Update -- Finally found what I was looking for. Sony Vaio Flip 15

[geezerhood]

Has anyone made a 4k display notebook with a wacom digitizer built in?

Edit:  I ended up going for the N-Trig rather than the Wacom after testing both. See the specs of the machine I ended up with down below.

Another Edit: Additional information information for / warning to potential Sony Vaio Flip 15 buyers (This text is also repeated as my post on this topic dated Mar 2)

I have had my Sony Vaio Flip 15 for almost three months now. I have quite liked everything about it. It is fast, has a superbly sharp and clear display and the N-Trig digitizer and pen work wonderfully for editing images, drawing and writing.

Unfortunately I discovered today that the 15" display is prone to CRACKING!  All I did was open up the lid with my thumb in the middle of the screen when it was sitting on my desk and it cracked. The crack appears to have started down by the Windows button bottom center and it quickly grew from there all the way to the top of the screen. This machine has seen ZERO rough handling, has only been sitting on my desk since I bought it and used a few times on my lap.  Never dropped, bumped or even nudged!

So, Sony will not own up to their design flaw on this screen and refuses to replace it even though it is still under warranty. It is way too flexible and the flexing allows the glass surface to easily crack. A web search has shown numerous other people with this problem. I wish I had been able to find the flaw with this computer BEFORE I bought it, but I didn't use the right words in my pre purchase search for known issues.

The somewhat good news is that the company I bought it from on Amazon, PCBase USA is offering to fix it for me at cost with no labor. A very kind offer in my view. Cost to be about $200. Sony wants over $600 for the same fix that SHOULD have been done under warranty.

Anyway, I wanted to alert any potential Vaio Flip 15 buyers to this issue so that you can avoid the machine or if you decide to risk having the same problem I did, be VERY careful when you open and close the screen. I think that the Duo 13 might be a better choice. My wife has one and the screen does not flex like the 15 does when opening and closing. I was not able to find any threads with a web search where people had the same problem as the Flip 15 on the Duo 13, so I am hoping it will hold together longer than 3 months!

[geezerhood]

I am also considering an i7 ultrabook or convertible / folding notebook with a decent display and a Wacom digitizer built in, that supports an external 4k display rather than having the 4k on the actual computer. Are there any out there?  The Surface Pro does but the digitizer is NOT a Wacom...which I guess isn't a huge deal, though I would prefer Wacom to the alternatives.

Thanks,

Don

[Czornyj]

Wacom Companion?

[geezerhood]

The wacom looks like it might work. Thanks for the suggestion.

I do want to try the Ntrig pen with photoshop before I rule out the MS SurfacePro 3 or others with the Ntrig. I currently have a wacom digitizer screen on an Asus core i5 Win8 tablet and I guess that I am not 100% sold on Wacom only. I got to play with a surface pro 3 the other day, but not with photoshop and the Ntrig pen / screen actually seemed easier to work with than the Wacom on my Asus with Windows 8.

Also have my eye on the new Acer R13. The way they handle the display is exactly what I want. I don't want a detaching keyboard like the surfacepro 3.  I would prefer the same display handling design but built by Asus, Fuji, Toshiba or Lenovo as I have more confidence in their stuff than I do in Acer.

Has anyone tried an Acer R13 yet?  It looks like you can get one in some countries, but I am not seeing any available in the USA yet. Considering buying one from Canada if the Ntrig works well enough for me with photoshop.

[geezerhood]

the Microsoft Store and Tiger Direct now have the Acer R13 machine with the Ezel display frame that I want. $1199 ----- almost $400 cheaper than a surface pro 3 and about a grand less than a fujitsu T904 similarly configured, i7 processor, 256gb ssd, 8 gigs ram.  I realize that Acer probably isn't as well built as those other two, but for the price, I might be willing to take a chance with Acer.

The 78XG sub model is supposed to work with a 4K external display.

If I end up buying it, I will let you know how it does with C1Pro8 and Photoshop.

[geezerhood]

I found out today that the Acer R13 notebooks do not have N-Trig digitizers. They use Synaptics hardware for the touchpad and the active digitizer in the display.

Everything I am seeing indicates that the Synaptics digitizers are not good enough for artwork  or serious photoshop use.

If I am wrong about the Synaptics I would like to hear from anyone out there with hands on experience with a Synaptics stylus on a Windows 8 machine.

For now, I am removing the Acer R13 from the selection process. Now I am left to choose between the Surface Pro 3, Fujitsu Lifebook, Wacom's notebook, a used Sony Flip or the Lenovo.

[geezerhood]

It looks like a few people are paying attention to this thread with almost 1300 views,  so I thought I would update the final outcome.

I finally ended up getting a new notebook, a Sony Vaio. It would have been the Acer R13 had it not been for the lack of a good digitizer.

This is the most powerful machine I could find under $1500 that had everything I wanted. Got a Sony refurb (looks untouched) for $1100 off Amazon, 90 day warranty. As you may know Sony stopped making the Vaio so it was pretty hard to find as a factory refurb for under $1600.

