Wacom Cintiq 13HD DTK-1300 Interactive

Wacom has barely managed to cling on to its position as the chosen graphics tablet brand for artists and designers in the past couple of years. Its dominance has been seriously challenged by the arrival of the iPad Pro, with its uber-luxe display and larger screen. Clubbed with the immensely popular Apple Pencil, artists and designers were flocking in droves to it. But the Japanese manufacturer has turned the table of late with a slew of new and impressive products in their range that was for a long time dominated by the obsolete Cintiq 12WX and the mundane Intuous 5.

At the forefront, is its smallest and most compact offering, the Cintiq 13HD Interactive. With a form factor that borders on tablet turf and a bunch of other features, (including a touch screen full HD display) that manages to impress even Apple aficionados, the Cintiq 13 HD can easily be termed Wacom’s most promising offering in the past few years. Here’s our Wacom Cintiq 13 HD review that puts this swanky new design tablet to the test and answers the most important question that users may have. Does it justify the high price tag?

Sleek and practical

At first glance, you can’t help but notice the similarity of the Cintiq 13HD to the Wacom Intuous. It is noticeably smaller but retains the same all-black matte casing and the set of express keys on the left. The keys are slightly smaller too but have a more tactile feel to it. They have the same soft veneer finish which provides some much-needed respite for the fingers after a long and exhausting design session. You can customize the keys and set shortcuts for frequently accessed tools and functions, which makes life simpler, especially with repetitive tasks. On the opposite side of the control panel, there is an LED indicator light and the connectivity ports.

In the center, is the beautiful semi-gloss LED display, which is pen enabled by the way. It is approximately 13.3 inches when measured diagonally and weighs a pleasant 2.65 pounds, which translates into easy portability unlike its larger brethren, the beefy Cintiq 24HD Touch.

On the connectivity front, you have a USB 2.0 port and a cable jack with a uniquely designed cable that borrows the 30 pin connector from Apple’s 13HD on one end and splits into HDMI, USB and power adapter connections on the other end. If you are a new gen Mac user or Laptop user with a Display Port output, then that’s an indication that you’d need to invest in a converter cable.

The package also includes the stand with multiple viewing angles. You can use the slots for 22, 35 and 50 degrees or even keep it flat. The Cintiq 13HD stays rock steady allowing the artist to work to their comfort.

Bright and Sharp display with excellent responsiveness

The standout feature that makes the Cintiq 13HD a desirable proposition for artists and designers is the semi-gloss display with a 1920x1080 resolution in full HD. With 16.7 million colours and 250 cd/m2 brightness, it offers the perfect bright surface with a gamut of viewing angles. Irrespective of whether it is exhaustive design work or cumbersome photo editing, the colours pop out and the razor sharpness ensures precision.

The Pro Pen is Wacom’s answer to the Apple Pencil and it really shines with its pressure sensitivity (2,048 levels). Wacom has given the pen a much-needed external makeover. It boasts of a sleek carrying case, a dual tone external casing with a hint of chrome. Performance wise, there is minimal lag between the pen input and the cursor responsiveness.

The express keys with the frequently accessed shortcuts, the radial menu with one-button access to eight different actions and the tilt sensitivity of the Pro Pen speed up your drawing. While it is not nearly as popular as Wacom, it would be unfair not to mention the Artisul D13, which nearly rivals the Cintiq HD 13 in performance and beats it hands down in the price bracket.

What I liked the most about it

• Sleek and compact form factor
• 13 inch (diagonal) LED display with full HD 1920 x 1080 resolution
• Quick access shortcut express keys which are fully customizable
• Detachable stand with preset viewing angled slots
• Dedicated home button
• Pro Pen with 2,048 levels of pressure sensitivity for both nib and the eraser
• Excellent viewing angles

What could have been better

Despite being one of the most ingeniously designed offerings in recent times from Wacom, we did find a few nits to pick with the Cintiq 13HD. The most important one would be the lack of wireless connectivity. Considering the money outlay, staying tethered to the laptop or the mac feels limited. Furthermore, if you like to move about as you draw and are habituated to lift and turn the device, the tablet disconnects occasionally as the 3-in-1 cable connection is a tad weak. While this is not a major flaw, it does mar the experience of a seamless workflow.

