One of the most popular brands in drawing tablets, XP-Pen has officially launched its flagship product Deco Pro Small and Deco Pro Medium on 17nd May 2019. These smart tablets captured the market in no time as both the tablets are highly compatible with Android OS, which has never been seen before in the entire tablet industry.

XP-Pen Deco Pro Creative Pen Tablet is an amazing device special made for professional sketchers, drawers and illustrators. The XP-Pen Deco Pro Series graphic tablet is a brand new product that can be connected not only to a PC / laptop but also to an Android phone / tablet to use. Besides, OTG connection is another feature of Deco Pro that will further facilitate drawing outdoors.

The XP-Pen Deco Pro Drawing tablet works with most graphics software like Windows Paint 3D, Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Corel Painter, Autodesk Sketchbook, Manga Studio, Clip Studio, Zbrush. It’s also compatible with the Sketckbook ,MediBang Paint , Deco Draw Android Drawing App Since it’s a tablet aimed at those who draw digitally, it has a pretty good variety of hotkeys – 8 of them: undo, change brush size, pan, zoom, erase and many more. Deco Pro offers one Virtual wheel ( touch ring ) and one Mechanic wheel that allows you to zoom in and out, use brushers, and scroll up and down. Double Wheel Design helps a lot to improve your working efficiency and save your time.

Deco Pro is equipped with the battery-free pen, which sets you free from the charging issues. Together with 8192 levels of pen pressure sensitivity and ±60° tilt support, you can enjoy more accurate and natural strokes, bringing you a more real paper-like drawing experience.

Because the work area of a PC/laptop is different from a phone/tablet, so the work area of the Deco Pro graphic tablet will be different according to the different connection way you choose.

266PPS helps to sense the pen movement agilely, with almost no delay lines. 5080 LPI high pen resolution makes the pen stroke more delicate and natural, which can easily achieve pixel-level painting display. Thanks to these configurations, your working flow is greatly improved.

It is compatible with Windows 7 or later, macOS 10.12 or later, and Android 6.0 or later (OTG supported devices).

XP-Pen Deco Pro Creative Pen Tablet Specs

Model: Deco Pro Small / Deco Pro Medium

Application illustration / animation / graphic design / industry design / image retouching / anime gaming, etc.

Express Keys: 8 Customized Press Keys and Double Wheel

Technology: Battery-Free Electromagnetic Resonance

Active Area: 9 x 5 inch / 11x 6 inch

Resolution: 5080 LPI

Report Rate: 266PPS

Pen Pressure: 8192 Levels

Pen Tilt : 60 Degrees

Reading Height: 10mm

Interface Support: USB-C

OS Support: Windows 7 or later macOS 10.10 or later Android 6.0 or later

Compliance: CE / FCC / CCC

Color: Black

Official site: https://www.xp-pen.com/product/432.html

I have been professionally retouching photos for 8 years, full time. I have been using a Wacom intuos tablet (non-display) for that long. The hardware is great. I just replaced an indestructible old tablet that didn't keep up with modern technology. But thanks to that I found myself in the situation of needing a new tablet and I learned about the XP-Pen Deco thanks to various reviews on YouTube.

XP-Pen has established itself as a good drawing tablet manufacturer over the years. It has a good list of options for beginners and professionals alike. I'd like to introduce you to the Deco Pro Medium. their most advanced graphics tablet . Let's see if it's worth getting.

Design

The design of the tablet is very eye-catching, The tablet is very lightweight and beautiful, which I really like. The XP-Pen Deco Pro tablet is thinner and lighter than its predecessor, The back and the top of the tablet made of aluminum as it is cold to the touch,This is one of the few screen-less tablets on the market which uses a metal back, so it was most certainly built to last.

XP-Pen Deco Pro is built using premium materials . The result is a pen tablet that feels reassuringly strong but is a mere 7mm thick.

The surface sheet is smooth texture . On one side of the tablet you will find eight customizable express keys and the roller Wheel , offer the perfect amount of custom functionality .

The tablet comes with the latest generation pressure pen, which feels and looks nice; and a housing for the pen which also hides about 10 replacement nibs which is very cool.

The Tablet Itself

The physical machine Deco Pro Android Drawing Tablet is nice and sturdy. It uses a USB-C to connect, and the USB-C cable detaches from the other end, which is useful if you need to transport it so you don't have to coil the cord around it like some older xp-pen star tablets.

