Surface Pro 3 vs Wacom Cintiq Companion

[agorandy]

Hi,

I want to share with you my test of TVPaint on the two tablets computers Surface Pro 3 and Wacom Cintiq Companion. I will not speak about Windows as it is on both tablets. I won't speak about the keyboards now, but later.

For a professional designer who needs an excellent quality of stylus with a great pressure control, Surface Pro 3 is not a good solution. The stylus is not precise enough, you have to take your time to draw and in animation for example, we never have time. The version of Surface Pro 3 that I've tested was the lower one for I could not try the higher one in the shop ; there was a time-lag when I used it on TVPaint, that prevented me from drawing a long fine straight line.
The buttons on the border of the tablet are badly positionned, so there is a risk of clicking on them buy accident.
This test was really desappointing, knowing that I have tested Surface Pro 2 and it was easier to draw with it.
Now, for people who need a tablet computer with a stylus to sign their files, for an office Equipment, it is good. It lighter than the Cintiq Companion (800 g). But too expensive only for that.

So I've tested TVPaint on Cintiq Companion 512GB and it was perfect. It was exactly what I needed : the stylus is very precise. I've read some tests saying that the stylus was of bad quality compared to the other cintiq products, but really, I didn't feel it using it. In Photoshop and in TVPaint, there is no time-lag. The startup is really fast. The buttons on the border are only on one side, so there is no risk you select something buy accident while drawing. There is a large choice of customisation of the buttons, I have all the shortcuts I need on them. The icons on the interface can be quite small sometimes, but as the stylus is very precise, you don't miss the right icon.
The tablet is quite heavy (1,8 kg) and if you put it on your knees to work, it can be too hot to be comfortable. But you can still use the 3 positions of the base delivered with it to avoid a direct contact.
You can also connect it to a computer screen to use it as a normal pen tablet.
So this test was very convincing.

[schwarzgrau]

thank you for your assessment

[Elodie]

Thank you Randy for your feedback !

[agorandy]

You're welcome