Top 10 Best Drawing Tablets in 2023 – Reviewed & Rated

How to choose a drawing tablet? What aspects to consider? How to understand if a tablet is good, mediocre, or bad? How to judge independently without being influenced by ratings on Amazon?

Choosing a drawing tablet may seem simple but in reality, it requires much more attention than you might think. You need to understand which aspects are most important, decide which brand to rely on, and decide which features are necessary for you and much more.

This article is intended to be a guide to help you understand how to choose a drawing tablet and buy the right one for you.

SaleRANK NO. 1
Wacom Intuos Small Graphics Drawing Tablet,...
  • Wacom Intuos Small Graphics Drawing Tablet: Enjoy industry leading tablet performance in superior control and precision with Wacom's EMR, battery free technology that feels like pen on paper
  • Works With All Software: Wacom Intuos tablet can be used in any software program to explore new facets of digital creativity; draw, paint, edit photos/videos, create designs, and mark up documents
  • What the Professionals Use: Wacom's industry leading pen technology and pen to paper feeling makes it the preferred drawing tablet of professional graphic designers
SaleRANK NO. 2
PicassoTab X Drawing Tablet • No Computer Needed...
  • DRAW or TAKE NOTES: The most affordable Art tablet that comes with a pen and a pre-installed Drawing and Animation apps for those who want to draw, make animations or take notes in the classroom.
  • 4 FREE BONUS ITEMS inside the box: a high-quality tablet case, Drawing Glove, universal power adaptor and pre-installed screen protector; a total value of $50 inside the box along with 10-inch tablet and an active Pen.
  • CLEAR SCREEN, LARGE DISK and a SUPERIOR CPU: The High power MediaTek Quad-core processor boosts the multitasking abilities of the tablet. The IPS HD screen resolution makes crystal clear pictures and the 64GB disk allows you to download thousands of free apps from the play store.
RANK NO. 3
TECJOE 2 Pack LCD Writing Tablet, 8.5 Inch...
  • 2 Pack for More Fun: Apply the newest flexible liquid crystal technology, brighter and clearer than most LCD writing tablet. Take pressure-sensitive technology, you can draw lines of different thicknesses through different pressure levels. Package includes 2 pack lcd writing tablet (Blue and Pink), free children's imagination and creativity!
  • Eco-friendly and Eyes Protection: The writing tablet can be repeated using 100,000 times, avoid paper wasting. The eye-protection colorful screen of the doodle board provides a better painting experience, no blue light, no glare, avoiding injury to eyes from long-term use.
  • Learning Educational Toys: The colorful writing tablet is also a great learning educational toy! Provide a good way for kids to learn spelling, calculation and drawing, bring a better preschool or homeschool learning experience for your kids!
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Graphics Drawing Tablet, UGEE M708 10 x 6 inch...
  • 【Large Active Drawing Space】: UGEE M708 V3 graphic drawing tablet, features 10 x 6 inch large active drawing space with papery texture surface, provides enormous and smooth drawing for your digital artwork creation, offers no-lag sketch, painting experience;
  • 【8192 Passive Stylus Technology】: A more affordable passive stylus technology offers 8192 levels of pressure sensitivity allows you to draw accurate lines of any weight and opacity according to the pressure you apply to the pen, sharper line with light pressure and thick line with hard pressure, perfect for artistry design or unique brush effect for photo retouching;
  • 【Compatible with Multiple System&Softwares】: Powerful compatibility, tablet for drawing computer, perform well with Windows 11/10 / 8 / 7 and Mac OS X 10.10 or above; Driver program works with creative software such as Photoshop, Illustrator, Macromedia Flash, Comic Studio, SAI, Infinite Stratos, 3D MAX, Autodesk MAYA, Pixologic ZBrush and more;
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XPPen Drawing Tablet with Screen Full-Laminated...
  • Drawing Tablet-❤Fully-laminated Screen❤ The Artist 13.3 Pro seamlessly combines the glass and screen, to create a distraction-free working environment, virtually no parallax.
  • Drawing Tablet with Screen-❤Tilt Function❤ XPPen Artist 13.3 Pro supports up to 60 degrees of tilt function, so now you don't need to adjust the brush direction in the software again and again. Simply tilt to add shading to your creation and enjoy smoother and more natural transitions between lines and strokes
  • Graphics Tablets-❤High Color Gamut❤ The 13.3 inch fully-laminated FHD Display pairs a superb color accuracy of 88% NTSC (Adobe RGB≧91%,sRGB≧123%) with a 178-degree viewing angle and delivers rich colors, vivid images, and dazzling details in a wider view. Your creative world is now as powerful as it is colorful.
