Like most other modern tablets, the Cintiq Pro 27 Pro Pen 3 can recognize the degree of tilt and pressure up to 8,192 levels using Wacom’s Electro-Magnetic Resonance technology. Messing with it by drawing (poorly as you’ll see below) some lines and shapes and testing pressure levels, speed and angles, the pen was perfectly responsive and accurate. You can also customize the Express Keys to control a variety of actions—each button can essentially access the same range of Actions, and the Express Key panels house four buttons each. I found myself programming keyboard modifiers here and speeding up my workflows quite a bit—much of what I need to do in the Adobe suite begins with the Option or Command key. Design-wise I get it, and with a larger workspace it really isn’t an issue, but if space is limited it is an annoyance. The Wacom Cintiq Pro 27 is All I Want to Use Now

Arguably placing it along the side of your dominant hand shouldn’t be an issue as you won’t be using that hand to access the buttons behind the grip anyway since it will be occupied holding the pen, but since I was planning on messing with positions a lot while using the device, I opted to leave the mount on the top left side of the screen. However, we did find that not all of the Cintiq Pro 27’s gestures would translate to every program. This isn’t necessarily a problem that can be blamed on the display itself, but it’s something to be aware of when preparing to work with it. The company says the screen features no parallax or latency and in my testing, I can pretty much confirm this to be accurate. The feeling of the pen-to-screen was incredibly smooth and natural and after a week of long days of testing, there were barely even any fingerprint smudges on the screen, which tells me it combats the side effects of daily use very well. Wacom Cintiq Pro 27: The Pen Wacom doesn't project any rated coverage claims for sRGB, but designers working with purely web-based art will be pleased with its 100% sRGB coverage (see below).For instance, the touch features are the one time I felt the Cintiq Pro 27 was a bit laggy and unlike using the pen and keyboard, I couldn’t pan and zoom at the same time when using touch controls. So while there is usefulness to the touch features, I think this is an area where Wacom still has some room to improve and could take some notes from the functionality and performance of something like an Apple iPad Pro.

During our time with the Cintiq Pro 27, we worked primarily with three software programs – Clip Studio Paint, Adobe Photoshop and 3D-modelling program Blender – and the display made working with each of these programs comfortable and enjoyable, as well as helping workflow feel more fluid and faster than usual. Despite all of the well-designed compartments for the spare parts and positioning of the cradle, compared to the pen, it feels somewhat cheap. Especially when you factor in the cost of everything with the quality build of nearly every other single feature, the cradle could use some extra love, even if it works just fine as is. It just feels like an afterthought. Wacom Cintiq Pro 27: Pen Pressure and In-Use The Wacom Cintiq Pro 27 works out of the box with preloaded gestures for both your fingers and the included Wacom Pro Pen 3, and these will be familiar and feel intuitive to anyone used to working with other tablets such as an iPad. Setting the tablet up is a straightforward 'plug and play' process, and optional accessories such as a pen holder are easily attachable to the sides of the display. There are a number of mount holes around the display’s exterior, which are designed for workspace customization through the ability to mount devices such as cameras, microphones or lights.The Cintiq Pro 27 boasts a 30-bit color gamut, with 98% DCI-P3 and 99% Adobe RGB, as well as HDR Gamma support. As with other Wacom Cintiq models, the Pro 27’s parallax is generally very minimal, regardless of the angle you’re working with.

Effectively, these improvements to the Cintiq make it more than just a tablet, but an actual reference monitor too, giving users the functionality of what has typically required two separate devices in one. If you get one of these, just be prepared for the space this thing takes up. During my actual testing, it’s safe to say I had very limited space and it wasn’t the most ergonomic of environments. The Cintiq Pro 27 is a beast of a peripheral that weighs in at about 36 pounds when you include the official adjustable stand (the Cintiq itself can optionally be mounted onto a VESA-style arm). So while it is technically smaller than the Cintiq Pro 24, it still feels bigger.The Cintiq Pro 27's price is prohibitively high for many of us, who will have to keep our fingers crossed for a less expensive model that includes these new improvements in, perhaps, a smaller size. But for those who can fit the Cintiq Pro 27 into their budget, it’s an excellent centerpiece for any digital workstation for video, photography, and/or graphics. The experience is the best I’ve tested to date. While retouching photos, it was super easy to get even single-pixel accuracy when zoomed in which is wildly impressive considering how shakey and inaccurate my coffee-fueled body tends to be. In recent years there have been an impressive number of new competitors in the graphics tablet market, giving a constantly growing list of alternatives for you to choose from. The premium Pro Pen 2, supplied with the tablet, is one of the best styluses around (save of course for the recent Pro Pen 3 that comes with the new Cintiq Pro tablets), and it never needs charging. With pressure and tilt sensitivity, it gives you real drawing flexibility, and the level of “bite” on the stylus is just right. While the stand is an absolute beast and weighs more than the Cintiq itself, you won’t need any additional tools, grips, cables, or stabilizers to get it installed and start using it. Simply slide the Cintiq into the mount and you’re ready to roll. It has a bit of an odd shape (think a camera lens diagram with the lens hood as the arms on the base) and is nearly two-feet wide at the longest part. It is super versatile though, and allows you to position the Cintiq in a nearly 90-degree vertical position (much like a standard monitor) all the way to laying flat on the table like an actual drawing pad.

Maybe that’s not ideal, from a space-saving standpoint, but to be that close to a high-res screen when editing video is a distinct advantage. Tasks that sometimes have me leaning forward and squinting at my iMac require no such effort on the Cintiq Pro 27. And to those who feel that 27 inches seems like a downgrade from the previous 32-inch model, it’s really hard for me to imagine more screen space being practical—this is a massive work surface as is. At some point, you’re simply sacrificing desk space.The Wacom Intuos Pro is a graphics tablet rather than a pen display, meaning you’ll need to hook it up to some kind of external display like a tablet or monitor. Once this is done – and the setup process is pretty intuitive and straightforward – you’ve got a highly effective drawing tablet on your hands, and one that comes at a great price. The screen is warm when used all day, but it’s not hot. Then again, I tested the display in a climate-controlled room, and in late autumn into winter, at that. If your studio gets warm, especially on hot summer days, your results may vary, but at least in a typical 72-degree F “room temperature” setting, the display and fan don't present problems. I even tried to pump up the brightness and make it a little warmer than usual in my testing space, but the fan never got distractingly loud, nor did the screen heat up too much. Wacom confirms a new fan design was used for this model, and the ventilation panels are also substantially redesigned—in both cases, it worked.