META SP3 case + shortcut keys Kickstarter underway

Earlier this week I was alerted to an intriguing new Kickstarter campaign being undertaken by Daniel Becker and Gadgetek.

The META, or  Microcontroller Enhanced Tablet Accessory, is a "patent pending protective case" that adds configurable shortcut keys similar to Wacom's Expresskeys to the Surface Pro 3.

"It was originally designed for the Pro 3, but with only a 0.63mm difference in depth from the Pro 4, I am working fast to establish a way to utilize the current form for both Pro 3 and Pro 4 users," writes Becker.

According to the Kickstarter description, "the current configuration of the META integrates six buttons, operated by a microcontroller, into a case that fits a Microsoft Surface Pro 3. The buttons can be programmed to perform any combination of keyboard shortcut operations in virtually any computer application." META connects to the Surface Pro 3 via USB and comes in a choice of seven colors to match the assortment of the Surface Pro Type Covers, plus an exclusive arctic white.  

There are two main goals the Kickstarter campaign will help fund: mold and initial production fees and the creation of a user friendly app for programming the buttons. "The app has yet to be developed, and that is a big piece of the funding goal. The way programming the shortcuts works now is not user friendly, and definitley not what I want the user experience to be. However, I have been in contact with several software developers who are all more than capable and interested in taking on this app and their projected end dates are well within the fulfillment timeline."

META Product Walkthrough

Gadgetek is a one-man operation and the META is not inexpensive at the proposed $79 price. I asked Becker to detail a little of his design background.

"My history as a product designer begins with a home décor design, manufacture, and wholesale company.  I started working with this company in 2007 and have been there ever since. I began as a graphic designer, worked up to product designer and have since moved on to leadership roles within the product development department.  I still actively design product, but my responsibilities have shifted to leading others and managing processes.  I also travel to China twice a year to visit our manufacturers and develop new products at the factories.  That's what really tipped the bucket for me - going there and working at the manufacturers facility was a completely different experience and more efficient than working remotely.  Even beyond that, going out and sourcing new materials and factories with additional capabilities really opened my eyes to everything that can be done outside of what I was accustomed to.  Being an IT professional as well, my inclination has always been towards technology and so I started looking at where I could use my knowledge of product design and manufacturing from my day job to create a product that I was truly passionate about.  Something that I could develop and carry through under my own direction that people wanted and found useful." 

The inspiration for the META came from Becker's "significant other...an amazingly talented artist, she does it all - traditional mediums and digital (www.pwairbrush.com) - and she wanted a tablet to work on with more control and capabilities beyond the iPad, so as a Christmas gift last year I purchased a Surface Pro 3 for her.  My immediate reaction after installing Corel Painter and Adobe Photoshop was that everything was really small.  The menus, the palette tool icons, the UIs in general were very small.  For me, even using the pen, I didn't have great accuracy selecting things I wanted.  So I started thinking about her old Wacom Intuos Pro and how it had configurable buttons for shortcuts and tools within programs.  From there I busted out an Arduino and started trying to figure out how I could use it to perform a similar function as the Intuos Pro and that's how META was born.  From there I put my product development skills to work.  I sourced a factory using Alibaba.com, taught myself CAD so I could provide them with a 3D design file and funded the prototype development on my own.  After I got it to the point where manufacturing was as simple as paying them to start mass production, I went to Kickstarter with the hope that people would have enough interest in the device to help raise the funds necessary to cover the mold and tooling fees, software development fees, and the initial production run."

At the time of this post, the campaign has a long way to go on reaching its $80,000 goal, but I'm intrigued and will support once Becker is able to come up with a solution for making the META case compatible with the Surface Pro 4.

Surface app enables pen cap button assignment...to some*

The Windows Store app simply known as Surface was updated Wednesday to enable users to customize the Surface Pen's cap button.

Up to now, single clicking the pen button automatically only launched with Modern version of OneNote, a nice feature for anyone who uses that software. For the rest of us, it was at best a novelty. Now any app or desktop application is a simple button click away. In the screenshot below, I set the single click to launch Clip Studio Paint.

Unfortunately, this new functionality is limited to the new Surface Pen and the Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book. Even when using the new Surface Pen on the Surface Pro 3, Button Customization is not listed as an option.

