Looking for the best surface pro for drawing purposes? This is the right place to search for one.
Microsoft’s tablet computers are the hot-sellers of the time, and that’s because they are selling creative hardware with impressively easy portability and probably the most flexible ability to draw. So your artistic impressions will now be supported with the Best Surface Pro for Drawing!
Also, these tablets challenge the high-spec laptop as they are good at providing traditional drawing and painting compatibilities with added benefits of portability and data security. It’s almost equal to carrying a copy pen in your backpack for on-the-go art – thus an excellent value for the money, always!
Suppose you are searching for a highly supportive yet affordable and portable screen for drawing your creativity anywhere at any time; surface Pro can be your ultimate companion. But which of the Surface Pro would work best for your type of art apps and software?
How would you crack the best deal for the money? What are the factors that’d help you to be confident on a Surface Pro Model? Well, I’ve got your back – this article would serve the purpose regardless you’re a beginner or an expert in your field.
If you know what your unique skill demands, head straight to the Best Surface Pro For Drawing, and if you’re just a seedling artist, read the guide below to understand what you exactly need!
Why You May Need A Surface Pro As An Artist?
There are the top three portable screen options for creative artists: Samsung’s Galaxy Tab, Apple’s iPad Pro, and Microsoft’s Surface Pro. All these screens have their benefits and odds as Galaxy Tab’s aren’t the sleekest, and Apple iPad’s are expensive.
Among all, Microsoft’s Surface Pro Models are the top-line choices, and that’s because they offer the best compatibility for all concerns, including screen quality, stylus or pen precision, lightweight design, resolution and fps, sturdiness, battery life, connectivity options, and affordability.
An artist can never be bound to a desktop screen or comparatively demanding laptops as his creativity can urge him to draw and doodle anywhere anytime. So if you are an artist, you may need to switch Autodesk Sketchbook to sketch the pretty older woman sitting with his dog right in front of you. Or you might want to resolve the boredom while transporting by usingSpirality for creating aww-spiring mandalas.
Moreover, you can conveniently use Adobe Illustrator or the Adobe Creative Suite on Surface Pro screens to look for illustrator compatibility. Thus, it’s feasible to operate even Office 365 on these high-tech screens for basic everyday computing.
There are plenty of apps that specifically cater to the Surface Pro user, including OneNote and Microsoft Whiteboard for notes taking and writing quickly, Expressive Pixels for creating pixel arts, Sketchables to learn basic drawing, and Index Cards for drawing on flashcards.
Summary: An artist starts creating his piece of art whenever the creativity knocks his head – he needs an on-the-go device with smooth performance that can work with the flow. For that, nothing can beat the Microsoft Surface Pro Screens.
Best Surface Pro For Drawing – Buying Guide
Tablets are different from desktops and laptops, and that’s why they offer unique features. Generally, all portable screens provide WiFi connectivity,a front-facing webcam, responsive touchscreen, and GPS capability. Other features may vary from screen-to-screens and also from brand to brand.
Drawing tablets or graphics tablets, all have their different set of specifications and somehow compete with the computing power of laptops. Either hybrid or convertible, these Surface Pro Devices are a great kick for the money always.
Considering specifically the best Surface Pro for drawing, here’s what you need to consider;
Screen Size
Screen size is crucial but depends on the preferences and needs. If you are an artist, you might love a widescreen size of at least 12 inches. It’ll help you to sketch, draw, color, and doodle comparatively quickly. You can have better control over minor details, and a larger screen will also help you create symmetrical mandalas without excessive zoom in and zoom out.
Conversely, if you are a remote artist who gets to roam around a lot, you might find your sweet spot on a smaller 10-inches wide Surface Pro Tablet. Lager screens are also supportive for keen work like architectural design and the need to write music with ease. We have included Surface Pro in our article ranging between 10.6 to 13 inches in size for your convenience.
Summary: 12.3 inches Microsoft Surface Pro are the best option!
Resolution and Colour Accuracy
An artist solely depends on the fraction, visibility, saturation, and richness of the colors in its art. Considering the skin only, an artist must put in plenty of different shades of a single color to create real-looking skin and hair. Keeping this precision in mind, it’s always better to choose a tablet with high resolution and polished color accuracy.
