What Programs Can Run on SP3?

[Fred Mertz]

I'm looking to dive into getting my first Surface Pro and the 3rd generation looks to be as good a place as any. But I am curious as to what programs will work (and work well) with SP3. I am both an artist as well as video editor and would like to have certain programs on the go.

On my regular Desktop PC, I work primarily with programs like Photoshop, Illustrator, Corel Painter, ArtRage, Adobe Premiere and After Effects. Will these programs run smoothly on SP3?

Thanks in advance.

 

[anon(7900571)]

Hey welcome to WPCentral forums
Yes they all will work very smoothly on surface pro 3. This isn't the RT version (they didn't released any surface 3 ) so this has the full windows 8.1 desktop class experience :smile:

 

[Benito Sifuentes]

yeah it will run it all I have my programs/game I am developing on my OneDrive and I run all my IDE's on my Surface Pro first Gen and they run great

 

[Fred Mertz]

Thanks for the fast reply.

I forgot to ask in the original post, but how do you guys and gals think SP3 will work with Painter and ArtRage when it comes to pressure sensitivity? I know that the pen's tech was swapped out from Wacom to N-Trig. But do you think this swap is going to have a serious affect on those programs at all?

Also, I know it would be ideal to get an i7 version of SP3 to run things as smooth as possible, but that's a little out of my budget range for the moment. Would the i5 still be able to run the programs I mentioned with no issues?

 

[anon(7900571)]

Thanks for the fast reply.

I forgot to ask in the original post, but how do you guys and gals think SP3 will work with Painter and ArtRage when it comes to pressure sensitivity? I know that the pen's tech was swapped out from Wacom to N-Trig. But do you think this swap is going to have a serious affect on those programs at all?

Also, I know it would be ideal to get an i7 version of SP3 to run things as smooth as possible, but that's a little out of my budget range for the moment. Would the i5 still be able to run the programs I mentioned with no issues?

i5 version should work :wink: regarding the pen read this article Microsoft designed the Surface Pro 3 pen for greater accuracy | Windows Phone Central
Penny Arcade on Surface Pro 3 N-trig pen: 'If you were worried about the new tech, don't be' | Windows Phone Central

 

[xandros9]

Virtually anything you want will be possible to run on the Pro.
It's a full blown PC, so emulators bring mobile app support (doubt why one would want it in most cases), virtual machines or multiboot setups can bring other OSes, etc.
Not to mention the plethora of Windows software.

Some apps don't take well to the high resolution of the display, but I don't think it should be too prevalent...?

Regarding pressure and apps, I can't tell you for sure. I heard API differences can break pressure sensitivity in some places. I'm not too much of a tablet junkie so I'm not familiar with those unfortunately.
Proceed with caution.

An i5 will float your boat just fine. Just don't get an Atom.

 

[anon(7900571)]

Virtually anything you want will be possible to run on the Pro.
It's a full blown PC, so emulators bring mobile app support (doubt why one would want it in most cases), virtual machines or multiboot setups can bring other OSes, etc.
Not to mention the plethora of Windows software.

Some apps don't take well to the high resolution of the display, but I don't think it should be too prevalent...?

Regarding pressure and apps, I can't tell you for sure. I heard API differences can break pressure sensitivity in some places. I'm not too much of a tablet junkie so I'm not familiar with those unfortunately.
Proceed with caution.

An i5 will float your boat just fine. Just don't get an Atom.

hehe by atom um you have dell venue 8 pro ?

 

[xandros9]

hehe by atom um you have dell venue 8 pro ?

this person intends to do some heavy lifting, and I doubt the Atom can provide the power for it.

EDIT: I don't do Lightroom on my Venue. Kind of a difference!

 

[wabelo]

The SP3 is in practical use, a pc. So you can run the same program with a pc with the same specs that your SP3 has.

 

[Fred Mertz]

Since I highly doubt that the new version of Photoshop is going to be ready to use when SP3 drops, will CS3 work on this with 8.1? I've always liked CS3 compared to some of the newer versions and if I have to wait until Photoshop eventually releases it's SP3 specific version, I'd like to continue using CS3.

 

[The_New_Normal]

Here's a good reference for the sp2
http://surfaceproartist.com/blog/2013/10/28/surface-pro-2-what-runs-what-doesn't

Sp3 is a little less clear (re pen input) due to the change to ntrig, have to wait for more in depth testing

 

[Fred Mertz]

Surface Pro 3 Review

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgRouiSliu0

​

Kind of a weak "review" in that they get some hot chick to pretend she is "using" the SP3 to get more hits on their video. Seriously, who draws on a tablet that is vertical like that, while also in Keyboard mode? Looks like she's gonna break her wrist. Yikes! But the cool thing about the video is that we see that Adobe Premiere, Photoshop and Lightwave are loaded on the machine. I'm just grateful they didn't ask her to demo those programs. Who knows what kind of bones she would have broken had she tried to.

 

[Fred Mertz]

So, this question is for those that have had time to play with their new toy. Anyone using SP3 for art related projects yet? If yes, what programs are you using and how is it? How good (or bad) is the Pen when it comes to drawing/painting. Have the drivers shown any improvement for pressure sensitivity?

Thanks in advance.

 

[JamesPTao]

This Link may help. Short review from a cartoon drawer, penny arcade.
http://m.windowscentral.com/penny-arcade-on-surface-pro-3-n-trig-pen-dont-worry

 

[Fred Mertz]

This Link may help. Short review from a cartoon drawer, penny arcade.
Penny Arcade on Surface Pro 3 N-trig pen: 'If you were worried about the new tech, don't be' | Windows Phone Central

Thanks for the link, but I'm already caught up his review. Really want to hear from people on this site and what their thoughts are regarding their programs of choice.

 

[KJones75]

I'm a web developer and so far I've spent a few hours editing some PHP code in Dreamweaver and slicing some PSD images in Photoshop. I'm using CS4.

Dreamweaver works pretty well, and doesn't suffer from a tiny UI like Photoshop. Even Photoshop is tolerable as long as you use a mouse. It will do just fine in a pinch when I'm away from the office or not at home... but I probably won't be selling my laptop because I wouldn't want to use a small screen or tight keyboard for too long.

I could definitely see myself using this during meetings with clients.

Sent from my Surface Pro 3 using Tapatalk

 

[onysi]

as a CS6 user, I think its too small for me. really hard to use pen on it.

 

[anon(5383410)]

I run multiple instances of Visual Studio on the sp2 without issue. Visual Studio is about as resource intensive as they come.