*INSTANT UPDATE: Brennan McCullar on Twitter advised me of the following Reddit thread that describes how to bring the functionality to your older devices. It's a little complicated and subject to being overwritten every time a Windows Update is released (in my experience, the OS will want to revert to official drivers whenever you install something not expressly created for your device). If you decide to give this a try, let me know if you have any luck: https://www.reddit.com/r/Surface/comments/3x8xzd/microsoft_now_offers_full_surface_pen_button/

The app allows you to customize the single-click, double-click and press-and-hold actions (below, left). The latter is configured to launch Cortana by default (below, right) but can also call up Cortana Ink Reminders if you like to jot yourself the occasional digital Post-It.

Surface Book is great but 2D artists should stick with the Surface Pro

A funny thing happened on the way to writing this review...

Actually, it was more like dozens of very annoying things kept cropping up as I was doing my testing of the Surface Book: daily, often hourly system freezes, display driver crashes, blue screens of death, etc. etc.

I returned my first Surface Book after only three days of utter frustration and thought I would have to wait until December for a replacement. However, a shipment of i7/8/256/dGPU models arrived unexpectedly at the local Microsoft Store a couple weeks later and I was back in business. Unfortunately this unit began locking up too, though far less frequently than its predecessor.

Microsoft released a UEFI update November 18 that it believes fixes the lockups once and for all. And since installing it, my Surface Book has been relatively solid. On December 2, Microsoft released a System Hardware Update that addressed persistent display driver crashes. Now the only remaining issue is a power management bug that the company says it won't fix until the new year.

We certainly hope so, because once its launch troubles are behind it, there's very little not to like about the Surface Book. This new flagship is a premium product with a premium pricetag. It's clearly not for the masses, but it is a great aspirational device that should push the state of Windows computing forward. Just like OEMs (and Apple) have begun copying the best design features of the Surface Pro 3, I suspect we'll see more devices with Surface Book DNA showing up in 2016.

Because the Surface Book's release was so well-received and reviewed extensively across the web, I won't focus on the basic details you can find elsewhere. Some of the highlights for me are the best backlit keyboard you'll find on a Surface device, the largest and most responsive trackpad, the brightest, roomiest and sharpest display.

If you're torn deciding between a Surface Book and a Surface Pro 4, the decision is not as difficult as you might imagine. Setting price considerations aside, if you need a discrete GPU for rendering or gaming, the Book is your only Microsoft Surface-branded option. If you will be working in traditional laptop mode more than 50% of the time, get a Book. But for those primarily interested in art and directly interacting with the display, the Surface Pro 4 is the better way to go.

Over the last few years I've reviewed several convertible or 2-in-1 laptops, such as the Acer Aspire R7-572, the Sony Flip 15A and the Lenovo Thinkpad Yoga 12 and 14. In each of those instances, the display remained attached to the keyboard base. Flipping the display into tablet mode ranged from ridiculously easy (Acer) to cumbersome (Yogas).

While detaching the Surface Book screen and going into "clipboard" mode is easy enough, flipping into "creative" mode requires two free hands to flip and guide the large screen into place. More importantly, you can't enter in and out of these configurations on a whim.

Although the detached clipboard mode is nice, you'll probably want to do the bulk of your pen-related work in creative mode because that's the only way you're able to tap into the extended battery life and discrete NVidia GPU located in the keyboard base. But if that GPU is occupied, you have to wait for that task to complete before you can detach the screen. This shouldn't be more than an inconvenience in most instances, but I ran into one scenario that could cause some serious grief.

When the display is detached or flipped into creative mode, the keyboard is inoperable. I had the Book in this configuration when I started a 3DS Max animation. The touch targets are very small in that application and the playback controls were being unresponsive to the pen. The only other way I know to exit animation playback is the Esc key. Unfortunately, the on-screen keyboard doesn't have an Esc key. (If there's an Alt equivalent that I'm unaware of,  the on-screen keyboard doesn't have an Alt key either!) So I was stuck. I couldn't detach the display in order to flip it because the GPU was engaged. Ultimately I was forced to quit the program via Task Manager. Had I not saved my file prior to running into this roadblock, I might have lost a lot of work.

Windows 8.1 had an option to display a second, full-featured keyboard on screen. That selection appears ghosted in Windows 10 and I can't find any options related to this in PC settings. If you have any information on this, please leave a comment.