Luckily, the Surface Pro Series by Microsoft has been known to offer rich colors, accurate tones, and balanced white. That’s what makes it the ultimate best choice for the artists regardless of the model!
We have added Surface Pro models featuring at least 1366×768 (5th Gen Microsoft Surface Pro) resolution in our list below that deem fit for basic to medium artistic use. Adding on, most of the added articles feature 2736x1824p resolution, which can cater to even professional artists working with high-tech Apps like Draw A Stickman used for drawing video games.
Summary: Choose 2736x1824p resolution if you’re a moderate to professional level artist.
Pen Pressure Levels
A Stylus or Pen’s pressure level indicates the compatibility of working on the screens. Generally, a stylus shouldn’t demand too light or too heavy press, and also, sometimes, a stylus inputs different signals on gentle and hard pressure.
The pen produces a hard line on a harder press and a lighter one on a light press – this is what we call Pressure Sensitivity. Generally, the Microsoft stylus offers 256, 1024, and up to 2048 pressure levels, whereas the recommended choice is 2,048.
Microsoft has recently announced that they have the fastest pen globally with a pressure-sensitivity level of 4096 with an impressive 12-gram activation force. However, though Microsoft claims this pen be twice as responsive as the Apple Pencil, users might not even be able to recognize the difference in pressure sensitivity among different styluses.
We suggest you not worry about a pen’s pressure sensitivity if you are drawing as a hobby, but it can be fundamental, especially for complex compositions like linework or colorwork. Also, it can be a significant need for professional vector artists and graphic designers as they have to make detailed drawings. Don’t forget, Microsoft sells its keyboard and pens separately that anticipates the price and that’s why you should spend only when you need it.
Summary: Pressure sensitivity doesn’t even matter until you are an expert in your drawing field!
Luckily, Microsoft Surface Pro isn’t notorious for its battery timings. All the options included in the list below offer at least 10hrs of battery life, making it a competitive choice for on-the-go creativity and drawing.
Battery status especially matters when you have to move around more often, and you cannot stick to a charging dock for long. You can even get up to 13hrs battery life in some of the models below.
Summary: Surface Pro allows you to enjoy 10hr to 13hr long battery life.
Ports and Storage
Ports are crucial for connectivity options, and storage space decides the speed of the performance. So do check the storage options available on a Surface Pro before deciding because it’ll help you install numerous Art Apps while still enjoying fast streaming.
Also, some devices feature an extra port for SSD cards that can enhance the storage space making the activities more proficient. Although you should pay only for what you want, a tablet with an extra SSD slot is never an additional expense. It’ll save you in times of pressure working!
Adding on, some tablets can also connect with USB flash drives, so do a little research and choose the one that comes in your budget and offers the most!
Summary: Some Surface Pro devices provide storage enhancing options.
Printing Capability
If you are an artist drawing and creating art pieces most of his time, he might need to print these out for his digital mark-making. That’s why a drawing artist should focus on the printing capability of the Surface Pro. Like most printers have their own Apps, and others might need to connect over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.
Summary: Printing compatibilities are different for different tablets. Do ask before choosing!
Best Surface Pro For Drawing
Now when you have an idea of what to look for, let us conclude the 6 most pleasing Surface Pro Tablets for you so you can go for the best value for the money.
In a nutshell;
The hot-selling all-time favorite one is Surface Pro 7.
Editor’s personal favorite in all regards is Surface Pro LTE.
The bigger the better supporting on-the-go lifestyle is Surface Pro X.
Let’s get started with all the models on board today;
You won’t be able to find this excellent model surface pro for drawing in a digital format. Therefore, we went out of our way to discover it for you. It is a pretty quick-performing and decent screen, so why do we recommend the other gadget?
Technical Specifications
Surface Pro 7 is suitable for sketching and drawing due to its portable 12.3-inch shocking and rich color display on a touchscreen which you can use easily anywhere. It can be used in tablet mode, studio mode, or laptop mode if combined with the stylus and keyboard. Moreover, it performs at whooping 2736x1824p resolution and thus assures you’ll never miss even a tiny detail of your masterpiece.
The screen display on Pro 7 is about 12.3 inches, and it weighs only 1.7 pounds, making it an extremely portable device. In addition, it’s a next-generation laptop with the flexibility of a studio and tablet, allowing you to scale up your traditional drawing and painting skills in a more productive way.
