Visiting those cool rocks This was drawn with an XP-Pen Innovator 16 tablet, which their team kindly

Visiting those cool rocks This was drawn with an XP-Pen Innovator 16 tablet, which their team kindly sent me to review! I’ve been using it for a few different projects over the last few months, and wanted to note some issues I had - but overall I’ve had a positive experience!My biggest critique of this tablet is difficulty of setup and functionality with older laptops. However after jumping through some hurdles to get it working on my newer laptop, it feels like an overall nice, well-priced, lightweight and portable alternative to Cintiq-style monitor tablets. Although it comes with several adaptors for different regions, it does require an HDMI port for whatever computer you’re using it with. I bought 2 adaptors for both my older and newer Macbook laptops to test it out, and it’s been working well on my new laptop. My older laptop is up to the required technical specs listed on the XP-Pen website, but unfortunately it seems like it was just really incompatible with running this tablet. Set up was initially very difficult and the tablet software kept making the laptop freeze and require a restart in the middle of the process, or making the keyboard and trackpad input stop functioning (and require a restart to get it working again.) Eventually we figured out it was only usable with the screen display mirrored from the laptop onto the tablet, and even then there were some strange glitches/usability issues, with the brush randomly being offset by a few centimeters, and randomly not making brush strokes. However, almost none of this is a problem when I was able to test it on my newer 2018 laptop. Set up was much smoother, no strange freezing or problems with the laptop due to the tablet, and the 2nd screen display works properly. It’s not as straight-forward or customizable as wacom products I’ve used before, but it’s functional. The display is very crisp, matte, and the colors felt accurate to me with no adjustments needed, and the button design is unobtrusive. After a few months use I’ve also noticed that the display makes a high pitched buzzing/static-y noise when the brightness is turned up above 75% - I usually have the brightness set lower than that if there’s no direct sun light nearby, but could see it being annoying for some people. I noticed it already had a scratch from the pen after a few days use, and also after a couple months of use there is a (hardware?) problem where the screen randomly blacks out/glitches when I accidentally nudge the desk or the tablet with my wrist. It just needs to either be restarted or physically shaken a little to get it working again - no big problem, but I hope it doesn’t develop into any bigger issue.On the newer laptop, my main note is that the pen buttons are not as functional as I’d like. I use the pen button constantly to erase with Wacom products, and on those it switches back instantly to the previous tool when you release the button. That doesn’t seem to be possible with XP-Pen - after pressing the button for erase you have to click back in the toolbar for your previous tool, or use the hotkey to go back and forth. The button also doesn’t work reliably. Not a big problem, but I do notice it slowing down my workflow when these little things add up.The small stand this tablet comes with doesn’t have many options for the angle, but I have it propped up additionally with a few books behind it, and it’s functional for me that way. The tablet is also light enough to be held in your lap if that’s more comfortable, and having that option to change things up has been really nice. Drawing is pleasant and feels accurate, the screen isn’t either slippery or too rough to the touch, and the size feels nice. My favourite thing here is that the drawing surface has never heated up as badly as Cintiqs and iPads both do, so it’s a little more feasible to hold in your lap in that aspect! Overall - some minor functionality issues, but a good experience so far for a well-priced monitor style tablet, and I’ll continue to use it! -- source link

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