Cintiq Pro 22

To keep things brief, The Wacom Cintiq Pro is the best display tablet on the market. It's long-lasting, durable, and offers a beautiful 4K Display with high color fidelity, but... it's not for everyone. In this review I'm going to discuss the Cintiq Pro from the perspective of both a layperson and the perspective of a professional artist. I've been using Wacom tablets for about 10 years now, and I've been working as a professional artist for about three. First and foremost, if you're combing through reviews, I assume you're asking yourself the same question I did when I was shopping for a display tablet: -Between Huion's Kamvas, XP Pen's Graphic Display, and Wacom's Cintiq, which brand of display tablet is right for me? Why is Wacom's product so much more expensive than both Huion and XP Pen? Is there something here I'm missing? It really depends on what you want out of your tablet. Wacom's premium price tag is largely due to the fact that the brand dominated the tablet space for nearly half a decade before any real competition (Huion) entered the game, and it established itself as the brand for professionals. That said, Wacom's hardware is designed to last... and last... and last. There's a reason that Wacom still sells and supports the tablets they released a decade ago: they still work as well as ever! In my opinion, buying a Wacom tablet is like buying a pair of expensive leather shoes. It might cost more now, but you know it won't be giving out on you... even if it gets roughed up a bit. My old Cintiq 13HD went through a LOT, and it's still kickin' like new. But does this longevity really justify the difference in price? In my opinion, not really. If all you want out of this purchase is a display tablet that you can draw/paint on, there's nothing you'll get out of the Wacom Cintiq Pro 24 that you wouldn't get out of Huion or XP Pen for a fraction of the price. INSTALLATION: The installation process was surprisingly painless. The tablet comes with two different setup configurations depending on the build of your PC/Mac, allowing you to use either a USB -Type C connection OR a USB and Displayport connection. Because the Cintiq 24 Pro is a 4K display, a standard HDMI port will not work without an adapter. all the cables were neatly packaged and clearly labeled, and I was able to get things running out of the box with no hassle. ACCESSORIES & PORTS: The tablet comes with Wacom's ExpressKey and their new pen. The ExpressKey was the biggest surprise for me; I expected to toss it to the side and keep using my keyboard shortcuts, but the ExpressKey is extremely easy to configure and very easy to get used to. Incorporating it into my workflow was a snap, and it's a feature I think I'll sorely miss if I'm working elsewhere. The additional USB ports and audio port allowed me more flexibility in my workstation setup, which I appreciate seeing as a few of the ports on my main machine are now taken up by Wacom's wiring. SIZE: The size of this tablet is formidable, but not too large for a dedicated office space. In some ways I wish I'd upgraded to the 32 because I'm used to a slightly larger monitor size, but when I'm using it as a drawing surface the tablet feels almost too large! Likewise, when I'm using it as a monitor, the bevels are a bit annoying. When I'm using it as a tablet, I'm glad they're there! WORKFLOW BOOST: The ExpressKey and pen work intuitively with most any software I've tried so far. ZBrush, Substance Painter, Photoshop, Clip Studio, Maya... Being able to customize those hotkeys is fantastic! CONS: The glass on the front is beautifully matte, but does catch a glare just a little more than a standard monitor might. I have to close the blinds in my office (which are directly across from my workstation) while I work to avoid this. I would not recommend buying this tablet without buying a Flex Arm or an Ergo Stand. In the images I've provided you can see it mounted to the Flex Arm. The freedom of being able to rotate and twist this tablet so freely makes it so much more of a joy to use. I've seen other reviews mention that their tablet dies out within 6 months to a year of purchase, so I paid extra for insurance. If any issues arise, I will return to this review with updates. UPDATE: 15 Months later and I have had no issues with the tablet’s functionality. The only thing that’s changed is that the ExpressKey accessory doesn’t stick to the magnetic bevel as well as it used to because the rubber backing of the ExpressKey is prone to collecting dust (which makes it slide). It’s a little difficult to clean, but otherwise… no complaints!

The most enjoyable pen display I have ever used. After one year of using it almost every day, I absolutely love drawing with it. It's such an enjoyable experience. I feel like I have so much pen control and the etched glass feels amazing to draw on. The touch is an okay experience. I only use it for zoom and moving the canvas around. I have to turn off touch to draw on Clip Studio Paint, and remove all other gestures for it to be usable for me. But pinch to zoom and moving the canvas are pretty important to me though since I started from an Ipad Pro. It's a huge beautiful display. The 120hz is a really nice bonus in my opinion even for drawing. It just feels like a treat compared to 60hz drawing displays. And then I can also use it for gaming as well. It's pretty nice. The sound noise is as noticeable as my PC that's running Noctua NF-A12s. When listening to music, I don't notice it at all. It's not that bad. I have only ever used an Ipad Pro, Kamvas 13, and a movink but it blows all of those out of the water. Although it rightfully should, considering how expensive this display is. I would definitely recommend this if you can afford it. I wouldn't recommend the stand though. That stand is expensive for what it is, and it still has wobble unless you plant it on the table and put a cloth pad underneath like I do. I'm not an artist that moves the screen a lot though so it's good enough for me. Try an Ergotron or go a little more for a XOOT.

