Hello. I’m looking for some tech help with my Galaxy Book Pro 360 15.6" (which I’ve had for 2.5 years) and/or recommendations for a replacement.
For context, I’m an illustrator, and in addition to the GBP360 I have a desktop PC with a Cintiq, plus an iPad Pro – and actually those are my preferred devices for most kinds of drawing/painting due to precision, tilt, and overall pen performance. However, I haven’t gone full iPad for traveling because it doesn’t support InDesign. I use InDesign a ton, often in a kind of crazy way, drawing the rough sketches for my comics directly in ID with the freehand pencil tool (and later importing the final art on top of it.) Problem is, on the GBP360 I can’t draw small lines/marks in ID. It doesn’t register any line shorter than about 3-4mm. This can be super annoying. It’s not a problem in other programs (works fine in Photoshop, Clip Studio, Rebelle). I’ve had the same issue before on desktop machines, and fixed it by turning off Windows Ink – but I can’t find a way to do that on the GBP360 (no idea why not).
Also, I need the keyboard open for shortcuts, and I don’t like how loose the hinge is – but I don’t like converting it to a slate because I lose the keyboard, and I don’t want to have to use a separate keyboard or controller.
I also have problems with the trackpad. First, it’s large, and it doesn’t seem to have good/any palm rejection, so often I’ll accidentally touch it while typing and it’ll move the cursor and mess up what I’m typing. Really irritating. Second, trackpad has stopped clicking. I can tap with my finger, but I can’t right-click or click-drag (though I’ve been able to use gestures as a workaround.) Not sure how much it would cost to do a hardware fix. I read somewhere that it might also be the battery swelling, so I’m not sure if it would be the trackpad or the battery I’d need to replace.
There’s also the lack of a pen dock, and the fact that the case is slippery and I’m always worried I’m going to drop it.
That’s a lot of small problems that add up. However, on the whole I’ve been pretty happy with it, so I’m not necessarily itching to get a new machine. Can anyone help me with a fix for any of these problems – or if not, what would you recommend for a new machine? Does the Galaxy Book 3 Pro improve on any of these things? Will I find something like a Surface Pro to be annoying in a whole different set of ways? Other thoughts?
I want to stay under ~$2500 with all needed accessories.
Thanks!