Six months after it was first announced, the first "universal" Active ES pen is available in the US from Wacom
When Wacom announced its Bamboo Smart stylus "for select tablets and 2-in-1 convertible devices" at CES back in January, it was big news. Until that point, only a handful of OEMs' Active ES pens had hit the market and they seemed to be incompatible with one another.
ASUS Chairman Jonney Shih took the stage today during the Zenvolution press event at Computex 2016 to unveil the ASUS Transformer 3 and ASUS Transformer 3 Pro, the world’s most versatile PCs that feature an unrivalled combination of mobility, convenience, and expandability.
Why would anyone build pen capability into a device and then hide it from potential buyers? It's not the first time I've asked that question on this site, and it's especially one I shouldn't have to be asking myself in mid-2016, at a time where pen computing is being promoted as a vital feature of the upcoming Windows 10 Anniversary Update.
From the time I first read about the ultra low cost Cube i7 Stylus, I was sorely tempted to pick one up to test. But I never took the plunge because buying one of the Chinese tablets would require purchasing from an unknown overseas store.
Even when Lisa Gade of MobileTechReview.com posted her favorable review of the Cube and recommended GearBest.com as a trustworthy source for the device, I still balked because of the confusing array of bundles offered there.
Last week, a TabletPCReview forum member posted an Amazon link to the Mytrix Complex 11t, a Cube i7 Stylus clone being marketed in the US by a New Hampshire-based company. Just as significantly, the device is offered in only one configuration, with Wacom EMR pen and keyboard cover bundled for $390. Comforted by Amazon's return policy, I decided to give it a go and the device arrived in the SurfaceProArtist labs only two days later.
I have to admit that alarm bells went off again when the Mytrix box I was expecting was instead labeled Cytrix. Inside, the nice plain packaging revealed a dark blue tablet and keyboard also (too) prominently branded as Cytrix.
Typing in the CytrixTech.com URL found in the manual redirects to the MytrixTech.com website, where absolutely no mention is made of the former name. The About Us section claims that most of Mytrix's customers are in North America and Europe and that Mytrix is a subsidiary of UShopMall (FY International, LLC), which has been in operation since 2007.
I can only guess that the software company Citrix, makers of GoToMyPC, challenged the name and the owners hastily rebranded themselves as Mytrix but are still unloading product with the old branding. Although I only heard about it this week, the Complex 11t was first announced in June, 2015 and was slated to sell for $600 at that time.
At that price, I would never have bothered, especially given some of the bargain priced devices I've reviewed so far in 2016, such as the HP Spectre x2 and Lenovo Ideapad Miix 700. But for just under $400, the Mytrix bundle is almost impossible to ignore: Intel Core M-5Y10c, 4 GB RAM, 64 GB SSD, 10.6-inch FHD display plus the aforementioned keyboard cover and Wacom EMR pen.
As tablets with EMR digitizers are becoming increasingly rare, the pen has to be considered the Complex's major selling point. And it's comforting to find the Wacom Feel driver's control panel pre-installed and ready to configure your tip sensitivity and pen buttons.
Besides the Feel driver, everything else about the installed Windows 10 Home experience is no-frills, which is actually a relief on low-end devices that are generally stocked full of crapware. Updating the 11t to Windows 10 build 1511 took about an hour thanks to the slow SSD, but once the update was done, the tablet has been running flawlessly.
The 10.6-inch 16:9 display is a bit of a throwback to the Surface Pro 1 and 2. After becoming accustomed to 3:2 12-inch displays, the screen size definitely feels cramped, but it's not unusable by any means. By default, the Windows UI is magnified to 150% which is unnecessarily large on the 1920x1080 display. Lowering the magnification to 125% is very readable.
The 11t is significantly thinner (.41 inches) than either of the original Microsoft tablets. Sans keyboard, the dense Complex weighs 1.52 lbs. I couldn't find an official weight for the keyboard, but it adds at least another pound.
The clamshell design of the keyboard creates a nice, secure cover for transporting the Complex. Unfortunately, the clamshell design has the side effect of creating thin extrusions on the corners of the keyboard right where your palms rest as you type. This is mildly irritating while typing long documents (like this review).
The keyboard itself lays flat and features miniature keys that are fine except for the tight concentration of the right shift and directional keys. While typing this post, I regularly paged up as I meant to hit the shift key.
The small trackpad is also very sensitive. I kept accidentally invoking Cortana, though I have no idea what I was doing to do so. The keyboard includes a function-spacebar command to disable the trackpad, which helps a lot.
For such a dense device, you might expect the keyboard to work detachably, but that's not the case. The keyboard is powered via a multipin connector to the tablet. Although the keyboard offers only one viewing angle, the connection with the keyboard can be quite fussy, often requiring multiple attempts to seat properly.
A welcomed feature is a full size pen silo located at the back of the keyboard. At first I thought the keyboard might included a spare, but pulling out what I thought was a pen turned out only to be a dummy pen cap. Next to the pen silo are two USB 2.0 ports.