Sony Vaio Fit / Flip 15
------------------------
4th gen Intel® Core™ i7-4500U (1.80GHz / 3.00GHz)
16 gigs RAM
1 TB HD
15.5" IPS touch display (2880 x 1620) that folds down to tablet mode without having the keyboard exposed on the bottom
Windows 8.1
NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 735M with Optimus™ graphics (2GB)
N-Trig digitizer stylus
HDMI® out that is supposed to support 4k. Haven't tested it yet.
3 USB 3.0 ports
NFC
WIDI
Bluetooth
Wifi
RJ45 Ethernet
Dimensions (Approx.) : 14.85" (W) x 0.73" - 0.79" (H) x 9.99" (D)
Weight (Approx.) : 5.05 lbs. (with Internal Battery)

------------------------

I tested it with Capture 1 7.x. Quite a bit faster than my old Asus i5 machine. All I have done so far is browse images in my largest catalog of 11k qty.  It renders the thumbnails in 0.5 to 3 seconds. Renders at 100% in 3 to 9 seconds depending on the file.

It did not come with a pen / stylus. I bought a Surface Pro 3 stylus off ebay for $30 and it worked without having to do a thing. I like the N-Trig as well as the Wacom on my Asus. Better in some ways, not as much in others. The biggest negative was how sticky the stylus tip was on the gorilla glass as it was squeaky clean. I rubbed the palm of my hand over the glass and now it feels superb. I guess a nice anti glare screen protector would be a permanent solution.  Just for fun I paired the OneNote button on top of the pen and it opens OneNote just like the SurfacePro.

The fan gets a bit noisy compared to my Asus when Capture 1 is running hard, but I can live with it. It is a lot quieter than my old desktop.  A bit heavy to hand hold in tablet mode without resting it on something but I rarely do that anyway.  The built in camera is really low quality, but good enough for Skype.

I probably would have gotten the 13" or 14" version of the Flip to make it more portable, but they did not make any of those with the 2880 x 1620 display.  After a month of looking, I am fairly confident you can't touch this machine at this price with any other offering. It's too bad Sony stopped making them. Since I bought mine, the seller increased the price $100 and only had one left as of today.

[geezerhood]

I have had my Sony Vaio Flip 15 for almost three months now. I have quite liked everything about it. It is fast, has a superbly sharp and clear display and the N-Trig digitizer and pen work wonderfully for editing images, drawing and writing.

Unfortunately I discovered today that the 15" display is prone to CRACKING!  All I did was open up the lid with my thumb in the middle of the screen when it was sitting on my desk and it cracked. The crack appears to have started down by the Windows button bottom center and it quickly grew from there all the way to the top of the screen. This machine has seen ZERO rough handling, has only been sitting on my desk since I bought it and used a few times on my lap.  Never dropped, bumped or even nudged!

So, Sony will not own up to their design flaw on this screen and refuses to replace it even though it is still under warranty. It is way too flexible and the flexing allows the glass surface to easily crack. A web search has shown numerous other people with this problem. I wish I had been able to find the flaw i this computer BEFORE I bought it, but I didn't use the right words in my pre purchase search for known issues.

The somewhat good news is that the company I bought it from on Amazon, PCBase USA is offering to fix it for me at cost with no labor. A very kind offer in my view. Cost to be about $200. Sony wants over $600 for the same fix that SHOULD have been done under warranty.

Anyway, I wanted to alert any potential Vaio Flip 15 buyers to this issue so that you can avoid the machine or if you decide to risk having the same problem I did, be VERY careful when you open and close the screen. I think that the Duo 13 might be a better choice. My wife has one and the screen does not flex like the 15 does when opening and closing. I was not able to find any threads with a web search where people had the same problem as the Flip 15 on the Duo 13, so I am hoping it will hold together longer than 3 months!

[Hezu]

Anyway, I wanted to alert any potential Vaio Flip 15 buyers to this issue so that you can avoid the machine or if you decide to risk having the same problem I did, be VERY careful when you open and close the screen. I think that the Duo 13 might be a better choice. My wife has one and the screen does not flex like the 15 does when opening and closing. I was not able to find any threads with a web search where people had the same problem as the Flip 15 on the Duo 13, so I am hoping it will hold together longer than 3 months!

I guess it is worth a mention that potential Vaio Flip buyers probably can only get second hand or refurbished ones since it was already over a year ago since Sony sold their PC business and I believe the new owner did not continue Flip line (at least with that model designation) and the new Vaio corporation products are now only sold in Japan.

[geezerhood]

I guess it is worth a mention that potential Vaio Flip buyers probably can only get second hand or refurbished ones since it was already over a year ago since Sony sold their PC business and I believe the new owner did not continue Flip line (at least with that model designation) and the new Vaio corporation products are now only sold in Japan.

Correct. That was the only reason I could afford one and what makes it the best priced notebook of this power level available right now.  The Vaio flip 15 model SVF15N28PXB, cost me under $1100 as a discontinued model with a 90 day warranty. New retail was over $2500 at the time.  Any comparable machine with the same specs ad an N-trig or Wacom panel, was in the $2500 plus range with many of them over $3000.

By the way, the seller's offer to fix it for $200 was with the lower quality 1080p display, but I was able to find a brand new Sony  / N-Trig branded display that is 2880 x 1620, for it for $175 from China, though the install is not exactly a piece of cake, requiring the use of a heat gun to remove the bezel. If you find a good deal on one and can live with the chance of a cracked screen, I would suggest buying an extended warranty.  It still is the most powerful machine of its type for the price.