Pen sensitivity is measured in pressure levels. In most tablets, they can range from 1024 up to 8096 pressure levels. But as a beginner, you’re unlikely to notice the difference between 4096 and 8096 levels. Anything above 2000 pressure levels will already be very sensitive. Similarly, in testing, the iPad Pro generally wins out for performance. You can opt for better configurations, but this will naturally drive up the price. If you want a lot of drawing room, the 23.8-inch XP-PEN Artist 24 Pro provides a ton of space to create your work. The 2K QHD display realizes your designs in vivid color, allowing you to notice even the smallest details. It’s built for comfort: The tablet’s stand is adjustable and can tilt up to 60 degrees, making it easy for you to find your sweet spot. It also accommodates both right- and left-handed artists, with dials and shortcut keys on both sides of the tablet for ambidextrous access. Either way, all 20 shortcut keys are customizable to set the tablet to meet your needs. The XP-Pen Artist 24 Pro comes with a battery-free stylus, which features 8192 levels of pressure sensitivity and 60-degree tilt, giving you the most sensitive digital drawing experience. There’s no definitive answer to which kind of drawing tablet is better, since each artist will have different needs. So, it’s important to understand the difference between each tablet type.

Some pens require charging, while others don’t. Digital pens for conventional tablets, like the Apple Pencil 2, draw power when attached to a tablet. Wacom (and, more recently, others) make battery-free digital pens that use a magnetic field emanating from the pen tip to achieve nuanced pressure sensitivity. While the phrase “battery-free” is somewhat disingenuous in some cases—many of them still need power from their tablets to power buttons and other features—they do not need to be charged for long stretches. Images refresh twice as fast as on many other tablets thanks to the iPad Pro’s 120Hz refresh rate, meaning you have at your fingertips super-fast, super-responsive drawing potential. Add to this the impressive pressure sensitivity of the Apple Pencil 2, which must be bought separately, and the iPad Pro becomes a serious contender. The only thing missing is a tactile screen finish for that real pen-to-paper feel – but you can remedy this by investing in a paper-textured screen protector. Pen displays are significantly pricier and a little more fragile, but learning to use them is easier, and you don’t have to rely so much on configurable buttons and shortcuts to navigate your canvas. Some high-end pen displays come with built-in operating systems, meaning you don’t need to connect them to a PC or laptop; but this comes at a significant cost. The Boogie Board Play and Trace LCD Writing Tablet is a great way to introduce your kids to drawing and writing. The battery-powered 13.5×9 tablet features a large, semi-transparent screen that lets your child trace their favorite image or draw freehand. Different tablets will offer different features. The more of these the better, but of course, more sophisticated tablets are more expensive, so it's a balancing game. Here are some key features you may want to look out for.The Wacom Intuos Pro stands out as the best overall drawing tablet. It’s powerful and responsive with outstanding specs, from the responsivity to the resolution. The Surface Pro 8 is the closest Microsoft has come to contending Apple in the tablet space; but it might leave creatives wanting when compared to the iPad Pro. However, it’s a huge jump up from the Surface Pro 7; on test, we found it was nearly 50% faster. But even some tablets with a screen aren’t standalone devices. You’ll need to connect it up to your computer and work from your desk, so you’ll have less freedom of movement.

If cost is front-of-mind, but you don’t mind a steeper learning curve, then your best option is a graphics tablet, which will generally be more robust, too. The more delicate pen displays might lose points for portability, but they do offer the best overall drawing experience, giving artists a pen-to-paper feel with artist-first display, design and features. Which is better: a pen display, graphics tablet or general-use tablet? There's no denying that this is an excellent peripheral with truly impressive pen specs. Our reviewer, Jeremy Laukkonen, found the pen performed flawlessly during testing, although he noted that the side buttons could be more pronounced. For example, if you're using a drawing tablet for line work in Adobe Photoshop, the processor will send the information about the pen's position and pressure to the software, which will then create a line that resembles what you drew on the tablet. The design is sleek, with a great active drawing area and a slim touch bar down the side. It looks and feels robust, and you can program the six shortcut buttons to your needs.

The best graphics tablets you can buy in 2023

Wacom is one of the most popular brands of drawing tablets. Our top choices, like the Wacom Cintiq 16, may be costly, but it offers a gorgeous 15.6-inch touchscreen, a 1080p resolution, and 8,912 pressure levels with the Pro Pen 2. For a more budget option, we like the Wacom One. It won't break the bank, has a portable size, and has solid build quality. Once you get beyond 1000 LPI, it’s difficult to see any real impact on your drawings. The same goes for pressure sensitivity when you have more than 2,000 pressure levels. Unlike the Pro version, Intuos doesn’t offer Bluetooth connectivity. You’ll need to use the USB cable to hook up to your laptop. It’s no iPad Pro, but the iPad Air is a very respectable choice for digital creatives – and, coming in at a much lower price, it’s a great option for hobbyists. It still runs on the M1 chip, making it super-powerful and smooth when using creative apps, and its 2360 x 1640 IPS LCD screen offers decent brightness and fluidity. While we have many types and brands, the key parts of a drawing tablet that are always there are the drawing surface and the pen.

Popular Science started writing about technology more than 150 years ago. There was no such thing as “gadget writing” when we published our first issue in 1872, but if there was, our mission to demystify the world of innovation for everyday readers means we would have been all over it. Here in the present, PopSci is fully committed to helping readers navigate the increasingly intimidating array of devices on the market right now. You can be sure that any of the recommended tablets on this list is ideal for beginner artists. With great responsivity, sensitivity, and affordable prices, you’ll love your new tablet. A drawing tablet will open up new opportunities for creativity and self-expression. You can enjoy digital art as a hobby or even a new career path. Here is a first graphic drawing tablet on our list from XP-PEN, the XP-PEN Artist22E Pro. The 21.5-inch pen display uses a Full HD panel with 1920 x 1080 pixel resolution. It is capable of 72% NTSC colour gamut with wide 178°. The included stylus comes with 8192 pressure level for accuracy, precision and smoother lines and lives in a multifunction pen holder with room for spare nibs when not in use. Like the Huion Kamvas Pro 24, it has two rows of express shortcut keys, 8 on either sides for a total of 16 programmable functions. It does not however come with a touch bar. When creating digital art on a tablet, you’ll also be able to manipulate your digital drawing using your fingertips. That includes pinching to zoom or rotating the image just as you’d do with a piece of paper you’re drawing on.

What happens if I run out of drawing space on my LCD drawing tablet?

It’s not just about the screen size, either. You should also look for the screen resolution, measured in LPI (lines per inch). The higher the LPI, the clearer and crisper your drawings will be. There are many affordable LCD drawing tablets in the market: One of the best things about LCD drawing tablets is that there are many different variants to suit various budgets. While more expensive tablets may have high-end features, a basic LCD drawing tablet is usually enough for most people.