On the tablet itself, you'll find one USB 3.0 port, a micro HDMI output, an SD slot and headphone jack. An OTG interface cable is included in the package. The 12V power adapter doesn't fit quite snugly enough into its jack, which may be a cause for concern in the future.
The tablet ships with a clear screen protector pre-installed that adds quite a bit of tooth. Trying to use the soft grippy nib of the Fujitsu T5000 pen I normally recommend was a non-starter as it grabbed and skipped too frequently on the surface. The Wacom Bamboo Feel pen fared a little better, but it was difficult to get the full range of pressure sensitivity.
The ingenious full size pen silo in the keyboard cover is a welcomed addition, although the dummy pen cap in place of a spare is disappointing. To the far right of the image is one of two USB ports.
The hard plastic nib of the original Surface Pro pen and the those included with the Complex 11t yielded the broadest pressure curve and most satisfying results. Like that Surface pen, the standard pen includes one barrel button and an eraser tip.
I haven't installed a lot of software on the 11t yet. I know most of you want to know whether it will run Photoshop. I expect it will, but if you need to run Adobe software, which can be hit or miss on much higher end devices, I recommend you save your money for a higher end device or prepare to accept less than stellar results. If I get around to it, I'll run some benchmark tests and posts those in an update.
I installed much lower cost applications like Clip Studio Paint, Sketchable and Sketchbook Pro and all performed as well as can be expected on a 4GB device. Perhaps it's because I've set a low bar for my expectations, but I struggle to find something negative to say about the Mytrix's performance with these apps. As a bargain basement sketchpad, the Complex 11t works quite well.
It's nice playing with an EMR digitizer again, but I'm reminded that the technology is far from perfect. The Complex was reasonably well calibrated out of the box, but Clip Studio Paint was way off in Wintab mode. TabletPC mode didn't yield as satisfying a pressure range as I expected. After running the calibration tool and restarting CSP, I was able to use Wintab mode. However, returning to the desktop, the pen would no longer access the lowest row of the display, making it impossible to unhide the taskbar. I ran the advanced calibration tool, but I couldn't get the pen to hit the target on the lowest left corner of the display. Ultimately, I deleted the calibration information and the pen is working with the default. Clip Studio Paint is working well too. My fix was relatively painless, but if the dead spot on the digitizer is in a more critical area of the screen, you may be out of luck. And as I've reported in the past, manufacturing tolerances on Wacom EMR devices can vary widely, so whether an individual device calibrates well or not is often the luck of the draw.
Another cause for concern is that the tablet gets very warm by the power input while connected. Charging is slow, but once disconnected, the fanless tablet cools down. Hopefully this isn't a defect that shortens the tablet's lifespan.
The Mytrix website claims a battery life of only 4.5 hours of continuous video playback, but with screen brightness set to 50%, I saw about six hours while writing, drawing and surfing the web.
With Surface Books, Surface Pros and VAIO devices regularly listing for multiple thousands of dollars, it's a relief to find OEMs willing to serve the lower end of the market. So whether you call it a Cube i7 Stylus, Cytrix or Mytrix, the Complex 11t is definitely a viable option for those of you on the tightest budgets.
I still recommend that you spend a couple hundred dollars more on a device from a better known manufacturer, but that also requires that you go with an active pen which many of you will find an unacceptable option. So long as you've given active pens a fair shot and aren't falling for the EMR vs. ActiveES/N-Trig hype, then the Complex 11t may work for you as well.
If you’re looking for a way to spend your tax refund wisely, Lenovo has two products that might offer the best price-performance ratio in the industry.
You don’t have to be a US resident to purchase either device (or at least a close approximation), but you won’t likely find as good a deal as you will at Best Buy for the $900 Lenovo Thinkpad Yoga 14 or at Costco.com for the Miix 700 tablet, currently discounted $200 through the end of April.
THINKPAD YOGA 14
I first reviewed the original Best Buy exclusive Thinkpad Yoga 14 in the middle of 2015 and the convertible laptop has been updated several times since then while the price has remained constant. The current version, model 20FY0002US, features a 2.3 GHz 6th Gen Intel Core i5-6200U processor, 8 GB of RAM, 256 GB SSD and NVidia GeForce 940M graphics. An integrated, rechargeable Thinkpad Pen Pro (Wacom ActiveES stylus) is included.
The TPY14 is not sold online at Lenovo.com. Instead, the closest equivalent is known as the Thinkpad Yoga 460 (Black). Configuring that model to match the Best Buy version will cost at least $1449 (currently discounted 10%) but does not include the discrete gpu. For reasons known only to Lenovo, none of its online offerings seems to offer an NVidia option.
The TPY14 is the nearly perfect desktop replacement convertible. You might quibble about the FHD (1920x1080) display which doesn’t boast the widest color gamut or brightest output, but I find the roomy 14-inch screen perfectly acceptable.
The keyboard is typical of Thinkpads: with comfortable spacing and nice key travel. The trackpad is improved over the earlier versions.
The laptop is equipped with 3 x USB 3.0, Mini DisplayPort, HDMI, OneLink+ and 4-in-1 media card slot. Wireless-AC, Bluetooth 4.0, microphone and 720p HD webcam round out the package.