For future versions of the Surface Book, Microsoft should definitely add the ability to power on the keyboard separately and have it communicate wirelessly. In the meantime, you will want to keep a Bluetooth keyboard close by while you work in creative mode, just in case.

If you should shut down your Surface Book while in the Creative configuration, you'll need to turn it back on and use the on-screen eject button in order to get in back into laptop mode for transporting. If you power down your Clipboard while detached, it will reattach to the keyboard without having to power it back up. Thank heaven for small favors!

Due to its unique hinge, the Surface Book's creative configuration forms a wedge that provides a slight incline (perhaps five degrees) to the display. This is preferable to writing on an entirely flat surface, but the angle isn't large enough to make much of a difference. If you plan to work this way on a desk or tabletop, you'll probably need to prop the Surface Book up with something to find a more comfortable drawing angle.

Clip Studio Paint work-in-progress inks over amazing pencils by the legendary Gil Kane.

The laptop is light enough that I had no difficulty resting it on my lap as I drew. The curved hinge comes in handy in portrait mode, where it can double as a grip for your free hand as you draw (see left).

While detached, the Surface Book display performs exactly like the equivalent i5 or i7 Surface Pro, except for the fact that it is powering a larger display at a whopping 3000 x 2000 pixels. Battery life is limited to only three hours. I haven't run it all the way down yet, but running Clip Studio Paint with a browser open in the background, I was at 50% battery after only an hour in balanced power mode with 25% brightness. The Windows power meter isn't very reliable, reporting wildly different "time remaining" each time I check.

The detached i7 tablet tends to run cooler than my i5 Surface Pro 3 tablets. On those, significant heat collects in the upper right corner of the tablet. Heat appears to be better distributed along the length of the Surface Book display, collecting close to the keyboard ports. I'm not sure how air flows through the vents located all around the perimeter of the tablet, but it concerns me that my clothes may be insulating the warmest area as I hold it in my lap. To be safe, I occasionally rotated the display so that the warm areas were located away from my clothing.

I really miss the kickstand. There are times when you want to place the clipboard on a desk or tabletop and working flat is just not as pleasant as the variable angles offered by the Surface Pro. As I use the Clipboard, I can't help but dream of a Surface Book XL with this display size and none of its compromises.

Speaking of angles, when the display is reattached, I wish the Surface Book would open up perhaps another 5-10 degrees. The maximum opening is just a little too vertical to provide optimal viewing angles.

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As expected, the Surface Book did well vs. other dual core tablets in most benchmarks I ran, although the VAIO Z Canvas bested it in most tests. I think this is because most of the benchmarks are heavily weighted toward CPU results, where the dual core 6600U is outmatched by the quad core 4770HQ.

Also tests from 3DMark report that the Surface Book's NVidia display driver is unapproved, which must account for some of the poorer results, especially compared to the Thinkpad Yoga's 940M GPU.

I'm new to Bapco's TabletMark benchmarks, but the chart to the left is fairly consistent with the results of other benchmarks I ran. See full benchmark results below which I will update if and when the NVidia driver is recognized by 3DMark.

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Pen response in 2D programs like Clip Studio Paint, Photoshop and Sketchable is on par with the Surface Pro and I don't have much new to add to the record in that regard. In a couple of earlier posts, we've reported and confirmed Brad Colbow's finding that there is a bug in the new Surfaces that creates an odd aberration at the end of strokes applied with a lot of pressure (see below). Microsoft is aware of the issue and has confirmed that they are looking into it. Whether or not this problem is a showstopper depends on your drawing style. I draw lightly enough that the bug rarely bothers me. (I didn't notice it at all doing my Surface Pro 4 review.)

A more common issue for my drawing style is a small nipple at the end of heavy strokes. At first I thought this was similar to the bug described above, but actually it's a result of the much softer HB and B nibs that I've been using. Because of the increased screen friction, I have to be more conscious of stopping my pen; otherwise, it continues for a short distance past my intended end point, creating an unintentional "skid mark."

The Surface Book's 3:2, 13.3-inch screen is a nearly perfect drawing area, but as I wrote above, if your main desire is to draw, you're better off sacrificing an inch for the added flexibility of the Surface Pro 4.

Unless typing is your main concern, lower cost models of the Book don't offer any other significant advantages. It's only when you add in a discrete GPU that the Book begins to distinguish itself from the rest of the Surface line.

