Verdict
The Wacom One is a fantastic gimmick for scholarly person and hobbyists in the market for a video display tablet on a budget . There ’s no doubt that Wacom has made sacrifices to keep the cost low , but if you ’re happy to move past the lack of Express Keys and some drawbacks with the screen then you ’ll fight to find a good pen display for less than £ 400 .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
Wacom launched the Wacom One back in 2020 . The 13 - inch draft tablet ( not to be confused with the screenless One by Wacom ) is a playpen video display that targets the lower end of the creative market .
At less than £ 400 , the Wacom One positions itself as a significantly cheaper option to the sword ’s Cintiq blood of penitentiary showing and Mobile Studio pen estimator . However , you do n’t get to this price without making a few compromise in terms of figure and display quality , as I ’ll address in this review .
The Wacom One is a pen display aimed at students and hobbyist over professional creators , reach the door for amateurs and developing artists looking to invest in their first pen display or promote from an Intuos penitentiary pad to a twist with its own screen .
But , when face with theApple iPad ProandMicrosoft Surface Pro ’s ever - growing popularity in the art biotic community , can Wacom retain the same appeal with its own budget pen presentation ?
Design and setup
Relative to Wacom ’s Cintiq pen displays , the Wacom One is a compact tablet . At 225 x 357 x 14.6 mm , the equipment is about the width of your average laptop while the 13.3 - in display is corresponding to an A4 plane of paper in size .
The tab comes with built - in legs that enable you to prop up the display at a 19 - stage angle which I appreciated as the angle made it easier to work without bending my cervix . However , the legs are quite little so if you ’re look to work at a more upright slant , you might want to fold the leg in and pluck up a separate tablet pedestal that ’ll prop the showing up higher .
The Wacom One operates as an external display , meaning it involve to be plugged into another gimmick to run . The penitentiary display is n’t throttle to PC and laptops either with Android compatibility enable support for smartphones and pad . There ’s no living for Io or iPadOS devices at this compass point , though if you have an iPad with an Apple Pencil you might recover the Wacom One ’s penitentiary support somewhat redundant .
You might assume that the tablet ’s compact design and smartphone financial support would make it a good gadget for working on the go . However , the One ’s portability is hindered by one major drawback : its squatty array of line .
The Wacom One command three connectors to hook the pad up to both your PC and the main , which can make drawing on the go a daunting prospect if you do n’t have a draw of quad on your mesa and insufferable without access to a power retail store . Additionally , if you desire to practice the presentation with an Android , MacBook or another twist miss USB - A or HDMI ports then you ’re going to need an adapter or two , which adds even more volume to the frame-up .
I used a 2019 MacBook Pro with two USB - coulomb ports and found one was taken by my USB - A adapter and the other by my HDMI adapter . This meant I was draw to take a break whenever I needed to charge my laptop computer . Of course , this issue is avoidable depending on your apparatus , but a various hub might be an extra monetary value you ’ll want to factor in in if you ’re plan on power your display from an Android or laptop with limited larboard .
The aim of the tablet itself is sleek and minimalist . The wide black bezels might put the pad just slightly out of fashion equate to the likes of the iPad , but the slight design and lusterlessness finale forbid the One from experience excessively dated and the blanched perimeter gives the twist some character .
Unfortunately , wrapped up in this minimalist dash is the lack of Express Keys on the gimmick . The Wacom One has no shortcut buttons . This is particularly frustrating when you think how easily the spacious bezel could have housed a handful of Express Keys .
This yield also applies to the penitentiary supplied in the corner . The accessory has one button which can be assign an action , such as undo or the eraser . However , if you want immediate to get at more than one occasion , you ’ll want to keep your keyboard ( or a £ 90Wacom ExpressKey Remote ) in one hand and the penitentiary in another – or risk go against out of your work flow .
One of the great perk of this pad of paper is that it ’s compatible with pens from a variety of brands including Staedtler , Lamy and Samsung . The compatibility itself is n’t young , but Wacom advertising the fact is .
