While Wacom continues to sit atop the mountain of pen displays as the undisputed front-runner, there has been massive strides made by companies like XP-Pen and Huion looking to introduce some much-needed competition to the space. Down the right edge of the tablet display, from top to bottom is the power button, power LED, 2 button/switches (for adjusting brightness etc), a ‘hidden’ USB-C port (it’s covered with a small plastic removable cover? There is certainly a positive to knowing that the drivers are going to already have had all the kinks worked out. Customize your shortcut keys in your software of choice to simplify your workflow and empower your productivity. Contrast ratio is the visual distance between the lightest and the darkest colors that may be reproduced on the display.

Artist 12 (2nd Gen) Pen Display digital art tablet | XP-Pen Artist 12 (2nd Gen) Pen Display digital art tablet | XP-Pen

An eraser button on the stylus is something that is viable for budget tablets because we've seen XP-Pen's sister brand, Xencelabs, include it with its stylus. While a 12-inch pen display is certainly going to earn good marks for portability, it is hard to sell when the 15- and 16-inch displays also exist. The physical responsiveness of the display is top notch; the surface of the screen is fully-laminated. But it also boasts a customizable scroll wheel that can be used for zooming, opacity, and other common functions.

If you are unsure what type of USB port you have on your device, head over to GSMArena and type in your phone model. It’s important that, after you have made any changes to your tablet driver settings, be sure to hit the OK button on the bottom left of the interface (the button blending with the logo there). Before setting shortcut key functions, tick to select any of the options under Keyboard, Mouse Control, Others, and Run Application. For the screen, the XP-Pen Artist 12 is fully laminated, giving it a nice matte finish that reduces glare from any surrounding light sources.

XP-PEN Artist 12 (2nd Gen) Drawing Tablet with Screen

A high contrast ratio is desired, resulting in richer dark colors and more distinctive color gradation. What you do get in the box with the tablet are a Warranty Card, Drawing Glove, Quick Guide, Nib Extractor, 10 Spare Nibs, 3-in-1 USB/Power cable, Cleaning Cloth, USB Extension Lead and the new battery-free ‘X3 Elite’ Stylus.

I ‘forced’ myself to try out the shortcut keys and I have to say they felt nice and responsive when pressed.

XP-Pen Artist 12 (2nd Generation) vs XP-Pen Artist 12 Pro XP-Pen Artist 12 (2nd Generation) vs XP-Pen Artist 12 Pro

The stylus is noticeably more sensitive than that of the older Deco Pro we reviewedand much closer to the drawing experience of Wacom’s grip pen. Express keys can be customized on a per application basis or just for the device overall, and there is a wide range of options covering both mouse and keyboard inputs that can be routed to them. She's a lifelong artist with two decades of experience in digital painting, and she will happily talk your ear off about budget pen displays. Working in a bright, but naturally lit room, I didn’t encounter any distracting glares or reflections. The XP-Pen Artist 12 is functionally a wonderful pen display, but one of its biggest pressing issues is its size.

It’s not immediately clear in UI that you need to do this and it’s easy to close the window not realizeing that it didn’t save any of your new shortcut settings. For example: After selecting proportion, if you draw a circle on the device, a circle will appear on the screen, but some part of the work area may not be used. For those who are left-hand dominant, the Artist 12 can be rotated 180 degrees and the location of the express keys changed within the software. The full-featured USB-C port makes connection easier with devices such as PCs, Android phones, and Switch, allowing for a tidy desktop.

Artist 12 (2nd Generation)|Drivers Download | XPPen Artist 12 (2nd Generation)|Drivers Download | XPPen

Whilst this is a perfectly good option, it does hog all your laptop ports – once the HDMI cable and the two USB (power and data) cable were connected, this left no space for my wireless mouse dongle.Huion's KAMVAS line, for example, has had a couple of generations of pen displays featuring fully laminated screens, whereas XP-Pen has only just started to implement this feature properly among their Artist series pen displays.