New MS Surface GO with pen

[Celticaster]

Hi, sorry if there is a thread abut this already, could not see one. I am interested in the new MS SURFACE GO just launched by Microsoft, looking at the 8 gb one - I am wondering how photo and designer will work on it ? predominantly for Photo, little bit with designer - anyone got any experience with using the MS pen and will the spec of this new, small/tablet sized Surface be ok? Thanks

Ian

[Patrick Connor]

Hi,

I don't think you missed anything, I've not seen any threads on this yet. We are still waiting for a MS Surface GO (UK Available 23 August) to see what the behaviour is like with Affinity Photo and Affinity Designer. We are looking forward to seeing how the software behaves. Given the low processor power it may not be great.

If any other forum users get one first please feel free to add to this thread with your findings.

[Celticaster]

OK, I can report Photo works. At least it does on the 8GB version. I have stayed (so far) with the S version of windows 10 and purchased the photo app. It downloaded and installed without any issue. 

So far I have played with one of the demo photos, it seems to handle layers no problem. I then used one of my own photos and played with the brush overlay in develop  persona - again no issues, using the pen was quite good - ( I normally use a mouse on a pc, so not comparing this to a traditional wacom style pen) it was quite easy to paint the overlay onto various sections felt quite responsive (again not used the ipad version so cannot compare)  - it was a little slower when I hit develop than on my pc but not terrible.

I am not a power user, I bought this device so that I can have access to emails, browsing, office docs and the ability to do some very basic photo editing when away from office/home - and for that I am sure this is going to be fine. I think the biggest issue I am going to have is the 10" screen  - not a lot of space for my middle aged eyes, but I got used to it and the zoom function works great with a drag of the pen

I am sure it will feel under powered for professionals but for my purposes it seems fine - exactly what I wanted from it - I'll try to update this post when I have a bit more experience of using it

Ian

 

[Superb Chops]

Thank you Ian and Patrick, this is exactly what I'm considering.

If anyone else has any experience of using Designer, Photo or Publisher Beta on the 8gb Surface Go I'd really be interested to hear it. Ditto, if anyone else at at Serif Towers has any thoughts on how it handles their apps, I'd really appreciate hearing them.

I really fancy the Go's smaller, lighter form, and having full Windows 10, while working on the hoof.

It's the Go's Intel Pentium Gold processor that makes me wary it can handle moderate use of the three apps. I will leave the heavier stuff for the more powerful desktop.  

 

[Celticaster]

OK, a bit of an update, I don't think anyone is going to be editing large batches of raw files on this device. It all works, but it is really slow. 

I have been playing with a couple of photos of approx 20 MB size (canon raw files) 

It takes a few moments to open the file, once opened all the sliders and editing tools work but some can be a tiny bit laggy, not terrible, but it just doesn't feel as slick as on the PC. but I could do pretty much anything. 

The biggest performance lag I see is when you hit the develop button - it seems to take an age (ok it is only a few seconds but seems longer) once developed though it is reasonable, slower than my pc for sure but again I could do pretty much anything I wanted to do.

I think if you had more than 2 or 3 photos to edit at a time  - any kind of batch processing, the lag will quickly become tiresome so I don't see any professional or serious photographer using it as a regular tool, better off with a Surface Pro or something else.

However, that is not why I bought it, I wanted a tablet that could do a bit more than just a tablet, I wanted a reliable keyboard, the ability to browse and respond to emails more easily than touch typing on a screen, access and edit office docs, along with the ability to edit the odd photo while I am away - It does all of this and so I am happy, it does what I need.

Hope that helps

Ian

[Superb Chops]

Hello Ian, thank you.

That is exactly what I was wondering and what you describe sounds like a reasonable compromise.

I'm really taken by the Go's form and the ability to do light work on Photo (maybe Designer and Publisher too) while travelling between work makes it ideal. The desktop can do the more voluble stuff.

My old MacBook is feeling really slow and heavy to carry...