Pro 7 is built with 8 GB DDR2 RAM, which is the best choice for the illustrator and other Window Apps for Art. Also, the Hard Drive is about 128 GB with solid-state flash memory – you can rest assured of fluent art-making as your Pro won’t freeze or hang.
If we talk about their battery timing, it runs for about 10.5 hours which is suitable for drawing on flashcards and blank pages while sitting in a coffee shop or boarding on a flight. It comes with wireless Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, so you won’t have to worry about the connectivity with printers and computers, of course!
The graphic processor on this evergreen Pro 7 is updated to be much faster and better than others. With a 10th Gen Intel Core Processor, it’s shorter than the Surface Pro 6, changing what’s possible in a thin and light PC.
When you are an artist who spends a lot of time annotating, drawing, or taking notes, this excellent Surface 7 pro, with the accompanying Surface Pen, is a perfect choice for any detailed drawings, architectural designs, and sketching or doodling on the go.
The Surface Pro LTE is a piece of cake for professional vector artists, graphic designers, and creative directors, but it also fascinates regular PC users. Microsoft Surface Pro LTE is a powerful 2-in-1 computer that can also connect to the internet without the use of a Wi-Fi network or a hotspot device.
Technical Specifications
Pro LTE is around 11.5×7.9×0.33 inches and has a screen resolution of 2736 x 1824 pixels (267 PPI) and that means, your art apps would receive the inputs without any delays. The memory options are 4GB or 8GB, so you can choose according to your requirements.
It comes with an Intel CoreTM 7th Generation i5 Processor and Windows 10 Pro OS – the combination is a power pack for almost every creative work. Also, you can choose either 128GB or 256GB, according to the file sizes of your favorite apps like OneNote can work well even on 128GB whereas if you create pixel arts using Expressive pixels and other apps, 256GB would be a better choice.
The battery can run for 12.5 hours with local video playback, which is sufficient for the sketching video game. It also includes dual microphones to assure no more poor voice delivery or recording!
When it comes to the camera’s video, and audio quality, it offers Windows Hello face authentication camera (front-facing) with 5.0MP front-facing camera. This front camera can capture 1080p full HD videos and an 8.0MP rear-facing autofocus camera captures 1080p full HD video.
When it comes to the casing signature, it’s a unibody design constructed of magnesium with hidden perimeter venting and a 1-year limited hardware guarantee.
It offers an adjustable kickstand that opens to provide a complete laptop experience, lowers to the ideal position for sketching, writing, and drawing with the Surface Pen, and folds down to provide a tablet experience.
Microsoft’s Surface Pro 6 is faster than others, offers longer battery life, and now comes in a sleek, new black casing. It is certainly superior to the model from the previous year. However, it is not the generational shift that many of us had expected. This update isn’t worth purchasing if you already own a Surface Pro 2017. Well, if you don’t have one, this is the best Windows tablet you can get to boost the artist in you.
Technical specifications
Pro 6 has a 12.3-inch touchscreen display with a pixel density of 267 pixels per inch and a resolution of 2736×1824 pixels, which can lure any artist into buying this. The screen is capable enough to offer the artist great precision so he can draw their paintings more perfectly. It comes with 8GB of RAM, which makes the CPU performance buttery smooth and lets the artist draw, doodle, sketch, and save their data conveniently.
With a dual 8-megapixel back camera and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera, you can take selfies and random pictures to turn into a piece of art lately. The Microsoft Surface Pro 6 runs the Windows 10 Home, and it comes with 128GB of internal storage, which is enough for an artist to keep multiple Apps like OneNote, Microsoft Whiteboard, Expressive pixels, Sketchables, Index Cards, and whatnot.
The Microsoft Surface Pro 6 weighs about 775.00 grams, and the dimensions are 201.00 x 292.00 x 8.50mm (height x width x thickness). It is available in two colors; Platinum and Black.
The battery runs for up to 13.5 hours which is incredible for artists who love to play with their creativity all the time. Also, Wi-Fi 802.11 is smooth and catches signals fast to assure smooth performance. You can also enjoy ambient light sensors and the Gyroscope sensors that can sense every motion you make and can serve accordingly. Also, Pro 6 features anAccelerometer that protects hard drives from damage in a long run.
