Cintiq Companion

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So I've been eyeing off these Cintiq Companions since they started talking about them.
But I don't know anywhere in Brisbane Australia to see one in action.
Can afford one at the moment but always hesitant to get the first series of anything when updated model is often way better.
Reading that Vagrant's has bricked after a few months use makes me wary too.
Also unfortunately I would need it for work too so some kind of stand up case with keyboard would be good.

Anyone got experience with any of the above that might help?

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I haven't used the companion specifically but I have a Samsung Smart PC which is basically the same deal. Presumably the companion would be better but I would say outright that it feels much the same as drawing on a Cintiq which you'll probably have a much easier time of getting your hands on for a test. Might be an idea to just contact Wacom and ask, not sure where they pop up but I live in Brisbane and can't say I've ever seen one in the wild haha.

I would absolutely recommend getting some Cintiq time under your belt if you haven't already. Cause if you're planning to work on it at your desk I found I much prefer my Intuos 4 over either a Cintiq or the portable tablet. Also I would say don't underestimate the frustration of not having a keyboard on hand when you're drawing away from a desk, really I find it's only good for sketching if I'm not in ideal conditions. And I can't say for certain whether it's the same for the companion but Photoshop does not play nice with mine. Particularly the lack of UI scaling makes it extremely difficult to use on a high dpi screen.

All that said though if you can afford it go for it, it's really great for sketching and works more or less like a Cintiq if you want to use it at your desk.

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appreciated. you've confirmed some of my fears there. I had been looking at the Samsungs previously quite nice but yeah the whole keyboard and photoshop things always made me worry.
it's strange that photoshop still has no tool scaling I've been googling that recently and couldn't find anything about it.

my use would mainly be pixel art with animation but sketching is a big plus.
really don't want to throw money at something that disappoints me so I'm not going to rush in...

[Atnas]

This is how I have mine, I also have a second monitor mounted on a rotating arm i use when I need it for reference or code.

Let me just say that the companion's dpi is not detrimental, i have a surface and it is much worse for anything precise. Things are small but I think 13" at 1920x1080 is actually a sweetspot. The pixel density is just low enough to work with pixel art, not so much on the 10" displays of other tablets.

I had same problems as Vagrant but luckily I've managed to figure out the right angle to keep my cord at. It's a problem with the cord as well as windows 8.1 compatibility with this hardware. It doesn't charge unless it's in the red, in which case it will charge to 100% and stay there until i unplug it again.

Other artists I've talked to with this problem just replaced their cords.

It's pretty ergonomic, i just reach past the small amazonbasics keyboard. I've had Yiynovas before which are basically traditional cintiqs made by china and they are less comfortable. the stand it comes with has a drafting table feel to it at the lowest setting. (30 degrees?)

I would recommend it to anyone who does any kind of art for a living. It will pay for itself in time.

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The keyboard thing is probably something you can get over in most cases, especially with a small portable keyboard like Atnas is using. Mostly just a workflow thing where tasks are a bit clunkier than they would be at a desk. For pixel work it's fine since you barely need any advanced features but once you get into trying to use more complicated software like photoshop or what have you you'll find little issues you haven't already planned for get in the way. Like for example with photoshop you might find you're using a lot of selections but you haven't set up a shortcut to deselect so you're constantly going into the menu. Really depends on how dedicated you are to using it though, I just found it easier to avoid using it for that stuff but certainly not impossible to overcome.

The thing I was trying to get at though which wasn't super clear is if you've not used a tablet with a display before you might find it less intuitive to work with than a regular drawing tablet. I think it has to do with the very slight inaccuracy due to the thickness of the glass so it doesn't draw EXACTLY where you put the pen down depending on what angle you're working from, I mostly got past this by recalibrating so the cursor showed up an inch to the side of where I'm pressing but yeah it doesn't emulate the experience of drawing on paper like you might hope. Also not being able to see through your own hand is kind of annoying for menus and such.  Obviously many people find Cintiqs to be the best drawing tool though so just a bit of a caution cause I know myself and a few other people feel the same. I was kind of assuming you were particularly wanting to replace whatever set up you have now, but I realise by work you probably mean non-drawing related stuff, so maybe it doesn't matter whether it's better, having both is pretty great.

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hmm I might hold out for second gen.
Unfortunately drawing is more a hobby since I don't seem to be good enough to keep up with the pace to make money off it.

especially those charging glitches would piss me off.
I feel like a proper fold out case with keyboard would be ideal so it can double as a laptop.

I also wonder how does it go with leaning ur wrist on screen while drawing?
Does it have a spaz and start pressing things where u make contact or is it smarter than that?

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The samsung has a keyboard that actually detaches so it's like a laptop. I would say this is no good, once again personal preference but having your pen hand directly over your other hand resting on the keyboard is awkward.

Also afaik the companion is the same as the samsung in that it disables touch when the pen is detected near the screen so you just have to go in pen first, never been an issue. You also have the option to disable touch altogether.

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Still haven't made a purchase.
So now I'm thinking Microsoft Surface Pro 3.
I'm confused by what I read though does anyone use this and know if I can run ALL Windows applications including full Photoshop?
I don't want to use some cut-down version.....
Saw one in the shop and the pen looks quite nice, tip is sharp enough too :-)

Product:
https://www.jbhifi.com.au/computers-tablets/tablets/microsoft/microsoft-surface-pro-3-64gb-tablet/546943/

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The surface pros all just come with the standard windows 8.1 which can run any and all programs you could on a normal windows installation. I think they aren't using wacom tech for the pen anymore so you might want to look into that.