The XP-pen display tablet is one of the leading competitors of the Wacom tablet. And while the Wacom tablet is the industry standard for professional graphic artists and designers, the price tag of the base display unit being $650 makes alternatives much more attractive to students, freelancers, and hobbyists.
The XP-pen display tablet comes in an array of sizes with varying features and quality. All of them still come at a much more affordable price point.
Specifications
There are many variations of the XP-pen display tablet but below is a chart of the 3 biggest players in the lineup with each of these tablets having an additional one to two variations for whichever price point you are looking for.
| 22RPro | 15.6 Pro | Artist 12 | |
| Price | $699.99 | $449.99 | $249.99 |
| Dimensions | 570 x 334.8 x 44.8mm | 443 x 280 x 12.6mm | 364.11 x 218.87 x 11.5mm |
| Shortcut keys | 20 | 8 | 6 |
| Turn knob or slide bar | 2 Programmable turn knobs | 1 Programmable turn knob | Slide bar (limited programmability) |
| Color Gamut | 88% NTSC >90% RGB | 88% NTSC 120% sRGB | 72% NTSC |
| Response Time | 15 ms | 14 ms | 14 ms |
| Color Performance | 98% Adobe RGB | 99% Adobe RGB | 94% Adobe RGB |
| Pen | PA2 Battery-Free | PA2 Battery-free | P06 passive (battery-free, feels like a real pencil) |
| Pen tilt supported | Yes (60 degrees) | Yes | No |
Key Features
XP-pen has many features come standard on all of its pen display tablets, below is a list of the standard features that are important to consider when considering a purchase of any pen display tablet.
- 1920 x 1080 pixel display resolution
- 8192 pen pressure sensitivity
- 178-degree viewing angle
- Displays 16.7 million colors
- Utilizes electromagnetic technology to register the pen
- High contrast ratios (minimum of 700:1)
- 5080 LPI resolution
Review of XP-pen 15.6 Pro
After having used the XP-pen artist 15.6 Pro for the past 2 months I can attest to the high quality that XP-pen puts into its products. The anti-glare screen feels almost like paper as you write or draw. And the fast response time with next to no parallax only adds to that. Wherever you put the pen tip is exactly where you see the line appear.
The customizable shortcut keys make it quick and easy to make the tablet as personalized as possible. It only requires a 5V power supply voltage, so it can be powered using a wall USB plug or can be run entirely from your laptop power supply. And it is compatible with all major programs including Adobe Suite, Inkscape, Gimp, etc.
One negative is that because the pen is battery-free it does not have much weight to it, so even though it feels sturdy in its construction the weight at times feels cheaper. Also, there have been a handful of times when there has been a significant amount of lag, which admittedly could be the graphics card.
However, overall the XP-pen artist 15.6 pen display tablet has been an amazing tablet to increase my graphic design skills.
Conclusion
Whether you are just starting out as a student to learn or are an experienced hobbyist that wants to expand their skill set, the XP-pen artist display tablets will give you exactly what you are looking for at a fraction of the cost of a Wacom.
It offers a large variety of options to fit any budget while maintaining many of the important features even professionals look for when buying a display tablet. Any of the XP-pen displays should be given serious consideration when you are in the market for a new or upgraded model.
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