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Tablets for Art (Surface, Yoga, iPad Pro etc.) Deals Thread [to be updated regularly]

UrbanRats

Member
Bit of confusion in a couple of places as to whether the Yoga 720 15" 1080p supports active pens, can anyone confirm it does please? Lenovo website doesn't make an obvious distinction between FHD/UHD in this regard, but reviews like this one https://www.gottabemobile.com/lenovo-yoga-720-15-inch-review/ suggest it's only supported on the 4K option.

I have the 1080p 15", and use the Bamboo Smart on it to draw all the time, don't worry.
 

DrDamn

Member
European 1080p version comes with an active pen. At least mine did.

Thanks, I wondered about this as it doesn't note that it does anywhere but I remember people mentioning it before. I won't expect one but will be pleasantly surprised if it does include it :). I will be ordering from Lenovo in the UK this week.
 

UrbanRats

Member
Thanks, I wondered about this as it doesn't note that it does anywhere but I remember people mentioning it before. I won't expect one but will be pleasantly surprised if it does include it :). I will be ordering from Lenovo in the UK this week.
Mine didnt include any, but again, it does support it.
 

DrDamn

Member
Yoga 720 15" FHD now ordered! I asked when ordering about a pen and they said it does include one (not Active Pen 2 I doubt but it'll do for now). Interesting point for other UK people. When ordering online the warranty is 12 months return to them, can take 10 days etc, with no other options. Over the phone I was given the choice of upgrading that to on-site support for an extra £10 for the year which I took.
 

DrDamn

Member
Arrived today. Decent one day turn around. Just doing it's update thing. Can confirm active pen 2 is included in the UK with this model, which is nice.
 
Shog: Do you have any experience with the XP-Pen Artist16? I saw this video about alternatives to the Cintiq models, and he made it sound like it was a pretty good tablet for a much cheaper price. under 500 dollars for a pen display seems like a good deal!

The Cintiq 27 looks so nice, but it's so expensive! I can only imagine how much the 32 version will cost:eek: For me, size is important as I will be using it in after effects which has a lot of menus and clutter in the UI! Its very inconvenient to use after effects on a small display!



How do you guys like your Yoga 720s?

I'm going to the states in two months, and I was looking at the price of this thing. It's significantly cheaper than in my country.
It's tempting.

At the same time, I wonder if the new Coffee Lake announcements will have an impact for the Yogas anytime soon?
 

UrbanRats

Member
So i keep having this issue with the Yoga 720 + Bamboo Pen, where the tablet doesn't get the pen's input, sometimes after 20 minutes of working perfectly, sometimes sooner, and i have to tap multiple times on the screen to get it to respond again.
Touchscreen however (with fingers) works perfectly fine, even in those moments.

And sometimes it take up to, like, 30 seconds or more to get the pen again.

It's really frustrating.

I thought it was the battery at first, since the included battery is what i was using, but i changed it with a brand new one and, after working fine for a couple of days, it started doing it again.
Very annoying.

I really don't want to return it, 'cause i'm loving it otherwise, but if i can't figure out what it is, i may have to (before i end up outside the warranty).

Anybody has any idea of what it could be? I'm wondering if it's a driver problem, a conflict between pen digitizer and touchscreen?
 
Sorry. I dont have much experience with the newer cheap Cinitiq alternatives. I know their pen action is good but the parallax is bigger and lavk touch.
 

UrbanRats

Member
Lenovo's tech assistance in my country is pretty awful, damn.
They're impossible to contact.

I think i may end up asking Amazon for a refund, if i can't get it to work.
At that point (assuming they honor the refund) i'll try to go back to a Wacom Mobile Studio. :\

It annoys me to no end, as i like the thing, but it really is unusable in this state.

Too bad it seems i'm the only person on the planet with this issue, since i can't find anything on Google.

Unfortunately, i'm not even 100% sure it's the tablet and not the pen, but i have no way of testing it, short of wasting money buying a Wacom Ink, that i may end up not being able to use anyway.
 

Saprol

Member
Did most people who ordered a Yoga 720 get the 15" model? Having the 1050 GPU included makes this model really interesting but I'm curious how heavy or unwieldy it is to carry with the extra size/weight over the 13".
 
Lenovo's tech assistance in my country is pretty awful, damn.
They're impossible to contact.