I have had this monitor for 3 months now. Before I got this, I had tried Huion and Xencelabs displays. Build Quality The build quality is excellent. The materials and fit and finish on my unit are top notch. The glass feels great underhand. Screen Out of the box color reproduction is within a few percent of what was advertised based on my test with an xrite color calibration sensor. There is a very slight backlight bleed on the right edge of the screen but this is only noticeable against a black background and will be covered up by the UI of any drawing program. The screen is very crisp despite the good anti-glare coating on it. Compared to other 4k drawing tablets with antiglare coatings, this one blows them out of the water in terms of clarity (looking at you, xencelabs 24). There is no point in buying a 4k monitor if the anti glare coating is blurry, and with this monitor you truly do get the benefits of 4k. The touch functions fine but I don't like using touch because I will occasionally accidentally trigger it. This is a problem for me regardless of device, even on iPads, so I wouldn't knock this unit for being overly sensitive. It's nice to have a physical switch to quickly disable touch on the back of the unit so I can use touch on occasion if I want to. The 120 hz is very nice but it is the sort of luxury you take for granted until you have to use a 60 hz screen again. The screen is plenty bright for me at default settings, but there are a multitude of different settings you can adjust for colorspaces, etc. I just leave it on default settings sRGB. Drawing Experience The pen is excellent. It is extremely accurate and all pressure levels are usable. I do not see any line wobble in an unstabilized pen on this display. Other Notes I don't use the trigger buttons but they are there if you want them and the buttons feel quality to press. I currently have the unit on the official Wacom stand for it and I think it is also excellent, very solid and easy to adjust. My particular unit has zero fan noise. The pen holder that comes with the unit sucks. Sorry Wacom, but this pen holder is practically designed to drop your pen at the slightest bump regardless of where you screw it in to the tablet. Just something to be aware of, you might want to store the pen somewhere else. The only true downside is this tablet is $3k and the stand is $500. This is certainly overpriced, but I believe the product is best in class for a 22" tablet. Time will tell what the lifetime of the product is but I expect it will last a long time, especially since the display does not use OLED technology.

PROS: - 4K resolution - Fantastic Colors - Almost no parallax - Works right out of the box, and driver-installs are a piece of cake (for me, anyway) - The Pro Pen 2 is wonderful (best I've ever used) - The Remote, albeit a wonky button setup, works fluidly with the tablet and my workflow - Very sturdy design (feels high quality) CONS: - Expensive - No stand included in the box, just two small kickstands built under the tablet - Poor quality-control on earlier units (I don't know if they curbed that, or if I just got lucky with mine) EXTENDED REVIEW: I've owned both a Huion GT-191 and a Cintiq 13HD, and the Cintiq Pro 24 makes them both feel like cheap toys. Don't get me wrong, you can achieve essentially the same thing with any of these devices. You don't need a $2,000 tablet to make digital art. It's honestly excessive unless you can justify it for the work you do. I can't, but I obsess over using the best hardware available. That being said, I don't regret it! I went in mainly excited for the nearly non-existent parallax and the pro pen. I expected the 4K resolution to be nothing more than a gimmick for easy marketing. To my surprise, the resolution ended up being one of the most prominent features this tablet had to offer. Going from a Huion GT-191 V1 at 1080p with a really poor color grade, the Pro 24 blew me away. The colors are vibrant, and I'm able to work super close to the screen without seeing any pixels. It's fantastic. The etched glass is also really nice, and coupled with the felt nibs, it's the closest to feeling like paper that I've experienced on any tablet. The remote is also super handy. I'm still getting used to it, so sometimes I'll tap the scroll wheel and it'll do something unintended, but I still prefer it over built-in buttons on the bezels. I should add -- going from a Huion back to a Cintiq, it really is fantastic how these tablets just work right out of the box. My previous Huion consistently had driver errors or just downright wouldn't work for seemingly no reason at all. It felt refreshing to plug it in and just start drawing immediately. The main con for me is the lack of a stand in the box. I get that they wanted to market the Ergo Stand, but surely they could've thrown in something to allow more than one super-low angle. Like a lot of people, I resorted to just propping a few books under the little kickstands, and that essentially solved my problem. I've also seen some negative reviews for the Pro 24 where they've received essentially unusable units. I can't speak on that since mine was in perfect condition out of the box. It seems like Wacom had a quality-control issue with this model on release, but they've since smoothed that out. (I don't know though, maybe I just got lucky?) I was super anxious about spending $2,000 on a pen tablet when the last two I've owned had annoying issues and were letdowns in their own ways. I'm happy to say that the Pro 24 lives up to its price and delivers exactly what I was hoping for. That being said, I came from a Huion GT191, so my point of reference isn't the same as someone coming from another high-end pen tablet.