It seemed to work on my Dell PC just fine, I use it on a wired connection, and it seems to pick that up just fine anyway. the active drawing area is adequate yet still compact and portable. the smooth surface will allow the nibs to last longer.

Interaction With The Computer

The port itself is a standard USB type-C port with no tunnel in front of it. The use of USB type-C is really good here as it allows for the user to plug in the L-shaped cable whichever direction they need to, depending on whether they are right or left-handed.

Once you've gotten it plugged into your computer you'll need to spend a bit of time with the drivers to get it to work on your computer. I'm installing it on a Windows 10 desktop. It was extremely easy to setup, download and install drivers from XP-PEN's website,

The driver is packed with features. You can set sensitivity for pressure. Any of the buttons with any keystroke you want. You can set for different programs so when you're in that program, the keys automatically start functioning differently depending what software you're using. It has absolute or relative options and you can set for use with two screens or just one of the two that you have, and on and on. TIP-eliminate all other drivers, restart computer and then install this tablet's driver otherwise you'll have glitches.

First up, driver I must say instantly even before any tweaking I could feel just how smooth, and responsive this tablet was, with an unprecedented depth in pressure sensitivity, there is a nice curve editor right in there driver so you can fine tune and find the sweet spot you desire. It took me about 30 seconds to get the feel of a 2b pencil. A left-hand right-hand configuration switch, my self, being left-handed is a must, as well as aspect ratio and drawing field changes. You can also set up the dial, express keys all with user-defined commands.

I then ran the gambit software test, Adobe Photoshop, Clip Studio Paint, Zbrush, Maya, and Blender. It all registered and performed beautifully across the board. The Express keys and wheel are responsive and have a home key registration so you know where your hand is with out looking. I must same I am very happy with this purchase and believe XP Pen will have a long future with me and my graphical needs I hope to be able to try out one of there Artist Series Pen Displays in the future as soon as I can save up the money to invest in a new one, and review that as well.

The pen support pen tilt and pressure

Another great feature is the pressure-sensitive pen tip, that is designed to recognize 8192 levels of pressure and detect tilt up to 60 degrees. the pen tilt on the Deco Pro is quite smooth. The vast degree of pressure responsiveness in the Pen is something I really appreciated, The pen also has two buttons click on the side that gives users the ability to click, right-click, or double-click.

The pen has a great feel in the hand, and that it doesn't require batteries or need to be recharged has been a convenience for sure. Sensitivity levels are amazing, though I have found myself decreasing the range to accommodate my own pressure preferences. Its exceptional sensitivity and responsiveness gives me the control I need to take my work to the next level.

The drawing experience!

I prefer the Deco Pro Medium version because it has a better large drawing surface and I can rest my hand on other parts of the tablet when I am working. In addition, there are more express keys and the Double Wheel .

I'm using it mostly for Photoshop and Lighroom and other Drawing or Sketching apps and it's the perfect size for everything I need a tablet for. The sensitivity/pressure settings are amazing and it really does give a true feel for the pressure applied. I've experienced no lag while in the wired setting for work. In fact, for most applications I end up mapping a small area of the tablet to correspond to my full 27 inch monitor screen and it allows me to control my entire screen without moving my hand.

The Double wheel is responsive and a really distinct aspect of the table, it really gives it personality. The fully customizable buttons on the side are one of my favorite features of this tablet. I've set it to work in conjunction with my Photoshop key shortcuts, and it makes my life so much easier when editing photos, digitally painting and doing any touchups on any application.

I really like that it came with a drawing glove, I have never used one and now I see that it can really help to keep your tablet clean. The surface of the Deco Pro really likes to get dirty with fingerprints, so the glove helps it look pristine. Not to mention, this comes with a pen stand, and the pen stand optimizes storage space so well with a selection of different pen nibs inside the stand.

Conclusion

Highly recommended for anyone looking to get started in digital drawing tablets or those who've been it in for a while and just want a solid, affordable digital pen tablet to add to your workforce. It gets really close to the experience of using a $300 Wacom Intuos Pro for only a fraction of the price.

No CONS for now...and hopefully I wont have any in the future.

I will really recommend it to anyone looking to start drawing digitally. Especially if XP-PEN continues to improve and support this product in the near future.

I really appreciate what they have here and feel like its appropriate to support Wacom's competition so that we can all enjoy better products in the future.

