The Surface Book – a viable pen tablet replacement for Wacom’s high-end Cintiq 13hd?
Buying the Cintiq was a life-changing moment for me. Being able to draw directly onto the monitor of a drawing tablet was something I had dreamed about for months as I saved up to afford one. Before that my only digital drawing tool was a used Wacom Intuos I got off ebay for cheap. With that kind of setup you look at the screen while you’re drawing rather than at your hand. I’ve heard some artists say they prefer not having their hand in the way on the canvas. For me, the disconnect fatigued me. I couldn’t draw for long stretches at a time and drawing became stressful, something I avoided when I could. So I decided to make the plunge and invest in a Cintiq.
A visual demonstration
The Cintiq completely changed my drawing experience! Drawing on it is like drawing on a piece of paper, with the added bonus of being able to Crtl + Z when needed!
In any case, when my old laptop died on me I decided to get the Microsoft Surface Book. I liked the idea of having a laptop-tablet hybrid. But I wondered about its drawing capabilities. I was worried if it were too good it would make my Cintiq obsolete. I definitely didn’t want to bench my Cintiq. At the same time I wondered what it would be like to have your computer ALSO be your pen tablet, and just draw whenever without hooking up the Cintiq’s complicated wiring.
I’ve been testing the Surface Book capabilities for a while now, so here’s what I’ve come up with!
Surface Book vs Wacom Cintiq
The screen of the Surface Book is glossy and has the slippery glass feeling of your typical tablet or smartphone. That means my face or any lighting in the room are reflected on the screen whenever I draw. As well, the pen nib slips over the screen and is not quite as satisfying as that pen-on-paper sensation you get from a Cintiq, or any Wacom pen tablet for that matter. I also had this sensation of not drawing directly on the canvas. As if pen nib is separated from the drawing by the glass of the screen. If I draw a line on the Surface Book, lift my pen and then return to the same line, it’s difficult to seamlessly continue it. For the Cintiq, the precision is exceptional down to the thinnest lines. I have played around with pen calibration to make sure that was not the reason, but to no avail.
In order to counteract the jitter of working on the Surface Book’s slippery screen, I have to raise the stability of the pen tool so high that I lose some pen strokes. If I lower the stability, my lines come out super wobbly. I wasn’t able to easily find that sweet spot for the stabilization setting. I also have to push with just a tad more pressure for my strokes to lodge on the computer. For the Cintiq you can draw a line by basically sliding the tip over the surface. It may seem like a minor thing but wrist fatigue is a real concern for me. Finally, the Surface Book pen runs on batteries (AAAA batteries to be specific) which is a pain compared to Wacom’s patented batteryless pens.
The Verdict?
As a lineartist the Surface Book is simply not capable of replacing my Cintiq. Much as I would love to work wirelessly and cut down to just one device, I am going to have to stick with the Cintiq for the foreseeable future.
Did I like the Surface Book’s pen tablet capabilities at all? Yes – for sketching! The Surface Book’s capabilities are actually excellent and pale only in comparison to Wacom products – devices made purely for the purpose of drawing and nothing else.
What I really love is the ability to flip my screen around and draw on a vertical screen rather than your typical horizontal computer monitor. The Surface Book’s tablet mode makes switching between horizontal and vertical views incredibly easy, even while running your favorite art software. It was an awesome experience to sit on the floor with the tablet in my lap, and just draw onto the screen, not worrying about the Cintiq’s many wires or frequent driver updates. I will certainly be enjoying the fact that I can use my laptop to jot down notes or draw a sketch the minute an idea pops into my head. It’s also fabulous for loose, colorful, painterly digital art as well. However, high-detail work is simply not achievable with the Surface Book tools, in my opinion.
My first sketch on the Surface Book was, in fact, of Zelda from Breath of the Wild
In short, the Surface Book makes for a nice, nifty pen tablet. You can purchase a matte screen cover off amazon.com to make the screen less glossy and with a nicer texture for drawing. I have purchased one myself and will post an update on how and if it changes the drawing process for me. If you can try out the Surface Book in a computer store, have a go and see how it feels before making the purchase, if the drawing capabilities are the selling point for you. However, if you’re an artist looking to buy a pen tablet, I’d go for anything by Wacom, you simply cannot go wrong with them!
GIFs made with ScreenToGif
Wacom Cintiq and Microsoft Surface Book images acquired from their respective websites.
When I originally commented I clicked the “Notify me when new comments are added” checkbox
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You should be able to unsubscribe through the email that you get from the comments. I’m not sure if I can unsubscribe people from my end.
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Thanks for clearing that up. I’ve wanted a Cintiq for years, but couldn’t justify the cost. I’ve been hoping that tablet technology would be able to eventually catch up and render the Cintiq either obsolete, or much cheaper. It looks like we aren’t quite there yet.
I think it’s a case of ‘jack of all trades, master of none’ kind of thing. The Cintiq has one purpose only and everything about it is made to serve that one purpose. But a tablet has a million other things to take into consideration.