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Subject:Re: TableT woes (as opposed to table woes) From:Editor in Chief <editorialstandards -at- gmail -dot- com> To:"techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com >> TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Tue, 29 Oct 2013 13:15:46 -0400
UPDATE from DELL, if you cared.
The XPS 12 convertible (new Haswell version) does not have ANY support for
digitizer.
Other DELL tablets like SOME of the older-tech Latitude line, or the newer
Venue line, have support for a poking and line-drawing/note-taking stylus,
but nothing you'd want to really draw and sketch with. Meant for business
use, not an art tool.
UPDATE FROM MY EDITOR: (and you don't care, but I do...)
I started at least one sentence with something like "It's got...", but then
re-jigged the sentence(s). But I left "It's" where I should have corrected
to "its" (possessive). At least twice. Oh, the shame! Oh the
ignominiousness! (fogy points for recognizing where that came from)
You'd think I was some illiterate dweeb. The lashings will continue until
performance improves.
On Mon, Oct 28, 2013 at 5:03 PM, Editor in Chief <
editorialstandards -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:
>
> All,
>
> I'm currently stymied in my desire for some device that would be two
> things:
>
>
>
> a) a tablet for browsing, viewing, and maybe doing some actual work, on
> the go (or in the hammock)
>
> b) a digitizer (along with a Wacom professional stylus) replacing my
> too-rarely-used sketch pad, pencils, charcoal, smudger, and moldable
> eraser.
>
>
>
> I'm willing to put up with considerable heft, in order to have the
> combination in one device, as well as SOME additional expense.
>
>
>
> But here's what I've learned, so far, if anybody else is looking for a
> tablet that you can sketch on.
>
>
>
> All tablets have touch sensitivity, but that is low-rez, and meant for
> fingers, or for blunt "styli" that are as thick as a finger-tip.
>
> You don't draw and sketch with that. You cartoon. You doodle. You scribble
> very brief notes.
>
> SOME tablets support a crippled Wacom digitizer. You can get some Samsung
> and other higher-end tablets (as well as couple of touch-enabled
> convertible Ultrabooks) that can do all the usual touch stuff, plus they
> can accept 1024 pressure levels from an upright-only stylus.
>
> As an aside, there's the Adonit Jot stylus for iOS tablets only (no
> Windows or Android support the last time I asked). But while it's a great
> deal finer and more precise than the eraser-nub styli, it's limited in
> other ways, and is fragile (according to many reviews). In other words,
> it's tempting if
>
> a) you are already invested in iPad and...
>
> b) well... there isn't really a "b)"....
>
> For Windows and Mac computers, you can buy and connect a Wacom Intuos
> digitizer pad with pen, and get varying levels of sensitivity and sizes of
> drawing surface, along with built-in controls and levels of integration.
> All of these are meant to be used attached to a workstation or a
> laptop/ultrabook with a "real" operating system that supports the kinds of
> apps a professional or a dedicated amateur would run. In those cases, you
> are drawing/sketching/painting with a capable stylus on a charcoal-colored
> surface, while watching the composition page being modified on a separate
> screen. If you get one of the mid-line or better digitizers and are using
> a recent, powerful computer, you draw your lines on the digitizer and the
> marks appear on the screen immediately as you go. The stylus recognizes
> 2048 levels of pressure AND recognizes tilt (on any but the low-end pads).
> So, you can draw and shade with technique very much like you'd use with
> pencil or charcoal on paper, varying the angle, as well as the pressure of
> the tool to achieve the expected/desired effects. Of course, your
> application must recognize/support that range and type of inputs.
>
> You can buy a Wacom Cintiq, in sizes from 13 inches to 24 inches, and
> attach that to your powerful desktop or laptop/ultrabook, as above, but the
> Cintiq is both digitizer surface and display.It's like paper, that you draw
> on the same surface where your drawing is shown. Again, if everything is
> up to snuff, you draw/sketch/paint, and see your strokes appear as you move
> the stylus, just as if it was a brush on canvas or a pencil on paper. What
> you draw/paint is right under your stylus, WHERE you draw/paint it, not on
> some other device. The surface is engineered to have a nice feel. The
> surface rejects your palm and arm, so while the stylus is in-or-near
> contact, you aren't accidentally pushing soft buttons or inputting
> inadvertent gestures.