RANK NO. 6
HUION Inspiroy H1060P Graphics Drawing Tablet with...
  • Working Area Configuration - HUION art tablet equips with a 10 x 6.25 inches working area, providing the user with the most comfortable size to work; the 10mm slim structure and minimalist design of appearance make the drawing tablet more attractive.
  • Tilt Function Battery-free Stylus: This computer graphics tablet come with a battery-free stylus PW100, no need to charge, allowing for constant uninterrupted drawing. ±60° tilt support enables imitation of lines input with diverse drawing gestures, with accuracy ensured.
  • Press Keys:12 programmable press keys plus 16 programmable soft keys, you can set shortcut keys on drawing tablet's driver based on your preferences, such as erase, zoom in/out, scroll up and down, and so on.
RANK NO. 7
Drawing Tablet XPPen StarG640 Digital Graphic...
  • 【Battery-Free Pen】StarG640 drawing tablet is the perfect replacement for a traditional mouse! The XPPen advanced Battery-free PN01 stylus does not require charging, allowing for constant uninterrupted Draw and Play, making lines flow quicker and smoother, enhancing overall performance.
  • 【Ideal for Online Education】XPPen G640 graphics tablet is designed for digital drawing, painting, sketching, E-signatures, online teaching, remote work, photo editing, it's compatible with Microsoft Office apps like Word, PowerPoint, OneNote, Zoom, Xsplit etc. Works perfect than a mouse, visually present your handwritten notes, signatures precisely.
  • 【Compact and Portable】The G640 art tablet is only 2mm thick, it's as slim as all primary level graphic tablets, allowing you to carry it with you on the go.
RANK NO. 8
HUION Inspiroy H640P Drawing Tablet with...
  • [Customize Your Workflow]: The 6 easy accessable press keys on the drawing tablet H640P can be customized to your favorite shortcut so that your creative work become smoother and more efficient. You also can change the shortcut setting for different apps in Huion driver.
  • [Nature Pen Experience]: The included battery-free stylus PW100 with 8192 levels of pressure sensitivity is light and easy to control with accuracy. If feels like a standard pen, giving you natural drawing experience. The pen side buttons help you switch between pen and eraser instantly.
  • [Compact and Portable]: H640P art tablet uses a compact design with 0.3inch in thickness and 1.41lbs in weight,making it easy to carry between home,work and school. 6.3x3.9inch drawing area is perfect for limited desktop.
SaleRANK NO. 9
PicassoTab XL Drawing Tablet • No Computer...
  • DRAW ANYWHERE: PicassoTab XL is a standalone drawing tablet that doesn’t need to be connected to a computer to work. You can take your work and art anywhere and everywhere, from the park, a bus, or even school. Your artistic drive doesn’t need to be shackled to a desktop when drawing.
  • All-IN-ONE PACKAGE: When you buy a PicassoTab XL, you don’t just get a tablet. It’s an all-in-one package that comes with all the accessories you need to protect and maintain the device. Along with 11.6-inch tablet, a presure-sentitive Pen and pre-installed drawing app, you get 4 bonus items worth $70 inside the box (a high-quality tablet book-case, Drawing Glove, universal power adaptor and pre-installed screen protector).
  • BIGGER SCREEN, LARGE DISK: PicassoTab XL comes with a 11.6 inch screen which gives you 30% more screen area to enjoy your drawing and IPS HD resolution makes the art crystal clear. Large 64GB disk allows you to store all of drawings as well as download thousands of free apps from the play store.
SaleRANK NO. 10
GAOMON PD1161 11.6-inch Drawing Tablet with...
  • [11.6-Inches 1080P HD IPS Drawing Monitor]--Enjoy a vivid display with the GAOMON PD1161 drawing tablet's 11.6-inch 1920x1080 HD IPS monitor, featuring a 72% NTSC (100% SRGB) color gamut and a viewing angle of 178°. WORK AREA : 256.32×144.18mm (10*5.7 inch) // Signal Output: Mini HDMI &Type-C.
  • [±60 Degree Tilt Function]--GAOMON PD1161 graphic pen display with Versatile Tilt Functionthe allows you to draw from various angles according to subtle pressure differences, and every detailed modification will be recognized immediately. 【8 Programmable Shortcut Keys】-- You can set shortcut keys on tablet driver based on your preferences, such as erase, zoom in/out, scroll up and down, and so on.
  • [8192 Levels Battery-free Pen AP50 ]--Say goodbye to the hassle of charging your pen . GAOMON PD1161 comes with 8192 levels battery-free pen AP50. The thickness of the lines will change with the pressure you put on the pen, making the lines more natural and smooth. Plus, enjoy two programmable hot-keys on the pen body and eight replacement nibs inside the pen holder【8 Replacement Nibs】.

