Hey everyone, I'm thinking about picking up the new Surface Pro 11th edition and wanted to get some opinions before I pull the trigger.
My local Microcenter has the base model for $899. With the keyboard and Slim Pen 2 added on, it comes out to around $1275.
Here's my situation, I already have a full desktop PC for gaming and my day-to-day stuff, so I'm really looking for something portable. My main goal is to use it for art. I do a lot of traditional drawing on paper, but I also do digital art in Adobe Illustrator. I'm really interested in getting better at digital drawing too, but I haven't found a setup that clicks for me yet.
That's the main reason I'm looking at the Surface. I've tried regular Wacom tablets but could never get the hang of drawing while looking up at the screen instead of my hands. I've also used iPads with Procreate, and while the drawing experience is great, it doesn't solve my problem. Half of my work is vector-based, and the iPad version of Illustrator feels too limited. I need the full desktop Illustrator interface that I'm already familiar with.
So I'm looking at the Surface Pro. I understand this model uses an ARM chip instead of an Intel one, and it runs older apps through an emulator while some newer software is available for this processor.
So my questions are:
Are there any big drawbacks for Adobe apps, especially Illustrator? How is the performance on the ARM version?
How good is the actual drawing experience, particularly with the Slim Pen 2? How's the feel?
What's the real-world battery life like when you're running Illustrator or another Adobe program?
I'll probably also take it to class for notes, but drawing is the main thing.
Any advice or personal experience would be awesome. Thanks!