> The stylus recognizes 2048 levels of pressure AND recognizes tilt. So,
> you can draw and shade with technique very much like you'd use with pencil
> or charcoal on paper, varying the angle, as well as the pressure of the
> tool to achieve the expected/desired effects. Of course, your application
> must recognize/support that range of inputs. This normally means fairly
> pricey semi-pro and pro applications, like some from Adobe.
>
> You can buy a newly released Wacom Cintiq Companion, or Companion Hybrid.
>
> The Hybrid is a 13-inch Cintiq when attached to a computer, or it is a
> stand-alone Android tablet.
>
> When it's a Cintiq, it's kinda small, given that it costs 500 clams more
> than the 13-inch non-tablet Cintiq, and only 500 bucks less than the Cintiq
> 22HD.
>
> Being Android, in untethered state, means that it cannot be used anywhere
> near the level that it can be used when tethered and operating with a Mac
> or Windows box running professional apps. All the Android
> draw/sketch/paint apps so far are essentially games and dabbler toys. The
> processing power in tablet mode is also limited, so when you draw a line,
> you can experience considerable lag before the stroke is actually
> rendered/displayed. It's variable, by app, according to some review
> videos. But, at least you can tether the thing and use it as a small
> Cintiq, with all the good things that entails (other than size...), in
> which case, there's no lag... unless your computer is an elderly dog.
>
> The non-Hybrid Cintiq Companion is a standalone Windows 8 tablet (a
> honkin' big one) and self-digitizer. It's good for a few hours of
> committing (or in my case attempting) art, before needing a power infusion.
> It does a good job running various apps used by pros, with little or no
> lag. It supports (with those apps) all the pressure sensitivity and tilt
> levels, as well as the assortment of Wacom interchangeable nibs. Except for
> being kinda heavy (several pounds, versus the 1-point-something-pound heft
> of the recent iPad and Samsung offerings in the 10-inch range), it's great
> as a standalone art pad and it does ok as a tablet... unless you want to
> run games. It uses older tech processor and components (no Haswell here,
> even though it was released just this month). You can browse and watch
> videos, and you can even do Office stuff with a separate keyboard, since
> it's a Windows device (full, not RT).
>
> But that's where it stops. The non-Hybrid Cintiq Companion cannot be
> tethered as a "real" Cintiq digitizer for a full-power computer. Its
> components cannot be upgraded. It's starting life behind the curve for
> tablets that are being released now (like the iPad Air and the new Samsung
> Galaxy Note 10.1 2), and will only fall further. That is, it's processor is
> slower, while being less battery-efficient, and it's display is lower-rez
> when compared with Cupertino and Korean tablets being released in the same
> timeframe. Without that saving grace of being useful as a tethered
> digitizer (as the Cintiq Companion Hybrid can), it's got only a couple or
> three years in it, at best. And it costs 2-grand to 2500 dollars (256GB or
> 512GB storage).
>
> Wacom is busy licensing out its tech for tablets and touch-enabled
> Ultra-Books, but they are carefully limiting the capabilities, so as not to
> undermine sales of their own product lines. So, half the pressure
> sensitivity, and no tilt sensing. And maybe not all the button functions.
>
> If anybody else is in the market, the above seems to be the
> state-of-the-onion for the time being.
>
> I know that at least some of the list members are artistic and like to do
> their own illustrations (and other art) in addition to the word-smithing.
>
> If anybody has additional info or corrections, please pile on.
>
> Meanwhile, I'm waiting to see if the newer Dell XPS 12 (the one that flips
> its screen) has Wacom digitizer support. The previous version did not.
>
> I'd like to have that, or a similar convertible that'll run Windows 8.1
> (for Office 365), support the digitizer functionality, when I want to draw,
> and be useful as a tablet when I want to just sit on the sofa and surf or
> read or watch videos. The main thing, in the sketching/drawing department
> is to not have to carry another device, just as I never seem to carry my
> real sketching tools. Absent that sketch ability, my options are much
> wider.
>
> Otherwise, I might go another direction and get a new iPad.........
> gotta watch those pent-up retail therapy urges.... :-)
>
> If I can't have what I want in terms of a sketch-book, I like the slick
> iPad interface, even though the entire rest of the iOS universe is wasted
> on me (no tunes, no social, no iTV, etc.). But that would also be of little
> use for my work, unlike a Windows tab or Ultra (which is why the new-gen
> Dell XPS-12 was attractive).
> --
> __o
> _`\<,_
> (*)/ (*)
> Don't go away. We'll be right back.
>
>
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