Looking for advice!

niallmack

New Member
Hi Everyone!

Brand new to the forum but seems like a great community so far from the time I’ve spent on here…

Just going to cut to the chase, I’ve always been into graphic design (Especially logo design & illustration), completing courses at college when I was younger then as time went by I stopped due to work etc…

I’m a professional eLearning developer so that settled my creative itch from time to time but I’m looking to start taking the design side a bit more serious.

So basically, I’m looking for a laptop/tablet to run illustrator on which utilises a touch screen with stylus pen and can run illustrator internally. I don’t want a drawing pad as I want an all in one bit of kit that I can use on the move. I’ve been having a look and ones that keep popping up that “seem” to tick the boxes are-
  • Microsoft Surface Book
  • Microsoft Surface Go
  • Microsoft Surface Pro
I’m certainly not a Microsoft fan boy by any means, these are simply the ones that I’ve seen that seem to do what I need. I am just starting off so I don’t really need the best of the best at this early stage.

Please if you have any experience with these products could you let me know your thoughts on them while using them for programs like illustrator etc…

Or more importantly - If you think there may be a better laptop/tablet that ive disregarded or simply not seen please do let me know.

Any guidance or feedback would be greatly appreciated!
 
Honestly, and this is going to be quite comical coming from me as I'm not the biggest mac fan, this is probably one of the worst times you could be looking at this.

Apple is about to shift everything over to arm, meaning iOS can likely get a full blooded version of illustrator in the not too distant future (not sure when though) meaning you can look at the iPad and/or iPad pro range too.

MS is probably due a refresh on their lines 'soon'(surface pro is usually around june to october, the other 2 recently updated) but out of the ones you suggested it would be pro for me personally, with the highest spec you can get because you're basically stuck with whatever spec you buy. Surface go, even the higher spec just isn't powerful enough, and personally I wouldn't want to use the surface book for anything 'heavy' due to heat versus it's thin chassis.

As to alternatives..... off the top of my head... lenovo, hp (I think), dell, wacom, porsche design all have 'alternatives' you might want to look into
 
Thanks Levi, appreciate the feedback!

Yeah I did see Illustrator advertised that they were launching on iOS in the near future... so that could be an option for me.

I've never been the biggest apple fan but if it's affordable with decent specs then I can't really grumble.

As I said I am very much a beginner to all this so anything just now would probably be good enough to get the ball rolling at least.

Thanks, I'll have a look at some different manufacturers to see if any of them are worth looking into!

Thanks again, really appreciate it!
 
I come from the other side of the fence than Levi and have always used Apple, not because of any misguided loyalty (after all, they have now become just like any other blood-sucking corporate - arguably, far worse than most), but in comparison to the over-complicated dalliances I’ve had in the world of PCs, they just work.

That said, I am sure a lot of it is about being used to a particular platform. I have been using macs since the late 80s when I was at uni. Ultimately, I want something that gets as little in the way of what my head wants to do as possible. So – and this is a very long-winded way of saying it – I’d go ios every time.

That said, it won’t be cheap. They are unreasonably overpriced, but for me, they just work and rarely get in the way of what I want to do. Others will (and with equal merit) argue the opposite and on price they’ll blow the iOS argument out the water too. If you can, go try both out. Ask friends who have them if you can try them and find what suits you.

I am also a bass player and although many of the great tracks in the history of modern music have been recorded on Fender Precision basses and thousands of bassists will swear by them, you won’t find a single one amongst mine, I just don’t get on with them.

Good luck – and remember it’s all about getting what’s in your head onto ‘paper’ as seamlessly as possible.
 
Thanks Levi, appreciate the feedback!

Yeah I did see Illustrator advertised that they were launching on iOS in the near future... so that could be an option for me.
Do you 'need' full blood adobe stuff.

A lot of us on here have grabbed affinity while it was on offer (gone back up sadly, was 50% off) or before and rate it pretty highly. It has versions for most platforms including iOS so if you have iPad with a pen already you could just go this route too.
 
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