Pro 6 is updated with USB-C and new chips in 2019 and is now more for all types of digital illustrations!
Long ago, Microsoft Surface Pro replaced physical pen and inks with highly supportive touch-sensitive screens and that turned the heat up for the artists. Microsoft’s latest high-end tabletPro 4 is a unique blend between laptop and tablet. Its amazing stylish design and strong technology make it one of the most wanted devices on the market today, even after years.
Technical Specifications
The Surface Pro 4 is an upgrade to the Surface Pro 3, with Skylake processors, additional RAM and SSD storage, and a 12.3-inch display with a higher resolution. At the same time, the tablet is compatible with the majority of the accessories that came with its predecessor.
This amazingMicrosoft surface pro 4 comes with a touchscreen display of 12.3-inch with PixelSense Technology to ensure you never miss on a detail. Also, the resolution is 2736x1824p that supports the smooth on-screen presentation of the projects, designs, art pieces, and other sorts of entertainment.
Adding on, it comes with 4GB of RAM, and 128GB SSD Drive – a great combination for glitch-free usage even under pressure situations. You can run multiple apps at a time and your Pro 4 won’t mind. Also, the Graphics Coprocessor is Intel HD Graphics 615 and that’s an absurdity for rich graphics, better motion control, and no bleeding.
The Microsoft Surface Pro 4 runs the Windows 10 Home, and it comes with 128GB of flash memory size. The Microsoft Surface Pro 4 weighs 1.69 pounds, and the dimensions are 16 x 9 x 3 inches (height x width x thickness). It slays in its beautiful silver color. Also, it features stereo Dolby Audio-enhanced sound that lets you hear the music loud enough!
The battery life is up to 13.5 hours which is incredible for the use of an artist who keeps roaming around the streets, offices, and art agencies. The Wi-Fi 802.11 and BlueTooth connectivities are also compatible and support the use of other appliances along with the tablet. A USB accessory such as a mouse, printer, Ethernet adapter, USB drive, or smartphone can be easily connected.Exclusive digital illustration – now made easier!
Anyone’s dream laptop or notebook may have a larger screen and be the thinnest yet most powerful and lasting. But this can come true thanks to the fantastic Microsoft Surface Pro’s artistic appearance, which attracts the attention of artists and creative directors.
Technical specifications
Microsoft Surface Pro comes with 12.3 inches display which gives a smooth and vibrant look on the screen. It also flaunts the display resolution of 2736 x 1824p, allowing the professional vector Artist to do their drawing and designing accurately.
With a magnesium case and Gorilla Glass, the build quality is excellent. It’s a powerful nominee for tablet devices; capable of performing most non-GPU-intensive applications.
When it comes to processing capability, the Microsoft Surface Pro is built with an Intel Core i5 processor. It also comes with 16GB of RAM, which fits in perfectly with the CPU to support a higher graphic load in Adobe Creative Cloud Apps.
The product dimension is 7.99 x 11. 5 x 0.33 inches with the Windows 10 professional operating system.It offers 512GB of storage that’s more than enough to store the data for a long time use for the artist or graphic designers.
This multipurpose laptop or notebook weighs 1.73 pounds, which is lighter than expected; the elegant appearance makes a strong impression. The battery life is approximately 13.5 hours, which is excellent for most people.
Microsoft Surface Pro is the most attractive and sleek notebook for art lovers and is also available in two colors; Black and silver. When we talk about their rear webcam resolution, it’s 2mp which is good enough so far!
The last pick for today’s list of the best Surface Pro for Drawing – Microsoft Surface Pro X is known as a powerful gadget that runs on an ARM chip, marking a significant step forward for Windows. These processors have come a long way in terms of delivering the entire Windows experience. The Microsoft Surface Pro X is a one-of-a-kind gadget that combines Windows 10 with an ARM processor.
Technical specifications
The 13-inch touchscreen of Surface Pro Xhas a 3:2 aspect ratio and an essential resolution of 2880×1920 pixels. On this screen, everything appears to be in good working order. The text seems to be sharp, and the colors look to be accurate.
Its dimension is about 11.3 x 8.2 x 0.28 inches with a lightweight 1.7lbs or 774g design. When we talk about its memory, it comes in16GB LPDDR4x with the Microsoft processor, which everyone loves to use.