There are a few main reasons why I chose this over other tablets in the same market.

1. Great price

2. Size of work area on tablet

3. 8000+ levels of for pressure sensitivity

4. battery-free stylus support pen tilt function

5. Slim and light weight

6. Pen is smaller than other models, closer to size of actual ink pens, not too bulky in hand

7. Back to price when factoring all of the above in compared to other models/competitors

Places to buy the tablet

XP-Pen Deco Pro official Store: https://www.storexppen.com/buy/deco-pro.html

I own a XP-Pen Artist 15.6 Pro Drawing Tablet With Screen . I recently bought a Surface Pro 6 to use as a laptop / e-book reader / sketchbook. For what I can tell, I am happy with both devices (I'm only going to be comparing the Surface Pro to the 15.6" XP-Pen Artist 15.6 Pro) .

The Microsoft Surface Pro 6 is one of the most popular 2-in-1s on the market. XP-Pen is a professional drawing tablet brand and is pretty ok, ok price plus stable driver (I'm using XP-Pen tablet), no problem software-wise so far. Color display right out of the box is good. XP-Pen Artist 15.6 Pro is their most advanced pen display product, if you want to get into digital drawing , xp-pen provides drawing tablet for beginners ,professionals of artists , their products are friendly and of good quality , you can have a look at them .

Lets compare specs first:

Surface Pro 6 Tablet Computer:

Up to 1 TB of HDD

Up to 16GB of RAM

Integrated Graphics

12.3" screen

Mini Display port for external

1 Full size USB for USB things

N-Trig digitizers

XP-Pen Artist 15.6 Pro Drawing Tablet Monitor:

88% NTSC Color Gamut

1920x1080 FHD Resolution

Has 60 degrees tilt and 8K pressure sensitivity

Uses electromagnetic resonance

15.6" bigger screen size

Has an fully laminated IPS screen

USB C

General Comparison

The advantages of the Surface Pro are portability, and more usability outside of art stuff. Surface Pro can be used both as a laptop and a tablet. Being that it can be used as either makes it extremely convenient to those that want power on the go.

The screen looks better and I believe gets brighter. The stand also has way more variation in angle, but it also doesn't lock into any specific angle so if you push really hard it can sink lower. Most people are saying that you would have to be very heavy handed for that to matter though. With this device you're going to need to buy a keyboard and mouse separately.

N-trig pen feels like a real pen and is natural to hold. There is a top button on the pen that allows for an eraser function as well as use for a wake up function.

XP-Pen Artist 15.6 Pro is just a monitor with drawing capabilities , But you'll like the feel of working directly on your computer screen. I was never able to get fully used to using the XP-Pen Deco 03 Wireless Drawing Tablet without a screen. I could definitely get by with it alright, but I never felt like my drawing on it came naturally. The advantages of the 15.6" XP-Pen Artist 15.6 Pro are slightly bigger screen real estate, side buttons, and a textured screen. The edges are also thicker, so you can rest your hand on the edges a little better as well. But I believe the screen is pretty susceptible to glare, and the device is larger and significantly heavier.

The XP-Pen Artist 15.6 Pro's 16.7m color screen is capable of rendering vivid life-like images. This combines with an excellent resolution of 1920 x 1080 and 88% NTSC Color Space to make it a tool more than capable of handling the delicate and precise needs of illustrative work.

This XP-Pen Artist 15.6 Pro device's screen has 8192 levels of pressure and 60 Degrees tilt sensitivity. The Artist 15.6 Pro is easy to use and intuitive. Its pen feels comfortable and using it is fluid.

Drawing Experience Comparison

N-Trig has historically been less accurate then EMR. Unless they've done something about this (Which Im going to doubt they have) it doesn't matter.

NTrig digitizers are not very good compared to EMR ; even the surface studio has the problem with "hooks" at the beginning and end of a stroke because the screen detects the pen and starts the stroke before it touches the screen. Be wary of that.

The only thing that matters is accuracy, which has been always worse on N-trig. The surface is as much as a competitor as it was with the surface 2, 3 and 4. Most artist will prefer EMR .

Photoshop on mobile still sucks, the UI is not conducive to small screens or designed with touch in mind. I much prefer using procreate on the iPad that's photoshop on the surface.