I think i may end up asking Amazon for a refund, if i can't get it to work.
At that point (assuming they honor the refund) i'll try to go back to a Wacom Mobile Studio. :\

It annoys me to no end, as i like the thing, but it really is unusable in this state.

Too bad it seems i'm the only person on the planet with this issue, since i can't find anything on Google.

Unfortunately, i'm not even 100% sure it's the tablet and not the pen, but i have no way of testing it, short of wasting money buying a Wacom Ink, that i may end up not being able to use anyway.
The pen sounds faulty for sure, if you swapped out the battery.
 

UrbanRats

Member
Did most people who ordered a Yoga 720 get the 15" model? Having the 1050 GPU included makes this model really interesting but I'm curious how heavy or unwieldy it is to carry with the extra size/weight over the 13".
It is heavy for sure, not something i'd bring to the park for some casual sketching (also because battery life isn't superb), but it's still way more mobile than a laptop + screen tablet, let alone a desktop PC.

A 13" is a very plausible option, depending on how you'd use it.
The pen sounds faulty for sure, if you swapped out the battery.
Uhm, i assume having the pen swapped would be easier.
And yeah, i did change the battery with a new one.

Something tells me it's something to do with the drivers, but i updated them as much as i could.
I'm thinking this just because it looks like a software problem and, to be perfectly honest, Wacom drivers were always a nightmare for me.
 
It is heavy for sure, not something i'd bring to the park for some casual sketching (also because battery life isn't superb), but it's still way more mobile than a laptop + screen tablet, let alone a desktop PC.

A 13" is a very plausible option, depending on how you'd use it.

Uhm, i assume having the pen swapped would be easier.
And yeah, i did change the battery with a new one.

Something tells me it's something to do with the drivers, but i updated them as much as i could.
I'm thinking this just because it looks like a software problem and, to be perfectly honest, Wacom drivers were always a nightmare for me.
Did you try switching the drivers from Wintab to Tablet PC in Clip Studio Paint settings and visa versa? I've found Microsoft driver superior for CSP personally.
 

UrbanRats

Member
Did you try switching the drivers from Wintab to Tablet PC in Clip Studio Paint settings and visa versa? I've found Microsoft driver superior for CSP personally.

Yeah, unfortunately it didn't fix it.

At this point i think it's either the screen or the pen.
I've contacted Amazon and Lenovo (or a Lenovo authorized shop, anyway), but it's the weekend, so i'm gonna have to wait for tomorrow to hear anything.

The tricky thing is that i have no easy way to test either, short of buying another pen outright, since there is no big tech store in my area where i could test a sample or something like that.
 
Guys it's a cintiq worth it? I've been using my wacom intuos 5 medium for 6 years now, and i was wondering about Cintiqs... any experience with those? Are they more comfortable to work on?
 
Guys it's a cintiq worth it? I've been using my wacom intuos 5 medium for 6 years now, and i was wondering about Cintiqs... any experience with those? Are they more comfortable to work on?
If you do lineart its well worth it. If you paint mostly, you probably dont need it.
 
Yeah, unfortunately it didn't fix it.

At this point i think it's either the screen or the pen.
I've contacted Amazon and Lenovo (or a Lenovo authorized shop, anyway), but it's the weekend, so i'm gonna have to wait for tomorrow to hear anything.

The tricky thing is that i have no easy way to test either, short of buying another pen outright, since there is no big tech store in my area where i could test a sample or something like that.
If the touch works fine, its the pen or driver or art software. Pen and touch uses the same hardware.

Did you try other art programs? If other apps dont exhibit the same behaviour, consider reinstalling the app as well.
 

UrbanRats

Member
Guys it's a cintiq worth it? I've been using my wacom intuos 5 medium for 6 years now, and i was wondering about Cintiqs... any experience with those? Are they more comfortable to work on?
Like Shog said, for line art (and i'd say drawing in general) it's night and day.
For painting and more loose style, it's not that essential, but still better in my opinion (though sometimes it's a bit more relaxing to use a regular tablet, posture-wise).

If the touch works fine, its the pen or driver or art software. Pen and touch uses the same hardware.

Did you try other art programs? If other apps dont exhibit the same behaviour, consider reinstalling the app as well.
Oh yeah, i tried Photoshop, Clip Studio Paint, and even "clicking" in the desktop etc.. the pen just... "turns off" in a sense.
Unfortunately there is no LED or anything, so i don't know if it actually turns off, or just the signal doesn't register.
But again, when it's "turned off", the finger touch is still perfectly working.
 