I'm a professional artist and have avoided getting a Wacom Cintiq due to the price. Instead, I'd been using off-brand interactive screen displays, my last one being the Dell Canvas 27. I'd used the Canvas for years and loved it, though it was never perfect. Since Dell stopped supporting the Canvas a few years back, I thought it best to get a different interactive pen display in case Windows updates caused the old drivers to cease to work. I really liked the size of the Canvas 27, but it seemed that no one other than Wacom had a 27" interactive pen display. So, I bit the bullet and bought this, hoping I wouldn't regret my decision. The fact is, drawing and painting on the Cintiq Pro 27 is by far the best experience I've ever had. It's smooth, fluid, and simply a joy to work with. I thought the Canvas was a better alternative when I'd purchased it because I didn't really think there could be that much difference in experience. I freely admit I was wrong. The quality of line, the effortlessness of drawing/painting on the Cintiq is unparalleled. For anyone who thinks that these off-brand pen displays can compare ... they can't. Don't get me wrong, they are good. Even great. And they are certainly not near as expensive. But the experience using the Cintiq simply blows them away, from my limited experience having owned and used a few different brands. Having said that, the Cintiq Pro 27 is not perfect. While I like the pen (the adjustable weight really helps it), it seems cheap, which is surprising considering it's importance and what you pay for this entire unit. The buttons on the left and right side (at the back) are useless. They are just not comfortable nor convenient to work with. The pen holder is ... bad. I don't use it. If you screw it into one side or the other, you block use of the buttons (but since you probably won't use them anyway, perhaps that's not a big deal). That's pretty bad design, imo. If you place the pen holder at the top, then you block some of the air vents used to cool the Cintiq. Again, bad design. Not sure what they were thinking when they made this thing. I've heard people complain about the fan noise using the Cintiq Pro 27. I don't even hear it. So, it's a total non-issue for me. I'm giving this 5 stars because it's an utter joy to draw/paint on and the small form factor makes it pretty light overall, which makes it easy to move about on the monitor arm I have it attached to.

So here's the thing. When the tablet is working, it's the best drawing experience I've ever had. I'm using Fresco and Photoshop and what I can do with these apps and the tablet has truly taken my illustrations to a whole new level. If I can imagine it, I can make it come to life. I love it. The drawing space is generous. The pen is precise. The surface feels wonderful and the pen slides smoothly along. The tablet is plenty bright, and though others have mentioned the fan noise - I don't find it distracting. The tablet looks great and it doesn't feel cheap, it exudes quality. That said... My all to frequent reality is that the purchase of this tablet has been a frustrating disappointment which at this point has turned into outright anger. I envy the lucky people who have purchased the tablet and get to draw, and draw and draw on their Cintiq. I'm lucky if I get 5 minutes before the pen freezes and that's it. Time to restart the computer and implement the latest 'solution' Wacom tech support has sent my way. Oh goody, this time it's 2 minutes of use before the pen freezes. Repeat until I can't take it anymore and have to walk away without getting much of anything done. My Cintiq has become an expensive lump sitting on my desk. I truly believe it's a software problem, and I'm getting anything but actual answers from Wacom. When I'm done with this review, I'll be taking photos of the ports and the connections, and again sending in all of the requested info about my system. I'll be hopeful that THIS time there will be a real solution and I can finally start freaking drawing, but after all the disappointment, I'm not even going to bother to be hopeful. I struggles with how to rate this product. I'm not saying don't buy this tablet, clearly, not everyone is experiencing my level of frustration. Like I mentioned in the beginning, when it's working, the Cintiq is awesome and there's a lot to love about it. Just be aware that things might not go smoothly, and it might be a really, REALLY long time before your Cintiq will start to pay back the money you put into it. Final note - I do plan on updating this post if I ever get a real solution that gets my tablet working as intended.