With the Surface Pro you're going to get the new pen, which only has one side button, but comes with an eraser (which I believe also has a button). You'll get less pressure stages (I have heard no one can tell the difference between 4k vs 8k at this point), but less lag with this pen (the lag for both pens doesn't seem to be a big deal to artists either). But this pen requires a little more activation force than the XP-Pen Artist 15.6 Pro pen (although it is considered much improved compared to the last Surface Pro pen). This pen also has a rubbery tip to give it a bit more resistance to make up for the fact that the Surface Pro does not have a textured surface.

The XP-Pen Artist 15.6 Pro Stylus has a lower activation force, and more pressure levels, but it has no eraser. I using this device for serious art work. Normally I work on a Artist 15.6 Pro and am very picky with pen accuracy. I am able to draw smooth line art without having to enable a stabilizer .

However, one thing you will not get with a regular Artist 15.6 Pro is portability. A surface Pro is not only a drawing tablet but also a pretty great laptop. I've seen a lot of great art from people who use surface products. It's ultimately up to you and how you plan to use it. I think the surface is absolute great as a Portable drawing tablet . Just keep in mind that if you want to work on your XP-Pen Artist 15.6 Pro, you'll have to bring your Laptop along.

Neither device has parallaxing and both seem to have slight jitter issues when drawing slowly. Both have tilt support. But surface Pro have an issue with the palm rejection and the pen tilt that makes the pen cursor go offset , but I was able to kinda work around that. It's a notable minus for the drawing experience either way.

Keyboard randomly freezes once in a while, but always unfreezes eventually. Surface Pro Touch screen can interfere with stylus drawing (solution: disable driver in device manager when drawing). I recommend getting an external keyboard for photoshop hotkeys and a real mouse.

The XP-Pen Artist 15.6 Pro feels more natural to draw on. I'm not sure if surface Pro is like this, but the surface book doesn't feel as smooth to draw on. Which is a shame because the surface prowas great to draw on. surface Pro has a bit of resistance and I can never get the pressure quite right. I still enjoy it, just a bit of an inconvenience, and a little unfair as I'm comparing it to a XP-Pen , I suppose.

This is a Art Work I made by xp-pen Artist 15.6 Pro Screen Drawing Tablet -

Conclusion

From everything I can gather, it sounds like the drawing experiences are pretty similar. Both are professional quality, portable devices, but with the XP-Pen Artist 15.6 Pro you'll get a slightly larger screen with a slightly better feel (and built in keys). And with the Surface Pro you'll get much more portability at a higher price with the option to expand with more accessories.

The Surface Pro 6 has good battery life especially compared to prior models. Do you travel a lot? Or commute on a bus/subway? Then a surface is definitely nice to have. If you stay more at home but like to have the freedom to move around, it's a great tablet for that. If you already have a Painting Tablet , and you just need something for quick sketching, then the Surface Pro is more practical.

XP-Pen Artist 15.6 Pro has a much better interaction with the stylus and screen. It has less parallax (lag or gap) with the stylus contact on the tablet surface because of fully laminated display . That you can run Photoshop, Lightroom, Illustrator, Corel, Krita, everything work with a powerful pc ...run games...do so much more - makes it much better value imo.

Since I do 3D work, The integrated Intel GPU's in the history of Surface Tablets have been okay for basic art needs but not powerful enough for a bit more dense/complex 3D work. Photoshop will definitely see an improvement with layers, fx, and anything using the GPU features especially with the newer Adobe products...not to mention 3D products Autodesk, Modo, Blender, etc. I also use Zbrush a lot which tends to use more of the CPU.

The new XP-Pen Artist 15.6 Pro is the best Wacom Cintiq alternative yet. It's a full step up from the Artist 15.6 , which was already considered a top competitor. you can get more details about this product from XP-Pen Artist 15.6 Pro official site  https://www.xp-pen.com/product/65.html

There has been a lot going on in the budget tablet space. Every popular brand is putting its best foot forward and releasing beginner friendly budget drawing tablets one after another. Wacom have come with their Cintiq 16, whereas XP-Pen has released Artist 15.6 Pro.

Both the tablets are very similar to each other in features but differ in price. Wacom is known for its high-quality drawing tablets whereas XP-Pen tablets provide immense value at low cost ( I have ever bought a XP-Pen Star G430S drawing Tablet for kids and give it to my daughter to play osu game ). So which of the two tablets is better and which one should pick as your next drawing device.

