ASTROPAD VS CINTIQ FULL
ASTROPAD VS CINTIQ PORTABLE
ASTROPAD VS CINTIQ PRO
ASTROPAD VS CINTIQ PC
ASTROPAD VS CINTIQ PROFESSIONAL

I still think Wacom and Apple make the best tablets in the market, but their pricing model leaves a bit of a sour taste in my mouth. Whereas some of Apple and Wacom’s past actions I personally see as quite anti-consumer things like pricing their tablets at twice their competitors equivalent, or releasing extremely expensive stands, stylus’ and nibs, knowing that their loyal customers won't have many other options if they want to continue using their favorite brand. Brands like Huion and XP-Pen dont have much loyalty established with their fanbases, so instead they have to create the best products they can, and sell them for as cheap as they can offer them. I prefer to buy from the up and coming brands when I can, the ones that want to impress me and convince me that their products are worth spending my money on.

In this day and age, I fear that high profile brands like Apple and Wacom sometimes misuse their prestige, and use it to leverage more money out of their fans. I like their products - but I’m going to have to be honest up front: at this point in my life, I see 'premium branding' as a negative thing.

ASTROPAD VS CINTIQ PRO

Let me preface this next part by saying that I currently own and do all my work on an Ipad Pro 12.9, and before that used Wacom Cintiqs for around 8 years. Wacom and Apple have consistently delivered some of the best products in their niches.

ASTROPAD VS CINTIQ PORTABLE

A cloud instance of Windows makes up for this somewhat, but not 100%.Īnd even though this is the non-portable option, a 16' screen is portable in a pinch - you wouldn't want to be carrying it around every day, but if you really need to take it somewhere with a laptop, you can do it easily enough with a big backpack and some protective padding.īoth Wacom and Apple are seen as premium brands, and so command a premium price-tag for their usually high quality products. There's not much difference between how their brands are perceived by the public.

ASTROPAD VS CINTIQ PC

With an iPad, you are bound by the limitations of Apple, both in the iPads hardware and its apps, but with a Windows PC you get much more control over everything.

ASTROPAD VS CINTIQ FULL

On top of that, native use of Windows and having full control over your PC hardware is a valuable advantage. It doesn't sound like much at only 3', but that translates to quite a lot of screen space in reality. The extra screen space that 16' gives you over 13' is really nice.

ASTROPAD VS CINTIQ PROFESSIONAL

If I didn't need the portability of an iPad, I'd probably go for a Cintiq 16 instead - the 15.6' screen is a really nice size to work on, and the device has all the features you need to make professional work. Here are my recommendations up front, before we do a deeper comparison of using an Apple iPad vs using a Wacom Cintiq: iPad Pro 12.9 Recommended as a portable desktop replacement for professionals Using a service like Amazon EC2 to host a cloud instance of Windows, you can choose the PC specs you want your instance to have, including graphics card, cpu, ram etc, and use Windows via your iPad with just a small amount of lag. I'm even writing this article in Windows on my iPad Pro! With a stable internet connection, you can access Windows via the iPad, and have access to everything you'd have on a PC. I've actually managed to do it 100%, but this has only been possible because of one important tool: The iPad Pro can be used as a desktop replacement, and you can do 95% of tasks with iOS apps, but the key to 100% replacement is using Remote Desktop to connect to a cloud Windows instance when you need it. If you're considering using the iPad as a desktop replacement: If you're just comparing a Cintiq and iPad for painting alone: I think a Cintiq and iPad Pro are extremely similar to paint on, with some small differences - I find the Apple pencil more comfortable than a Cintiq's stylus for long painting sessions, but most people will not enjoy the glassy smooth screen of the iPad and will need a screen protector to have it feel like a Cintiq. This is because portability has become more important to me in the last few years. Painting, writing, working, entertainment etc, everything on the iPad.

I've used Cintiqs for over a decade, and recently got an iPad Pro 12.9 to try to use it as a desktop replacement - no PC, just my iPad. In many ways, this is a battle between the established king of the tablet scene and a recent, exciting newcomer that has completely changed the market.Īpple didn't make their first tablet until 2010 but they’ve had a meteoric rise to widespread public adoption, while a Cintiq is still seen as a super-specialized piece of kit.

Astropad vs cintiq