Wacom, the industry leader and innovator in the world of creative pen displays and tablets, has been updating their popular Cintiq lineup, developing the “most advanced creative pen display, built for professional artists and designers”. Illustration Age was lucky enough to get our hands on the 16-inch Cintiq Pro, which includes a stunning 4k display. Read below for our full review for artists!
Specifications
Although this review is designed more as a hands-on practical response from my perspective as a professional artist rather than a down-in-the-weeds technical analysis, I know that some of you out there want some stats, so here they are:
- 15.6″ display (device size 16.2 x 10.4 x .7in)
- 3.3 lbs
- Resolution up to Ultra HD (3840 x 2160) with USB-C
- Pro Pen 2 with 8192 levels of pressure
- Color Gamut – 94% Adobe RGB (CIE1976)
- Virtually no parallax
- Price: $1500
When it comes to high quality professional tools, it’s clear that Wacom is still far ahead of the pack, and the Cintiq Pro 16 definitely impresses as an expensive piece of technology as soon as you open the box.
Upon plugging in and firing up the Cintiq Pro, it stands out from other competitors with a more natural experience on a beautifully crafted device that has a much better screen than previous models. With a gorgeous 4K display, a beautiful matte glass finish and very little parallax due to screen thickness you can almost forget that you’re working with a screen because the drawing and painting experience feels so natural.
Like previous models the 16-inch Cintiq Pro has convenient softkeys in the top-right corner to access certain functions such as settings, keyboard and touch input. Indeed, some express keys would be helpful, and for those of you who might be interested in that feature there is a separately sold Expresskey Remote with a touch ring and multiple physical buttons you may be more used to working with.
The Pro Pen 2 that is included with this Cintiq is fluid and natural, following the same design as previous models, with a nib, eraser, two-button rocker, plus an increased sensitivity of a whopping 8000 levels! Also, it’s a battery-free tool, which means it will never run out of power in the middle of an illustration assignment.
In practical usage, I didn’t experience any substantial lag when drawing and painting in Photoshop, even when working on very large files. In other pen displays I’ve worked with the amount of lag behind the pen tip can be distracting to the point of frustration. Not so with the Cintiq Pro, thankfully.
Final Thoughts
While the price of the 16-inch Cintiq Pro is a bit of a commitment, you can be sure that your purchase will be an extremely satisfying one, with the added confidence that you are acquiring a high-quality professional level tool that will be there when you need it. I can honestly say that using this tablet removes much of the psychological barrier between artist and technology, resulting in a more natural drawing and painting experience that harkens back to the days of pencil on paper.
In short, if you want to create your digital art with the best tool on the market, look no further than the Cintiq Pro.
To find out more about the 16-inch Cintiq Pro and other models, click here.
ILLUSTRATION AGE 
Hi , Thanks for your review. I’ve used a XP-Pen Artist 12 https://www.xp-pen.com/product/64.html for some years now, and have often fancied a bigger screen Cintiq . the Cintiq Pro 16 seems to be the answer to my fancy. can you offer any comment as to how much of an upgrade the 16 is over the Artist 12.