Top to bottom: the integrated rechargeable Lenovo Thinkpad Pen Pro stylus, the Thinkpad Pen Pro active capacitive pen and the recommended Toshiba dynaPad TruPen. Note the very short exposed nib on the middle pen.
While the integrated stylus is nice in a pinch, serious users will want to purchase a full size pen. The Lenovo Thinkpad Pen Pro active capacitive pen is available for about $40, but I recommend the more expensive Toshiba DynaPad TruPen, which is now available for separate purchase from a variety of online outlets including Amazon and Toshiba.com, whose sales are fulfilled by CDW.
The DynaPad TruPen offers a much better drawing experience, with longer, softer nibs and a much greater hover distance. The nibs seem to deteriorate quickly, but fortunately Toshiba is the first Wacom AES OEM to also offer packs of 5 replacement tips.
The soft TruPen nibs offer significantly more resistance than the standard Pen Pro, but the display is still a little slippery. I haven’t tried one yet, but a screen protector would be advisable if you intend to draw on the TPY14 full time.
Drawing performance is as good as any Wacom ActiveES device, with great accuracy and 2048 levels of pressure sensitivity. The TPY14 is also compatible with the Wacom Feel driver, so you’ll be able to configure the pen buttons and create a radial menu if you like.
System performance is excellent, with the laptop ranking just above last year’s models in various benchmarks.
For its price class, the Best Buy exclusive Thinkpad Yoga 14 is an absolute winner. Highly recommended.
IDEAPAD MIIX 700
Even at its regular retail price of $800, the Ideapad Miix 700 is a lower end Surface Pro 4 clone that is hard to pass up. But at $600 through April 30 for Costco members, it’s an absolute steal.
For $100 less than the regular retail price of the 4GB entry level m3 SP4, the Miix 700 boasts an Intel Core m5-6Y54 and 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB SSD. The onboard Intel HD Graphics 515 powers a 12-inch 2160 x 1440 display, equal to the SP4. A folio keyboard cover is also included but the Wacom Active ES pen is sold separately.
At its sale price, the Miix is about $400 cheaper than the less powerful Surface Pro with keyboard! There’s got to be a catch, right? Fortunately for bargain hunters, there are only a few items of concern.
It would be impossible to tell the Miix 700 apart from the Microsoft tablet except for the gold finish back and watchband hinges. The folio keyboard cover has a faux leather cover. These fashion miscues can easily be overlooked.
Unfortunately, there is one hideous marketing decision that will require significant elbow grease to rectify. The geniuses at Lenovo decided to apply a sticker to the top right and side of the tablet with a strong adhesive that leaves behind a sticky, difficult to remove residue. Prepare to spend a lot of wasted time cleaning up this mess. (Lenovo states on its forum that future Miix tablets won’t have the appliques).
Aesthetics and self-inflicted issues aside, the only real item of concern is the keyboard cover, which is a little flaky despite a firmware fix. Without the patch, the cursor regularly jumps around randomly, making it nearly impossible to type a sentence without multiple errors. After the patch, the keyboard is more accurate, although the touchpad is hyper-sensitive. Throughout a week of use, I’ve accidentally opened or closed multiple items due to errant taps on the trackpad. Clicking and selecting is also challenging. Lastly, the keyboard is not backlit, which is a major limitation if you need to use your tablet in low-lit situations. Consequently, if word processing is your primary activity, you may be out of luck when it comes to the Miix 700.
Unlike the Spartan plain cardboard packaging of Thinkpad products, the Ideapad line is consumer oriented and the Miix 700 ships in the nicest package I’ve seen from Lenovo.
Available ports are a little skimpy: one USB 2.0 that doubles as the power input, one USB 3.0, a microHDMI output and a microSD slot tucked under the kickstand, borrowing again from the Surface Pro design.
A major selling point of the Miix is its user upgradeability. Swapping out the m2 SSD should be very straight forward and Lenovo even has a complete list of how-to videos on its site: https://www.lenovoservicetraining.com/showcase?sid=1114&key=TGVuZw==
Marketed as a relatively low cost retail device, the Ideapad also features a lot of pre-installed crapware like McAfee Internet Security that you will want to wipe off right away. I do appreciate when OEMs provide utilities that phone home and let you know when driver updates are available. The Lenovo Companion app purports to do this, but I still had to visit Lenovo.com support to find the keyboard firmware.
Pen support is also not enabled by default and required installation of another firmware fix. Unfortunately, although the Miix 700 works with a variety of Wacom Active ES pens, it is not supported by the Feel driver, so you won’t be able to configure any pen buttons or run Wintab applications.
As I wrote above, the Lenovo Thinkpad Pen Pro is sold separately for $40. It's not the best Wacom Active ES pen option on the market due to its very short nib and small hover distance. If you decide to stick with the Lenovo brand, packs of pen clips are also available that attach the pen via the USB 3.0 connector (a pretty big waste of a port on an already limited device).