Reposting here since the other digital art thread seems dead:

I'm looking for advice on a new tablet. I've been using an ancient tiny Graphire to draw, and I've let it dictate my style. I tend to draw on paper and then sketch ink the scans with messy lines in an ancient Photoshop (CS2). I tried out Painter long ago and kind of liked it. Anyway, this pad makes my hand cramp up and I want a better one.

I'm generally choosing between a Intuos Art/Draw or a Intuos Pro Medium. I want something that is a big step up from the Graphire. Software is also nice since I just have CS2 and like PSP7. But I can't really decide if a new PSP or Painter is more useful to me in the long run, and if I go with a Pro I get the choice for whatever program works best. Maybe try out Krita too.

Another factor is PC requirements. I want the tablet to last me another ten years, but I would like to be able to use it for my ~2010 desktop for a little while. Super precision might be a bad idea if the computer can't keep up. I need to update soon anyway, but if the tablet forces me to, I will feel stupid.

So, basic model + bundled software or Pro with either Krita or a Corel package?
 

UrbanRats

Member
As far as software goes, unless you're really into (digital) painting, i suggest you get yourself Clip Studio Paint (aka Manga Studio).
It's dirt cheap (and often on sale, i got mine for 20€) compared to the competitors, it's incredibly robust, and honestly, just better than anything else on the market, for drawing and line art.

If painting is your main concern though, while CSP is still perfectly capable of handling anything, Painter and Photoshop are better suited.

Haven't tried Krita, but it seems to me like if you're not going PS or Painter, then you might as well opt for CSP, you're probably going to get everything Krita has, but with the most robust drawing features i've seen (perspective tools, great inking out of the box, etc).

As far as hardware goes, again if your interest is drawing, i'd consider getting a screen tablet.
Wacom's offering is ridiculously pricey, but the competition got pretty damn good in the last few years (i have a Wacom though, so it's not direct experience).
You can find many youtube reviews on Huion, Yiynova and Monoprice's products, which are solid alternatives, at a much lower price.

As for the PC, Photoshop can be real memory hungry, but CSP is pretty light in my experience.

Depends on your specs though.
 

UrbanRats

Member
Little update, lol:

Amazon seller i bought the pen from says to "contact wacom", but that it's probably the tablet 'cause these pen are dumb devices (can an active pen even be considered dumb device?).

Wacom's call center tells me "the bamboo smart is not (officially) compatible with the Yoga 720, here's a link to buy the INK".

I'm going to try and contact Lenovo next, curious to see who they blame for this.

I get that nobody wants to say it's their fault, but the pen isn't working with the tablet as advertised, so someone's wrong, and before i just waste another 90€ on an INK, hoping this time it'll work, i need to at least understand who's at fault and where the problem lies.

I guess i'm just venting.
 
Is the surface a good all around art machine? How's the pen? And which is the best bang for your buck

Surface Pro 4 and 5 are fine machines, and their newest pen is now pretty much on par with Wacom AES pens for doing art, but their prices IMO simply does not make it worth how much you have to spend.

I personally recommend that you either get something now with Intel dual core 15W SoC and 8GB of RAM for less then $700 (or even lower - basically low as possible), or wait until Intel quad core 15W machines come out later in the year and pay around $1000 then. DON'T pay anywhere near $1000 for a dual core Intel 15W machine. You will regret it in less than 5 months.
 
Surface Pro 4 and 5 are fine machines, and their newest pen is now pretty much on par with Wacom AES pens for doing art, but their prices IMO simply does not make it worth how much you have to spend.

I personally recommend that you either get something now with Intel dual core 15W SoC and 8GB of RAM for less then $700 (or even lower - basically low as possible), or wait until Intel quad core 15W machines come out later in the year and pay around $1000 then. DON'T pay anywhere near $1000 for a dual core Intel 15W machine. You will regret it in less than 5 months.
Do we know for sure new ones are coming at the end of the year? And i don't plan to use it purely for art, just seems like a good purchase both for art and for college. Either way though I'm paying 1k+ because Canada prices
 
Do we know for sure new ones are coming at the end of the year? And i don't plan to use it purely for art, just seems like a good purchase both for art and for college. Either way though I'm paying 1k+ because Canada prices
Not 100% but 99% sure they will be oit around October. Big clue is that Intel is calling these quad cores still part of 7th gen.
 

UrbanRats

Member
The Bamboo Ink pen arrived.
So far it seems to work properly, but it's early to tell.

