XP-Pen Artist 15.6 Pro Review

Price: $399.99 + See it on Amazon

Xp_pen’s latest display tablet has tilt support and parallax reducing screen. Oh man, 2019 is getting hot already!

This was provided to my by the folks over at XP-Pen but this is not a sponsored review so the opinions contained within this video are my own.

In the box you will find the display tablet. The pen that lets you draw on the tablet. A pen holder with some extra nibs in the back for all you folks who draw hard and wear those out. The connection cable, with a USB, hdmi and power all in one, basically everything you need to connect this to your Windows or Mac computer.

This is XP-Pen’s Artist 15.6 Pro.. XP-Pen has some other older pen display tablets of this size out there and the naming conventions can get a little confusing. My advice, look for the red circle on the side, that’s how you know you have the right one.

I like the circle, in fact I like the whole design of this device. It’s plastic, lightweight. It doesn’t feel premium, but it also doesn’t feel cheap either. It fill that middle ground.

The screen looks good. It’s an HD display, that’s 1920x1080 pixels and the colors good as well. It has a 90% Adobe RGB color range.

The screen has a textured matte film over it this is to give your pen more grip and improve control when drawing.

But the real story with the screen is the laminated display. That’s where they reduce the space between the screen and the glass to increase accuracy and reduce the parallax.

Over the last 2 years that has been the primary feature that has set Wacom’s premium Cintiq displays apart from the more inexpensive devices in this category. We’re starting to see that quality gap close. Last year Huion introduced 2 smaller displays with laminated screens and now we have this that Artist 15.6 Pro doing the same. And I think this is just the beginning.

But the screen isn’t the only thing XP-Pen has added here, they have also included their new pen which has 8128 levels of presure which we’ve come to expect but also tilt support.

Tilt support is another things that has always set Wacom apart until recently. I can confirm that the tilt definitely works but I don’t use it in my work so it’s hard for me to tell how well it works.

I want to know What you think makes tilt good or bad and the things you look for. I have a feeling I’m going to be testing that more and more.

I got an early unit from XP-Pen and they tell me that the look of the pen might change a bit but the guts of the pen and how it works will be the same.

There is also a pen holder to keep your pen safe and also has a pot in the back with the extra nibs.

How does the pen perform? Well it’s really really good. I put the XP-Pen artist 12 on my list of favorite devices at the end of last year because it was cheap and the pen felt so good to draw with. This feels pretty much the same. I love it.

Pros and cons:

The pros? Everything, this is the most complete Wacom Cintiq Pro competitor we have seen yet. The screen is really nice, the pen is really nice, you have shortcut keys along the side. It has a very competitive price.

The cons? I’m not seeing many, this is darn near perfect for its price range.

The big question a lot of you are going to have is, Should I get this or the low end Wacom Cintiq 16 I reviewed a couple weeks ago or jump up and get the high end Cintiq Pro. I can’t answer that for you what I can say is whichever one you choose I think you’re going to be really happy with. They are all great.

The big difference between the entry level Cintiq 16 is the screen, that laminated display, The Xp-pen wins there. XP also has a lower price. Oh yeah, and the shortcut keys on the device itself.

I like the feel of the Wacom pen more, but this is still one of the best pens i have used on a Cintiq alternative and for a lot of folks, they just aren't going to be able to tell the difference. With Wacom you’re buying that brand name, you’re getting Wacom’s drivers. Although I will say, there are 2 companies who I have never had driver problems with. Wacom and XP-pen.

When you start adding up all these features I have to move it to the top of my list of 16” tablets over on my site.

There are dozens, ok maybe 7 other 16” display tablets out there and between this and the Cintiq 16 there is a REALLY high bar for everyone else to jump over. 2019 is going to be really interesting.

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