Like the Thinkpad Yoga 14, the Miix’s screen is a little slick and could benefit from a screen protector, but using it with a Toshiba DynaPad TruPen is otherwise very pleasant.
Until Wacom releases its Bamboo Smart pen and we determine its compatibility, the Toshiba DynaPad TruPen is the best choice for Miix users.
The Miix 700’s Core m5 processor offers negligible performance improvements over the Surface Pro 4’s m3, so benchmark results are very close. But in real world use, you’re likely to see more benefit from the extra 4 GB of RAM.
The Miix runs absolutely silently and battery life is very good. Lenovo claims it will provide 9 hours of video playback, but I got about six hours or typing, browsing and drawing.
If you are looking for a bargain and can overlook the sticker and temperamental folio keyboard, the Miix 700 is the real deal.
As you read this review, you should know something up front: the deal I got on the HP Spectre x2 12-inch tablet may not be available to you. I scored a $200 discount on the $799 tablet at Best Buy, which makes it feel like a great bargain, standing head and shoulders over the similarly priced Surface 3 and Toshiba dynaPad.
If I paid full price and then had to fork over another $60 for the pen, I'd have to compare the Spectre to the Surface Pro 4 and I'm not so sure that the tablet comes out ahead in that competition.
The Best Buy sale is over as I write this and the Spectre x2 is once again selling for $799 (a Core m7 version, with 8 GB RAM/256 GB SSD lists for $1150). HP is also marketing the nearly identical Elite x2 1012 tablet starting at $899, so it's entirely possible that the Spectre x2 may soon disappear from store shelves altogether.
Upon first inspection, the Spectre x2 is a silvery Surface Pro 4 clone. And the specs are virtually identical to the entry level SP4: Intel Core M3-6Y30 with Intel HD Graphics 515, 4 GB RAM, 128 GB SSD, 3:2 aspect ratio display, adjustable kickstand, detachable keyboard cover. The Sx2's display resolution is lower than the SP4: only 1920 x 1280. But the solid keyboard cover is included in the base price, as is Verizon LTE antenna. A Wacom Active ES pen is optional (it's standard in the Elite x2).
The bundled keyboard cover is excellent. It's much more rigid than the Microsoft type cover and its island keys provide a great typing experience. The trackpad is also roomy and responsive, though not quite glasslike. The specs say that the keyboard is backlit, but I couldn't get my keys to light. (UPDATE: You just need to press F5 on the keyboard to toggle the backlight on and off. Duh.) The keyboard is cloth backed, similar to a Surface Pro type cover.
The gaudiest design cue of the Spectre x2 is the speaker grill that runs along the top of the keyboard. Quad Bang & Olufsen speakers provide a surprisingly nice audio experience for a tablet, with two on the keyboard and two on the tablet's sides. This isn't something I normally mention, but after the dreadful speakers on the Toshiba dynaPad, audio is suddenly top of mind.
The back of the tablet (above) is also distinctive (or over-done depending on your point of view). I don't care for the black accent at the top of the tablet. In these images, the "natural silver" finish looks more sedate than it truly is. The highly reflective chrome-plated kickstand is recessed in the tablet back and released via a latch on the lower left side of the display (see below left). Unlatching and then extending the kickstand takes some getting accustomed to, but the support is very good at a variety of angles.
This side of the Spectre x2 also contains a headphone jack, volume buttons, and one of two USB Type-C connectors. The right side of the tablet (below) contains a second USB Type-C connector, SIM slot and a microSD media card reader.
The Spectre x2 is very thin (.31 inches) and weighs 1.84 lbs. With the keyboard, the combination is .52 inches thick and weighs 2.68 lbs.
The combination of rigid keyboard and freely adjustable kickstand make the Spectre x2 the most lap friendly two-in-one tablet I've tested.
Performance is very good, performing neck and neck with the m3 Surface Pro 4. Looking again at these results, it's clear why I was so disappointed by the performance of the Toshiba dynaPad! The TabletMark performance of the SP4 is interesting but I have been unable to re-run those tests. The benchmark keeps hanging inexplicably on that tablet It's the only software I'm having trouble running on the device.
Unlike the dynaPad and Surface Pro 4, the Active Pen is sold separately for the Spectre x2, retailing for $60. You can order it on the Best Buy site or direct from HP.
Although the Spectre x2 is compatible with other Wacom Active ES pens, I thought it was important to test the native pen as well. Unfortunately, the results are very disappointing, mostly due to its poor form factor.
Significantly smaller than either the TruPen or the Surface Pen (see below), the HP Active Pen, feels more like a crayon in my average sized hand. It also ships without replacement nibs. I recommend using Toshiba's latest generation TruPen if you can find it sold separately. Although it didn't work as well as the TruPen, you can also use Lenovo's Active Stylus, which is more readily available.
Hover distance is not as good as Toshiba's dynaPad, but it is better than previous generation AES devices. (UPDATE: in ascending order from approximately 1 mm to 5 mm, here are the hover distance results: Dell Active Stylus, Toshiba TruPen (Encore 2 Write), Lenovo Thinkpad Active Stylus, Toshiba TruPen (dynaPad) and HP Active Pen).