Looking for something a bit bigger? Take a look at one of Wacom's newer models. The Wacom Cintiq 16.

Verdict

With a super bright display, excellent resolution and Wacom’s Pro Pen, the Cintiq 13HD is an excellent package. Is it worth the price tag? It would be fair to say that it is. With the portability of a tablet and Wacom’s durability, you’d be hard pressed to find a better performing graphics tablet at this price point.

Huawei MediaPad M3 10 Lite

Despite there being a full range of Huawei MediaPad's to choose between, from the T3 7", right up to the very powerful M5 8", it's the M3 10" Lite that potentially offers the absolute best value for money from the complete range. Savvy buyers who understand about what level of specification is available in a certain price range have picked up on this, as they can see that the Huawei MediaPad M3 10" Lite has everything needed to be right at the pinnacle when it comes to price Vs the highest possible specification and build quality obtainable within its price bracket.

Reminiscent of the aluminium backed Samsung's and Apple iPads, the build quality and super sleek design of the M3 10 Inch Lite is fantastic. They complement each other very well. Coming in at under one third of an Inch in thickness, it's very thin but still has some weight to it, so feels great in the hand. Out the box it comes with Android 7.0 Nougat and the feature rich EMUI 5.1.

This is a great combination, which gives it the ability to make certain features a bit more convenient than just having the standard Android 7.0. Some of those conveniences include an App tray, more shortcuts to make important features within easier reach, accidental tap detector (still a work in progress), and a single-hand setting which makes the device a bit more easier to operate certain tasks when using just one hand.

Quick Spec

The core specification includes a 10.1 Inch 1920 x 1200 IPS (ClariVu) Display, Qualcomm Octa-Core (MSM8940) Processor @ 1.4GHz, Adreno™ 505 GPU, 3GB RAM, 32GB built-in storage (can hold an additional 128GB), Dual cameras (8mp front facing fixed focus camera + 8mp auto focus rear), incredible Harman / Kardon four speaker "SmartPA" sound system, WiFi, Bluetooth, SD Slot, 3.5mm headphone jack, micro USB port, outstanding battery life (6660mAh), fingerprint scanning technology for added security, split screen and parental controls. It also comes with a manufacturers 2 year warranty.

Stand out features of the Huawei MediaPad M3 10 Lite

Responsiveness and Stability

With its powerful Qualcomm Octa-Core (MSM8940) Processor and 3GB RAM, It's very fast and responsive. Even when multi-tasking to a considerably high level, it still has the ability to remain stable and non-lethargic. That also goes for high resource using activities, too, like gaming and video playback. Browsing the Internet offers very little strain on the Huawei 10 Lite's large CPU reserve, and it can do this using minimal effort. Even with a multitude of different tabs open, some of which being complex, and often annoying Java-heavy websites, and with many Apps running in the background, the system lag remains impressively low. A very stable, versatile tablet.

The Screen

Whilst not the highest PPI at 224, the screen offers a really good level of clarity and depth. Viewing angles are excellent. The display also benefits from having ClariVu-Eye Care Mode technology, which is basically an eye friendly feature that can filter out potentially harmful blue light and automatically adjust the brightness of the screen to suit the lighting conditions of the users surroundings, offering an optimal, eye strain-less experience. Although some users would disagree. But overall the screen is excellent.

Speaker System

This is not your usual set of tinny speakers that are found in so many tablets these days, it's a much more fulfilling experience. Having the full Quad (4 speakers) Harmon / Kardon speaker system, this is rated as one of the M3 10 Lite's best features. The sound quality this device is capable of producing is second to none when compared to any competitor at the price range. Whether listening to music, gaming, or watching a movie, you will instantly be aware of how much more fuller and enhanced the audio is. Brilliant speaker set up.