I installed Blender and the full Autodesk suite on the Surface Book. Thanks to 3DS Max artist Adrian Wise who provided a torture test scene that allowed me to see how well the Surface Book performed.

As you can see in the video above, 3DS Max is a bit of a nightmare to use on a high resolution display. Its UI doesn't scale correctly or uniformly. Fonts in some menus can be resized but others remain nearly microscopic. Most icons do not scale. In order to make the software usable, I changed the Surface Book resolution to 1600 x 1200. Even at this reduced resolution, touch targets are very small and often unresponsive as you can see in the video. 

When I was able to get the software to react to my pen or touch, viewport performance is actually fairly smooth and playback was 24 fps thanks to the dGPU. By contrast, I was only able to get the file to play at 20 fps on the VAIO Z Canvas (although that was running at 2560 x 1704 resolution).

A 1000 x 1000 MentalRay render took 41:06 on the Surface Book vs. 23:31 on the VAIO ZC. Switching over to an iRay GPU accelerated render, the Surface Book completed 500 passes in 6:08!

Maya's UI is better behaved on the Surface Book but I didn't get a chance to try to do much with it. I installed the Redshift GPU renderer in order to check out a benchmark scene, but the Surface Book doesn't have enough video RAM to process the file.

Once the NVidia drivers mature, the situation may change, but for now I have to conclude that if you're looking for a workstation class laptop, you'll be disappointed with the Surface Book.

The Surface Book is a stylish product and it will likely appeal most to executives and enthusiasts with plenty of disposable income. It's a beautiful device and a sure crowd-pleaser. But 2D artists will be better-served by a comparably equipped Surface Pro 4 for several hundred dollars less. Power users will be better-served by the VAIO Z Canvas or another workstation class laptop. And everyone else looking for a powerful yet affordable two-in-one device should look closely at the Lenovo Thinkpad Yoga line.

Adobe Releases Major Creative Cloud Updates

PRESS RELEASE

At MAX 2015 Adobe announced a slew of Creative Cloud news:

• We unveiled loads of new desktop app features, including precise Dehaze in Lightroom CC, which has been available since MAX, expanded support for UltraHD in Premiere Pro, the new Shaper tool in Illustrator, and the ability to create realistic 3D models in the brand new Adobe Fuse CC (Preview) and easily import and work on them in Photoshop CC.
• We talked about Adobe Stock getting more deeply integrated into the Creative Cloud apps – giving you Stock search within apps – and how we are adding video to Adobe Stock.
• We showed advanced support for touch-enabled hardware in our most popular desktop apps, Photoshop CC, Illustrator CC, InDesign CC, Lightroom CC, Premiere Pro CC and After Effects CC.
• We made new free mobile apps available, such as Photoshop Fix and Capture CC, which let you edit images and design on the go, and automatically connect your work back to the desktop apps you use everyday.
• And we showed how all of this is connected with CreativeSync, which lets you start your creative work on any device and seamlessly pick it up on another. From initial idea to finished work, CreativeSync ensures that your files, photos, vector graphics, brushes, colors, settings, metadata, stock images from Adobe Stock and fonts and type from Typekit, instantly appear in your workflow right where you need them.

Download Now

Today, the major updates to our Creative Cloud desktop apps are now available for the millions of Creative Cloud members worldwide. Scroll below for more information on the top new features, and links to the teams’ blogs and product pages, which provide greater details about the individual apps. Additionally, you can watch features in action in the videos on our What’s New page.

When you update Photoshop CC, Ilustrator CC, InDesign CC, Premiere Pro CC and After Effects CC, and launch the apps, you will see a new screen to help you get going with your work – we call it Start. The Start experience puts your work front and center, with support for big previews so you can jump right back into your current projects quickly. The Start workspace loads instantly. You can drag files in from the desktop and use all your favorite keyboard shortcuts in the workspace as well. Plus, there are templates to create new projects faster, and a simplified stream of helpful content. Read more about Start from our Experience Design team.