In this Wacom Cintiq 16 vs XP-Pen Artist 15.6 Pro comparison, we have made a detailed side by side analysis of each and every feature these tablets have to offer. It will give you more than enough information to figure out which tablet will suit your needs better.

Design and build quality

The Cintiq 16 has a very minimalist look with just a screen at the front. Artist 15.6 Pro on the other hand shortcut buttons along with the screen at the front. Both the tablets are made of plastic and have comparable built quality.

Setup was easy,both drawing tablet use 3-in1 cable to connect . 3-in-1 cable doesn't bother me , The only cable with any major length on it is the power adapter, so it's definitely meant to be kept close to your machine.

Wacom Cintiq 16 vs XP-Pen Artist 15.6 Pro – display comparison

Both the tablets come with a 15.6 inch 1920 x 1080 p full HD display. The Wacom Cintiq 16 has 72% NTSC color coverage whereas XP-Pen boasts of 88% NTSC color gamut. It means that the Artist 15.6 has a wider color gamut (range). The Display on the 15.6 Pro seems overall better in terms of color and parallax .

Color Gamut can be more important depending on the work you do. 72% NTSC is pretty much the standard for consumer monitors, so it's perfectly adequate for most work, but if you plan on printing or similar, then having the wider range would be preferable. At that point though, you might wanna spring for high AdobeRGB.

However, Wacom Cintiq 16 displays come pre-calibrated out of the box and show accurate colors right of the bat. XP-Pen Artist 15.6 Pro is not precalibrated, which means that although the display is capable of showing better and more accurate colors – it does not have the right color settings.

This can be corrected by manually changing the color settings or using a monitor calibrator device. The Artist 15.6 Pro has a laminated screen whereas Cinitq 16 comes with a normal non-laminated display.

What is laminated display

In a laminated display, the display and the top glass are fused together which reduces parallax. In non-laminated displays, the strokes appear a few millimeters away from where the pen is actually touching the surface.

The artist 15.6 Pro is laminated so the strokes appear right below the pen tip. In case of Cintiq 16 the strokes are a few millimeters away from the tip.

Which tablet has a brighter screen

Comparing the two tablets side by side – Artist 15.6 is brighter than the Wacom 16. But the colors of the Artist 15.6 Pro washes out on max brightness. It is recommended to use the tablet on 60-70% percent brightness for the right colors which brings it equal to Cintiq 16 brightness levels.

Matte screen and surface texture

Both the tablets come with matte screens and surface texture. Wacom uses etched glass where the surface texture is directly present on the glass. The Artist 15.6 Pro uses scratch-resistant anti-glare optical film.

Cintiq 16 etched glass feels more natural and satisfying to draw on. It has a little bit more friction than the XP-Pen tablet.

Wacom Pro pen 2 vs XP-Pen P05R Stylus Comparison

Wacom is known for its stylus – the Pro Pen 2 is considered the best stylus in the market. With Cintiq 16 you get the same stylus what you would get if you buy one of Wacom premium tablets, which is a huge plus point. With that said XP-Pen is not too far and comes with a very comparable pen.

Both the stylus have 8192 levels of pressure sensitivity and ±60° of tilt recognition along with two buttons on the sides. The Wacom stylus comes with an eraser at the back while XP-Pen does not. In terms of stylus performance, both of them are equally good but the Wacom Pro pen takes a slight edge in tilt sensitivity.

When you tilt the XP-Pen stylus the pointer shifts slightly away from the center. In the case of Wacom, the pointer remains at its place when tilted. Well, it is not a deal breaker but something you have to get used to.

Build quality and Ergonomics

Both of the pens are comfortable to hold and come with a very ergonomic design. They have a wider front grip which slowly tapers towards the back. The Wacom Stylus is slightly heavier than XP-Pen and feels a bit more substantial.

Pen holder and extra Nibs

Although the XP-Pen Artist 15.6 Pro is way cheaper than Wacom Cintiq 16, it still comes with a high-quality pen holder. It has a soft touch material on the outside and strong plastic core which provides excellent protection to the pen. The pen holder doubles up as a pen stand. At the back of the pen holder, you have storage space for extra pen nibs.

Wacom does not come with any pen holder. If you have to store your pen or put it somewhere while not in use – the tablet has a fabric loop which sticks out from the right side of the tablet. You can slide off the loop from the tablet which reveals the tiny storage for the pen-nibs.