Pressure response is excellent as I've come to expect from all Wacom Active ES pens. Due to the thinness of the display, if you press down hard with your pen, you will see a purplish ghosting as you draw. I found this pretty distracting and mitigated the effect somewhat by adjusting my pressure curve in Clip Studio Paint.
Unfortunately, if your software doesn't offer pressure adjustment, the Wacom feel driver is not yet compatible with the Spectre x2, so there is no way to increase or decrease the pen tip's sensitivity or map the pen buttons. Worse still, without a driver, there is no way to make the tablet Wintab aware, That means that users of older software that requires Wintab for pen pressure are out of luck.
Test inks over John Buscema pencils
I tested the Spectre x2 with both its native pen and the Toshiba TruPen in Clip Studio Paint, Sketchbook Pro and Sketchable and didn't have any issues.
One behavior I noticed by juggling between pens is that it appears Wacom Active ES pens interfere with one another when handled in close proximity. Starting work with the TruPen, for example, appeared to cancel out the HP pen. I had similar results with a Dell pen that refused to work once the TruPen was connected. I also saw errant lines and strange wobbles when using one pen while holding another. Has anyone else seen this behavior? (UPDATE: To switch pens, a reboot is required in order for the tablet to sense the new pen with a tap or two on the display).
To sum it up, if you can find the HP Spectre x2 on sale for at or below $600 (and you can live without Wintab compatibility), I recommend it over the similarly priced Surface 3 or Toshiba dynaPad. At its $800 list price, I recommend you look instead at the Surface Pro 4 or HP Elite x2 1012. Isn't it great to have this abundance of choice?
When the Toshiba Encore 2 Write 8-inch and 10-inch models were released early last year, they quickly became the darlings of cost conscious artists despite some serious design limitations.
Featuring low resolution displays, only 2 GB of RAM and a slow Atom processor, I nevertheless recommended the E2W to anyone on a budget, given its outstanding Wacom Active ES pen performance. Unfortunately, the $400 device began disappearing from stock several months ago and is now nearly impossible to find new or selling at its original price.
Now Toshiba is back with the 12-inch dynaPad, starting at $570. With this device, the company is once again vying for the crown of Windows' price-performance champion. In addition to its larger display, the dynaPad features a few major improvements over its predecessor: 1920x1280 resolution, 4 GB of RAM and an additional micro USB 2.0 port.
Sadly the dynaPad is still limited to 64 GB of onboard eMMC storage and hindered by an Intel Atom x5-Z8300 cpu clocked at 1.44 GHz, yielding virtually the same performance as last year's Encore 2 Write.
Other tablet manufacturers should be thankful that Toshiba didn't equip their dynaPad with an m3 processor or 128 GB SSD because the dynaPad is otherwise nearly perfect.
Weighing only 1.28 lbs (tablet only) and .27 inch thick, the dynaPad is the ideal portable sketchbook: slightly smaller and lighter than even the iPad Pro and significantly more comfortable to hold. The edges of the dynaPad are rounded and slightly rubberized, avoiding the sharp, slippery feel of the iPad and other tablets. Unlike the E2W, which had a thick plastic coating on its screen, the dynaPad's Gorilla glass display is clear, smooth and durable.
Toshiba sells an optional keyboard cover for $100 that looks very nice but that I opted not to purchase for this review. The keyboard offers only one viewing angle (similar to the keyboard shipped with the Lenovo Thinkpad Helix 2 and which I found very impractical).
Compared in the images above and below to the Surface Pro 4 (left) and the Encore 2 Write, the dynaPad looks every bit a premium device.
The new Toshiba TruPen that is included with the dynaPad is significantly longer than the original, which makes it feel like a great writing instrument. An unfortunate design choice is the end clip which inserts into the dynaPad body (below). While the clip definitely makes a secure connection, inserting it and pulling it out again can be a real chore.
I don't typically write about the speakers on tablets, as they're not at all essential for art, but I feel compelled to mention the atrocious speakers on the dynaPad. The two openings are located along the right side of the tablet (see one of them to the lower left of the pen in the image above). I've never encountered speakers sounding this bad on any Windows tablet that I've ever owned. Volume is ridiculously low and tinny, sounding like a cheap 9-volt transistor radio. The dynaPad ships with a Dolby audio tool but it doesn't do anything to improve the hideous sound. By comparison, the Encore 2 Write had excellent audio. I can't understand how Toshiba engineers thought it was okay to release a product with a defect this bad. How much could this choice have saved the company? Speaker quality shouldn't be a disqualifier for most of you, but be prepared to cringe when you hear every system notification.
As we've come to expect from all Wacom Active ES devices, pen performance on the dynaPad is outstanding. In the example above, see the wide range of stroke thicknesses I was able to derive from the same sized brush in Clip Studio Paint. Wacom AES offers 2048 pressure levels and it feels like I could successfully draw with each one.
Hover distance is greatly improved vs. the first generation TruPen. The pen is recognized about a half inch away from the display which should result in far less palm rejection errors and stray marks.
