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All iPads iPad and Wacom pen for engineering?

S

SpiralS

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 12, 2014
6
0
Hi all,

I work for an engineering company that covers a broad array of industries. We do work for signage industry, shop fitting, etc. We have CNC routers and water jet cutters for marble and all non ferrous works.

Now my question is has anyone any experience in using a tablet plus a stylus for seeing clients and doing sketches on the fly (accurate straight lines) and taking notes. We use Rhino 3D and Solidworks as our main design software so any AutoCad ish drawings will do on that front.

Is the iPad capable of handeling this kind of tasks in this field of expertise or should I get a Note 3 2014 for that matter.

I do own a mid 2012 Macbook Pro 13 out of interest and integrating with iTunes probably will be a plus. I feel a tablet will suit me better for traveling and leaving the Macbook at home. I just dont want to sit with a glorified bird slinger after my purchase.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated. :)
 
If drawing and note taking should be the only purpose I would go with the Note 3 because of the much better digitizer and Wacom support.

I have the rMini and take notes via Notability since the iPad2 and can say its superbe for note taking and anything else as long as you don't need precise sketching.
 
I think you would probably be best served by looking at a Windows tablet rather than Android or Apple for this. I take a lot of notes on my iPad, and with a good stylus and a good program, it is quite capable, it's not quite the same as an active digitizer for precision. I'm and engineer as well, and I have a Surface Pro which I do some of my sketching and outlining of new designs on - although I prefer doing much of the light stuff on my iPad - the biggest hurdle is finding software that meets your needs. I have not looked extensively for software that does this on Windows, so I'd like to hear if anyone has any suggestions. One of my biggest gripes with stylus input in Windows is the relative scarcity of great apps.
 
Hard question.

I don't have experience with anything but iPads.

I would suggest looking at something like iDraw for sketches. I find this app fairly amazing. It has a better than four star rating. It allows you to work with layers, free form drawing, fixed shapes, fills and precise location of objects. Really a great vector drawing tool.

If you just need to do free form sketching there is an endless number of apps that provide that including SketchBook Pro by Autodesk.

I recently obtained the Nota stylus. It is an active stylus but not one that communicates with the iPad. That is, it has a narrow tip and some electronics that signals the iPad that something is touching the iPad display. It allows you to write a little more compactly than you would with just a passive stylus.

It is pretty good, but I'll be happier when Apple improves the digitizer in the iPad.
 
Hi guys,

Thanks for all the replies. I seem to be no where closer to a decision. I am still trying to find a supplier that stocks the Note 10.1 2014 edition. I first want to play around with it before I jump the gun.

All the input is valuable, keep em coming! :)
 
For your needs, definitely something with a digitizer.

Surface Pro would do you well I'd suspect. Can even get a hard keyboard cover, run full windows applications, proper web browsers, USB inputs for all kinds of peripherals including mouse and external drives, monitor output, multitasking, etc...

It'd probably do everything you'd want it to do, without much fuss. You might limit yourself pretty badly on the bird slinger ;)
 
SpiralS said:
Hi guys,

Thanks for all the replies. I seem to be no where closer to a decision. I am still trying to find a supplier that stocks the Note 10.1 2014 edition. I first want to play around with it before I jump the gun.

All the input is valuable, keep em coming! :)
Click to expand...

I've used, and currently own, an iPad 3rd gen and 1st gen Surface Pro that I take notes on. I use a pen for both, and I can say that for more precise note taking and drawing, I much prefer the Surface Pro. I can lay my hand across the screen while using the included digitizer pen, and writing/drawing just comes naturally without any interference from my palm or skin touching the screen. With the iPad 3rd gen, while there is software that can detect when I'm resting my palm over the screen, it is not always accurate; I always end up unintentionally scribble outside my writing, and the pen is big and rubbery so it is not as natural as drawing on the Surface Pro.

I understand that the Samsung Note has the same writing technology integrated, Wacom, and I strongly recommend using this for more serious work that requires ease of use and accuracy. If you have the extra cash, or don't mind using Windows 8, I highly recommend picking up a Surface Pro, especially while Microsoft has been discounting the first gen recently. I picked up my Surface Pro 128GB version for $499 (plus tax) earlier this month, and the Type Cover 2 for $88 at Staples (after combing instant discount and coupon). Otherwise, try all of them a see which one fits you the best. Sent from my iPad.
 
No amount of software can even touch the capabilities of the Wacom digitizer.

That said I'd highly suggest searching forums that are related to your line of work. See what other people in your field have found to work the best.
 
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