Cintiq 16

STEP DOWN The Cintiq 16 drops both the Pro designation and the price. We find out if Wacom has stripped out key features to make this work.

There was a time when Wacom was the only real choice for artists wanting a graphic tablet or creative display, and its Cintiq range has always been a byword for quality – albeit at a price. Fast forward to today and there are numerous options to consider across a range of budgets. These include the relatively unknown Artisul D13 right up to the Apple iPad Pro.

Wacom, wanting to regain the initiative, has released the Cintiq 16. It’s clear the company is going after a specific market and the tablet’s headline feature is the price, which is less than half the cost of the device’s Pro-monikered sibling. A 1,920x1,080 HD display, a supplied Pro Pen 2 and 72 per cent colour gamut are all fairly standard features, but there’s also 8,192 levels of pressure sensitivity, the ability to use the newer Pro Pen 3D, and minimal parallax (the distance between your nib and your on-screen stroke).

Money Talks

The price needs to be addressed before we look at anything else. The device costs £530, while the Cintiq Pro 16 is £1,400. The Cintiq 16’s closest competitor is the Huion KAMVAS GT- 156HD V2, which hovers around the £450 mark. Although Wacom has its history and market dominance in its favour, the similar specs of the Cintiq 16 and Huion’s model means artists will now want to consider all tablet options before making a purchase. That’s very different from back in the day, when the choice was essentially a Wacom product costing either £450 or £1,400. It hardly needs pointing out that if a lot of artists can do without the pro-level features absent in this cheaper model, then Wacom may be eating into its own high-end market.