Choose between a pen tablet and a display tablet | Hardware Recommendations (2024)

FAQs

What is the difference between a pen display and a pen tablet? ›

The main difference between the two is that pen displays have their own monitor. This means when you draw, sketch, or write on your pen display, it appears on both your tablet and your desktop screen.

The biggest difference between these two tablets boils down to one thing: the presence of a screen. When you use a drawing tablet with a screen, it's like magic—you feel like you're writing on paper with a pen, and your artwork comes alive right before your eyes.

Consider Your Needs : If you are an artist or designer looking to create traditional artwork, a drawing tablet may be the right choice for you. On the other hand, if you are a digital artist looking to create digital artwork, a graphics tablet may be a better fit.

A graphics tablet (also known as a digitizer, digital graphic tablet, pen tablet, drawing tablet, external drawing pad or digital art board) is a computer input device that enables a user to hand-draw images, animations and graphics, with a special pen-like stylus, similar to the way a person draws images with a pencil ...

Essentially, a creative pen tablet or display allows users to write or draw like they would with a pen on paper – but have that input seamlessly show up in whatever computer software they have it connected to.

Creating Nuanced Lines and Drawings

The pressure sensitivity of tablets means they transmit the pressure of the stylus at thousands of different levels. This makes these devices can be highly responsive to the amount of pressure an artist uses to draw- from light to heavy and everything in between.

Drawing tablets are great for creating images and for using art tools such as Adobe's Photoshop, Corel's Painter, or Celsys's Clip Studio Paint Pro. Drawing tablets are also excellent tools for working with 3D modeling programs and other situations where a pencil-shaped input tool makes sense.

For creating artwork on a drawing tablet you ideally need lots of room to work with as well as a pen that feels just like the ones you'd use on paper. In which case you should opt for the Wacom Intuos Pro Large, which delivers pretty much the most natural drawing experience you can get digitally.

The pen display is an input device and a monitor. It is much easier to use than a simple pen tablet, but also requires more financial investment.

Screen: Pen tablets do not have a screen. Pen displays have a screen which you can use in combination with the pen. Drawing with a pen tablet might need some practice as you would need to draw on the pen tablet and look a your computer screen to see the result. Drawing on a pen display is considered more natural.

Do graphic tablets need a computer? ›

The reality is that there's a growing number of drawing tablets that don't need a computer on the market and this kind of digital art tablet comes with a range of advantages to the user.

Input devices. The main function of the input device is to enter the data in the computer. The various examples of input data are a mouse, keyboard, light pen, etc.

The answer is no. Currently, there is no stylus that can be universally used on all types of screens. Different screens have built-in sensors that determine what kind of stylus should be used. Even capacitive styluses that are relatively widely applicable are not suitable for use on professional drawing tablets.

Using a touchscreen pen offers several benefits. It provides more precision and control compared to using fingers, especially when it comes to tasks like drawing, writing, or selecting small elements on the screen. It also helps to keep the screen clean from fingerprints and smudges.