WACOM Cintiq 13HD

Paul’s wanted this longer than we’ve been talking about iPad Pro

Last issue we spoke with artists about whether the iPad Pro and its Apple Pencil accessory appeal to them on a professional level. Several raised the concern that the use of iOS would be a barrier to them using it for work. If you agree with them, you should check out the Cintiq 13HD, which sits at the more affordable end (about £700) of those Wacom graphics tablets on which the drawing surface is also a screen. So, like the iPad Pro, you can draw directly onto documents, complete with pressure sensitivity and the ability to detect how you’re tilting the Pro Pen stylus.

The drawback is that the tablet needs mains power, an HDMI signal from your Mac to display your desktop, and a USB connection to transmit input from its stylus and the tablet’s on-body buttons to your software. But the undeniable strength is the ability to use it with many well established Mac apps, such as Photoshop, Illustrator and Painter.

The 13HD comes in two versions. The basic one (£650, MF262) allows interaction using its stylus, while a model with support for hand-driven gestures on its touchscreen is £800. The entry-level 32GB iPad Pro is expected to cost somewhere between those amounts, but it won’t run your existing Mac apps.