I was a bit anxious after reading and viewing some negative reviews here and on YouTube. Mostly over the screen quality and "rainbow" affect some people complained about. However, I am blown away. Going from an Intuos pro M and Cintiq 16 (non pro) to this is extraordinary. I can notice the "rainbow affect" if I focus and pay attention up close, but within a minute of not focusing on it, I don't notice it. For me it's very subtle and not nearly as exaggerated as someone on YouTube spoke about. I had no dead pixels or 'dust' as some a year back or so have claimed to experience. Some have also mentioned the fan noise, I haven't heard the fans come on now in almost a month of use. I kept it at factory brightness settings, so that may be a factor. Another thing that some reviewers were showing, is the remote sliding off their Cintiq, I have this completely vertical on an Ergotron arm and it sticks just fine. I didn't go for the touch, because the cost vs. practicality for me just wasn't there. Also, since I have this on an arm, I turn this while drawing with ease. It's a very pleasant experience. Perhaps Cintiq made some improvements from the ones shipped out a couple years back. I plugged this into my mid 2017 iMac 5k (580 Radeon version) using the single usb-c cable. I was afraid the cable might be too short for the arm and reach the computer on the side of my desk, and it was fine. The monitor was recognized right away at 60hz 4k, and the pen worked beautifully with no calibration required. I don't experience parallax, where I place my pen is where I make a mark. The performance is excellent. Corel Painter 2020, Photoshop, and Sketchbook all performed without a hitch. I had the drivers from the Intuos Pro M already installed, and to my surprise, this Cintiq worked "Out of Box" with no additional driver installation. Which is a good thing, because macOS Catalina security features can be a nightmare with Cintiq drivers. It took some patience and online research to get them working right the first time. All and all I am completely satisfied with this purchase. I am highly susceptible to buyer's remorse when I make purchases, especially pricier ones like this. I didn't experience it after purchasing this. Would I like it to be cheaper? - sure, but I feel I got great value. Now I am no longer fighting with my hand eye coordination on the Intuos or squinting my eyes to see menus on the blurry Cintiq 16, and just focusing on practicing my art, improving my skills.

The tablet is huge. It's so big I have to lean my body to draw or click buttons on the side. This doesn't mean you shouldn't get the 32 inch version because even that one is too small for certain programs like Maya with all the windows open within that program. the 32 will also be useful for setting up reference photos while drawing or sculpting so yes go big if you can. As for my budget i can only afford the 24 inch model and I'm using a second monitor for references, etc. Moving on, the display has touch sensitive buttons on the top video info/input, tools,keyboard, and display settings. It comes with a pro pen 2 and magnetic remote as well which I will do a mini review down below. My PC Specs Intel i7 4770k 3.5 ghz Evga gtx 1080 ti sc2 32 gb ram some motherboard 650watt psu 250 ssd for OS and main apps 120 ssd more apps 1 tb hard drive 2 tb hard drive external Stylus feedback. After the driver update the the pen was working as it should meaning you can really take advantage of the pressure sensitivity like drawing very light to get thin lines and putting more pressure for thicker lines. Of course the brush must have those features in order for this conditions. I really wish the pro pen 3d was included I never use the eraser in the top its too time consuming to flip it. The pen you are getting here comes with 2 buttons on the side and 1 on the top. On the bright side No wiggly lines EK Remote. The remote is much better than my 9 keys I had on my cintiq 13 but it's not perfect. Yes the rumors are true the touch is not that good but i discovered if you want to change brush size for example, your are supposed to keey your finger positioned on the touch ring continuously for a better responsiveness. It's tricky but once you get the technique down it works. On the other hand, it has 17 buttons you can program. The remote does turn off after inactivity but it only deactivates a long time of inactivity if you are using it constantly it wont turn off. If you stop drawing and go take a shower and come back it will probably be off. Some users say the remote slides down on the screen but mine doesn't. My screen is at an 80 degree angle and the remote is secure on the screen. EDIT: The fan. The fan has become an issue I had the brightness to 40 and contrast to 40 and it still sped up so I brought it down to 35 on both brightness and contrast hoping it helps. Scaling. I'm using windows 10 and the system automatically scaled my display 200% but i keep it to 150 because it gives me more screen space for icons in my apps like Zbrush. Make sure you download the latest drivers or download older drivers if the new ones are not working for you. It goes the same for your other apps like Adobe products. The tablet legs. They are too small and are probably perfect for people who keep the display so low. I also don't have the money for the new ergo stand about to come out although it's really nice that you can flip to portrait and landscape. Instead I made a heavy duty wooden stand for under 15 dollars. Gaming. I love gaming, but I will use my second monitor for gaming; however, PUBG looks great in 4k (GTX 1080 ti sc2) Overall the tablet is great but the fan is now an issue