Graphics tablet suggestions?

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Looking for recommendations for (or against) Wacom Cintiq alternatives.

Years ago, I had a standard Wacom graphics tablet that was about index card sized. I liked it, but it was tiny and it fell apart rather quickly (plastic cracked, the rubber on the pen turned to a sticky mush), despite being super-expensive. While looking for replacements, I found a Monoprice 9x12" tablet that was under $100. I liked that it was about the same size as drawing on actual paper. It worked excellently and served me well for years. But the drivers for it no longer work with modern systems and the OEM dropped support awhile back.

So now Iā€™m looking into the ones where you draw on an actual screen. They have the drawback that your hand and pen are in the way (vs looking at a transparent cursor), but I drew on paper my entire life, so I should be able to adjust. :slight_smile:

My current monitors are 23" and 24", so Iā€™m looking at the 22" ones and it seems that the competitors are Parblo Coast, XP-Pen, and Huion. All 3 have the same resolution, and the screens appear to be equivalent. The Huion claims 8192 pressure levels while the other two are 2048. The Parblo has a pen that works without battery or charge, while the other two have rechargeable pens. The XP-Pen has programmable side buttons while the others donā€™t (I donā€™t know if I would use them instead of the keyboard anyway). Prices are fairly comparable at $460, $550, and $600.

Anyone have any experience with any of these brands? Or with the ā€˜draw on the monitorā€™ type of tablets in general? Would a smaller one (13.3", 15.6", or 19.5") be a better buy, or disappointing? Does 8192 pressure levels really make a difference?

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Tried a Monoprice. Couldnā€™t use the stylus, couldnā€™t see what I was tryuing to do, couldnā€™t see if the damned thing was responding because of the accursed stylus. There was a button, to press to get the stylus to register, but it was near the tip so I couldnā€™t press the button and write at the same time.

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Not an artist, so I canā€™t speak to pressure levels making any difference to me. Iā€™ve had every model of Surface tablet and pen, so I can safely say I donā€™t see any particular difference between 256 and 2048 pressure levels.

Iā€™ve got a couple of Mac users that swear by Wacom and any other they have tried wasnā€™t to their liking.

I had 90-day trial of a Dell Canvas which is spendy, but might be along what you are looking for. I ended up sending it back because no one has a business case for it.

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looks oddly similar to the Microsoft Surface Studio.

thatā€™s very spendy,

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Yeah, definitely too spendy for me, and I donā€™t have a business case either. For a hobbyist toy, Iā€™m kind of stretching to reach a budget of around $500. I should probably stick to the <$100 graphics tablets like what I had before. But Iā€™m interested in what itā€™s like to use the new ā€˜draw on the screenā€™ tech.