The Artist 15.6 Pro Painting Tablet comes with 8 extra pen-nibs whereas the with Cintiq 16 you just get 3 extra nibs.

Shortcut buttons

There are a total of eight shortcut buttons in the artist 15.6 Pro. The buttons have different patterns to identify them without looking. On pressing – they have a satisfying click with good feedback.

Along with the shortcut buttons, the Artist 15.6 Pro has a red circular roller. The roller is very handy and performs tasks such as zoom, rotate, pan, scroll and change the size of brushes and eraser.

Wacom Cintiq 16 does not have any shortcut buttons on the tablet. So you are stuck with the keyboard for shortcuts – or you can get the Wacom Expresskey remote. The Expresskey remote are specifically made to be used with Wacom Cintiq tablets and have a total of 17 buttons and a touch ring but they are sold separately and expensive.

Tablet stand and mounting options

Wacom and XP-Pen both come with tablet stands but they are totally different from each other. XP-Pen comes with a separate plastic stand with a standing angle of 20°. The Cintiq 16 has foldable legs which lift the tablet at an angle of 19°.

The folding legs of the Cintiq 16 have a more solid feel. It clips back and forth without being loose. It gives better support to the tablet in comparison to the XP-Pen stand.

In addition to the pop-up legs, the Cintiq 16 also has holes for the Vesa mount, which means you can attach any third-party standard tablet stand for better flexibility and more standing angles.

Accessories

Artist 15.6 Pro comes with a lot of accessories like drawing glove, tablet stand and pen holder whereas Wacom has an inbuilt stand and come with an all in one super simple cloth loop. It sticks out of the display and used for holding the pen and storing extra Nibs.

Give an art glove a try! I use an art glove with my Artist 15.6 Pro and I hardly get any fingerprints. I think fingerprints are mostly caused by your palm getting the tablet sweaty from the constant contact with the screen. The best part with using an art glove is how easily your palm glides across the screen, I never draw without one anymore because it just feels uncomfortable.

Summary – Wacom Cintiq 16 Or XP-Pen Artist 15.6 Pro

From what we have seen so far – Wacom Cintiq 16 is better in some areas like surface texture and XP-Pen Artist 15.6 Pro Portable Drawing Tablet is better in other areas like the laminated screen. They both have a very comparable stylus and overall have very similar drawing experience. So it is clear that both are great devices and you cannot go wrong with either of them.

Now, it all comes down to price and value for money. The Artist 15.6 Pro is priced substantially lower than the Cintiq 16 and still has features like laminated screen and shortcut buttons which Cintiq 16 does not have. Overall you get a better value for your money. So if you are looking for a drawing tablet in a budget the Artist 15.6 Pro is the best choice for you.

But if you don’t mind spending a little extra for slightly better hardware and stylus and do not mind the lack of shortcut buttons than Wacom Cintiq 16 will not disappoint you.

for more details about the product .

XP-Pen Artist 15.6 Pro official site : https://www.xp-pen.com/product/65.html

If you are looking for a budget drawing tablet than you may have come across Wacom Intuos and XP-Pen Deco Series particularly the Deco 03 Wireless Drawing Tablet . Both these tablets are closely priced and have very similar features. So, it is obvious to have confusion regarding which one is better and which one should you pick as your next Drawing tablet.

Wacom Intuos and XP-Pen deco 03 were launched around the same time by their respective brands. Both the tablets are very similar to each other, but there are minor differences which sets them apart.

We have made a detailed comparison of both the Wacom Intuos as well as XP-Pen deco series graphics Tablet . It will help you make the right-informed decision and choose the best possible drawing tablet for yourself.

Wacom Intuos vs XP-Pen Deco Series

Wacom tablets are known for their great drawing experience and making better drawing tablets in terms of quality. Whereas XP-Pen aims at giving the most amount of features at the least possible price.

How good a drawing tablet is cannot be fully determined by merely comparing their features. Still, here is the list of all the main features – to get the basic idea of what we are looking at.

What you get with Wacom – Intuos small and Intuos Medium

Wacom have done a major update and upgrade of their previous Intuos model. They now come with better hardware and improved design.

Wacom Intuos is available in two models – Wacom Intuos small and Wacom Intuos Medium.

Other than the size there is no difference between the two models – both models have Bluetooth support and exact same pen with 4096 levels of pressure sensitivity. The Wacom Intuos Small also comes with a non-Bluetooth model.