Top New Updates in Creative Cloud 2015

If you aren’t using Adobe Stock in your work, now is a great time to start. You can now download and purchase video content, adding to its collection of photos and graphics with over 1 million HD video files and 45 million assets. What’s unique about Adobe Stock is that you can search for and browse assets directly from Creative Cloud Libraries, including new support foStockBryanr accessing stock within Dreamweaver CC (and coming to Muse CC and Animate CC in early 2016). Adobe Stock is already integrated into Photoshop CC, InDesign CC, Illustrator CC, Premiere Pro CC and After Effects CC (including Character Animator). Plus Adobe Stock is available for enterprise use, with additional support for license management, reporting tools, and unlimited usage in large print runs. Read all the latest Adobe Stock details here.

 Needless to say, the web is growing (the number of websites grew 44% just last year). Thankfully, web designers can design and develop responsive websites for any browser or device with Dreamweaver CC. And with CreativeSync, integrate design elements and styles from other Creative Cloud apps, or high-quality images and graphics from Adobe Stock — all directly within Dreamweaver. At Adobe MAX 2015 we showed responsive design features in Muse CC as well, and these are coming in the Muse CC update in early 2016.

#DidyouKnow one of the most in-demand skills for designers is 3D design? Today we release Adobe Fuse CC (Preview) a new product with an integrated workflow into Photoshop CC that unlocks the power of 3D design. With Adobe Fuse CC (Preview) artists and designers with no previous 3D experience can quickly assemble characters with unique combinations of body parts, clothing items and endless texturing options. Cool stuff. Read more on the Photoshop blog.

See some of the exciting new features and enhancements in the latest update to Photoshop CC 2015. See improvements to Creative Cloud Libraries, Artboards, Design Space (Preview), Adobe Camera Raw and more along with new capabilities like being able to add 3D characters to your compositions with Adobe Fuse CC (Preview).

Speaking of Photoshop CC, if you do any UI, web or UX design, check out the new Design Space (Preview), which is based on deep customer research and built for designers by designers to make your many tasks faster and with less clicks. Also, now you can better customize Artboards. But perhaps the most requested feature for many years: you can now customize your Photoshop CC toolbar. Add to this a new modern UI that delivers a clean and consistent look and improvements in Creative Cloud Libraries, and you have a must-update Photoshop CC.

Adobe Illustrator's new Shaper Tool allows you to create complex shapes from simple ones.

Designers have even more to look forward to with updates in Illustrator CC & InDesign CC. The new Shaper Tool in Illustrator CC lets you draw with loose, natural gestures that magically transform into perfect geometric shapes. Additionally, there are new Live Shapes: Ellipses, Polygons and Lines, which are interactive and dynamically adjustable, so you can quickly craft vector shapes without having to apply effects or use other tools or panels. The latest release of InDesign CC helps you create and distribute layouts faster than ever, from designing in the intuitive Touch workspace to easily publishing documents online. With Publish Online (Preview) you can take your documents online. With a single click, your print layout is automatically converted to an online document that can be easily shared on Facebook and Twitter, in email, and more.

For those of you who create and edit video and audio, your world just got a whole lot more interesting. The features and functionality we previewed at IBC are now ready for download. Premiere Pro CC ushers in the new era of UltraHD via comprehensive native format support for editing beautiful 4K-to-8k footage, optical flow time remapping and advances color, with improvements to the Lumetri color panel and support for High Dynamic Range (HDR) workflows in Premiere Pro CC. After Effects CC now has the powerful and accessible color tools and color fidelity that Premiere Pro has. Audition CC introduces Remix, a new audio feature that automatically rearranges music to any duration while maintaining the aural integrity and structure of the piece. And Adobe Media Encoder adds Facebook to its Destination Publishing support, building upon existing support for YouTube and vimeo, to allow you to quickly and easily showcase your work to your social community.

Publish animations to multiple platforms - including Flash/AIR, HTML5 Canvas, WebGL or even custom platforms - and reach viewers on virtually any desktop or mobile device. Animate CC will be available in early 2016: www.adobe.com/go/flash-now-animate

Welcome Adobe Animate CC

We are renaming Flash Professional CC to “Adobe Animate CC“.

Why the change? The use of open web standards and HTML5 has become the dominant standard on the web. Over the past few years, the Flash Professional CC product team has embraced this movement by rewriting the tool from the ground up, adding native support for HTML5 Canvas and WebGL as well as output to any format (such as SVG) with an extensible architecture. This flexibility has been a huge hit with Adobe customers. Today, over a third of all content produced in Flash Professional CC is HTML5-based, reaching over 1 billion devices worldwide. In order to more clearly reflect its role as the premier animation tool for the open web and beyond, we updated the name.

