sort of relief the system. But even so the lag is there.

the pressure isn't so much of an issue I don't think. I can't tell the difference between grapphire and intous, many people apprently can.. But I did notice the lack of pressure, it's a little hard? should I say when U press down on it.

But I would say go for it.. m200 is probably better though, smaller, battery life is better. I just go for a good bargain on ebay or something. I idea that u can pull it out anywhere and draw is a very tempting one, no I mean in colour.. otherwise just use ur pencil.

**Main Loop** · August 18th, 2006, 12:45 AM

so this basic consensus seems to be that they're about the same as using a graphire.... thats cool, i'll probably wait till they start coming out with better sensitivity for them... are there better pens you can buy for them?

**bumskee** · August 18th, 2006, 01:28 AM

grapphire would be better, it's less responsive than grapphire. But it could be the fact that there's that lag.. see there are two issues with it, the sensitivity which is half of grapphire, but it's less noticeable, I think that depends on how people like to draw. but for me at least.

the second, the responsiveness, is an issue that can be quite annoying. Coz there's a slight lag where you pen points, very slight and also another slight lag for it to catch upto the pen. But like I said with artrage it was less noticeable but the lag is definitely there.

But I also do think the fact that it's so portable wins over these two issues for painting outdoor!, if you are looking to replace wacom + computer at home this probably isn't a good idea. It only wins I reckon coz of its portability. btw, m4 spec my co workers have is pm 2.0 1gb ram 5400rpm hdd with 6600 which is pretty beefy for a laptop.
I think testing one out for yourself would be advisable, coz unlike wacom where it's allll good this lag and lack of pressure can be a big thing for yourself.

**Blue** · August 18th, 2006, 12:52 PM

Main, i'm researching one for myself currently. If i find anything worth buying, i'll make sure i post it here. I mean, the needed technology (wacom technology) is in most of these things, and many different companies make and sell tablet pcs, so it is just a matter of finding the best one to get the job done.

**Floris Didden** · August 18th, 2006, 01:41 PM

I've been looking around for them since I had a go on sketchlings and koshime's tablet pcs a couple of weeks ago. There are duo core ones and you can fit quite some ram into them. The only thing that seems to suck is the video card.

**Meatsworthy** · August 18th, 2006, 06:32 PM

I think the cursor lag is actually some sort of funky smoothing that has more to do with the windows side of things, ie. it's something to do with the tablet layer in Windows CP Tablet PC Edition. Even the downloadable wacom drivers cannot affect it, or other settings like the mapping.

The biggest issue I have with my tabletpc is the lack of shortcut keys (it's a slate).

**Main Loop** · August 19th, 2006, 12:29 PM

meatsworthy - noxizmad bought a small numeric keypad to use specifically for shortcuts

**redFIVE** · August 19th, 2006, 01:44 PM

I have a refurbished Toshiba TecraM4 I've been using for a month now.

I haven't had any problems with lag. But I'm also not trying to paint a full high res picture on it anytime soon (why would you anyways? LCD color accuracy sucks). I'm still using the packaged 512mb RAM but I'm told the system gets alot better if you take it up to 2gig, so that easily could be some people's problem right there (Toshiba has ALOT of little programs running in the background)

The pressure sensitivity inside Alias Sketchbook is awesome, probably because they had the Tablet PC drivers in mind when developing the program. But for any other program it will require some manual tweaking. I don't view it as a big problem though, I mean like most good tools you need a little time to get familiar with it.

The pen mine came with only has one button on it (and an eraser), but you can buy pens with 2.

I will say though, without using a Nostromo mini keyboard to bind my shortcuts to I would probably hate the hell out of it. Otherwise this is the thing that finally got me liking Painter.

**Main Loop** · August 19th, 2006, 08:14 PM

well im just looking for something comparable to a full-fledged laptop with the option to draw on-screen, so i dont need to get another wacom tablet... thats the ideal, but i dont know if thats gonna happen anytime soon...

**m@.** · August 20th, 2006, 04:22 AM

I tried Nox's tablet a couple of days ago, it's quite nice! it's a fujitsu one (yeah the numeric pad is a handy idea hehe).

What's cool is that the stylus response is immediate, compared to the cintiq which has a slight lag. But the tablet is still a bit big and not that handy to carry around.

He was talking about the UMPC's though that are coming as an alternative, quite smaller, but thus transportable easily. When this tchnology will be a bit evolved I think I'll get one of those.

**Meatsworthy** · August 20th, 2006, 09:06 AM

Originally Posted by Main Loop

meatsworthy - noxizmad bought a small numeric keypad to use specifically for shortcuts

Now there's a good idea, Thanks! I swear, my brain is too tiny.

I guess you would be pretty much set going with a convertible, the new ones should be pretty quick with the core duos. Try out demo units, or hunt down people that have them in your area I suppose. http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/ is also useful for researching brands, they have a forum for each make. Some people there do crazy mods too... swapping out processors, making extra EM sheilding for the tablet sensor grid, etc.

**Floris Didden** · August 20th, 2006, 09:55 AM

Meatsworthy, cool link, thanks.

**Blue** · August 20th, 2006, 11:56 AM

Check out these threads on Tablet PC Buzz.

My thread on the pen lag, replacement pens and general performance.
http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/forum/to...TOPIC_ID=36534

This is a testomony from a cartoonist.
http://www.tabletpcbuzz.com/forum/to...TOPIC_ID=36118

**Main Loop** · August 20th, 2006, 09:59 PM

thanks for those links, Blue, I would definitely go with a convertible, i just didnt know what they were called, but M@, those UMPCs look sweet too... yeah nox's fujitsu looked cool, but i would want soemthign a step up from that one... whichever i end up getting, i wanna make sure ias good as i can get... by the end of the year i'll see what my options are.. thanks guys