Free software packs – Wacom Intuos comes with three free software which includes Corel painter essentials, Clip studio paint pro and Corel after shot 3.

What you get with XP-Pen – Deco 01 vs Deco 02 vs Deco 03

One of the main reason people go for XP-Pen tablets is their larger working area and it is clearly evident by their sizes. XP-Pen Deco series consists of three tablets namely Deco 01 and deco 02 and deco 03, where deco 01 is the most affordable tablet followed by deco 02 and deco 03 respectively.

With XP-Pen you get a number of features like shortcut buttons – dials, rollers as well as wireless connectivity.

Wacom Intuos vs XP-Pen Deco 03

Prices of drawing tablets have drastically reduced in the past few years. Wacom Intuos and XP-Pen deco 03 are two of the best drawing tablets under $100 dollars. Both tablets have everything you need to get started into digital art, but the question is – which is a better tablet, out of the two.

Design, layout and button placement

Both tablets are modern looking and slim. Wacom Intuos has shortcut buttons at the top and working area at the bottom. Whereas Deco 03 has buttons at the left and drawing area on the right side – which is a better design as it allows you to use the buttons with the left hand and draw with your right at the same time.

On top of that Deco 03 comes with a dial which helps with zooming and changing brush size. The dial is completely absent from the Wacom Intuos. The deco 03 has a larger active drawing area of 10 x 5.62 inches which is bigger than what you get with Wacom.

It is evident that XP-Pen deco 03 is the clear winner in the design and layout department.

Build quality and long term reliability of the tablet

wacom Intuos design and build qualityXP-Pen may be a winner of the design but when it comes to built quality . Wacom is well ahead of them. from outside both tablets look the same, on closer inspection Wacom Intuos feels more sturdy and well built.

The working area of the drawing tablets is always exposed to pen strokes which gets scratched over time. To prevent this, the top layer has a layer of special scratch resistant material. It protects the drawing surface from the scratches as well as gives a feeling of drawing on paper.

Wacom tablets are admired for their near-perfect surface textures which gives a smooth feeling without feeling too aggressive. XP-Pen is close enough but not quite at the level of Wacom. No matter what the tablet is – over time it starts to show some scratches.

After using both the device for over a month now. It seemed XP-Pen Drawing Pad Tablet was first to show sign of use and abuse. So if you want a tablet which will last for a long time, probably multiple years – go with the Wacom Intuos.

Wacom Intuos vs XP-Pen Deco 03 Stylus

A stylus is one of the most important parts of a drawing tablet. A good stylus can really add to your drawing experience. Both Wacom and XP-Pen comes with a very capable stylus which performs equally well.

Now tablet companies try to show that the performance of the pen depends on the pressure level, which is not totally true. A pen with higher pen pressure does not mean better performance. So even though the XP-Pen stylus comes with 8192 levels of pressure sensitivity and Wacom with 4096 levels – their real-life performance is the same.

Conclusion

Both Wacom and XP-Pen tablets are neck to neck in terms of features. You can’t really go wrong with either of the two. However, if you want more features and multiple shortcut options (button/dials) – go with XP-Pen Deco 03. But if you want a reliable tablet with better drawing experience which will probably last a long time go for the Wacom Intuos.

Alternatives to Wacom Intuos – Deco 01 and Deco 02

Other than Deco 03 Wireless Drawing Tablet – XP-Pen Deco series also consists of Deco 01 and Deco 02 which are great alternatives to Wacom Intuos and worth looking into.

They follow the same design language of deco 03 – with buttons on the left and drawing area on the right-hand side. XP-Pen Deco 01 Drawing Tablet for Beginners is the cheapest out of all the options. It still has the bigger drawing area and more shortcut buttons than the Wacom Intuos.

Coming to the XP-Pen Deco 02 – It is almost similar to the deco 01 in terms of size and comes with a unique stylus with an eraser at the back. You also get the Dial which you don’t find in Deco 01 or even Wacom Intuos.

Both the Deco 01 and Deco 02 connects to the computer using a USB type-c cable. There is no wireless connectivity in both tablets.

Before we end, I would like to add – all the tablets mentioned above are best in their respective categories. Everything depends on your budget. If you are comfortable spending decent money then go with Wacom Intuos are XP-Pen deco 03. But if you are on a budget then you should go with Deco 01 or Deco 02 , they are almost the same with few minor differences.