In addition, Adobe Animate CC will continue to support Flash (SWF) and AIR formats as first-class citizens, as well as other formats like broadcast-quality video. We will continue improving Animate CC’s HTML5 capabilities over time, while optimizing its core animation and authoring feature set. For more details, watch our Twitch Channel to see sneak peeks of what’s coming in Adobe Animate, and read the latest product team’s blog post.

Adobe Animate will be available in early 2016.

Lenovo Unveils Thinkpad P40 Yoga

PRESS RELEASE

LAS VEGAS – Dec. 1, 2015: Today, at Autodesk University 2015, Lenovo (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) unveiled the ThinkPad P40 Yoga, a high-performing mobile workstation that helps unleash the full power of professional creativity. The Lenovo ThinkPad P40 Yoga delivers a first-class digital sketching experience with the ultimate in mobile workstation performance and reliability.
 
From digital artists storyboarding the latest Hollywood blockbuster to engineers designing the next hot new car, creative professionals need to both sketch their designs and bring those designs to life. To do this, users typically to purchased two systems – a tablet to deliver the sensitivity and accuracy of a premium sketching experience and a mobile workstation to render designs in powerful applications.

Designing with Power
 
As the first-ever multimode mobile workstation, the ThinkPad P40 Yoga offers the versatility to work across four modes—laptop, stand, tent and tablet—giving professionals the flexibility to do more no matter the use. The system provides the utmost in sketching precision through a highly responsive pen and touchscreen powered by the Wacom® Active ES technology, offering a full, 2,048 levels of pressure sensitivity on a high-res (2560 x 1440) IPS display. Professional artists and designers have been clear with the need for absolute precision and accuracy. Working with Wacom®, Lenovo developed a unique driver to get closer than ever to the ‘pen to paper’ experience. For a comfortable and realistic sketching experience, the rechargeable ThinkPad Pen Pro is included, along with additional pen tips providing varied levels of tactile feedback for the professional community.
 
“Sketching is the foundation of everything we do,” said Kyle Runciman, industrial designer and strategic content manager, Autodesk. “Designers can sketch for months to hone their ideas, and when they do get them to a point where they feel they’re ready for prime time, they can benefit from a separate, ISV-certified mobile workstation to visualize the designs. The ability to perform all of these capabilities on a single machine is huge for our industry.”
 
Along with its premium sketching capabilities, Lenovo ThinkPad P40 Yoga offers mobile workstation performance without compromise. Powered by an NVIDIA® Quadro® M500M GPU with 2GB VRAM, the ThinkPad P40 Yoga is certified to run a full range of professional applications without compromise. Moreover, the system also features an Intel® 6th Generation Core™ i7 CPU and up to 16GB of RAM and 512GB SSD storage for ultrafast processing.
 
And for the first time in a mobile workstation, the Lenovo ThinkPad P40 Yoga features Lenovo’s innovative Lift ‘n Lock keyboard with a frame that automatically rises around the keys when the Yoga device switches into tablet mode, giving users the ability to work in a more comfortable and efficient manner. The machine features tried-and-true ThinkPad reliability for maximum uptime in or out of the office, with long battery life, Mil-SPEC tested construction to ensure uptime under the toughest conditions, and a lightweight design using advanced materials. 

Value-added Options
 
The Lenovo ThinkPad P40 Yoga can be purchased with the optional battery-powered ThinkPad Pen Pro Lenovo’s advanced stylus that uses industry-leading Wacom® technology for enhanced precision and comfort. Additionally, the ThinkPad P40 Yoga supports Lenovo OneLink+, the next generation cable docking solution enabling all docking functions and power delivery in a single connection, making it the ideal solution for users leveraging multiple devices to save time and do more. The Lenovo ThinkPad P50s can be purchased with the optional ThinkPad Ultra Dock, a new dock featuring more horsepower to drive mobile workstations and more versatile docking connectors.
 
Availability and Pricing

The new ThinkPad P40 Yoga, ThinkPad P50s and ThinkStation P310 will be available starting in Q1 2016 through Lenovo business partners and on www.lenovo.com. Pricing for the ThinkPad P40 Yoga begins at $1399, while the ThinkPad P50s begins at $1299. The Lenovo ThinkStation P310 begins at $729. More information about the ThinkPad P Series, including an interactive tour of the ThinkPad P40 Yoga, can be found at www.thinkworkstations.com. For the latest Lenovo news, subscribe to Lenovo RSS feeds or follow Lenovo on Twitter and Facebook.
 