FWIW, it's much better, ergonomically speaking.
 

Mailbox

Member
I honestly don't think I can go without my Bamboo Smart Stylus now lol. I tried to using the Active Pen 1 from lenovo again and because of the spring-y action needed before activation, I feel like its lacking. I've gotten so used to immediate actuation, its crazy. That said I would like to try out the Bamboo Ink sometime. I'm pretty sure the Microsoft store in Vancouver has some.

Just as an FYI to everyone, Clip Studio Updated, with some great features (including exporting to animated PNGs :p, multi-views for 3d objects, and Surface pen/dial support )
After what feels like forever, CSP 1.6.7 is released in both JP and ENG

http://www.clipstudio.net/en/dl/release_note

The perfect app to give your new art tablet a workout

^

Also, I've been using Affinity Designer lately, Its a great Vector app for anyone who doesn't wanna shill out for Adobe CC.
 

UrbanRats

Member
CSP's update doesn't list anything new I'd use, i think.
I'll update at a later time.

I should start to play around with those 3d models though, it could be useful to speed up some things (quick reference for certain, complex objects, for example, especially at unusual angles).
 

Firebrand

Member
Sorry if I'm repeating a common question, but if one was interested in the iPad Pro are there any decent alternatives that don't necessarily cost as much? It'd be used primarily for digital drawing and painting, anything else is a bonus.

I'm not looking to buy anything right now so I'm not so much about talking about deals but just trying to get a general idea what else is out there.
 

WillyFive

Member
Sorry if I'm repeating a common question, but if one was interested in the iPad Pro are there any decent alternatives that don't necessarily cost as much? It'd be used primarily for digital drawing and painting, anything else is a bonus.

I'm not looking to buy anything right now so I'm not so much about talking about deals but just trying to get a general idea what else is out there.

Only alternative would be a Windows tablet, but those aren't anywhere near as user friendly or reliable as a tablet. Android tablets are not really a thing anymore.
 
Sorry if I'm repeating a common question, but if one was interested in the iPad Pro are there any decent alternatives that don't necessarily cost as much? It'd be used primarily for digital drawing and painting, anything else is a bonus.

I'm not looking to buy anything right now so I'm not so much about talking about deals but just trying to get a general idea what else is out there.

Go to Best Buy and try out the Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1 with S-Pen (that's the entire fucking name...). Its Android, and about $330 with a packed in silo pen.

It's simpler to use than Windows tablets (about par with iPad Pro) but there are cheaper and ultimately more flexible Windows art capable tablets, like the Asus Transfirmer Mini.
 

Firebrand

Member
Thanks for the replies!

I actually have a Tab A tablet but after some investigating it seems the non-S-pen version isn't compatible with the pen if I could find one separately. Sadness.

The ASUS T102 is interesting, though "Atom" processors worry me a bit, not sure how they hold up for larger images and painting, or how it compares to what's in the tablets. I'll look into similar machines.
 
Thanks for the replies!

I actually have a Tab A tablet but after some investigating it seems the non-S-pen version isn't compatible with the pen if I could find one separately. Sadness.

The ASUS T102 is interesting, though "Atom" processors worry me a bit, not sure how they hold up for larger images and painting, or how it compares to what's in the tablets. I'll look into similar machines.
If you dont mind refurbs, Woot has Dell Core M5 Wacom AES pen enabled tablets for less than $400.


https://computers.woot.com/offers/d...-detachable-tablet-3?ref=w_cnt_lnd_cat_pc_6_1
 
Anyone got a Lenovo Flex 4?
https://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834332301&ignorebbr=1


I'm a storyboard artist and I've been thinking about drawing on a tablet for a while. The wife would also like to play some Stardew Valley on it and thats my way of selling this expense to her, haha.

Is that one a good deal?
The surface seems a bit too expensive for what you get. Budget is around 1000 to 1200ish?


Flex 4 does not support active pen. Flex 5 does.

I would wait until later in the year when Lenovo updates the CPU to Kaby Lake-R quad core.
 

clav

Member
Eh, if I were to purchase that, I'd consider looking into putting a lightweight Linux distro due to eMMC and low storage.
 

Gravy100

Member
What's the general consensus on a good tablet for travelling around with on the go? I'd like to do a little light photoshopping with maybe doing a bit of 2d trad animation on there too. Is the new iPad Pro the way to go? Thanks!
 
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