Surface Pro?

jcdoss · 01-07-2016, 03:56 PM

Are any of you using Adobe CC products on Microsoft's new Surface Pro platforms (tablet or book)? My laptop is huge, and I'm looking for a lightweight and portable solution, mostly for Lightroom.

**frogoutofwater** · 01-07-2016, 04:14 PM - **1 Like**

I don't have a Surface Pro, but I .love my Dell XPS-13 (lightweight, great screen, very small). I'm running LR, PS and InDesign on it - but keep my photos on an external drive (LR catalogue is on the internal drive)

**boriscleto** · 01-07-2016, 05:27 PM

Combining an underpowered laptop with an awkward to use tablet with terrible battery life. A win win.

mholford · 01-07-2016, 05:39 PM

Originally posted by jcdoss

Are any of you using Adobe CC products on Microsoft's new Surface Pro platforms (tablet or book)? My laptop is huge, and I'm looking for a lightweight and portable solution, mostly for Lightroom.

I'm not sure of the new surface 4 pro platforms... but most tablets (including the older surfaces) are a little shy on storage space... and with big image files being added every day I'm not sure the surface has enough of it (I just replaced my laptop today... considered a surface but rejected it for that reason)

aikilink · 01-07-2016, 05:41 PM

Originally posted by frogoutofwater

I don't have a Surface Pro, but I .love my Dell XPS-13 (lightweight, great screen, very small). I'm running LR, PS and InDesign on it - but keep my photos on an external drive (LR catalogue is on the internal drive)

I'll second the Dell XPS 13! Haven't been able to get my hands on one, but definitely a tempting machine! Quite pricey, but if you get a higher end version it should handle editing quite well if you don't get it bogged down with lots of other programs! Probably the most attractive laptop I've ever seen.
Things that will help photo editing go better will be the RAM (16GB is good, but 8GB should do the trick [Not sure how many MegaPixels the FF will have, but that might be something to consider]), I'd lean towards the i5 or ideally i7 processor over the cheaper i3. I think that all of the XPS Models come with an SSD which also will help.

**luftfluss** · 01-07-2016, 09:52 PM

Originally posted by boriscleto

Combining an underpowered laptop with an awkward to use tablet with terrible battery life. A win win.

Not so underpowered. The Surface 4 Pro can be configured with a CPU that's comparable the one in the MacBook Pro.

virusn3t · 01-07-2016, 10:30 PM

Same here with a XPS13 (i7, 8GB RAM), I run Lr,Ps [CC] and Capture One 8, editing us good, i have a K3 and handle the files good enough (compared to my desktop) but i store the files on a external SSD. Works for me with light to medium editing

BearCreek · 01-08-2016, 07:45 PM

I got a Surface 3 for Christmas (the regular version, not the Pro). It's the low-end model with 2GB of RAM. At the same time, Photoshop Elements 14 was on sale, so I bought a copy of that and installed it on the Surface. It works, and while it is not as fast as it is on my normal computer (a Dell XPS17), it does work. Some of the adjustments take a while (Shake Reduction takes about 10 seconds to execute on a 24mp image), but it is still better than the old days with a Pentium3 chip, where you could go get a cup of coffee while waiting for a simple exposure adjustment to render. And with only 64GB of storage, there's no way I'm loading my whole photo collection or trying to sync it via Lightroom with my other laptop. It's certainly good enough to use on vacation, processing images to email to friends or post to Flickr, but I wouldn't use it as my only computer. The optional keyboard is great, still figuring out how to use the pen/stylus with Photoshop.

01-07-2016, 03:56 PM	#1
jcdoss Pentaxian Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: Ingelheim am Rhein, Germany Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 6,796	Surface Pro? Are any of you using Adobe CC products on Microsoft's new Surface Pro platforms (tablet or book)? My laptop is huge, and I'm looking for a lightweight and portable solution, mostly for Lightroom.

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01-07-2016, 04:14 PM - 1 Like	#2
frogoutofwater Site Supporter Join Date: Oct 2013 Location: Toronto Photos: Gallery Posts: 674	I don't have a Surface Pro, but I .love my Dell XPS-13 (lightweight, great screen, very small). I'm running LR, PS and InDesign on it - but keep my photos on an external drive (LR catalogue is on the internal drive)

01-07-2016, 05:27 PM	#3
boriscleto Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: North Syracuse, NY Photos: Gallery Posts: 16,476	Combining an underpowered laptop with an awkward to use tablet with terrible battery life. A win win.

01-07-2016, 05:39 PM	#4
mholford Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: Vancouver Island, BC Photos: Albums Posts: 238	Originally posted by jcdoss Are any of you using Adobe CC products on Microsoft's new Surface Pro platforms (tablet or book)? My laptop is huge, and I'm looking for a lightweight and portable solution, mostly for Lightroom. I'm not sure of the new surface 4 pro platforms... but most tablets (including the older surfaces) are a little shy on storage space... and with big image files being added every day I'm not sure the surface has enough of it (I just replaced my laptop today... considered a surface but rejected it for that reason)

01-07-2016, 05:41 PM	#5
aikilink Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2014 Posts: 124	Originally posted by frogoutofwater I don't have a Surface Pro, but I .love my Dell XPS-13 (lightweight, great screen, very small). I'm running LR, PS and InDesign on it - but keep my photos on an external drive (LR catalogue is on the internal drive) I'll second the Dell XPS 13! Haven't been able to get my hands on one, but definitely a tempting machine! Quite pricey, but if you get a higher end version it should handle editing quite well if you don't get it bogged down with lots of other programs! Probably the most attractive laptop I've ever seen. Things that will help photo editing go better will be the RAM (16GB is good, but 8GB should do the trick [Not sure how many MegaPixels the FF will have, but that might be something to consider]), I'd lean towards the i5 or ideally i7 processor over the cheaper i3. I think that all of the XPS Models come with an SSD which also will help.

01-07-2016, 09:52 PM	#6
luftfluss Site Supporter Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: NJ Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 11,627	Originally posted by boriscleto Combining an underpowered laptop with an awkward to use tablet with terrible battery life. A win win. Not so underpowered. The Surface 4 Pro can be configured with a CPU that's comparable the one in the MacBook Pro.

01-07-2016, 10:30 PM	#7
virusn3t Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2014 Posts: 676	Same here with a XPS13 (i7, 8GB RAM), I run Lr,Ps [CC] and Capture One 8, editing us good, i have a K3 and handle the files good enough (compared to my desktop) but i store the files on a external SSD. Works for me with light to medium editing

01-08-2016, 07:45 PM	#8
BearCreek Junior Member Join Date: Dec 2014 Location: Morrison, Colorado Posts: 39	I got a Surface 3 for Christmas (the regular version, not the Pro). It's the low-end model with 2GB of RAM. At the same time, Photoshop Elements 14 was on sale, so I bought a copy of that and installed it on the Surface. It works, and while it is not as fast as it is on my normal computer (a Dell XPS17), it does work. Some of the adjustments take a while (Shake Reduction takes about 10 seconds to execute on a 24mp image), but it is still better than the old days with a Pentium3 chip, where you could go get a cup of coffee while waiting for a simple exposure adjustment to render. And with only 64GB of storage, there's no way I'm loading my whole photo collection or trying to sync it via Lightroom with my other laptop. It's certainly good enough to use on vacation, processing images to email to friends or post to Flickr, but I wouldn't use it as my only computer. The optional keyboard is great, still figuring out how to use the pen/stylus with Photoshop.