Tablet PCs for Artists in 2011

When buying a tablet for digital art, there are several aspects that should be taken under consideration:

1. Why type or art do I wish to produce? (Will you be mimic traditional material like oil on canvas or charcoal on coarse paper, or will I use a mouse and the pen tool with handles to draw my art?)
2. Does my art rely on pressure sensitivity? (Will you press harder to vary line weight?)
3. What are the requirements of the software I will be using? (Especially important to consider is the screen resolution of the software you use and the Operating System required [Windows/Mac/Linux/iOS/Android].)
4. Do I need portability?
5. Do I need long battery life?

At this time I do not recommend tabs (my diminutive name for android and apple tablets). There are several problems with them:

• They do not operate most software available to the digital artist
• They do not work with a stylus for input, expecially pressure sensitive Wacom penabled screens
• Their processing power and memory is too limited for creating large pieces of work
• They are fairly expensive devices based on the system specifications

Thus, at this time, I recomment getting a convertable laptop - better know over the last decade as a tablet PC.

There are three main options when puchasing a tablet PC, each with its own advantages and disadvantages:

1. Purchase any laptop/computer and a Cintiq
2. Purchase a new tablet PC from a manufacturer or site like Newegg
3. Purchase a used tablet PC from a site like eBay or Amazon

Let us look at the first option, the Cintiq by Wacom. There is a 12WX or 21UX (which is the screen size, 12" or 21"). These devices have 1024 or 2048 levels of pressure sensitivity, tilt sensitivity, and have to be plugged in to an outlet! The last review for the 12WX I saw pointed out that the plug is permanently attached, and thus may break when transporting the screen and make it useless. The 21UX is too heavy to be called transportable. The resolutions are 1280x800 and 1600x1200, and the cost is $1000 and $2000 respectively! I won't lie, I want a 21UX... but I can't affort that for "just a really cool monitor I can draw on". I don't recommend regular graphics tablets, as learning to draw on a black piece of slate while watching the marks appear on a different screen is actually quite a difficult skill to master - doable, but why bother when you can draw on the screen?

Which brings me to the second option, a new tablet PC. These range from $1000 on up - and right now the best one, the HP TM2T, is just about $1000. Why is it the best? While it lacks tilt sensitivity and has only 512 levels of pressure sensitivity, it also has a touch screen in addition to the wacom digitizer at 1280x800 resolution. You get an i5 processor, 512 MB of dedicated graphics (not intel integrated graphics, which is not recommended for many digital art programs), 4 GB of RAM, and a battery which lets you take it anywhere. After viewing a review comparing a wacom penabled screen and the Cintiq 21UX, there appears to be no real discernable difference in line weight variation.

The third option is to look for a used tablet PC. I purchased an Toshiba M400 with 1400x1050 resolution on eBay for under $400. It had 2GB RAM, 2.0GHz dual core processor, 80GB hard drive, 2 hour battery life, and Windows XP. If you are technically savvy, then it is no problem to add a hard drive (like a snappy SSD or, in the case of the M400, there is a RAID option if you forgo the built in CD Drive), adding extra RAM, or install Windows 7 (which has excellent inking to text for taking notes with). A quick search of eBay at this moment (1/30/2011) resulted in several M400s in the $300-$400 price range.

Personally, I started out using a Gateway C-series laptop with a finepoint digitizer that never worked properly. I then moved to the HP TX2120US until I dropped it and cracked the touchscreen glass (the LCD worked fine, but the crack destroyed the digitizer and touchscreen and have yet to find a reasonably priced replacement unit). I tried an Toshibe M200, but the single core process was too underpowered for my software. I have an application that requires 1280x1024, so I chose to purchase a Toshiba M400 which has been working quite nicely. I am looking into the HP TM2T, as all my other applications would work fine on 1280x800 (although cramped) but has significantly greater power/battery life than my current system.

Programs that I have dabbled with include: Toon Boom Animate Pro Personal Learning Edition (no tablet PC is adequate for this - but I do my pen-based art on my tablet then transfer it to my desktop to animate the cutouts with a mouse), Corel Painter XI (which slows when doing many brush strokes using oil-on-canvas with a larger image), ArtRage 2.5 (need to get 3, but it seems to work nicely on my older tablet PC), Adobe Master Suite CS4 (like all things, if you start making larger pieces of work it needs more power - and AVCHD video editing can only be done on a very high powered laptops or high powered desktops), and other freeware apps like Inkscape and Blender 2.5x beta seemed to work okay (though, again, the larger projects really do need a desktop).

In summary, tabs (android and apple tabs) lack several key features that a digital artist needs. They are underpowered in terms of processor AND ram AND storage, they often lack a digitizer and pen for natural and pressure sensitive input, and they lack true software for digital emulation of traditonal media.

If you are under a budget crunch, but a used tablet and use freeware (GIMP, Inkscape, ArtRage, Blender, etc) to play around with - these used tablet PCs with Wacom digitizers will have more power than the more expensive android/apple tabs (although with the risk of buying used).

If you can afford $1000, a new entry level tablet like the TM2T is excellent - they are comparable to a Cintiq 12WX but with battery power and a full computer behind it. Additonally, Window 7 is truly a pleasurable inking experience (including ink to text for notetaking). You can still go freeware if you want, but you will find some rather powerful software options are available to you such as Corel Painter XI.

Finally, if you have a lot of money, go for the Cintiq 21UX. After all, a 17"x12.75" is a rather nice sheet of paper to draw on. But at $2000 plus potentially another $1000 on a tablet PC if you need portability, it is rather costly.

If you have any questions, need clarification, or wish to correct any incorrect information then please feel free to post them in the comments and I will address them as my schedule permits.