In addition to Clip Studio Paint, I also tested the dynaPad with Sketchable, Mischief, Sketchbook Pro and Sketchbook for Tablets and Photoshop CC 2015. Generally those programs that offer a little bit of brush stabilization performed best. Photoshop in particular seemed more difficult to control.
With 4 GB of RAM, I didn't encounter any slowdowns sketching on 11x17, 600 dpi images. As usual, some lag was evident if I pushed textured brush sizes beyond a few hundred pixels.
Real performance hits incurred by the Atom and eMMC storage occur when downloading and installing software. Windows updates can be very slow to install. Despite my very fast Internet connection, Adobe Photoshop still took 30 minutes to set up.
In benchmark tests, the dynaPad achieved middling scores of 938 in TabletMark and a 748 Geekbench (single) and 2182 (multi). The Encore 2 Write achieved 805, 702 and 2090, respectively. Better performance would definitely have been expected given the price increase. And most troublingly, the humble Surface 3 does 1253, 969 and 3204 on its tests.
If you're looking for a speed demon, the dynaPad definitely is not it.
The dynaPad ships with one spare nib and that may not be enough based on the wear I saw on pen's nib (see above). This generation of nibs is somewhat softer than last year's but I've never had a tip deteriorate as quickly as this one. Within one week of limited use, I ended up having to replace it. Hopefully this was an isolated case but it's a real concern because neither Toshiba nor Wacom market replacement sets.
The new TruPen nibs (above top) are interchangeable with the previous generation. Those older nibs are made of a slightly harder material. While the older TruPen can be used on the dynaPad, the new pen will not work on the Encore 2 Write.
One final quibble is the micro USB to to USB power cable included with the dynaPad. It's only three feet long and limits your ability to use the tablet while it's plugged in. Not a major issue, but another in a line of disturbing cut corners.
Is the dynaPad right for you? If you're coming from an Encore 2 Write, absolutely. If you've never owned a Windows tablet or are shopping for lower cost iPad Pro alternatives, you'll probably be happy with the dynaPad. If you're a power user and have a few hundred dollars more to spend, you'll probably be happier with other more powerful options.
UPDATE 2/6/16 The Monoprice 22-inch Pen Display Tablet, product number 14481, is now live on the company's website for $599.99.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Monoprice has been dabbling in the ultra low cost pen display space for over two years. I purchased and reviewed their first two efforts which, while flawed, were excellent values that improved after a few driver iterations.
I gave the second generation Smarttouch display a positive review but was disappointed when it was unceremoniously removed from the Monoprice website. It quietly reappeared at the end of 2015 with new Mac drivers.
I was pleasantly surprised when the author of this review contacted me with news of yet another 22-inch pen display from Monoprice that should soon be available for purchase.
E. KIM has been a digital artist for more than ten years, with experience in impact and print graphics and 3D design and sculpting for mass production and fine art. He generously contributed this review.
By E. KIM
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I would like to thank Monoprice for providing this factory sample for my review. All features of this review are based on an early factory sample and alpha drivers, features, dimensions, and software are subject to change at time of release.
Monoprice, the California-based retailer and manufacturer has recently introduced a number of products into the pen display and tablet market. With many pen tablets already available in the past year, they have made great headway in the competitive market of pen displays. With Wacom being the leader in pen display technology, a competitive challenger that can meet the quality of the standard at a more agreeable price has been desperately needed for years. Those of us who adopted pen tablets in the ‘90s can remember forking out hundreds for the smallest Wacom Graphire, only to be envious of the pen displays the few could afford.
Today, everyone is adding the pen input options from Asus Zen books to Lenovo, Microsoft and even Apple's iPad Pro. But the old leader has always dominated the dedicated desktop pen display: Wacom.
Monoprice's new 22 Inch pen display is a contender that delivers battery free EMR pen technology on a clear and responsive display.
The Pen Display comes with an easel style stand pre-mounted. The display sits with the bottom bezel nearly flush to the table surface. The back mount supports VESA Standard and Monoprice has several monitor stands its suggest for those who want something a bit higher or with more flexible positions.
For those that enjoy working more horizontally, the quick release latch, on the back is easily accessible and allows angles from nearly vertical to nearly horizontal. The stand is sturdy enough with the Rubber footpads to allow for little to no movement or vibration while working, even with a heavy hand. Construction feel sturdy but not oversized or heavy.
The overall foot print on your table is the size expected of any equivalent monitor and the lightweight and integrated stand allows for easy mobility for those who want to be able to carry their pen display with them.
Cable mounting is on the left side facing the screen. You will find an HDMI, DVI and VGA for Video-In connections, a required USB and power port.
For my testing, I used both DVI and HDMI and found both Mac and PC had no problem connecting, even when using a displayPort/Thunderbolt to HDMI adapter. The location of the connection ports do cause cables to stick out a bit from the left side but it is a necessity for the function of repositioning the display without binding.
Monitor Controls found on the right side facing the screen just behind the bezel provide basic but ample controls for color, saturation, and brightness.