The back kickstand is the best for making the sketchings. It’s vital at an extensive range of angles and tucks away nicely when not in use. It also hides a slot for a tiny SIM card and the removable SSD, which even improves the storage space to 256GB or 512GB.
Its battery life claims to be 15 hours of typical usage of the device. It comes with dual cameras, which are 5-megapixel front, and the rear is 10 megapixel with Windows hello feature – everything you might need to have as an artist is packed in this elite Pro X.
Surface Pro X is an exclusive ultra-slim design that adopts just the way you want. You can conveniently transform it from a sleek laptop to a portable studio, or a powerful tablet. A perfect choice for an on-the-go lifestyle!
What We Like
Hardware with a beautiful design
Portable and lightweight
Improved battery life
What Should Be Improved
Comparatively Expensive
There are still some concerns with app compatibility.
Though we are coming to propose the final words, here are some best tips for you to draw using Surface Pro. Enjoy!
4 Tips For the Best Digital Drawing On Surface Pro
Sketching on paper has now become a long forbidden way of creating masterpieces since a digital format has been introduced to improve and speed up the process of drawing. All famous brands including Samsung and Apple have launched their tablets with art compatibilities but nothing beats the Surface Pro in this domain (considerations vary).
You can use Surface Pro Screens along with Surface Pens to improve either digital-doodle proficiency or the overall quality of your art. If you still long for improving your art quality using a Surface Pro, here are 4 tips to be a pro;
Using the Surface Pro Pen
The major issue you may feel while working with Surface pro Pen can be the regular felt tip of the stylus that features a slick metallic shaft. An extra grip required for this stylus makes it tough to work with even after 20 minutes of use. Well, you can easily resolve this issue by using cushy, foam pen-grips that exclusively improve the grip-ability of the pen making it much more compatible to work with.
Don’t worry – the buttons and magnet near the nib will still work efficiently and the foamy pen-grip won’t cause any obstruction!
Add A Screen Cover For The Friction
You may feel that the ultra-smooth glass surface isn’t reliable for precise and controlled artwork. The nib that keeps slipping can disturb the drawing but no worries, this slippery sensation can be controlled by adding a screen cover to produce friction.
You can also choose products like Matte Screen Protectorspecifically designed for Surface Pro.
Trial And Error Until You Find The Right App
Windows offer numerous Surface Pro compatible digital art apps especially for Surface Pro 4 and Surface Pro 6 and not all of them work for everyone. Overall, you can find your peace in Sketchables or other apps as mentioned in the article above.
The only key to finding the best compatibility is to make trial and error until you find the best one for you.
Find A Compatible Nib
Not every app and every design need the same nib to work with – some might need a thinner whereas some others might require a thicker nib. Keeping these requirements in mind, Surface Pro has introduced a wide variety of nibs including 2H, H, HB, and B. You can swap the nibs to find the one that best serves your artistic vision.
Best Surface Pro For Drawing – Our Takeaway
Digital Art has been a trend for a long – people have shifted from paper to touchscreens and from pencils to styluses. That has changed the meaning of art and creativity as these touchscreens or tablets offer numerous Art Apps and Software to support the skills of artists so they can create more efficient, perfect, and error-free arts.
For this, Surface Pro has been in the race for years and is offering one after one model that fully supports the artist for drawing, sketching, coloring, layering, doodling, and mandala work. We have enlisted 6 Best Surface Pro For Drawing in the article above and all these models are worth the price.
Surface Pro works well with pens and blends PC software with amazing tablet advantages to offer a device worth considering. Surface Pro comes with powerful hinges and most designs can be used either as a tablet, laptop, or studio as per the convenience.
The only drawback of opting for Surface Pro is that they sell pens and keyboards separately that further anticipates the price and makes it overall expensive. Still, it’s a budget option that features unmatched art compatibilities and that’s why has been a top choice for artists for years!
Robert Smith is a technology lover and loves to write about laptops, monitors, printers, tablets, Apple products and anything that's related to computers and games. He is passionate enough that he maintains this blog regarding tech updates on a daily basis.
Robert Smith is a technology lover and loves to write about laptops, monitors, printers, tablets, Apple products and anything that's related to computers and games. He is passionate enough that he maintains this blog regarding tech updates on a daily basis.