Drawing Tablet Buyer Guide

Basically, a drawing tablet is an input tool (that is, that enters data in the computer) that allows you thanks to the pen to draw, illustrate, blend, make sketches, model in 3D, and much more, all directly from the tablet. What you draw will obviously appear on a computer screen without the need for a mouse.

With a graphics tablet and its stylus (the pen), you can do things that, with a mouse, are practically impossible. Having a graphics tablet, therefore, allows you to increase your potential range of action in the workplace, allowing you to work faster and better.

The Physical Characteristics of A Drawing Tablet

Understanding well what are the main features of a graphics tablet and what its elements will help you understand which parameters are the most important and what are the aspects that you will have to evaluate when choosing your tablet.

Let’s start with the “screen” or active area of ​​the tablet.

The Active Area (Pressure Sensitive)

The active area is the part of the tablet on which you draw and is therefore sensitive to the pressure of the nib and, in the most advanced tablets (now almost all of them), also to the multi-touch of the fingers.

The active area is certainly the most important and essential part of the tool. In fact, one of the aspects to be observed as carefully as possible are the specifications of this display, such as the pressure sensitivity level.

The higher the sensitivity level, the higher the quality of what you will reproduce on the screen because it will simulate the drawing on paper more precisely.

Obviously it is also the part that you will have to take care of and protect from bumps. Once the active area of ​​a tablet is damaged, it loses practically all functionality. Fortunately, most of them are quite solid and resistant!

Usually, the active area is surrounded by a border that performs the function in part of hand rests and in part serves as an area in which to place the other control buttons.

The Specifics of The Active Area

Being the most important part of your tablet is the one to which you must pay more attention to all its basic characteristics.

The Resolution

The resolution of a graphics tablet is measured in lines per inch (LPI, Lines per inch ). This resolution measurement system is similar to the screening system used for printing, where dots per inch (DPI) are used.

In the case of the LPI resolution, these points are arranged in a line and these lines, based on how close they are to each other in the screening grid, give the resolution.

Obviously, the higher the resolution in terms of LPI, the better the graphics tablet will be. For example, the Wacom Intuos Pro has a very good 5080 dpi resolution.

The Reading Speed (Rps / Pps)

Reading speed is also very important. You can find it defined as Reports Per Second (RPS) or, as for Wacom tablets, as Points Per Second (PPS). This data simply represents the frequency with which data is transmitted from the device to the computer.

The higher the frequency, the better the direct correspondence between tablet and screen. A slow reading speed indicates a probable effect of “dragging” the line or the pen on the active area moves faster than it appears on the screen.