Provided with this sample is the Art Pen, an ergonomic multi-button pen with 2 buttons, a rear eraser and the pen tip. As shown below it sizes up just barely smaller then the length of the Wacom Cintiq Pen and roughly the same width with the triangle barrel design. The comfort of this pen took a little getting used to but soon felt very natural and it was easier to distinguish button location than with the Wacom pens.
The pen tip has a nice firm but flexible feel like a 2B pencil and the glass of this pen display allows it to Glide across without streaking, screeching or sticking.
Screen resolution of the factory sample was excellent for 1080p, although this sample only had a color accuracy of 72% Adobe RGB, Monoprice is working for production to have a higher color accuracy. Viewable angles on this model are excellent without color shifting even at near horizontal angles: very Impressive quality for an MVA LCD.
Testing
Testing was done on 5 different configurations and operating systems: Windows 7, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 (running on a Surface Pro), Mac OSX Mavericks and Mac OSX El Capitan
Driver installation
Alpha drivers where provided at time of testing and I found Windows 7 and 8.1 to have no problem but Windows 10 on a Surface Pro was currently incompatible. This could have been caused by a driver error between built in tablet computer and display. Final drivers may resolve this. (EDITOR'S NOTE: The Monoprice driver is likely incompatible with the Surface Pro's wintab driver.)
Windows Drivers support calibration, pressure and tilt controls. Calibration is recommended immediately after install, as well as adjusting the pressure sensitivity.
*Shown is Beta Driver and Software
Some functions of pressure and tilt in different applications will be covered later.
Mac OsX Mavericks and El Capitan both installed drivers very easily and functioned perfectly, but current Mac drivers showed very little controls for tilt and pressure controls. However, pressure sensitivity worked perfectly on Mac OS but had no perceivable controls or effect on tilt.
Pen tip accuracy and response is on par with Wacom with a generous hover space of ½” and no offsetting in any of the corners. In both Windows and Mac, no lag could be detected in basic OS functions.
Adobe Photoshop functioned with great pressure sensitivity and accuracy.
The Foundry's Mischief is where the new pen display truly shone with great accuracy and high sensitivity to pressure.
Application Testing
The aim of this review being based on the point of view of a digital artist, I ran tests for compatibility and workflow with a selection of popular 2D and 3D art applications. These test included the pen's accuracy in menu selection, pressure sensitivity and, where applicable, tilt functions.
Current Tested software as of 12/15
2D software
3D software
Conclusion
After testing with the current list of programs, I can see some improvement for driver function with some software but overall the Monoprice Pen Display has proven itself to function with a majority of applications. The orientation of the display will take some getting use to for those with experience with the table-hogging Wacom displays.
Pricing has not yet been announced, but Monoprice has a history of providing competitive pricing for quality products. Some minor additions I would like to see are different pen nibs and a penholder, as well as a unified 2-1 HDMI and USB cable. Other monitor mounts are available from Monoprice that allow more positions.
All being said, I recommend this pen display for all entry- to professional-level digital artists. Having been truly impressed with the overall quality and function of this product, it will be a must-have in their toolbox.
If you're unconvinced by active pen displays or want to add pen capabilities to your Windows or OS X desktop, your choices to date have been mostly limited to the Wacom Cintiq family of tablets.
Although prices on Wacom devices like the Cintiq 13HD or Cintiq Companion 2 compare favorably to general purpose tablet PCs like the Surface Pro 4, VAIO Z Canvas or even the iPad Pro, Wacom's gear can still be out of reach for students and hobbyists.
Enter Artisul (Art is Soul), a new consumer-facing subsidiary of UC Logic, the Taiwanese pen digitizer technology company. UC Logic's tech has previously powered budget pen displays from the likes of Yiynova and UGee, but after entering into and winning a patent dispute in China with rival Huion, the company decided to go to market with its own brand of pen displays.
The company's first product, introduced late last year, is the Artisul D13, a well-crafted unit that compares very favorably to the Wacom Cintiq 13HD. And just like the Cintiq line, Artisul eschews batteries and active pens for its own flavor of electromagnetic resonance (EMR) stylus.
Artisul provided a review unit for me to try out for the purpose of this review. I don't own and have never thoroughly tested a Cintiq 13HD, so my Wacom comparisons will be with the 13HD's cousin, the Cintiq Companion 2.
Unlike the CC2, the Artisul D13 is not a standalone PC. It is a pen display meant to be used alongside a desktop or laptop PC or Mac.
As with most EMR devices, the distance between the glass and display introduces a fair amount of parallax (or separation) between the pen tip and the on-screen cursor. Fortunately, I encountered no other EMR downsides like inaccurate corners or dead zones.
And more importantly for many of you, drawing slow diagonal strokes does not exhibit the jitter apparent in most battery-powered pen solutions.
Once the Windows drivers are properly installed and the D13 is calibrated, the pen performs extremely well, providing a very smooth transition between its 2048 pressure levels. The glass screen is covered by a matte finish that offers a bit of additional tooth or pen resistance but the 1920 x 1080 display is still noticeably brighter than on my Companion 2.