Quotes 
 
“Intel’s 6th generation Core i7 microprocessor powers some of the most innovative mobile computers on the market, and we are excited to see that power harnessed in Lenovo’s 2 in 1 mobile workstation,” said Navin Shenoy, Corporate Vice President and General Manager, Mobility Client Platforms Group, Intel. “The Lenovo ThinkPad P40 Yoga showcases amazing innovation and the power of Intel technology for creative professionals.”
 
“To bring their creations to life, media and entertainment, design, and engineering professionals require the most advanced graphics technology,” said Greg Estes, vice president of Enterprise Marketing, NVIDIA. Our new high-performance Quadro M500M GPU provides the horsepower to run demanding pro applications, yet it’s very power efficient – perfect for the ThinkPad P40 Yoga."
 
“Sketching is essential to the creative process, and our Wacom® stylus technology has led the way in enabling digital sketching on mobile devices,” said Masahiko Yamada, president and CEO of Wacom. “The functionality built into the Lenovo ThinkPad P40 Yoga, including our Wacom Active ES pen technology, enables artists and other creative professionals to use this system to its full potential, with display and touch capabilities that are unmatched in the marketplace.”
 
“Autodesk delivers advanced 3D tools that allow creative professionals to bring the most realistic characters to life and visualize amazing worlds for film, TV and games,” said Marc Hamaker, Media & Entertainment Marketing, Autodesk. “An artist’s creative potential is unleashed and limitless when coupled with the right software and hardware, like Autodesk 3ds Max, Autodesk Maya, Autodesk Mudbox, and Lenovo workstations.”

“Designers know that mobility is critical,” said Tim Geurtjens, Co-Founder, MX3D. “Previously, this meant that we needed to use a tablet for sketching and a mobile workstation to render our designs. With the Lenovo ThinkPad P40 Yoga, Lenovo has changed the game for professionals in our industry, offering us everything we need in a single device.”
 
About Lenovo
Lenovo (HKSE: 992) (ADR: LNVGY) is a $46 billion global Fortune 500 company and a leader in providing innovative consumer, commercial and enterprise technology. Our portfolio of high-quality, secure products and services covers PCs (including the legendary Think and multimode Yoga brands), workstations, servers, storage, smart TVs and a family of mobile products like smartphones (including the Motorola brand), tablets and apps. Join us on LinkedIn, follow us on Facebook or Twitter (@Lenovo) or visit us at www.lenovo.com.
 
Autodesk, 3ds Max, Maya, Mudbox, and the Autodesk Logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates, in the USA and/or other countries. All other brands names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders.

1 Based on MobileMark 2014 3-cell + 6-cell battery 

Dear Adobe, Your Mobile Apps are a Mess

Our favorite illustrator/humorist/tech reviewer Brad Colbow is back with what may be his best video yet.

After his M3 Surface Pro 4 let him down due to some stroke anomalies, Brad turned his attention to the new Apple iPad Pro. Without a Pencil available to test, he has instead surveyed the wide array of iOS apps, especially those from Adobe.

I'll let him tell you the rest, but I agree 100% with his observations.

Got my new iPad but it will be a few weeks before I get the pencil and can review it. In the mean time I'm checking out what apps are out there and here are my thoughts on what Adobe is bringing to the table.

Slow-mo video: capturing real world lag

UPDATED 11/13/15 with real-time videos. See below.

Thanks to Mashable and Lance Ulanoff's review of the iPad Pro this morning, I discovered this very easy way to capture lag, using my iPhone 6's Slo-Mo feature.

In all four of the applications below, lag is nearly imperceptible in real time. And in each, once captured at 240 fps, the delay is nearly identical while I draw at my typical light pressure. The earlier video I posted showed how bad lag can be in Photoshop if a lot of pressure is applied.

In Ulanoff's test video, the Apple Pencil and iPad Pro delivered slightly less delay, but his Surface Pro 4 strokes were broken up and inconsistent. I have no idea what software he was using on his SP4. To reiterate, in real time at the speed at which I'm drawing these loops, the lag is imperceptible to me.