Battery Duration

The M3 10 Lite has an excellent battery duration, even when performing battery sapping requests like watching films and playing games. Video playback duration for this model is stated as approximately 10 hours, and the standby time can far surpass that. By all accounts it holds a charge really well. This is a sure sign of high quality cells being used inside the battery. With many machines being notoriously slow to reach a full charge, it's also faster to charge than most.

Other things worth mentioning

With the added advantage of being able to set a micro SD card as the default location, you can now install Apps directly on to the storage card, and then run them from there. So the 32GB of internal storage space that's in the 10 Lite is of little concern if / when it becomes full and you still want to install more Apps. Just buy an SD card and install them directly onto the card.

Despite what some product descriptions claim, in the UK the Huawei M3 10 Lite is not a Phablet. It does (or some models) have a SIM card slot (some have two), but the models designated for the UK market (also USA and Europe) are not compatible with the phone Networks of those locations. I believe its only Asia where this feature is compatible.

Problems

This is such a great tablet for the money that it's hard to really find many faults or negatives that are consistent enough to be worth mentioning. Some of the other models from the range do have a few minor issues here and there, but this one seems to be the most trouble-free of them all. There have been a few complaints about a weak WiFi signal, which were quickly rectified (full refunds issued) and put down to a few faulty devices slipping through the net. This is very believable, because on the other hand there are lots of reviewers complimenting how good the WiFi strength is.

The main "problem" with this model is actually not a problem with the tablet at all. The main issue is down to the sellers putting up the wrong information in the product descriptions. In this case, on Amazon. For example, some buyers thought they were getting the BAH-L09, which is 4G mobile data enabled, but in reality they were sent the BAH-W09, which is not 4G SIM card compatible. So really, the tablet is not at fault at all here, it's basically down to human error.

This has not only happened with 4G related matters either, but with many different aspects, all feature related. So be sure to ask the seller in advance if there's anything you are unsure about that you absolutely need the device to have before purchasing to avoid disappointment. If it's 4G you're after, give either the M3 8.4″ with Kirin 950 Processor, or the T3 10 Zoll LTE Phablet a look.

The Zoll LTE doesn't have the same level of specification as the model reviewed here (though still very good), but does come in at a lower price and is confirmed to be 4G mobile data compatible for UK Networks. Great machine. In closing, the 10 Lite is a fantastic, very refined device, and no doubt top-shelf for what it costs to buy. In fact, overall I'd say this particular model is better than the similarly priced offerings from Samsung and Apple.

Wacom Cintiq 13HD Or Surface Pro 4

It may not seem like it, but these two are kind of comparable. The Wacom Cintiq 13HD is no doubt the more capable device for drawing / design. Of course, that is it's sole purpose. It was designed for that activity alone. And yes, it is an excellent Graphics Tablet. But, along with being a superb fully functional tablet / laptop for normal daily use (Internet, movies, Apps, gaming, etc), the Microsoft Surface 4 is also a graphics tablet. And it's a really good one at that.

OK, among other features, it doesn't have the pressure sensitivity level of the Wacom Pen, but it is most definitely "up there" with some of the best drawing capable tablets within the price range due to how versatile it is. And considering that it's basically a two-in-one, you get so much for your money. Make no mistake, the surface 4 is not your average slate graphics tablet that needs another device to work, this is a complete stand alone, touch screen drawing device. Check out the video review above for a good breakdown of it's Pro's + Cons when it comes to art working.

Heck, even the Wacom Cintiq 13HD is not a stand alone device. It has to be attached to a desktop or laptop. So the sacrifice of the Pro 4 not being as good as the 13HD, but giving much more stand-alone freedom when used for drawing, and a whole host of other features (It's a fully operational computer with Windows 10 Operating System), it really is worth considering if you're someone who likes to design and draw on an amateur level and wants a device that can also be used for everything else from work to play.

The Pen is also very good. Magnetized, and with a nice amount of screen grip, and even an eraser on the opposite end. Just like a pencil. The Microsoft Surface Pro 4 works with lot's of popular software programs, like Photoshop, Coral Draw, Manga Studio etc. Both will serve you well, but for the sheer versatility, the Pro 4 is a smart choice.