The Pressure Levels

This is the appearance of a tablet that you need to look at first. The sensitivity to pressure in fact determines the thickness that the lines that you will draw on the screen will have. In practice, the more you press the pen on the screen the thicker the line and vice versa.

Just think about when you use brushes to create shades, to touch up photos, or to 3D model details. The higher the pressure sensitivity, the better the effect you will be able to generate on the screen.

On average, we start from tablets with about 256 pressure levels up to 3000. 1024 pressure levels are the most common value and all software can manage this value. If you go further you have to resort to professional software or at least to the most updated versions of the same. For example at least Photoshop CC 2015.

The Recognized Tilt Levels (if Recognized)

Some of the highest quality graphics tablets are capable of not only recognizing many pressure levels but also the inclination of the pen and, consequently, generating more or less thick or angled lines on the screen based on how you are holding the pen at that moment.

It is an additional quality factor that allows you to further improve the quality of your projects.

The Pen

The pen, or nib, or stylus, is the tool used to draw or write on your tablet. And here we are! There are different types and with slightly different functions.

Some are designed to be ergonomic, that is, with particular attention to the comfort of the handle to make its use as comfortable as possible. New articles will soon arrive on how to choose an additional pen for your graphics tablet.

However, the stylus is usually divided into two categories:

  • Pens with Battery: use an AAA battery. These pens are usually thicker to hold the pen but some are designed to taper in the grip area. Many nibs of tablet devices such as the Apple Pencil or the Surface Pen are also battery operated.
  • Pens without Battery: these pens are recharged through the graphic tablet using EMR (electro-magnetic resonance) technology. This way you can do without batteries and no need to recharge your pen.

A good pen, however, obviously needs a good screen to work on that can withstand tilt levels and sensitivity to the right pressure. These are two characteristics to be evaluated together.

Buttons and Other Features of A Tablet

The graphic tablets have, in the border around the active area, a series of buttons that are used to set some very useful shortcuts during the design phase.

These keys can save you an infinite amount of time. For example: are you drawing a cartoon and are you wrong? Instead of wasting time and going to select the eraser tool, with one of those keys you have set, you immediately select it.

Just as you can select other tools or commands that you use often. Many tablets also have areas that allow you to move around your workspace. For example, in the Wacom Intuos Pro graphics tablets, this tool is called the Touch Ring. They are all characteristics that give added value to the tablet and that can allow you to do a faster and more effective job.

So What Do You Have to Consider?

After reading all this information on graphic tablets, you just have to go to see the products, read the reviews, compare the products and decide, based on your needs, what your tablet will be.

However, in summary, what are the aspects to consider when purchasing or evaluating product quality? In the purchase phase, but even more, in the research phase, however, you must take into account some very important parameters:

Your Budget.

And this is obvious! But it will affect a lot the type of device you are going to choose if it will be under 100 euros or between 100 and 200 or even more! For each price range, there are products that are more or less suitable.

The level of use of the product, your professionalism, and your experience in using graphic tablets or interactive screens also count a lot.

The Size of The Tablet.

It is important to understand what are the ideal dimensions of the tablet you are going to buy. It must first be proportionate to your workspace and screen. In fact, if you are used to working in large spaces, with a very large screen and a desk that guarantees a certain amount of space.

You can afford to buy a larger tablet. An example is the Wacom Intuos Pro Medium. If, on the other hand, your needs are for a tablet that is easy to transport or that is used in small spaces, then you will have to focus on smaller dimensions.

The Quality of The Display.

If you are looking for something just to make sketches or something to make more professional drawings or advanced photo retouching, obviously the needs of the device change. And the reference prices also change considerably.

The Type of Nib.

As said there are different types and each one has different characteristics. Here too, inquiring properly will save you money and rip-offs!

The Overall Quality of The Device.

Aspects such as the usability of the tablet, the quality of its design, the ease of installation (some Huion tablets, for example, are a bit scabby with the drivers), the quality of the materials used, etc.

The overall quality of the device is one of the reasons why we often end up choosing a Wacom product, the undisputed leader in the sector (although lately it has been being challenged a lot).

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