The IPS display's brightness and the extra function keys might be enough for you to spend that higher price tag, but the awkwardly wide form factor (different from something like the less-sprawling Cintiq 15) makes it a device that will take up a lot of space on your desk. However, you'll have to pay nearly $100 more for this device. What makes it different is that it offers 10 assignable function keys (lined up in a column on the left edge of the device), which is more than the Artist12. In some ways, it rivals the Wacom options, but because it doesn't feature a touch wheel or flashy multi-touch, we think it's a more suitable rival with our top pick from XP-Pen.īecause of the 72% color gamut accuracy and the 8,192 levels of pressure sensitivity from the active pen, it really does have many of the features of the Artist12. The Gaomon PD1560 boasts a big, bright, 15.6-inch display with a 1920 x 1080 resolution. Screen Size/Active Area: 11.6 inches | Screen Resolution: 1920 x 1080 | Pen Type: Passive | Standalone: No

The device is compatible with Windows 7, 8, or 10 (in 32 or 64-bit) and Mac OS X as old as version 10.10. This makes it less of a drawing-only tablet and more of a full-featured control surface for your design programs. In addition, the Artist12 gives you a full-high touch bar you can program to fulfill certain commands on your computer (XP-Pen recommends mapping it to the zoom-in/zoom-out feature), and you can harness six different assignable shortcut keys. And because the pen is passive it's not another device that needs to charge. The passive hexagonal pen (which feels very pencil-like) allows for 8,192 levels of pressure sensitivity so that you can really get the hand-sketched feel in your work. This makes it feel like you're really creating art in the real world. What's great about having an 11.6-inch display inside your drawing tablet is that you don't need to look at your other screen while drawing on a separate surface-you're drawing on the device where your lines and colors appear. The touchscreen display-a 1920 x 1080 HD IPS display-isn't the highest resolution available, but with 72% NTSC Color Gamut accuracy, its focus is on reproducing your work with as much precision as possible. The XP-Pen Artist12 earns our top spot because of its compatibility, customization, and reasonably affordable price point.

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