In any fount , the assault and battery - gratuitous playpen is always a addition for Wacom , especially when compared with stylus that expect turn on – the second propagation Apple Pencil , for representative .
Display
The projection screen is n’t this tablet ’s strong decimal point but it does the job and , considering the price , it really is hard to complain .
The brightness and contrast are a little faint at 196.08 nit and 802:1 severally , so colour deficiency vivacity and poke . However , this is a via media you might consider necessary to build an affordable creative display . The colour temperature strays a little towards the cool side but this is adjustable , so if you ’re happy to plunk into your gadget ’s configurations that should n’t pose an emergence .
The main downfall I encountered when run tests was colour accuracy . The sRGB was good as 88.9 % colour coverage , but Adobe RGB and DCI - P3 were lacking at 63.9 % and 67.3 % severally . Digital and animated design should be fine but picture taking and television probably wo n’t look as exact as you ’d like .
The presentation also lacks skillful screen uniformity , with the top - depart corner of the silver screen seeing a significant degrade in timber .
Again , none of the above is a immense surprise on a lower - conclusion playpen presentation market toward pupil and beginners , but it ’s something to take if you ’re downgrade from a Cintiq pill , transitioning from an Intuos pair with a high - end show or are face for a tablet to poke out into professional oeuvre afterwards down the line .
If you tend to print your work , be prepared to double - check your colours on a laptop or supervise that offer well color truth .
When it occur to plunk up the penitentiary and drawing on the display , the texture is first-class .
The open strikes a perfect balance between canvas and blind that stops the glass from feeling too slippery and like a stock tablet show . Glare is minimal too , meaning there ’s no unwished-for sunlight wash out the CRT screen and make it difficult to see what you ’re doing . This means you’re able to easily turn next to a window or even take the One out into your garden or onto a balcony to outline ( provided you remain close enough to the door to keep it plug in ) .
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Should you buy it?
The Wacom One is a large and low-priced pen show from a reputable brand .
If colour accuracy is especially important to you and you swear on Express Keys in your work flow , you ’ll belike get frustrated with the limitation of Wacom ’s scaled - down showing .
Final Thoughts
If you ’re a initiate take care to invest in your first pen display or kick upstairs from an Intuos tablet , the Wacom One is an fantabulous option . This tablet is slim , Android - compatible and unbelievably affordable for a Wacom display , though its portability is jolly hindered by a bulky array of cables and the want for a magnate outlet .
color accuracy and the absence of any express paint on the pill will be a major drawback for anyone downgrade from a Cintiq or even trade in a regular tablet like an iPad or Microsoft Surface twist . If you ’re looking for color truth on a budget , you might even be better off geminate one of Wacom ’s cheaper Intuos tablets – especially if you already have a colour - precise video display and do n’t take care draw on a separate piece of plastic alternatively of directly on the filmdom .
The iPad Pro is another option that offers better colour truth and portability , as well as a full amount of versatility from Apple ’s iPadOS . However , Apple has n’t stated the pressure sensitiveness of the Apple Pencil , mean it could lack when compared to the 4096 imperativeness level on the Wacom One Pen . The Wacom One ’s display is also more spacious than even the heavy 12.9 - inch iPad and has a brilliant canvas tent - like grain for sketching .
Wacom competitor Huion has its own 13 - in Kamvas pen exhibit that might also be worth a look if you care the sound of the Wacom One .
There are workarounds for the Wacom One ’s limitations . If you ’re felicitous to keep your keyboard tight and do n’t mind dredge the Window back to your laptop computer or microcomputer every so often to aver the colours on a more exact display , you ’ll find very little to plain about here . More so , you ’ll struggle to encounter a better penitentiary display or tablet for less than £ 400 .
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How we test
We try every tablet we review thoroughly . We use diligence stock trial to equate features properly and we use the tablet as our primary gimmick over the recapitulation period . We ’ll always tell you what we line up and we never , ever , take money to critique a production .
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FAQs
The Wacom One has a 13.3 - in display and dimension of 225 x 357 x 14.6 mm .
Yes , the Wacom One comes with the Wacom One Pen .