XP PEN ARTIST 15.6 REVIEW

This is a review for the new XP Pen Artist 15.6  released a few months ago.

I got the Tablet sooner than the expected delivery date, which was a big plus. It came in a big carton box well packaged.

Unboxing: Inside the box it came the Artist 15.6 tablet, the Pen, a Pen holder with six pen nibs, the 3 in 1 cable, HDMI, and Black usb for PC, and Red usb connector for AC Power or PC, and the USB C type for the Artist 15.6. There is also an AC adapter for the usb red cable with different types of adapters depending on your wall socket. You can find also the HDMI to Mini Display adapter.

Inside there is also the Manual, the CD driver, a fouling glove and Thank you cards.  

 

Tablet: The tablet is really big and slim, on the left side it has the express keys and on the right side the Usb C type conn ON/OFF button, and the Contrast + and  - buttons. It already has the Mate Screen Protector, the downside of the protector is that you’re gonna get some scratches, this won’t bother you when you’re using it. The scratches are because the Pen Pressure Sensitivity, it’s 8192 levels, sometimes you have to press hard so that when your screen protector is gonna scratch, again, the scratches won’t bother you. The screen protector works really well, it feels rough and it protects the glass really well.

Another possible downside for you, might be not having a stand for it. It doesn’t include the stand like another tablets from other brands that includes an attached stand, I think, not having an attached stand it’s what also makes it portable, it’s easy to carry in a 17’’ laptop case, I got a stand perfect for this from the brand Maxell, there is a stand from the brand MAX SMART, really similar to the one I use for this tablet. So, really, it’s not a downside for me.

A big Pro for me it’s the portability of the tablet, it’s really slim, light and usb powered. You can plug the red usb connector to the AC adapter and to your wall socket, OR, you can plug it both usb directly into your PC/Mac and void the wall socket. Another way is using a Battery Power Bank, so far, I’ve been using the Artist 15.6 with my Surface 3, so, if I’m drawing on my desk I plug it in to the wall socket, but I I’m on my bed or away from my home, I connect the red usb connector to a battery power bank and that’s it, so, that makes it really portable! The battery power bank has to be 2.1A and more than 7000mAh.

Pen: The Pen has the 8192 levels mentioned before, it’s slim, it feels good in my hand, it’s Battery free, so it’s a big plus for me. The downside is that your pen nibs are gonna be torn out soon, well, it also depends on how hard you put your hand on the screen, but I think depends more on the pressure sensitivity, although this can be set as you like on the Driver Configuration. The Pen has the two traditional buttons, you can set one for Eraser/Brush, I couldn’t do that with Sketchbook Pro, I mapped the button to toggle between Eraser and Brush, when I pressed the button it opens an Elliptical tool and sometimes do nothing. So I just mapped one button to an S for Switch between brushes and the other button to the Right Click, again, maybe this is only a problem with Sketchbook Pro, I don’t know with Photoshop.

Driver/Softwares: The driver works good, once you install it, you can map your 6 shortkeys and your pen. On your PC/Mac, in the Monitor Configuration, it’s better you set it as 100%.

So far, I’ve been using Sketchbook Pro, Sculptris, ArtRage and Moho 12, in all of them, the tablet performs really well, the only inconvenience is with the Pen Toggle for the eraser, but other than that, it’s been great. Good lines, the pressure works as it supposes to and expressive keys have been responsive in all programs.   

Final thoughts, for me, the pros are more than the cons, its portability; been able to work with my Surface 3, and be usb powered are good reasons to make it perfect for the “on the go” artists, or just if you’re lazy like me and draw on your bed. 

XP Pen Website: http://www.xp-pen.com/

Shop XP Pen Artist 15.6: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B077PCCC7R/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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