iPad Pro vs. Cintiq Companion 2. This is the main reason I want one – ever since I got AstroPad and a decent stylus, I’ve been waiting for the day I could get a device that would act like the other tablets I use, and as a drawing screen for when I’m on the plane/bus/etc and want to use Illustrator. The iPad Air almost works for this, but not quite – I just like to have too damn many palettes open at all times. I need the space of my computer’s screen.
I’m going to compare the two shittiest models. iPad Pro data comes first, followed by Cintiq Companion 2.
Price: $800 / $1300 ($500 more)
Pen: Apple Pencil, $100. Jot Touch, $100. Adobe Ink, $70. / Comes with
Mac drawing functionality: Astropad is $20 / Comes with
Total cost: $920/1300 ($380 more)
Storage: 32gb / 64gb
RAM: Unknown. Air 2 has 2gb so at least that / 4gb
Display: 12.9” / 13.3” (My Air’s screen is 13.3”)
Resolution: 1366×768 / 2560 1440 (Air: 1440×900)
Weight: 1.57lb / 3.75lb (a hardback sketchbook is ~2lb, my Air is ~3lb, and my travel Wacom is 1.54lb)
Battery life: 9h / 4.5h
The iPad Pro is only $150 more for a 128GB model. That’d be $950. Or $1070 (or less depending on stylus choice) for iPro, stylus, and software. The 128gb Cintiq Companion 2 is $1600, $530 more than that.
It’s not a big difference, but it’s a definite difference. The weight is a big thing for me, too – computer + iPro is about 4.6lb, my current travel setup is 4.5lb, but computer + Companion would be 6.75lb, which feels like a ton given I like to carry this on my shoulder pretty much everywhere. It adds up in the long run.
I think iPro + Pencil + AstroPad may well have the Cintiq Companion beat. It costs less across the board. If you’ve been jonesing for a travel Cintiq but feel like it’s about $4-500 too expensive, this may be a fine choice. Unless you are an all-Android house. I’m an all Apple house, so the OS is a major plus for me.
Storage might feel be super tight on the 32gb Pro. My Mini is the same size, and it’s feeling cramped – and that’s with much smaller graphics assets in all the apps.
Am I going to buy one when they’re available? I dunno. Depends on how my finances are in a couple of months. I’ll want to wander down to an Apple Store and see if I can persuade them to let me try AstroPad on it.
Please make a full review if you purchase one for drawing purposes. Thank you!
I have a Cintiq Companion 2 that I’m more or less underwhelmed with. It’s nice for painting on the go but it’s very fiddly to get the calibration right and the battery life is atrocious.
A lot of people like it, though. We can try to meet up in such a way that you can try it out if you like.
Anyway I’m considering selling the CC2 and getting an iPad Pro when it comes out, because the iPad is WAY cheaper for reasonably similar specs, and a capacitive pen has a lot of advantages in this case. My only hangup is the availability of apps but I assume that Adobe will finally release a proper painting/drawing-friendly Photoshop for iPad now, and of course there’s always AstroPad.
oh also the CC2 is freaking HEAVY. It’s like 4 pounds! And that’s before including the shitty mini keyboard I have to keep with me because Photoshop’s UI is not even remotely tablet-oriented.
Oh but to be more fair to the CC2 per your assessment, remember that it’s a fully-functional (Windows) PC, so you don’t HAVE to carry it along with your MacBook if you’re just going to be running Illustrator anyway.
I haven’t really used mine as a Cintiq at all – just as a tablet. I played around with it in Cintiq mode a bit and I found I was still just looking up at my main screen anyway, completely defeating the point to a Cintiq, so I still just use my trusty Intuos there.
(Sorry for replying to myself a billion times.)
Your descriptions of the problems with the CC2 are pretty much what I imagined they’d be. Plus hassles with trying to get it to run OSX if I got the one that can run Windows as well as Android. Or with swearing at Windows. Neither of which sounds like much fun for someone who’s avoided Windows her whole life.
I’m generally kind of cold on screen tablets; I’m delighted with not having to hunch over a hot screen as I draw with my opaque hand. My entire use-case for a screen tablet is on the go, so weight is super important.
Really, I feel like I’m probably not going to jump on an iPro until the second version. Give it time to get even lighter for its size, and a little cheaper.
Yeah, I hate Windows as well, although since all I run on the CC2 is Photoshop I’m mostly shielded from it. Also Windows 10 is… well, fairly not-horrible, I guess. But the weight of the CC2 alone is way more than iPad Pro + your MacBook Air together.
Also I really have to wonder why after all these years, Wacom *still* doesn’t include a decent calibrator with the Cintiq. I ended up having to tweak the hell out of the built-in Windows calibrator to get it to work right.
So for what it’s worth, work bought me an iPad Pro and I love it a lot better. And it works GREAT with Astropad!
(I will probably be selling my CC2 at some point, unless I decide I really want an overpriced underpowered Windows gaming machine.)
That battery in the stylus though… that would drive me crazy.
Powered styli are pretty much standard for iPads nowadays. I’ve got a Jot 4 that works similarly. Apple lets you charge their stylus from the tablet, and claim you get ~30 min of use off of 15sec of charging, so it’s not too bad. Maybe. Dunno.