Surface book - maybe first "tablet" for verve?

I recently tested the newest Surface book in the US.
That seems to be something acceptable - except the price.
Can't say too much about the pen and the pressure sensitivity because there were not too much apps installed, but it looks very promising.
It's almost like a Surface Pro, but inside the keyboard is an 1 GB Nvidia graphic card installed.
https://www.microsoft.com/surface/en-us/devices/surface-book#techspec-block

Up to i7 processor and 16GB Ram but hell! For a serious amount of money.
You can use the monitor only by unlocking the keyboard - then you have a normal Surface Pro tablet, but also with the Intel graphic only.
It's a one button solution to unlock, works pretty fine as I saw it.
And it's small and light. Not such a monster as the Cintiq tablet.

I also had my hands on the new ipad pro. Cool thing, nice pen, but just iOS -so what?

It's the same ?

No, Pilou.
That is the tablet Surface Pro which is sold for quite a while in ongoing development.
The Surface book is sold as a laptop.
It has a metall keyboard, with the nvidia card inside.As in my link.
As long as the keyboard is attached, the nvidia card works.
Only then, I guess, there is a chance for verve. But the graphic card is a special built with only 1GB. There is only a maybe.
Freaks over there in ZBC are using the surface Pro tablet for zBrush already. The Surface book should be even more flexible.
On the other hand, guess what monster of laptop you can buy for 2700$ ? Or what Desktop candy
But they are coming closer

[Taron]

$2700? Pffff...that will shock us all in a not so distant future, haha. I think these things will go for $500 tops in only a few years. Total waste to spend that much now.

..starting from 1900$ with an i5 but already a nVidia GPU.
It would be so cool to have a decent tablet - I guess that's also the reason you bought this Cintiq tablet thing taron, which was and is not cheaper without a decent graphic card.
If the Surface book graphic card is decent, that's what have to be proofed.
A clients daughter is doing crazy things with photoshop on this Cintiq. I guess - not know- that most painting apps are somehow fine with this Intel chip.


Anyway. I was smiling at those stupid window wipers running around with their smartphones, as I was once smiling about people talking into monster bone like mobile phones.
It won't take too long, that's for sure.
The only question is:
"I don't want to wear glasses, but I am afraid I have to working on those tiny monitors."

[Taron]

I hated myself for buying the Cintiq... if only I at least would've opted for the Hybrid, but no...
Best of all, the guy who made me do it, never cared to give Verve a fair shake, haha... so I was foolish. I could've used the money to buy a little mac or an extra little linux machine instead, but no...
Yet, it did help me to track down many compatibility issues and turned into my music machine for a while, hahaha... so... I'm still pissed, but it's ok.
By the way, Dollar prices are usually written with the $ first, then the number. I know, haha, in Germany it's the other way around. Even the Euro didn't change that. Funny. I like it better, too, but just so you know... it's $1900. Felt like telling ya.

Anyhow, the problem with Verve on it versus Photoshop on it is that photoshop still doesn't feel like you're painting. It feels like you're suggesting where paint should go and it tries to get there, hahahaha. That's PERFECTLY the nature of the Cintiq, haaa! ...but Verve, well, you know what I mean. It's the only paint app I know that really paints immediately, no hesitation, no choppiness, no waiting...unless you have a not so powerful card and care for fluid fun more than for painting, of course.
But, yeah...I'm waiting for a tablet that is immediate, just like Verve!

I went try one at the store and the pen pressure did not seem to work on the version I use (0.99u.34). I am thinking maybe the pen pressure sensor was in bad shape this being a store demo unit. Any one got to try verve on the MS Surface Book? Does pressure work? I have to say the pen movement was pretty smooth with little lag. The one I tried was the Intel graphic version, not the DGPU... This seems like it would be a cool unit for Verve...

I couldn't convince myself to spend so much money in a unit I really have not so much use for....

[Taron]

If I had the extra cash to try it, I have a mode I could throw at it, which might be lightning fast, but it would send ordinary computers straight to nirvana, hahaha. Not sure what it would do to a surface pro, but it would be a reason for me to investigate further options.
I vaguely remember hearing about different tablet driver needs for it, though, which would be yet another thing important to investigate, but certainly something solvable, no doubt!

Concerning use of Verve on Surface Book:

1. To get pressure and other pen features working, install WinTab driver. See instructions on Krita website (note that MSVC 2010 runtime link at the end leads to x86 version, but you'd need x64).

2. Also in pen settings disable "long tap to double-click" feature, otherwise single tap doesn't work in Verve so interface is hardly usable.

3. Verve is not high-dpi aware, so it runs at lower resolution (e.g. half resolution if you have 200% magnification). If you force it to run in native resolution, UI elements are too small.