Thanks to Mashable for posting a slow mo test, it reminded me I could do the same. Lag is nearly imperceptible in real time.

Applying light pressure, this 60 px brush keeps up well on a 3000 x 2000, 300 dpi canvas.

3000 x 2000 canvas at 300 dpi

1368 x 829 canvas at 100 dpi with 14B pencil

I may go back to other devices and see if the lag is better or worse. I'm definitely curious to know how much better or worse the Wacom EMR on my Lenovo Thinkpad Yoga 14 performs. What do you think?

UPDATE 11/13/15 Several of you requested real-time videos. The first one below is in Sketchook Pro and the second is in Clip Studio Paint.

No skipped strokes or problems keeping up. Video requested by reader Trista Tos.

"Creamy" results on a 3000 x 2000 canvas at 300 dpi. No dropped strokes, no major lag. Video requested by reader Richard Moreton.

Video smackdown: Surface Book, Surface Pro 4 vs. VAIO Z Canvas

MobileTechReview's Lisa Gade has just posted this great video comparison of the latest, greatest releases from Microsoft and the upstart VAIO Z Canvas.

Well worth a look! Though I don't think I'd ever describe the drawing experience as "creamy."

Lisa Gade compares the Vaio Z Canvas with the Microsoft Surface Pro 4 and Surface Book.

m3 Surface Pro 4 videos: Did I blow it?

The Brad Colbow video review I embedded yesterday freaked me out. Brad's video depicts tremendous, unacceptable lag in Photoshop and worse, he identified a stroke tapering behavior that is impossible not to notice. Could I really have blown my m3 Surface Pro 4 evaluation so badly?

So I overcame my usual aversion to recording my scribbling tests and here's the verdict: guilty. The lag and tapering are definitely there, not only in Photoshop but in Clip Studio Paint as well.

The good news is that I think I can argue for a pardon, because as I demonstrate below, the problems manifest themselves in a drawing style that is foreign to me.

You have to use a lot of pressure to see the tapers. As you'll see in the videos below, I sketch very lightly and even the 60 pixel brushes that I'm using in both applications show up more like 12 px strokes. While the strokes are still tapered at that size, those tapers seem a lot more natural than they do at full size.

You'll note that as I'm scribbling very quickly, both applications have no trouble keeping up. It's only once I try to achieve maximum pressure that there's a discernible delay for Photoshop especially to complete the stroke.

In the first wobbly video (it's hard to draw while trying to frame the shot with the your free hand!), I adjust the pen pressure in the Surface app. Brad's video captured the problem with stroke tapers here as well. Despite my best efforts, I don't see them except for a couple of strokes in the video thumbnail.

This test of the m3 Surface Pro 4 attempts to show the stroke tapering issue identified by Brad Colbow in his video review. But try as I might I can't reproduce the tapering on most strokes. What's up with that?

The next test is in Clip Studio Paint Pro and demonstrates the speed and fluidity of that program on the m3 Surface Pro 4. Tapers are barely perceptible at the ends of thin strokes. It's only when I try to get 100% pen pressure that I get the little pinch at the end of the stroke.

Stroke tapering and lag are a lot less apparent in Clip Studio Paint than in Photoshop. This is a 3000 x 2000 canvas at 300 dpi. The SP4 has no trouble keeping up with my light, fast strokes. It's only when I press very hard that the stroke tapering becomes very apparent.

Hopefully the video below illustrates why I missed the lag in my written review. You hear an audible click every time I force the pen down with maximum pressure. It's a totally unnatural amount of force for me. It's also unclear how much of the lag is being contributed by Photoshop not being optimized for the new sixth generation M3 processor and its Intel HD Graphics 515 GPU.

Why my initial testing failed to spot the stroke tapering and lag: I tend to draw lightly and when I test, I'm seeing whether tablet can keep up with my light strokes. This is a 3000 x 2000 canvas at 300 dpi. The lag is evident when I press much harder than I normally do.

So from what you see here, is the tapering a deal breaker? It's definitely not ideal and may be something that can be corrected in a future update. I certainly can live with it and compensate for it. Let me know if you could do the same in the comments section below.

As for the Photoshop lag, it's harder to say whether this is a hardware, driver or software issue. The lag is present whether I turn gpu acceleration on or off. Once again, I can work around it. I don't use Photoshop for drawing anyway. But can you?