The pen is supplied inside a very nice Wacom-like case with a generous supply of replacement nibs, although I wish that they were available in more than one material. They are slightly harder than the soft Wacom nibs I prefer. I'm not a fan of the nib extractor built into the case. I much prefer a standalone ring.
Just like the Cintiq, the D13 features an array of 7 hardware buttons along the left side. These can be configured for each application and setups for Photoshop, Clip Studio Paint and others are included with the driver installation. The drivers were recently updated for OS X and a new Windows driver (which I wasn't able to test) is now in beta. The existing Windows drivers are very full-featured and graphical, offering controls reminiscent of Wacom's Feel driver.
The Artisul stand 051 is sold separately for $46. I found it much easier to set up and use than the Cintiq Companion 2 stand, although it doesn't offer sufficient resistance at all but the lowest drawing angles. An unexpected benefit of the stand is that it works well with the latest crop of 12.5 - 13 inch tablets like the Surface Pro 4, Surface Book clipboard and the iPad Pro. All of these devices are too wide to rest stably on my previous goto stand, the iKlip Studio, so it was very nice to discover a new option. If you own one of these new jumbo tablets, especially those without a built-in kickstand, the 051 Stand is a must-buy.
Given its size, separate stand and cable requirements, I wouldn't call the D13 a portable solution. However, it is thin enough to pack into a large laptop case along with its stand. If your ultrabook is thin enough, you may even be able to pack it alongside as well.
Despite being a first generation product, UC Logic/Artisul have taken pains to provide a premium experience, from the packaging to the fit and finish.
My biggest issue with the D13 is the tangle of cables required to hook it up. This is a drawback with the Cintiq as well, but the tangle is exacerbated by a power plug that requires an international adapter and then connects to the D13 via USB. Another USB cable runs from the device to your PC and an HDMI output from your computer feeds the D13's mini HDMI port. If your PC's ports are on the opposite side of your dominant hand, you'll be assured of a small rat's nest of wires snaking across your desk.
Although I was able to run the Artisul while attached to my N-Trig equipped Sony VAIO Flip 15A, it's not ideal to attach it to a device with its own pen drivers, as conflicts are bound to occur, especially with Wintab software. However, I don't own any HDMI-equipped devices that aren't penabled. It would have been nice for Artisul to supply a VGA connector option so that compatibility with a wider range of PCs could be insured.
Artisul Founding Designer and US Sales Manager Winnie Tso revealed recently that the company is working on a new generation device that they're calling the Artisul Pencil family which will feature an eraser end. According to Tso's post on TabletPCReview forum, eraser ends were a "competitor patent but has recently expired."
At $599 + $46 for the stand, the Artisul D13 is an excellent value, but the $150 difference for the Wacom 13HD may not be enough to convince artists to break away from the better-known brand. If Artisul were to bundle the stand or lower the D13 price a bit more, the pen display would qualify as a Cintiq-killer. For now, it's yet another competitor chipping away at Wacom's dominance of the art market.
NOTE: Educational pricing is available in the US, Canada and Mexico. Visit https://artisul.com/us/educational-pricing/ for more details.
Item Specification: Product Name Artisul D13 LCD Stylus Tablet; Model SP1301
General Information: Dimensions 389.0mm (L) x 250.7mm (W) x 14mm (H); Weight 1.1kg; PC And Mac Connection HDMI & USB
System Requirements: PC: Windows 10/ 8.1 / 8 / 7 (32/64bit); Mac: OS X 10.6.8 or later (Intel processor)
Powered by AC power adaptor or two USB 3.0; Portability powered by two USB 3.0
Display Information: Screen Size (Diagonal) 13.3 inch; Aspect Ratio 16:9; Display Area 293.76mm(L) x 165.24mm (W)11.5 x 6.5 inch; Resolution 1920 (L) x 1080 (W) pixels, IPS; Response Rate 19ms; Pixel Pitch 0.1529 x 0.1529 mm; Displayable Colors (maximum) 16.7 million; Color Gamut 75% Adobe RGB; Industry Standard Pre-Sets 6500°K whitepoint Default; Backlight Unit LED; LCD Brightness 300 (cd/m2); Viewing Angle178° (89°/89°) H, (89°/89°) V; Graphics Input HDMI
Power Supply Input 100 to 240 VAC, 50/60Hz; Power Supply Output5 VDC, 2 A (max); Power Consumption Suggested at least 2Amps; USB, HDMI CABLES; Power button, with LED indicator
Interactive Technology: Technology Electromagnetic; Active Area 293.76mm(L) x 165.24mm(W)11.5 x 6.5 inch; Pressure Sensitivity 2048 (levels); Resolution 5080 LPI; Accuracy±1mm; Reading Height 10 mm; Function key Six hot-key + 1 srcoll wheel; Switches of Pen: Pen tip and 2 side buttons
Accessories included: Pen Model P58A, Pen stand, Pen Case, Pen tips Nine replacement pen tips (9 hard), Pen tip removal Built-in pen box, Connector cable with HDMI and USB connectors, AC power adapter, Quick start guide
